Tangled Mark

by Becky Harmon

“Hey.” Mel acknowledged him. “Have I missed anything?”

  Liam shook his head and all three turned to look at Bowden in the front of the room talking with a group of agents. The agents dispersed and Bowden addressed the room.

  “Take twenty minutes to compile your data for each tail and one person from each group can brief.” She turned and left the room.

  Mel looked around spotting Angela and Garrett seated near the front and she moved to join them.

  Angela spoke first. “I got nothing. She was in her house for all of the time I was watching her.” She grinned. “Except when she visited me in the car.”

  Mel laughed. “She is very bold.”

  “She spoke to you?” Garrett asked curiously.

  “She did,” Angela stated. “Walked right out to the car and climbed in beside me. Oh, and brought me coffee and a pastry.”

  Garrett laughed with them. “I bet she had questions.”

  “She did, but when I wouldn’t answer she went back inside.”

  Garrett looked at Mel. “Did you talk with her too?”

  Heat coursed through Mel’s veins and she felt her skin burn as she remembered the feel of Nicole when she pressed her against the wall in the bar and the appreciative look she had given as she appraised Mel’s body outside the hospital. She took a sip of coffee and regained some of her composure before answering Garrett. “Yes, a few times.”

  Garrett looked surprised.

  Mel shrugged. “We were told to stay visible. No one said to avoid contact.”

  “It would be hard to avoid contact when you are putting yourself right in front of her,” Angela agreed.

  Garrett nodded. “I guess so. Just not our normal mission. So, what did she say?”

  “She thinks we’re CIA.” Mel took another sip of her coffee. “Which is understandable since we used call sign Charlie on the mission.”

  “Bowden said we did that to throw them off. What if they attempt to confirm it now that we are tailing them?” Angela asked.

  “Mr. Flagler will take care of any inquiries,” Mel explained. She looked at Garrett. “Nothing for you to report?”

  “Nope, inside sleeping is my guess. There weren’t any lights on.”

  “Okay, I’ll brief then.” Mel stood. “I need to grab a refill.” She noticed Angela studying her face before she walked away. She knew she should fill Angela in on everything that had transpired, and she knew the fact that she wasn’t doing so spelled trouble. She promised herself that she would talk with her, but right now she needed to compile her briefing before standing in front of the entire team.

  Mel struggled to stay focused as each team’s briefing sounded the same as hers. Some small talk had been exchanged, which wasn’t surprising since their goal was to be observed. Clearly, the Flagler team was used to unusual situations, but they weren’t used to being tailed at home, and that made them curious. No one had any late-night visitors or clandestine meetings to report.

  Bowden and a technician with a stack of papers in his hands approached the front of the room. “We have reviewed every cell and landline call for each of the team members and there is nothing out of the ordinary.”

  From the back of the room a voice called out. “Maybe we should drop out of sight for our surveillance now.”

  Bowden looked up. “No, our intent was to put pressure on them. We weren’t convinced the leak was at the team level, but it was a place to start. The results of the pressure we have applied will ricochet up the ladder. No change of tactics, at least for now.” She looked at Mel. “Take five others with you and head to Flagler. You are going to train with them for the next couple of days. Talk to them, make friends and see what you can dig up.”

  Mel stood up and asked for volunteers. A lot of eager hands rose and she chose four guys and another woman to join her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nikki and Brad selected seats in the back of the room to continue their conversation from the car.

  “So can you think of anything?” Nikki whispered softly without looking at him.

  “Nothing jumps out at me.” Brad glanced at her. “Can you?”

  Nikki frowned. “Maybe.”

  “Which mission?”

  “Well, I was just thinking that this wasn’t the first time we watched a package exchange hands and then returned.”

  “That’s our job, Nikki.” Brad stood and placed his hands on his hips in the traditional Superman pose. “We are here to serve and protect.”

  Nikki laughed and pulled him back down into his seat. “Will you help me go through some files tonight?”

