Special Ops Affair

by Jennifer Morey

  “Colonel Roth?”

  “What about him?”

  Jag recognized the name but didn’t understand the degree of her reaction. Of course he didn’t. Colonel Roth ran a Special Projects Directorate for Army Special Operations Command, but only she and Cullen knew how he was connected to TES. It was huge. Why was an engineer who was having an affair with a mysterious woman want to seek out someone like that?

  “Let’s go talk to him,” Jag said.

  She’d love to, but no way. “He’ll never agree to see us.”

  Jag sent her a sharp look. “Why not?”

  She just shook her head, overwhelmed with the implications. Roth had asked Cullen to look into Hersch after he’d met with Frasier. Had the colonel known there was a connection? Maybe not. Without being able to talk to Frasier, she might never find out.

  “Odie…?”

  Jag thought she was deliberately withholding information again. “Hey, if you want to know anything about Roth, you’re going to have to ask Cullen. I’m not saying a word unless he approves.”

  “Cullen?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, let’s call him then.” When Odie didn’t move, he said, “Go on, call him right now.”

  If she didn’t call him, he’d only be more convinced that she was hiding a dark side. He didn’t trust her and that would make it worse. But if she did call Cullen, what then? She’d risk him asking too many questions. She didn’t have to answer, not yet, and Cullen already suspected something since she ran off to D.C. without Jag, defying his orders. So, really she had nothing to lose. And Cullen might tell her something important about Roth.

  She found her cell and called. Her hands trembled. Her nerves felt like live wires whipping and lashing in her body. It made her nauseous. All the while Jag noticed. And he thought it was attributed to her secrets.

  “Odie. You have something to report?” Cullen asked as soon as he answered.

  Her heart slammed behind her rib cage. “Who asked you to look into Hersch, Cullen?” she asked, even though she already knew.

  “Excuse me? You know we never discuss that. What are you doing, Odie? You went to D.C. on your own and now you’re digging where you don’t belong. You’re beginning to test my patience.”

  “Jag and I just left Heather Darby’s house.” Odie knew she had to talk fast. “Frasier Darby was her husband. We followed Calan to his cabin and found him dead.”

  “Who the hell is Frasier Darby?”

  So, he didn’t know. Odie was relieved, and then she felt guilty because she was withholding information from him and he was not. He’d taken his orders from Roth and passed them on to her and Jag.

  “He was an engineer who was having an affair with someone we have yet to identify. Heather said that’s the reason she kicked him out. He cheated on her.”

  “That’s all fine for daytime television, Odie. Why did you call me?”

  “Heather said Frasier went to talk to Colonel Roth about a month ago.”

  Silence stretched over the line.

  “Whatever you do, don’t go anywhere near him, Odie,” he finally said.

  “We have to talk to him.”

  “No, we don’t. He had a reason for putting us on to Hersch. Do your job and leave him out of it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes.”

  “You do what I tell you and stay away from Roth.”

  “Cullen—”

  “Something like this could ruin TES. You of all people should know that.”

  “Yes, I do know. But look at what we have so far. Kate was murdered. Her boyfriend may have killed some Joe Blow engineer who went to see Roth a month ago. But Roth never mentioned it when he asked you to look into Hersch. He’s connected, Cullen. He knows more than he told you.”

  Another long silence ensued. “If you’re suggesting he might be dirty…”

  “No, I’m not. But he is protecting something or someone, and I think the woman Darby was having an affair with is the key.”

  “Why her?”

  “Because it fits. Darby doesn’t run in the same circles as Kate, but whoever he was sleeping with must.”

  “You don’t know who she is.”

  “No.” Her heart sank because she knew what he was going to say next.

  “Then that’s where you need to focus your energy. I mean it, Odie. You could crucify this organization if you aren’t careful.”

  “I know that. Don’t you think I know that? After all the publicity your wife’s rescue mission generated? That almost killed us then.”

  “This is personal to you.”

  “It was personal for you, too.”

  “Damn it, Odie, don’t pull your crap on me right now.”

  She bit back a retort. Why was he keeping her away from Roth?

  “Tell me why you went to D.C. without Jag,” Cullen said. “Then maybe I’ll listen to ideas of talking to Roth.”

  Odie closed her eyes. Maybe it was time. He’d always been her rock. The one who never let her down, and trusted her implicitly. He waited for her to tell him now. But she couldn’t. She was too afraid.

  “What do you want me to tell Jag?” she asked instead.

  “Don’t tell him who Roth is. I regret ever telling you.”

  That stung. But he disconnected before she could say more.

  She lowered her phone and stared down at it in her hand. How was she going to avoid telling Jag? The strange thing was…she wanted to tell him.

  “Well?” he said.

  “He doesn’t want me to tell you.”

  Jag sighed hard. “That figures. I should be getting used to this by now.”

  She looked over at him. “Roth is connected to TES.”

  He stared at her. “What?”

  Odie’s heart hammered hard and fast. “He’s the one who asked Cullen to look into Hersch.”

  Jag just stared at her.

