Probe

by Douglas E Roff

  “Man, this did turn out better than I hoped. I closed strong.”

  “We’ll see about that, mister. Class is now officially in session.”

  Chapter 16

  After the dust settled on the excitement, and trauma of the previous day, Misti, Alana and Adam woke up to a day less strained and more normal. Adam was first to rise, as was his custom back home, at 5:00 am, sliding quickly into the living room to make coffee and fire up his computer. It wasn’t that he was addicted to work but the proposed addition of Alana to the Project team and to Team Misti had predictable consequences as well as a few that were not.

  Adam poked his head outside the door to see if the two FBI agents assigned to babysit them had been properly attended to with coffee, breakfast, or both. It turned out that the agents in the hall were both female while the detail in the lobby was comprised of three men.

  “Good morning ladies,” said Adam cheerfully. “Not sure what our protocols are for the rest of our stay here in Hawaii, but I thought I’d start by asking if we can invite you in for breakfast or coffee. Or if you’d prefer, can we order some breakfast or coffee for you for out here.

  The petite Asian agent, the senior agent in charge of the detail in her mid-30’s, answered somewhat formally that while the offer was kind, they had already eaten. She also mentioned that they had been instructed not to intrude on the privacy of the guests in the suite unless there was a problem. Was there a problem, she asked?

  “There might be a little later,” Adam said. “In which case, you are invited in to investigate, both of you together, or one at a time. And since you will already be inside, you may as well join us for breakfast. I’m having something now and the ladies will be dining a little later. Perhaps you can knock on the door and see what the commotion is all about when you’re ready.”

  The ladies smiled and thanked him. Yes, that would be appreciated. Besides, they each said, they’d always wanted to see what the suite looked like inside.

  “The other thing is that we’d all like to get introduced and go over whatever protocols we should know about. Going out, sightseeing and security details. Just want to make your jobs and our lives a little easier.”

  They both said they’d be happy to go over the security arrangements and could do that whenever he and the ladies were ready. Did he have any questions?

  Adam said he had only one just then but would have a few more later. “I assume everyone is armed?”

  “Yes sir”, the other agent said.

  “And the detail downstairs too?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Personnel on the street?”

  The agents looked at each other. “Yes sir.”

  The agent in charge looked at Adam and asked, “Are you expecting trouble sir?”

  Adam turned to leave, and said, “Unfortunately, yes I am.”

  ***

  The next warm body to emerge was Alana who mentioned that, when not kept up all night by Misti, was an early riser and was normally up, and running by five in the morning also. They ordered breakfast and fresh coffee, then sat down to discuss both the events of the week and their new plans, both for London and Barrows Bay. They would wait for the third wheel to roll out of bed before figuring out what they wanted to do until Sunday.

  Alana was quiet, thinking about what to say. She was overwhelmed by the events of the week, the turnabout in her life and the prospect of a future that, while likely filled with some chaos and probable uncertainty, might finally be both happy and promising. She would be among her friends, in a small community where she could feel safe, surrounded by men and women stationed there to protect her. And she would be with her father, working as a team again.

  Her future looked bright.

  “I want you to know, Adam how much I appreciate everything you have done for me and for my Dad. None of this, including these incredible new opportunities, our work, and the hope of a peaceful and quiet life, wouldn’t have been possible without you and your family. I’m not used to change and this much change is almost too much to take in all at once. It’s so … huge, so immense. I just want you to know that it may take some time for me, and for daddy, to adjust.”

  She stopped, then said, “It’s always been just us, you know. My dad and me with no other family around. No social life to speak of, except some of dad’s graduate students. Now Misti says we will have a huge family, in Barrows Bay and in Seattle. She said we will meet them all and they will want to get to know us too. And there’ll be events with kids and moms and dads. It’s … it’s a little scary. And daunting. And a tiny bit frightening. I hope you’ll be patient. Patient with both daddy and me.”

  Adam smiled, “I think you worry a lot; too much in fact. Not that there aren’t things to think about, certainly this is a lot to take in, and so quickly. It’s such a massive departure from life as you knew it last week. But we’ll go slow and let you, and your dad take as much time as you need to adjust. We’ll start in Barrows Bay, then work our way south. There’s absolutely no hurry.”

  Adam reflected for a moment. “I think San Diego and London will be good for all of us. We’re all going to meet your father. And you’re going to meet my Dad and my brother and my sister. And yes, my ex-girlfriend too. They’re all wonderful people. Crazy wonderful people, each with a different story, not all of it happy. Not much different from you. But we try; we try to be happy.”

  Adam continued, “Misti says all we can do is try, try to be a little bit better each and every day. Some days it’s a yes, some days it’s a no. But we’re all family and I know that everyone is going to fall in love with you. Just like Misti and me. That’s another thing I can promise.”

  Alana reached over to hold Adam’s hand. “There was one other thing I wanted to say to you. Just you.”

  “Sure.”