  “My wife will not be happy with either of us but I will if…” He pointed a finger at her chest. “You buy the pizza and beer.”

  “You got it.”

  Josh entered the room and everyone grew silent. He approached Tyler and spoke quietly for several minutes then he addressed the group. “Nikki and Mike, head to the range for the afternoon. Everyone else is with Tyler.”

  The conference room door opened as Josh finished speaking and a group of six entered the room with Lewis. Nikki was shocked to see Carter leading the group and watched with great interest as the CIA agents took seats across the room. They were dressed the same as Nikki and her team in black long-sleeved T-shirts, black tactical pants and boots. Josh and Lewis spoke in hushed tones before Lewis left the room. Josh turned to the new group. “I need two of you to be spotters on the range and the rest can go with Tyler.” Josh pointed to Tyler and he nodded his head in acknowledgment. Nikki’s eyes were glued to Carter.

  “I’ll spot.” Carter stood, giving Nikki a cocky smile before focusing her attention on Josh. “Me too,” a deep voice echoed from within Carter’s group.

  “Great.” Josh turned to Tyler. “Go ahead and take off. Call if you need anything.”

  Tyler nodded and motioned his group to follow. Carter and a tall, dark-haired man approached Josh.

  Brad whispered as he stood. “See you in the office later?”

  “Yes, I’ll type your surveillance report before we head home.”

  Brad wiggled his eyebrows and looked at the two agents in the front of the room. “Have fun.” He followed Tyler out of the room.

  Nikki slowly approached the remaining group in the front of the room. She appraised the two agents as they spoke with Mike. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder. Whatever Lewis had said to Josh was enough for Josh to allow the CIA team to integrate themselves in today’s training. She looked at Josh and he motioned her forward. “Nikki, this is Mel. She’ll be spotting for you this afternoon.”

  Mel held out her hand and Nikki took it tentatively. “Nikki,” Mel said softly.

  Nikki dropped her hand and headed for the door. Over her shoulder she called back to Mel. “Let’s go, Carter.”

  Mel hesitated for a second as the use of her last name registered, and then she followed Nikki out the door. She lengthened her stride and quickly caught up with her. “So, you checked me out?”

  “I ran your prints from the coffee cup.”

  Mel laughed. “And now you prefer Carter to Mel?”

  “I think it’s my choice since I did the work.” She liked the sound of Mel’s laughter. “Have you ever spotted before?”

  “Yes, when I first started with Fla…” She let the final word drift away before continuing. “Then I realized I was better at tracking.”

  “And now you just stalk people.”

  Mel laughed again. “Your file should have said smart-ass under your name.”

  Nikki rolled her eyes and led the way into the arms room where she checked out her rifle and a spotter scope for Mel. Nikki handed Mel ear protection and inserted one disposable ear plug into her own ear as they exited the building. Nikki did her best to block out Mel’s presence as they followed a narrow gravel trail that ended at a patch of trees. She turned left onto the two-mile rifle range and waited until they were cleared to enter. On the range, Nikki selected a lane and lay down on the ground, doi
ng a couple of breathing exercises. She waited to see if Mel would lay on her left side to avoid the ejection port of her rifle and was pleased when she did. Within a few minutes the range alarm sounded to signal an active range and an announcement was made to remove anyone downrange.

  The first green fatigue-dressed silhouette target popped up and Nikki took a breath before shooting it. The targets began appearing randomly at varying distances, all less than one thousand meters, and Nikki took out each one with one shot. When the range alarm signaled the round was over, Nikki switched her safety on and removed her ear plug.

  Mel removed her ear protection and rolled on her side to look at Nikki. “Impressive.”

  Nikki shrugged. “Don’t you want the best when you’re a sitting duck on foreign soil?”

  “You were watching my back last week?”

  “Yep. Me and Brad.”

  Mel searched Nikki’s face. “You’ve been thinking about what I asked you, haven’t you?”

  “Maybe.” Nikki loaded a full magazine into her rifle and chambered a round.

  “And you thought of something that wasn’t right?”

