by JT Kalnay
"Your course is open already?”
“Not really. Only for a few selected members and guests.”
“Oh. Yes sir,” Jay answered. Jay ambled down the hall to the elevator, got back to his floor and returned to his office. Then he did something he'd never done in his whole life. He put his feet up on his desk, lit a stinky cigar, and pulled a beer out of his soda cooler. He'd iced a couple dozen just for this occasion.
"Game on,” he announced over the office intercom. Within minutes Jay's team was crowded in and cracking jokes and sucking on beers. By the time Hal made it back, the impromptu party was in full swing.
"What's going on here?" Hal asked. Jay stared him down.
"We're having a party to celebrate your great success,” Jay said.
"Oh. Thanks,” Hal replied, totally unaware the joke was on him, in more ways than one. Hal asked for a beer and got one. The party swelled back up and around the crowd. Jay enjoyed his private little joke. When Hal had finished his beer he drifted out of the party.
Ted Spencer noticed Hal leave.
"Nice one on Hal,” Ted said.
"He had it coming,” Jay said.
Both men took a hit on their beers. Ted looked around the office.
"Jay. There are no women here. In a city of 5 million women from 103 different countries there's got to be one I haven't nailed yet. Let's go find her.”
"I've got to get up early tomorrow,” Jay protested.
"Then we better get started,” Ted countered.
Ten minutes later, Ted and Jay were cruising uptown on Ted's motorcycle. After two hours of fruitless bar-hopping Jay had had enough.
"Ted just give me the combo to your apartment. You go find us 2 babes and I'll wait for you over there okay?"
"Yeah sure,” Ted agreed. He pulled his bike to a stop on East 107th & 4th.
"I's 111065,” Ted said.
"Cool,” Jay answered.
"Jay. I might only be able to find one for me,” Ted said.
"Then go to her place.”
"What if she's got a roommate?" Ted asked.
"Never been a problem for you before man,” Jay said.
The two friends laughed out loud. Jay went up to Ted's place and fell asleep quickly. Ted slipped in quietly two hours later, alone, and sated.
Chapter
"First round of the year?" Angus MacKenzie asked Jay Calloway at the Laurel Hollow Country Club on a brisk but sunny Saturday morning.
"No Angus,” Jay answered. "I played Pebble Beach two weeks ago and Pinehurst on Tuesday.”
"What? When?" Angus asked. He was sure that Jay hadn't left the office except for sleep and exercise for the last two months. Angus made a mental note to check the surveillance log.
"Relax,” Jay joked. "I played the simulator at the Wall St. Golf Club. I go over at noon once a week or sometimes after work too. You can keep clubs there and play indoors year round. You should try it.”
"Oh,” Angus relaxed. "So you're going to kick my butt then?" Angus asked.
"You know I'd enjoy nothing more sir,” Jay said formally.
"Bullocks. I'll kick your ass trying,” Angus replied in his best schoolboy English.
The two men warmed up and started the match.
“Is Tonia going to be joining us for the back 9 today?" Jay asked.
"Aye,” Angus answered. "Maybe she'll bring me luck like last time."
"Maybe,” Jay teased. "But I'm really feeling it today.”
"I can tell,” Angus grumbled. The match was only one stroke in his favor.
"Hi babe,” Angus MacKenzie said to Tonia. "Give me a kiss for luck,” he said. “This little shit is breathing down my neck today.” Tonia pecked a little formality at his cheek. Jay saw the brief yet unmistakable moment of distaste cross her face. Jay knew he had to get Tonia away from Angus, he could see the old man tearing the radiant life essence out of her. Jay felt like it was time to let Angus know what was what. He felt the words coming up in his head.
I'm sleeping with your wife, he heard himself say, but the words died in his throat. She doesn’t love you. She loves me, his mind screamed.
Tonia gave Jay a look he hadn't seen before. She'd recognized the rebellion coming to Jay's face. She tried to calm him with her eyes.
"Let's get to it,” Jay announced.