  “I feel like both you and Misti have reached out and taken me in. No questions asked and no conditions. You haven’t asked anything of me and you have done so much to make me welcome and happy. And I know you have been especially kind, and patient, and probably done even more that I don’t know about. I’m not used to getting any attention at all. So, when everything got started, and I mean with me and Misti, I just felt so happy and safe inside. And selfish too. Your wife is … a force of nature, she just doesn’t stop. She’s relentless and sweet. She cares for me, I know. And she watches out for me and wants to protect me. Not like with you; not in the same way. I feel like she always knows how I feel and what I need right at the exact moment that I need it. I feel safe with her. With my heart. Do you understand?”

  “I do. And that worries you. About me.”

  “Yes, of course it does. How couldn’t it? I know this must’ve affected you too. Last week it was just the two of you and I know you guys were happy and deeply in love and had each other all to yourselves; no sharing. Now there’s suddenly me, a stranger, and I feel like I’m stealing time with her away from you. I just don’t want you to feel like I’m a bad thing in your lives. And in our lives together. I need to know that you want me here too, with Misti and with you. That I can do something to make you happy too. I am so, so very happy with Misti in so many ways. I want you to feel that happiness, my happiness, in your life too. I need to know I’m adding something to your life, not taking something away.”

  Adam said, sweetly, “I know I can be pretty dense and self-absorbed. And, truthfully, there isn’t much I care about that isn’t work or family. But really, my entire life is my family. It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. My life before Misti was good but terribly, terribly incomplete, and unfulfilling. My life was headed nowhere. That wasn’t even a year ago. Then Misti happened and it all changed, changed suddenly, and so completely, and so totally that I could hardly catch my breath. But our life together as a couple isn’t like it is for other people, and that is true for so many strange and wonderful reasons.

  “What we agreed when we started living together was that we would cr
eate a life that was totally unique; just for us. Not like for anyone else, but just suited to who and what we are. And what really mattered was only what made us happy. Sometimes what we want and how we live isn’t easy for our family or the world at large to understand. And it may be hard on them, very hard in fact, but they will need to get comfortable with the only thing that matters: our lives together. The lives we have chosen, the lives we have carved out of this world for Misti and Adam. Otherwise none of the effort and commotion has any meaning. Then it isn’t worthwhile, and we would both just be miserable.

  “So, Alana McCarthy, what I think is that Misti St. James is the luckiest girl on the planet. She has two souls who are crazy about her. And I think we’re both incredibly lucky to have her. I won’t lose anything with you in our lives; I will gain a wonderful, smart, funny, incredibly beautiful, and talented friend who will do nothing but add to my life and make an already rich man the richest man in the world.

  “I’d say I am pretty lucky to have bumped into you. I think we both are. I can’t wait for the adventure of our new life together to begin. And that goes for you too.”

  “And our guy is right,” said Misti, as she overheard the conversation from the bedroom door. “Right about everything he just said. I still think he’s a girl, especially when he says such beautiful things that make me so happy. And he reminds me every day why I love him and can never be without him. He still is the only man who can make me cry because he touches my heart. Now come here immediately and give me a kiss. Then tell me how much you love me all over again.”

  Alana flew in to Misti’s arms and held her.

  “Besides,” Adam said, “It’s gonna take both of us.”

  “For what?” asked Alana.

  “To keep our Mistress happy and satisfied. She’s a tyrant you know. And very bossy.”

  Misti smiled, arms around her girl. “Poor kids. How will you ever get by?”

  Chapter 17

  Sunday arrived too quickly and although the Hawaiian Islands had been beautiful, the presence of armed FBI agents outside their door, in the lobby and waiting for them outside as they walked on the beach to see the sunset, had begun to cool their ardor for paradise. It was, however, brief insight into the nature of their new life in Barrows Bay; both the FBI and CSIS would have armed security on the grounds of the Institute. Intellectually the security was welcome; in every other respect, it was not.

  They understood their lives were changing; now they were beginning to see exactly how. Alana worried that this was a new burden brought on by her and the bounty on her head; Adam and Misti assured her that it was not. When the details of the new project were finally revealed to her and Alana understood the full implications of the potential danger, she might well feel that the precautions to be taken wouldn’t be enough. For the present, she would’ve to take their word for it.

  Fred the FBI driver picked them up at 6:00 am sharp for the drive out to a small airfield near Pearl Harbor. The private jet was on lease to the FBI, although the pilots, and steward for the flight were on loan from a friend of the family, an investment banker who happened to be in Hawaii vacationing with his family. The crew would escort them to San Diego, then onward to London. Then they would deadhead back to the States and finally rejoin their employer a few days later back in Hawaii.

  Adam arranged for a private security company to sweep the plane for electronics; he had little confidence that either the FBI or the NSA would refrain from listening in on the conversations taking place between Honolulu and London. A couple of suspicious items were discovered and removed, but otherwise the cabin was judged clean, and the flight could proceed. The same procedure would be followed prior to departure from Lindbergh Field in San Diego on Monday.

  Their luggage stowed, and the flight cleared for departure, the plane was wheels up by 7:30 am. They were scheduled to land in late afternoon at the executive terminal of San Diego International Airport, where Edward and Edmund McCarthy would greet them. Then a quick trip to La Jolla to allow Alana to repack for London, then dinner, then back to Lindbergh Field for an overnight flight to London. They would be at Heathrow by morning where they would meet their family and friends who too, for the most part, would’ve just newly arrived.

