The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology

by Jake Devlin

  The screen cut to a medium closeup of Lindsey in the studio.

  “If you want to find out the last name of Gordon Donne's one and only love … or maybe just lust? … we'll be running the whole interview on this show on Friday, March 16th. Be sure to mark that on your calendar. But now, back to Rene and her guest, the Montana woman who holds the world record for pencil eraser collecting. We'll find out just how many erasers she has … and why. Rene?”

  -91-

  Six Months Earlier

  Sunday, September 18, 2011

  8:28 p.m.

  International Airport

  Fort Myers, Florida

  Jake saw Pam as soon as she emerged from the terminal doors. She was striding confidently, wearing a loose light blue T-shirt and, for the first time since they'd met, a skirt, knee-length and dark blue. A skycap followed with her three bags on a dolly, his eyes focused on her solidly swiveling derriere.

  Jake pulled the van up to her and opened the side door for the skycap and the passenger door for Pam. She gave the skycap a ten, slid the side door closed and climbed into the passenger seat, immediately leaning across the console and giving Jake a deep, long-lasting, tongue-twisting, denture-dislodging kiss.

  She was letting her hand slide down his belly when a sharp tap on the driver's side window caused her to look up into the impatient face of a Port Authority police officer, who gestured with his flashlight for them to move along.

  “Short-term parking garage, Jake, now,” Pam ordered, then added, much more gently, “please?”

  Jake, as he pulled away from the curb, smiled and said, “I'd like that, Pam. And welcome home.”

  Pam, still leaning over the console, nuzzled Jake's throat and slid her hand up his leg, letting it come to rest still on his thigh, but stretching an index finger up to caress Stevie Bruce through Jake's bermuda shorts. Naturally enough, Stevie Bruce responded to her light touch.

  Jake hurried into the garage and found a space between a large white SUV and a heavy-duty green pickup truck, put the transmission in Park, turned the ignition off and fumbled to unlock his seat belt as Pam pulled him onto the mattress in the back of the van. Then it was Pam's turn to fumble, even though she had gone commando since just before picking up her bags.

  Finally Stevie Bruce and Ginny May had their long-anticipated, warm and initially gentle reunion.

  “Woh,” Pam exclaimed, and then giggled. “Maybe I need to start calling him Steven Bruce now.”

  “What? Why?”

  “He seems to have grown up a little bit. And no, it's not my imagination.”

  “Really? You're not just trying to flatter me now?”

  “Nope, Jake; promise. He's bigger. I can feel it.” Ginny May gave Stevie Bruce a gentle squeeze, then another and another; Stevie Bruce responded.

  “Yup, definitely a bit bigger.”

  “Oh. I quit smoking; maybe that's part of it, more blood flow.”

  “You did? Bravo. So did I.”

  “Really? Cool. Congratulations.”

  Then they both let SB and GM take over and continue their ecstatic, sometimes frenetic, reunion.

  Mitzy and Bitsy also enjoyed a reunion with various parts of Jake's anatomy.

  As Pam collapsed once again onto Jake's chest with a stifled cry, and Jake joined her with his quiet moan, Pam quivered and murmured, “That was a loverly welcome home, Jake, just loverly.”

  “I'm glad,” Jake managed to mumble.

  After several long moments of heavy breathing, Jake was able to mumble, “So we both quit smoking. Wow.”

  “Yup; sometimes, with some of the stuff they had us doing, I got a little short of breath. So I quit.”

  “Wow, it was that tough?”

  “Oh, yeah. But let's save that for later. Right now, I just want to snuggle and feel you in and around me.”

  And that's what they did, for another half hour, planes taking off and landing overhead.

  When they finally got onto I-75 heading south, Pam asked, “Where'd you get the van, Jake? And with a mattress in back?”

  “It's a new mattress.”

  “Not anymore, it isn't,” Pam said, giggling.

  “A friend loaned it to me; he owns a chain of mattress stores.”

  “Nice to have a friend like that.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Nice ride.”

  “It's got heavy-duty suspension.”

  “I wasn't talking about that. Nicest ride I've had in a month.”

  Jake looked over at Pam and saw her smiling. He chuckled and then got serious.

  “So, Pam, how was it? Only whatever you can tell me. Looks like you're even more sculpted, maybe lost a couple pounds.”

  “About five, actually. It was tough, but really good. And they gave me an okay to tell you a lot … not everything, but a lot.”

  “You told them about me?”

  “Yup. And they may be giving you a call; they were impressed when I told them about your moves.”

  “My moves? What moves?”

  “How quick you were, like with that football and the Dunn guy.”

  “What football? Oh, right. But those were both just lucky.”

  “No, no, Jake; you've had some training.”

  “Just that little bit from Dorothy.”

  “More than that, I think.”

  “Nah, just that.”

  “Okay,” Pam said, still skeptical.

  “So what can you tell me? Where was it, anyhow?”

  “I don't know.”

  “You don't know?”