  “That’s way more than I should have told you. If Cullen found out, he’d ruin me. He goes to great pains to keep the identities of his contacts in the government secret. It’s imperative to the survival of TES.”

  “I won’t say a word, Odie. And if you can tell me that, why can’t you tell me about your father?”

  In that instant, she knew she could. “Because I’m afraid he’s linked to Hersch somehow. I know something that could prove he was involved with someone really terrible, but I’m almost ninety-nine percent sure he was set up.”

  “Almost?” He sounded angry. “Who might he have been involved with?”

  It scared her to even say the name. “Abu Dharr al-Majid. He heads a Zaidi rebel group believed to be funded by the Iranians.” She hesitated. “I’ve done some digging and it looks like…it looks like…” She couldn’t finish.

  “It looks like what, Odie?” Jag demanded.

  She looked over at him. “I recently found ties to…other…more well-known terrorists.”

  Jag’s mouth tightened and she could tell he fought his temper. “And you kept that from TES?”

  “Dharr was on our Watch List.”

  “But ties to terrorism removes them from the Watch. He belongs in Surveillance now. You hindered that progress by keeping it a secret. Dharr could have been stopped long before now.”

  He was furious.

  “I would have turned him in to Surveillance. But I got that package. I just wanted to check some things out first.”

  That wasn’t enough to placate him. He still looked at her with disgust and anger.

  “Jag, please try to understand what I was dealing with. My father wouldn’t have gotten involved with someone like that.”

  “Your father is dead.”

  “Yes, and even in death someone out there wants him to be their scapegoat. I want to uncover the truth, but I don’t want his reputation tarnished.”

  “What makes you think he met with Dharr?”

  “Kate found pictures of him meeting him in Yemen. An anonymous source sent them to her after she d
id some fishing.”

  “So someone wanted you to find out.”

  “Yes. And that’s what convinced me it was a setup. My father looks like the bad guy, when in fact he’s not.”

  “Or so you hope.” His disgust with her hurt more than she expected. “How long have you known this?”

  “Kate found someone in Yemen last year. That someone went to the anonymous source and that’s when we received the photos. But there’s more.” She hesitated. This wasn’t going to go over well. Jag looked over at her and cocked his head in disbelief. “After my father was killed, I found an email he’d sent.” She didn’t want to finish.

  “What did the email say?”

  “It said, ‘Meet me at my house. We’ll discuss logistics there.’ A time was specified and it matches when he was killed.”

  “So, you think someone other than your father sent it from his computer.”

  “Yes.” Dharr. “I was able to trace it to Yemen, but I never located the source. I think Dharr sent it and then killed him.”

  “What did you do with the email?”

  She pressed her lips closed and looked out the window.

  “You got rid of it?” He sounded incredulous.

  “I have all I need up here.” She tapped her head with her forefinger.

  “What about the pictures?”

  She looked out the windshield this time.

  “You got rid of them?” he shouted. And then swore.

  “I was conducting my own investigation. The police were going nowhere. It would have been a waste of time to rely on them. I wanted to find my father’s killer and that email and those photos were a setup.”

  Jag didn’t ask any more questions. He was too steaming mad. She all but felt it radiating off him.

  “You should have come clean from the start, Odie.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” she yelled. “How do you think I felt when Kate sent me that file on Hersch?”

  “So you did see it.”

  “No. I told you the truth. I didn’t see everything, I saw the picture of Hersch and another of a man I didn’t recognize. Frasier Darby. I withheld that because I wanted to know who he was first.”

  “How did you know Hersch was connected to your dad?”

  “I didn’t. Not exactly. Kate wrote some initials on the package. It was our code. She wrote ELF on the return address whenever something was related to my father.”

  “And you didn’t get a chance to find out how.”

  “No.”

  Again, Jag didn’t say anything for a while. “All right. I can see why you were so worried. And maybe even why you felt like you had to keep it from me.”

  “From everyone.”

  “But you shouldn’t have kept something like Dharr a secret. It could be the missing piece.”

  He meant about her father’s murder. That touched a deep and warm place in her heart. Instead of focusing only on the things she’d withheld, he was more concerned with helping her find her father’s killer. Or did he think her father’s killer could also be Kate’s? And the key to taking down Hersch.

  Had she been so wrapped up in protecting her father’s innocence that she’d missed that? “What do you think we should do?”

  “What we were supposed to do from the beginning. Get inside Hersch’s organization and see what turns up.”

  “You can’t work for him. He might be the one who sent that man after the package Kate sent me.”

  “We’ll keep out of sight. Watch him for a while. Tap into his communications. Take a look inside Defense Initiatives.”

  They would have gotten to that point eventually anyway. Kate’s murder had only delayed things.

  They reached the hotel and got into the elevator. They were alone.

  “What would you have done if you discovered your father was really doing business with Dharr?” Jag asked, pressing the button for their floor.

  “I would have told Cullen.”

  He looked doubtful.

  She met his eyes. “I would have. And I’ll do the same if that’s what we discover now.”

  His doubtful expression remained but he didn’t argue.

