by J C Ryan
“Deposits were made to your account from three countries that interest me very much. Russia. Iran. Saudi Arabia. You are aware, I assume, that America, your country, has imposed sanctions and trade embargos on the first two. And why would you have dealings with anyone in the country where your wife was kept in custody for almost a year?”
She flung a folder full of documents proving the deposits on the table in front of him. “Now do you have any comments?”
Mackenzie was steaming but remained quiet.
He glanced at the documents and then met Kelly’s gaze. He still had no need to respond, and his determination not to had already given him information about Kelly’s agenda, though not what was driving it.
She’d exaggerated the restrictions on doing business with Russia and Iran. There was no outright embargo. Her knowledge of Mackenzie’s ordeal meant she had far-reaching access to top-secret information. But unless she had other fake documents “proving” an actual crime, they’d do better to gather all the information they could before responding or making their move.
What that move should be remained unclear. He’d like to stand up, take Mackenzie’s hand, and walk out without any trouble. But he already suspected that idea was hopelessly naïve. Everything that had happened since they sat down in this room indicated the CI had made up her mind and was now trying to entrap them into saying something incriminating.
He regarded her impassively, his poker face intact despite her insinuations. His mind, however, was furiously busy. He was now convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt the interview was being recorded, though he hadn’t spotted the devices.
He squeezed Mackenzie’s arm, both to comfort her and to signal her to remain silent and let him deal with the questions. She was angry enough to explode, and whatever came out of her mouth when that happened would be used against them.
So far, he believed Kelly didn’t have enough to justify an arrest but was instead poking around, hoping something would jump out. He still didn’t have a firm conclusion about her role—whether she had manufactured this false evidence herself or had been duped by it. Either way, if he or Mackenzie became aggressive, it could force Kelly’s hand. They’d be taken into custody, and then they’d be well and truly screwed.
Once upon a time, due process required a warrant for arrest, and a warrant required the authorities convincing a judge there was probable cause. Arraignment and a formal charge had to follow in a timely manner, or the suspect had to be released unless a judge ordered incarceration until trial.
However, since 2012, suspected terrorists could be detained indefinitely without trial. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 extended the law, and it remained in effect in direct opposition to the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” Carter suspected it was a thinly disguised permit to badger confessions out of suspected terrorists. Though he agreed with the principle that terrorists could not be allowed their freedom even if there wasn’t enough evidence to convict them, it bothered him that the innocent people of America couldn’t be protected without such draconian and potentially unfair tactics. Now law enforcement was also judge and jury, and it went against his sense of fair play.
In fact, the current situation was a case in point. If Kelly suspected them of an act of terrorism, as she was implying, then she could detain them indefinitely without trial. She’d get away with it, too. No one knew where they were. They could effectively disappear, and though James and Irene would certainly look for them, it was entirely possible they wouldn’t find a thing. Even if they were found, there would be nothing that anyone could do to free them, as long as the suspicions against them remained.
Carter’s only defense was to remain calm and keep Mackenzie calm as well. He could see it was getting to Kelly. She was probably used to dealing with suspects who were more nervous and in awe of her. Not to mention actually guilty.
As the tension drained from Mackenzie’s arm under his hand, he recognized his unspoken message had been received. He smiled at her, gave her arm a pat, and withdrew his hand.
Even when Kelly’s questions became more and more accusatory, Mackenzie remained cool as the proverbial cucumber. If they hadn’t been in such peril, he’d have been a bit disappointed. Mackenzie didn’t lose her temper often, but when she did, the fireworks were exciting to watch.
He brought his attention back to Kelly, aware that only by staying hyperalert could he and Mackenzie navigate the perilous waters, infested with mines planted by her.
Kelly kept on firing barrages of questions at them like a battery of howitzers.
“What were you selling to these people?”
“Nothing. We’ve never sold anything to anyone in those countries, never traded in anything with anybody there. In fact, we’re not traders at all.”
“Professor, you must acknowledge you removed that library from the ancient city of the Giants in Egypt—outright antiquities theft. Admit you are unethical at best and nothing but a common thief at worst.”
“No comment. You should take that up with James Rhodes and Irene O’Connell. I repeat my request that you bring them here.”