  “I really don't. I know it was a private island somewhere in the Caribbean, but I don't know exactly where. It was a big island, nothing but water all around. I got there by private jet from Miami, where I met my mentor/trainers, Rona and Joel, ex-Mossad.”

  “Israeli? Really?”

  “Yup. Tough, but totally supportive. They refreshed me on Krav Maga.”

  “On what?”

  “Krav Maga; it's a form of hand-to-hand combat.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Very aggressive; and they're experts. We really hit it off right from the start, and it only got better after that.”

  “That's great.”

  “Let's see. Oh, one of the first things I had to do was give a pint of blood, so they'll have mine on hand if I ever get injured. They took another pint just before I left, and I need to give another pint every two months from now on.”

  “It's that dangerous? Geez.”

  “Of course, Jake; it's bodyguarding.”

  “Geez.”

  “But what's really cool is the assignments. They post them, in general terms, on a web site, with the per diem, the general location and type of protectee, and I log in with my nickname and password … I can't tell you those … and if I want to take the job, I just check the 'Yes' box. I don't know how they decide who gets it, but if I do, I'll be contacted and go off and do it.”

  “And if you don't want to?”

  “I just log out; that's it. I just need to work at least 50 days a year to cover the 50K draw at a thousand a day. But if the jobs pay more, fewer days. Plus any more I want to work.”

  “Oh; I guess that makes sense.

  “So what else can you tell me?”

  “There was a lot of training, seminars and field work. We had a guy, Levi, from Moscow, worked with the ballet there, probably ex-KGB, and he taught us a lot of new stuff on changing your walk, your gait and posture when you're undercover.

  “Then there was this one guy named Robert – not sure where he's from – who taught us disguises, wigs, costumes, makeup, even how to do fake teeth over our own. Lots more cutting-edge stuff. He looked kinda familiar to me, but he was in disguise, and told us so.

  “Then there was Mauricio, ex-Nicaraguan secret police --”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. But it's ex. He's a pretty cool guy, taught a quick course on camouflage.”

  “What? You're going to guard somebody dresse
d as a tree?”

  “Oh, Jake,” Pam said, laughing, then put a serious face on and said, “If the guy's in a forest, absolutely.” Then she chuckled. “It could happen. Like the one about the two Irish guys who walked out of a pub.”

  “Yeah, I love that one.”

  “Anyhow, the segment I liked the most was threat assessment and the psychology of assassination. We'd role play both sides, trying to figure out how to get through to the target, and the other team would try to counter that. And then we'd switch sides and run the exercise again. That took me back to my early days in the Company.”

  “Wow. You were okay with that?”

  “With what?”

  “Playing assassin?”

  “Yeah; it's what we've got to protect against. We even had a quick course on sniping; sometimes we've got to be preemptive, just like in the Service, take out the bad guy before he makes his move.”

  “Geez. No, I can understand that.”

  “And the woman who taught that was superb, named Sharon. And I felt sometimes like she knew me, that she was looking right through me, that I couldn't get away with any BS with her.”

  “Hmm.”

  “And a pretty young woman named Kirbey led a good seminar on tactical and foreign weaponry.

  “Let's see. Dick and Jane … really … covered what they called 'aqua-surveillance,' all kinds of under- and over-water audio stuff, on and from boats, subs, even jet skis.

  “Then … let's see … ah. Another couple, Coco and Nobo, led --”

  “Who?”

  “Coco and Nobo; nicknames, I think. They did a basic seminar on forensic accounting; old stuff for me, but a good basic overview.

  “And a guy named Dayne gave a fascinating seminar on some very cool new photographic and video techniques and technologies.

  “John and Dot did a quick seminar on adapting to local cultures, trying to fit in as a local, if you're physically compatible.

  “Roger and Toula … now, there was a cute couple … did a whole morning on false flag ops.”

  “False flag ops?” Jake asked.

  “When you do something that can be attributed to an enemy, or an infiltration op, like Hoover's COINTELPRO.”

  “Oh, I read about that; infiltrating the antiwar movement back in the '70s.”

  “And lots of other groups, too.

  “Then another couple, Dick and Mary .. again, really ... did an intro to covert surveillance. Some VERY cool equipment that I never even knew existed. Can't tell you more about that, though.”

  “You gonna plant a bug on me?”

  “Oh, Jake, of course not – hmm. That would be fun. Maybe we could post some of that online.”

  “There's enough of that out there already.”

  “But I'm thinking we're not out there.”

  “And I'm glad we're not. I like things between us staying between us.”

  “Like Vegas?”

  “You know what I mean, Pam.”

  “Yeah, I do. Okay.

  “Let's see … oh, a couple of really cute girls, Shauna and Bridget, taught a quick course on … well, it was on honey trapping.”

  “Really? Your expertise.”

  “C'mon, Jake. You should know by now that I wasn't doing that to you … at least not for any ulterior purpose.”

  “I know; just pulling your leg a little. Gotcha.”

  Pam started to say something smart in response to that, but bit her tongue. “Ouch.”

  “What's wrong?”

  “I just bit my tongue.”

  “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  “When we get home, absolutely; and I'll kiss a lot of other parts of you.”