  “What are we going to do about Roth?” she asked.

  He continued to stare at her. “What do you want to do?”

  “Go talk to him.”

  Again, he stared at her. “What about Cullen?”

  She didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to go behind his back but she didn’t see any other way.

  The elevator opened and Jag put his hand on her lower back, guiding her into the hall.

  “I can’t do this without you,” she said.

  “Yes, you could.”

  She smiled. “You’d only catch up to me.”

  He didn’t return her smile. Instead, he opened their room door and let her in ahead of him. “Get the address to Roth’s house. I don’t want to meet him anywhere public.”

  Chapter 7

  They waited until that evening to go to Colonel Roth’s residence, and now they climbed onto the porch of a large Victorian house. Odie glanced around as Jag rang the bell. No one was lurking.

  A few minutes later, a woman answered.

  “Is Colonel Roth here?” Jag asked.

  “Who are you?”

  “Tell him we work for Cullen.”

  The woman eyed him and then Odie before closing the door. Odie looked at Jag.

  “Is she going to get him?” she asked.

  Before Jag could reply, the door swung open again and Colonel Roth’s angry face appeared.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Sir, we need to ask you some questions.”

  He searched the front yard and street. “If there’s anything you need to know, ask Cullen. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Please, sir, we just spoke with Frasier Darby’s wife and she said he came to see you. It’s important that we talk.”

  Roth opened the door wider and moved aside to let them in. He was a big man, a little thick in the middle, but not to the point of obesity. He wore glasses and his hair was gray and receding. Odie had never met him in person and seeing the man behind TES was awe-inspiring. Of course there were others he worked with to generate assignments, but the orders came from Roth. Odie didn’t know any of the other members, only Cullen did, and it would stay that way.

  Roth said nothing, just led them to a library off the dark wood floor and white trim entry. A white leather sectional faced a wall of windows and was flanked by towering bookshelves. Anytime she saw a library like this she admired the intelligence of its owner.

  Roth turned to face them. “This better be good.”

  “We wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”

  After a few seconds, he nodded.

  “We need to know why Frasier came to see you,” Jag said. “You didn’t mention that to Cullen, at least, he didn’t tell us when we started this assignment.”

  Roth ignored him. He stared at Odie and then something changed on his face.

  “You’re Odie.” He sounded surprised.

  He knew who she was?

  “Odelia Frank?”

  “Y-Yes…?”

  Unbelievably, he smiled. “I knew your father very well. We were good friends. I don’t know if you knew that.”

  “Uh…no.” She looked at Jag and saw the shrug in his eyes.

  “Most of our relations were on a professional level,” he continued. “He was a good man. I never had a chance to say how sorry I am that he’s gone, and I had to miss his funeral.”

  “Thank you.” This was strange. Why was he talking about her father? As soon as he recognized her his temper had eased.

  “I still can’t believe anyone would want to kill him. And to think his killer was never caught…” Roth shook his head. “It’s a travesty.”

  “I always wondered if it was someone on the inside. Someone who knew him,” she said. Someone who wanted to silence him. She waited to see what Roth
would say. Did he know anything?

  “I can’t imagine who. Your father was good at picking the best men. Whenever I needed someone, I always went to him first.”

  Realization expanded inside her head, catching her off guard. Cullen worked for Roth. Roth knew her father. “That’s how Cullen found me.” She said the thought out loud. “It was you.”

  “Yes. I asked Cullen to bring you home. And you went to work for him just as your father wanted.”

  “He never told me.”

  “Cullen needed a good intelligence officer, and I knew you had just resigned your position with the army. Your father was concerned about the state you were in after Sage was killed. I thought it was a good fit and he agreed. Cullen did, too. He was happy to have someone with your background.”

  Remembering that time sobered her. It seemed like another lifetime. She looked over at Jag. More so now than ever.

  “Cullen says you’re still trying to solve your father’s murder,” Roth said, bringing her back.

  “Yes. Kate was helping me.”

  His brow creased in consternation. “I didn’t know that.”

  No one did. Not until now. “I think she may have uncovered something that threatened his killer.”

  “But she was looking into Hersch.”

  “I know.” She let him fill in the blanks on his own.

  “You think his murder has something to do with this investigation?”

  “Yes, but we don’t know how.” She explained about the initials and the package she never had a chance to fully study.

  Roth lifted his hand and rubbed his forehead in thought.

  “Why did Frasier come to see you?” Jag repeated the question, reminding them of the reason he and Odie were here.

  Roth dropped his hand. “He knew I was close to Odie’s father, but her father is dead, so he came to me instead. He’s the one who told me Hersch was working with an Albanian military export company. I asked Cullen to validate the claim, given the fact that our government uses Hersch’s services from time to time.”

  How did Frasier know her father?

  “Why didn’t you tell Cullen where you got the information?” Jag asked. “You could have saved us a lot of time. We could have looked into Darby earlier than now.” She was a little angry about that.

  “This began as a recon mission, and Darby begged me not to reveal his identity. My only concern at that time was to confirm his claim that Hersch was going rogue.”