  “I’m not sure.” Nikki wanted to confide in her, but she was CIA, after all. She couldn’t disclose anything from Flagler to someone on the outside, even if it seemed like Mel had full access. She would look into the files tonight with Brad, and if they found something, they would decide who to trust with the information.

  “What did you think of?” Mel pushed.

  Nikki shook her head. The firing range alarm sounded again. Nikki replaced her ear plug, closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. For this round, the targets were in motion. She would have thirty seconds to sight and fire on each target. Mel was quick to supply the wind direction for each one, and target adjusts for the few times Nikki missed on the first shot. With her aid, Nikki was able to take out all of the targets within the allotted time.

  When the firing range alarm sounded to end the round, Mel was talking almost before they had removed their ear protection. “Just give me a scenario. You don’t have to say anything specific.”

  Nikki looked hard at her. “I am not going to discuss classified Flagler missions with the CIA.”

  Mel sighed. “What if I don’t work for the CIA?”

  Nikki loaded another full magazine and chambered the round before glancing at Mel. “This conversation is over. I don’t care who you work for. I am not going to have this discussion with you.”

  They finished the last two firing rounds in silence. Mel and her team member talked softly in a far corner while Nikki and Mike cleaned their rifles before turning them back into the arms room. Then all four of them signed out Five-seveN pistols with multiple clips. They returned to the same path, turning right onto the small arms range. Along with traditional cubes for target practice, the pistol range had a qualification course. It was all stationary targets, but the shooter was required to move to each position. They would fire right and left from behind barricades and from standing and kneeling positions. Each clip was only loaded with five rounds to force the participant into changing clips multiple times.

  Mel looked over at her. “If I can match you or beat you, you owe me lunch.”

  Nikki smiled. “Okay, but if I beat you, I want dinner instead of lunch. For the record, I prefer Italian.”

  Mel laughed as the firing range alarm sounded indicating an active range. The range attendant confirmed they were each ready and then blew his whistle for them to begin the course.

  Nikki could see Mel out of the corner of her eye and knew they were maneuvering the course at the same speed. She couldn’t tell if she was hitting her targets though. When they cleared the last target, they both holstered their pistols and walked back to the starting point. Together they walked first Mel’s course and then Nikki’s.

  Nikki groaned. “I cannot believe you hit bull’s-eye on every target.”

  Mel shrugged. “I run this course almost every week, and you only missed a perfect run by two.”

  “Yes, but I’m a sniper.” Nikki laughed. “What is it you do for a living?”

  “I stalk people.” Mel turned toward the building.

  Nikki shook her head and followed Mel back to the arms room. The workday was almost over and she needed to file her report as Tyler had requested. Weapons were cleaned in silence and the four went their separate ways. Nikki went straight to her desk and began typing her report. She was surprised when Mel slid a chair over beside her.

  Nikki clicked a button on her keyboard, returning her monitor to the home screen to cover her report. She looked at Mel. “Can I help you, Carter?”

  Mel laughed. “When are you buying my lunch?”

  “How about tomorrow? Are you going to be here? Or am I not the only person you are stalking right now?”

  “You are currently the only woman in my life.” Surprised flashed across Mel’s face as she quickly stood and headed for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Hey, wait,” Nikki called, and Mel turned around. “No stalking tonight?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m going to find out right now.” The cocky grin was back as Mel strolled away. “Try not to miss me if I don’t see you tonight.”

  Nikki returned to her report. She knew she should enter everything that happened into the records, but she didn’t think Flagler needed to know she had made out in the bathroom with a CIA agent. She thought to herself how unprofessional it was of both of them. She had spent the day with Mel, and she didn’t get the feeling that Mel would disregard her mission like that. What if her mission was to seduce me? Nikki frowned. Things were becoming a little bit clearer now, and she wasn’t sure if she liked what she was seeing.

  Nikki quickly finished her report and emailed it to Tyler. When Brad returned, she typed his report while he dictated and then they both headed home. They would meet back at Nikki’s after Brad took his boys to karate practice.