"Right,” Angus replied in his Oxford accent.
They teed off for the back nine with Angus one up. The match went back and forth with Angus stretching the lead to two up and then slipping back into a tie with Jay. They started the 18th hole all square. There was a foursome backing them up so they had to wait. Angus sat down beside Tonia while Jay stretched his tiring back and practiced his swing.
"I heard the live run went well yesterday,” Angus MacKenzie said.
"Yes Angus it did,” Jay replied.
Tonia hadn't heard Jay call him Angus before. Alarm bells rang in her head. She knew it was part of the plan but lately the plan had been interesting her less and less. The goal of the plan seemed to be not as important to her now as it had before.
"We'll keep our eye on it and then announce your position next Friday. I'll have someone talk to Hal on Thursday after work.”
"That'll work,” Jay said. "That'll work just fine.”
Angus noticed the satisfied tone in Jay's voice. Jay stepped up to the tee for the final hole.
"Almost time to pay the piper,” Angus whispered to Tonia. "We've got him just where we want him.”
Chapter
"And so it is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Jay Calloway to the position of technical director for CTSG,” Angus MacKenzie announced. "He will be assuming the responsibilities of the former director plus some additional duties. Jay? Do you have anything you'd like to add?" Angus MacKenzie asked.
"No thanks, Mr. MacKenzie,” Jay answered. His face was beaming with equal amounts of pride and vindication.
Polite applause made the rounds of the room while Angus shook Jay's hand for the photographer. As soon as Angus was gone, the members of Jay's former and current groups went wild. Bill Beck appeared with a bottle of champagne. The party spilled out after work into the same bar where Jay had picked up Maria over a year ago. Jay saw Ted leave with an ugly woman and laughed out loud.
"I know where they’re headed,” Jay said to himself. He thought about sneaking up to Ted's apartment and letting himself in with the secret code and embarrassing Ted by finding him with the ugly woman. Jay decided against it.
The drinking and back clapping carried on for several hours. Near the end Jay felt a compelling urge to call Tonia. He worked his way to the pay phone, dropped a quarter and dialed her number. A male voice that wasn't Angus MacKenzie answered the phone.
Jay hung up the phone and went home alone.
Later that night Jay went for a walk by himself through the safe downtown streets of Battery Park City. Walking directly south from his apartment he came to the South Quay in the Hudson River. He hung his confused head over the lumber railing and wept quietly in his hands.
"Tonia. Why?” he cried. "Why?"
"What do you think he's doing? Praying?" the dark man asked.
"I don't know,” the larger of the two answered.
"Looks like he's trying to decide whether to jump in."
"Kind of."
"Poor bastard."
"What?"
"He has no idea does he?"
"So?"
"So that makes him a pretty pathetically poor bastard in my opinion.”
After staring at the water for half an hour Jay walked the eight blocks over to his 24 hour downtown video golf club.
"Late night again Jay?” the attendant asked.
"You know it.”
"You want the big bucket?"
"Two,” Jay replied.
The attendant knew Jay well enough from his late night visits to leave him alone when he was in a two bucket mood. Jay whacked golf balls then played Golden Tee until dawn.
When he finally got home, an email from C. Daniel Kinchon was in his inbox.
The email asked if Jay was free for lunch in a couple days because C. Daniel was going to be in town for a conference at NYU. Jay quickly replied, offered C. Daniel free room and board in his apartment. In a few moments C. Daniel replied and turned down the offer, reporting that his university was picking up the whole tab, but he really would like to get together for lunch. Jay replied and they made the arrangements.
Chapter
“So how do you like New York,” Jay Calloway asked C. Daniel Kinchon.
“I don’t,” C. Daniel answered.
“Why not?” Jay asked.
“The better question is how can you stand it here?” C. Daniel replied.
“I have a great job. It’s exciting. They pay me great. I’m doing really super complicated stuff based off my research. What could be better?” Jay asked.