  “Whee!”

  “I actually probably could have taught that course a bit better, but they did a good job. One nice idea they had was 'Use what you got.'”

  “Ah; nice phrase.”

  “I'll let you use what I've got if you let me use what you've got.”

  “Once we get back to your place, I'll take you up on that, in a big way.”

  “Now that you've quit smoking, I expect nothing less.” She smiled; so did Jake.

  “Let's see. Then there was Kathy, with a Y, who taught us evasive and anti-ambush driving. Young, but amazingly effective. By the way, you know we've picked up a tail, right?”

  “The white convertible?”

  “You got it.”

  “Been with us since we left the garage. I'm getting used to it.”

  “The convertible?”

  “No, being followed.”

  “Really? How long has that been going on?”

  “I don't know. I guess I first noticed it just after I met you.”

  “Oh, geez, Jake. Have they tried anything?”

  “Nope, just following; I've lost them a few times, running those – what did you call 'em?”

  “Oh. SDR's, surveillance detection routes, you mean?”

  “Right; that's it.”

  “And they broke off after you did those?”

  “I think so, far as I could tell.”

  “Well, once they know you're onto them, that's what they'd do, and then probably swap out vehicles until you catch them again.

  “Tell you what. Why don't we just go straight to the condo, no SDR, see what they do? Okay?”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  -92-

  Friday, February 24, 2012

  8:47 a.m. EST

  A network morning talk show

  After another week of promos for Donne's interview, using the first and second questions, Lindsey smiled at the camera after a commercial break.

  “Welcome back. I'm Lindsey Framingham, and I've now got a third clip from my exclusive interview with Gordon Donne, the man we all now call boss.”

  The screen cut to the same shot of Lindsey and Gordon Donne on the chairs in the Oval Office that was used in the first two promos.

  “Mr. Donne,” Lindsey began, “without elections, aren't we all subject to taxation without representation?”

  “If you look at it one way, yes. But I think that whole idea went out the window decades ago, with the corruption that envelops the whole election process, and the special interests that have controlled that process. So what I've done has --”

  The screen cut to a medium closeup of Lindsey in the studio.

  “If you want to see the rest of his answer, we'll be running the whole interview on this show on Friday, March 16th. Be sure to mark that on your calendar. But now, back to Bob and Rene and their guest, a shrimp fisherman who's started a 'Save the Mosquitoes' nonprofit. Bob, just how crazy is this guy?”

  This clip was added into the rotation with the first two promos and the three clips played ten times each each day until March 16th.

  -93-

  Six Months Earlier

  Sunday, September 18, 2011

  9:25 p.m.

  Bonita Springs, Florida

  Jake pulled into the lot at Pam's condo and watched as the white convertible, which had stayed with them, but far behind, often out of sight, passed on by and headed up Hickory Boulevard.

  “Whew,” Jake sighed. “As usual.”

  “So it looks like you're not a target, just a surveillee.”

  “A what?”

  “Surveillee, the subject of surveillance.”

  “But who are they? And why are they watching me?”

  “I don't know, Jake. But let's get inside. We can leave the luggage here.”

  “No, no, they're gone. Let's get the luggage, too. We should be okay for now.”

  “Well, if … okay.”

  Six minutes later, snug on a couch inside Pam's condo, they both breathed a sigh of relief, as Sharon's recording equipment three floors above turned itself on and alerted Sharon that it was running.

  “Okay, Jake, let's try to sort this out. You first noticed them about the time you and I met, right?”

  “Right; before you got me all paranoid that afternoon at the Seabreeze, I was
n't looking for anything like that.”

  “So it could have been going on before that.”

  “Could have.”

  “That wasn't a question, Jake; I was just talking to myself.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “I do that sometimes.”

  “Don't we all? Oh, did I say that out loud?”

  “Yes, Jake, you did.”

  “Oh. Sorry.”

  “So here's what I think. I think you've been way too free about giving that link to the JakeDevlin.com site out, and somehow it got to the people who set up the surveillance. Now, they may be friendly to you or they may be hostile, but if they were hostile, I'd think they'd have made a move on you by now.

  “Since they haven't, I'd guess it's either friendlies or maybe it's what you most suspected when we first met, that maybe they're from some publisher looking to keep tabs on you before you get the book done, maybe steal your ideas.”

  “But after you investigated me, that changed for me, 'cause you made me paranoid that someone in government, like your ex-boss, might still be coming after me. And all over a stupid little novel.”

  “Hey, Jake, you can't expect everybody to be rational. You have no idea what big egos some people in government, especially the political ones, can have, and how irrational and stupid they can behave as a result. And they have very long memories and can carry irrational grudges for a long time. And you've got to admit, there are parts of your novel that'll piss political types off … a lot.”

  “Yeah, but I can't help that; he IS anti-political, and that's a big part of the whole basis for the book.”

  “I know, I know, Jake, and I know it's important to you, and I do want to help, in any way I can, but I think you need to be a whole lot more careful about discussing it with just anybody. You never know who might pass it on to the wrong person.”