  * * *

  Nikki took a sip of coffee and looked at Brad. They both had had a beer with dinner but had switched to coffee as the evening progressed. Nikki had downloaded their mission reports for the last year onto data sticks and each of them now sat in front of a laptop clicking through files. Nikki rubbed her face and then looked at her watch.

  “Geez, it’s almost midnight.” She groaned, clicking on the last file on her drive.

  “Yeah, we should call it a night.” Brad yawned.

  Nikki stared at the screen. “Here’s another one.” She skimmed the report giving Brad the highlights. “Remember about a year ago when we were sent to Tehran? It was supposed to be a package pick up at the airport.”

  “Yeah, Josh was the OSL on that mission too. I remember because he called us himself after we received the package and told us not to return with it as had originally been instructed.”

  “We took it to a bus depot and left it in locker…” Nikki continued to skim the report. “Eighty-two. It was locker eighty-two.”

  “Right and we had to run to make our return flight.”

  Nikki looked up at Brad. “Remember how nervous the guy was when he gave us the package.”

  “Yeah, we laughed about it containing a bomb.” Brad’s eyes widened. “You don’t think?”

  Nikki closed the file she was looking at and opened a search engine. She typed in Tehran and bomb. It only took a minute for her to locate an article the day after they had returned from the mission. She turned her computer for Brad to read too. He stared at her when he finished. “It doesn’t mean our package contained a bomb, Nikki.”

  “I know, but…”

  Brad’s phone chirped with an incoming text message and Nikki’s did the same a second later. Brad stood. “I need to get home and tell Marianne we’re leaving again.”

  Nikki nodded.

  “We’ll talk about this when we get back from this mission, okay?” Brad asked her.

  She nodded again as she walked him to the door. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” She watche
d Brad get in his car and drive down the street out of sight. Her gaze traveled over all the cars sitting on the curb up and down her street. Tonight there was no dark SUV and she felt a little alone.

  Stepping back into the house, she dialed Barbara. After apologizing for waking her up, she explained she would drop the dogs off within the hour. Then she searched through her call log on her cell phone until she located the incoming call from that morning.

  “Carter,” Nikki said as soon as Mel answered.

  “Mitchell?”

  “Meet me at the coffee shop by my house in thirty minutes.”

  Mel hesitated for a second. “Okay.”

  Nikki hung up without saying goodbye. She cleaned her kitchen and refrigerator of all potential rotting hazards before taking a shower and loading the dogs. She stopped at Barbara’s and punched in the gate code to the backyard. Both dogs ran through the doggie door and into the house. Nikki heard Barbara’s dog bark a greeting, so she locked the gate behind her and returned to her car.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nikki pulled into the empty lot in front of the coffee shop and turned off her engine. Traffic had been light and she had arrived faster than she expected. She sat in her car as her mind raced through all the possible answers to the questions she planned to ask. If Mel was CIA, then the conversation would be over and their meeting would have been for nothing. Well, not for nothing, Nikki thought with regret. She would have a chance to talk with her one last time before she severed their relationship. When the dark SUV entered the parking lot, she climbed out of her car and crossed the lot to meet Mel at the door of the shop. Mel was still in her black battle fatigues and her hair was disheveled as if she had repeatedly run her fingers through it. Nikki wondered where she had been since they parted hours earlier.

  “Coffee?” Nikki asked, holding the door open for her.

  Mel nodded and approached the counter. Nikki glanced around. The shop was empty, not surprising at this hour. Noticing that the wall to her right was covered with mirrors in an attempt to make the small shop look larger, she took advantage of them to get a clearer view of Mel. Her dark clothing was a contrast to her own light blue T-shirt and faded jeans. She had specifically chosen these jeans for their comfort, but she had known that she would be seeing Mel too. She glanced up at Mel’s face, wondering if she appreciated the way her jeans sat low on her hips accentuating her hips and butt. She got her answer when Mel’s eyes lifted to meet her own.