“I can think of a lot better,” C. Daniel answered coolly.
“Like?”
“Like using all that talent of yours and all those ideas of yours for some greater good. Is getting rich why God gave you all those brains? Is making some fat cats a lot fatter really what you want to do?”
“C. Daniel. When did you become such a prude?” Jay asked.
“No sir. I am still the same person. When did you become such a New Yorker?”
The student stared into the eyes of his former mentor. The man he’d respected and looked up to was nowhere to be found. Instead, a slick New Yorker sat across from him.
“How’s the conference?” Jay asked.
“It’s great. Let me tell you the directions people are taking your research…”
The rest of the lunch passed in polite academic conversation.
Chapter
"We've been up for two weeks now,” Jay announced to his crew. "We're going to be moving onto our next project in three weeks so I want everyone to go on vacation for ten days between now and then. Mr. MacKenzie has made the Key West condo available for any and or all of you. Missy has the different combinations for the different weeks. Work it out amongst yourselves so that there's always at least 3 people here to cover training and support.”
Heads instantly nodded in agreement. Though they had come together well, the team had been pushing hard and needed the rest.
"What are you gonna do?" one of the team asked.
"You know better,” Jay chided. His team laughed at the inside joke. Jay's life away from the office was a closely guarded secret. He didn't wear a beeper and not even Missy his personal secretary knew his home phone number. "When you're at work you're at work, when you're not you're not,” Jay repeated. Many of the team chanted the oft-repeated words with him. A laugh went up.
Even so several of his workers had seen him jogging alone and one had seen him and Tonia at a 5K race in Syosset. So at least they knew the gay lover theory had no basis. Although, another worker had seen him at his lunch with C. Daniel, so the theory was still alive. Still no-one except Ted Spencer knew a single thing more about Jay than he wanted them to.
"I will tell you this,” Jay said, looking at the grey overcast sky clinging to the cold, steely waters of the Hudson River. "When I get back my skin won't be this color.”
Jay held up his pale arms. Laughter greeted his programmer's joke. Jay smiled at the team, made his excuses and left to get ready for his jog.
"He's leaving town again,” the dark man said into the phone.
"Yeah I heard,” the voice at the other end replied.
"Where's he going?"
"Don't know,” the dark man said.
"Does Tonia know?" the voice asked.
"No.”
"Damn. She hasn't worked out the way we thought she would has she?"
"Not lately. I question her commitment to this assignment.”
"We better get a team ready for his trip. The deal goes down the first week of April. We want to make sure our boy's here to take the fall.”
"What should we do about her?"
"That ain't our decision now is it?"
"Right.”
Jay cruised through the overpass connecting the World Financial Center to the World Trade Center. His black running tights swished between his legs. His new Nike Air Huarache running shoes squeaked on the wet rubber floor. Behind him the noon-hour chase team was trying to maintain a loose, inconspicuous tail. Jay's routine was so established that they'd become lax in their coverage. Jay always left around the same time, then either took the A train uptown and jogged back downtown or else he went out the West doors of the Winter Garden and ran fast half mile repeats along the Hudson. Watching him along the Hudson was easy. They had an unobstructed view in both directions from a rooftop perch. But the ease had made them predictable. Jay knew who would be watching and from where. He mentally ticked off seeing the same people in the same places day after day. It took a serious act of will not to nod to the watchers as he went by. The only time he didn’t see them was when his run was a stair climb. Since he could get into and out of the stairwell in the 54 story tower, Jay would practice for Everest once a week by walking up and down the stairs carrying a backpack filled with sand. The watchers never bothered to watch him in the stairs.
When Jay rode the A train it was harder to watch him. So they’d manufactured a street person who took up residence in the station. Jay had even given the street person a hot dog on one of his philanthropic feeding adventures. An agent would ride the train with Jay then radio the other members of the team when Jay got off at a station. There was no need to indicate direction. It was always back to work. They figured they had their man completely cased.