  Most of the new arrivals would be staying at the Loft, the headquarters of the Project in London, located in Kensington. Misti, Alana and Adam would be staying nearby at the private residence of an American diplomat on furlough back in the States. Security had been arranged for their stay, and consisted of two teams, one American and one British. Adam had been assured that their presence would be unremarkable and no bother. They were free to walk the streets of London like any other tourist without concern for safety, although the Tube was off limits; local security at the Loft would provide all transportation.

  With Misti and Alana thus briefed on their upcoming schedule, the three settled into their well-appointed surroundings and tried to relax.

  Alana accepted all the precautions as necessary for her travels, given the nature and sensitivity of her work for the Feds, and the bounties outstanding on her head. But she was less clear on the overlapping connections between the Feds and Adam, and the Feds and the rest of the team. Besides, it sounded like the Project was some sort of anthropology gig, and that couldn’t have any connection to her work, or for that matter, Adam’s. And yet it did.

  “Can you clear up any of this confusion? I mean I’m happy to do as we have discussed, and daddy says it’s all good and has been cleared by the agencies, but something doesn’t seem to add up. What am I missing? What’s your angle, Adam, and what has your work got to do with the agencies?”

  “That’s a good question and should be a good introduction to the family in Barrows Bay. I guess we can start with my Dad, who you will meet in San Diego when we land. Dad is an anthropologist by training and most of his work is in forensic archeology.”

  “I have his book. You’re in it too.”

  “I am. Dad’s work is hunting white collar criminals, so that brought him close to the FBI, Interpol, and a few other law enforcement agencies around the world. Occasionally that brought him into contact with the CIA, and eventually the NSA. That took years; it didn’t happen overnight. He’s the head of the family business and, in one way or another, we all either work with him or for him. His work, and the jobs he arranged for us, have always been the tastiest items on the menu. No need to go elsewhere.

  “Next is my Mom, Maria. She’s an engineer and just about all her work is for the Feds. She makes things that they can use. If there is an electronic side with software, then I do that with her. Enough said. My other dad is Agustin who we all call Pops. Pops is a chemist by trade but also does toxicology and more recently has branched out to materials manufacture. Mostly on the molecular level. More on that later. Almost everything he does is also for the Feds.

  “Then there is my brother, Rod and his wife Cindy. My sis. We three grew up together. Now they do two different kinds of things. One is security type work, non-computer stuff, for the Feds and other international agencies on loan. Dad arranges all that. Plus, Cindy manages the family money and Rod also does our contract compliance. Makes sure we get paid and paid correctly

  “That leaves Misti and me. Misti works with Dad and oversees our projects and who is doing what. You’ll have to ask her for more detail since this is for my Dad. Nobody has ever had clearance for insight into his empire, except now for Misti. She’s been his only daughter since she was eight. They’re as close as close can be.”

  “True. And Adam knows full well what I do. He’s just barking.”

  “Maybe. But that leaves me. My Dad is the Project Director for the American DataLab Project, a multi-billion dollar intergovernmental and interagency project. I work as the Assistant Director. Dad is Admin and Political, and I’m Operations. All our work now is for the Feds.

  “Like I said, I also work with my Mom on her stuff. All Feds, all the time. My las
t bit is with Dad’s forensics practice, but we hardly do any of that anymore.”

  Adam and Misti spent the rest of the trip explaining the relationships and dynamics of the family in both Barrows Bay and in Seattle. They gave a quick overview of the Eight Families, Carlos, and the social structure. Adam gave Alana the quick and dirty on religion, kids, and cousins. Plus, they gave her a crash course on the “Edward factor” and the newest addition to the family, Bethy McQueen. They filled Alana in with the back story of Edward and Bethy, as well as her long career at State.

  “That is quite a bit of data. How do you keep it all straight?”

  “Long story there too but we can talk about that any time. I need to talk to you about that when we get home. To Barrows. For now, it looks like we are about to land. Fasten your seat belts ladies.”

  Chapter 18

  They arrived as planned, taxied up the Executive terminal and deplaned a short distance from the other commercial aircraft. Edward and a rather distinguished gentleman Misti and Adam took for Dr. Edmund McCarthy were waiting. Baggage handlers were unloading bags, but Alana ran right straight over to her papa and threw her arms around him. Everyone took notice; her affection and love for her Dad was genuine, and her joy at seeing him evident.

  Misti glared a little at Edward, by contrast, although Adam wasn’t exactly sure why. Edward had done a good deed in getting things arranged with Alana and Edmund; she should’ve been happy. Then he recalled his talk with Edward and his Mom and knew that there would be some words exchanged on that topic, probably right away. Misti didn’t let things hang in the air; she normally got down to business straight away. There might be a flash bang but then it would be over.

  Misti said, “Nice to see you, old man. Thanks for all the arrangements. You did good. But I have one little item I need to discuss, and I’d rather get to it right away and then be done with it.”