So it was that today the two tail agents were far enough behind Jay that they didn't see him duck into the uptown 1/9 subway alcove as he passed out of view around a corner. Jay raced down the stairs, dropped his token in the turnstile and leapt on the just-arrived train.
"A clean getaway,” Jay said to himself. He'd picked up the trail team about twice a week since he'd started in CTSG. They didn't bother him. He was rather flattered that the firm felt him valuable enough to shadow. It had to be the firm because Tonia was nearly completely out of the picture. Still, today Jay needed some privacy.
"They're going to shit in about ten minutes,” Jay thought.
He rode up to 34th street, Penn Station. He jumped off the train in the middle of the lunch hour crowd. Jay worked quickly down off the platform and into the station. He ducked in and out of the little stores that fill the waiting areas and long hallways of the underground labyrinth that connects the subways to the Amtrak to the Long Island Rail Road. When he was sure he was not being followed Jay dashed to an open payphone and dropped a quarter.
Jay dialed the long distance number Rick had made him memorize in Tennessee. The operator's voice prompted him for another dollar and a half. Finally he heard the ringing phone, an answering click and a dull beep. There was no cute welcoming message. Rick only expected Jay to call on this line.
"No Cacti here. Spahn and Sehn and wait 30 year. Word 23,” was his cryptic message. Jay hung up.
"I hope that wasn't too obtuse,” Jay said to himself but he knew Rick would get the hidden meaning that any longtime Cincinnati baseball nut could decipher. Jay backtracked to the subways and headed for the 8th avenue line. He picked up the A train and rode it uptown another couple of stops. He started the long jog back to work feeling like a character in a Le Carre novel.
"What do you mean you lost him again?"
"What's the big deal? We know he's going jogging and when he'll be back. He's so predictable it's pathetic.”
"Yeah right,” the one man said. "I'd hate to be you guys if Stan knew how often he was losing you. Imagine if Calloway knew you were on him. You'd lose him and never pick him up again.”
"Sure.”
"Well it won't matter in another couple weeks anyway.”
"Right,” the younger man said. But his face was reddening and stinging. "We'll see how
long it takes before he loses us again,” he challenged.
"I am out of here,” Jay announced to Missy.
"Bye boss,” she said. Jay noticed the pleasant upturn of her mouth and her fine facial features.
She is so young and so pretty.
"See you in a couple weeks,” Jay said.
"I'll miss you,” she said.
"I'll miss you too,” Jay said. He leaned in and gave her an older brother kiss on the cheek. It was extremely unprofessional but it felt right at that moment.
"Bye,” she called to his retreating figure.
Jay left work, went home, packed a small bag and headed for the subway. He'd figured he'd use his favorite dodges to lose a tail if one was on him. Jay wanted to enjoy his vacation without having to look over his shoulder. He hadn't counted on the wounded pride of the junior CIA man from Stan Krantz' group.
"He ain't gonna lose us this time,” Warren Fishky said. He'd called in an additional team and meant to stay on Jay tight. "The transmitter I planted in Calloway's running shoes figures to help,” he explained to his fresh team.
"He's moving,” the agent said. "He's not going for his truck.”
"Shit,” the agent in charge muttered. "Did you copy that? He is not going for the truck," Agent Warren spoke into his radio.
"One?”
Click.
"Two?"
Click, click.
"Three?"
Click, click, click.
"Four?"
Click, click, click, click. Each of the chase teams responded on their radios with short clicks on their transmitters. Someone two feet away wouldn't have noticed the motion required. Agent Fishky was taking everything serious after the dressing down he'd taken earlier in the day for losing Calloway at lunch. Warren Fishky was deathly afraid of his boss, Stan Krantz.
Jay loitered by the bank of payphones outside the entrance to the 1/9 subway stop in the World Trade Center. He was scouting to make sure no-one was on him. He thought he'd seen one man watching him but then that guy had walked away and not come back. Jay heard the ringing bell indicating the arriving subway train below. He hung up the phone he was holding as a decoy.