“Not going to happen,” she said, and then fired a question at Mackenzie, “Doctor Devereux, you’re no better than your husband. You illegally made a copy of that ancient text in that Armenian library. A text, I might add, that has since disappeared. What did you have to do with its disappearance, and what excuse do you have for violating the stipulation that no copies could be made?”
Mackenzie repeated Carter’s answer to the letter. “No comment. You should take that up with James Rhodes and Irene O’Connell. I repeat our request that you bring them here.”
“Tell me about your time in captivity in Saudi Arabia. What did you do there? Who kept you prisoner, and what did they do to you? What were you working on?”
“No comment. You should take that up with James Rhodes and Irene O’Connell. I repeat our request that you bring them here. For this question, we may also need the President of the United States and the Director of the CIA.”
Unable to shake Mackenzie again, and recognizing she’d lost the advantage of Mackenzie’s fit of temper, she turned back to Carter.
“How did you know where your wife was being held? Where and how did you get that information? Why did it take you so long to set her and your son and daughter free?”
The last question almost brought Carter out of his chair. It was a low blow. Intellectually, he knew the preparations that took ten days felt like an eternity to him at the time but were necessary to get all the information and prepare for the mission. That’s what made the raid successful. However, waiting had strained his control to the breaking point, and he still felt overwhelming guilt that Mackenzie had given birth to their daughter without him while under lock and key.
He needed to do something about this before he lost it. Summoning all the calm he could muster, he held up his hand, stopping Kelly mid-sentence. “Okay, this has gone far enough. We have answered your questions, and there is nothing we can do about the fact that you don’t like the answers. Now, I insist you bring James and Irene here immediately or take us to them. My wife and I will not answer more questions until that happens.”
Kelly struck a sarcastic pose. “Oh, you scare me, Professor Devereux. I’ll bring them in if and when I deem it necessary. Anyone else you want? Didn’t you also mention the Director of the CIA? And let me see… oh yes… the President of the United States? Do you take me for an idiot? You think you can just throw their names around, and I’ll believe you have a personal relationship with them? Preposterous.”
Carter smiled, but with no warmth. I have already decided a while ago that you are an idiot. All we have been trying to do for the last hour or so is to determine how big an idiot you are.
Aloud, he said, “Your opinion notwithstanding, we will no longer engage with you in this outrageously ridiculous conversation. Your accusations and insinuations are baseless, offensive, and rude. If you hav
e such a good case against us, why don’t you explain it to the people we work for? Or do you have some sinister reason why you are afraid to let them hear what you have to say? Either bring in James Rhodes and Irene O’Connell, or we’re out of here, unless you charge us with something.”
Kelly returned his cold smile. “I don’t think you understand your situation, Professor Devereux. It would be in your best interests to cooperate. You know as well as I do that I can invoke the powers granted to me by the NDAA. And I will, if you don’t cooperate. I have a lot more information and a lot more questions. Even if the Director of the CIA or the President himself came here, as ridiculous as that notion is, they couldn’t save you from answering for your crimes.”
Something in her smug expression stopped Carter from what he was about to say—that he and Mackenzie had been working directly with and for the President and Bill. And that one phone call would put her skinny ass in a sling. His mind flashed to the headlines Mackenzie had shown him earlier that morning. Despite his best intentions not to react, he felt his pupils dilating as he made the connection.
We’re not the only ones in trouble here. She’s right; Bill, the President, James, and Irene probably can’t save us—they’re going to be too busy saving themselves.
To his relief, Kelly stood, and her team members jumped to their feet a few seconds later. “I’ll let you think about that for a while.”
The distinctive click of the door being locked signaled her intentions.
Chapter 21 - Detained somewhere else?
Both James and Irene had been dealing with phone calls all morning. They’d agreed to the A-Echelon story breaking knowing full well this would be the consequence, but it was still stressful. They’d been on edge and paranoid ever since Howard Crane’s questions to the President had drawn them into this swamp. Trying to drain it while they were up to their asses in alligators was proving to be more than they’d bargained for. All either could say to the media was, “The matter is under investigation. I can’t comment at this time.”
That was all very well for the media. The media knew that line—it meant they’ll have to wait. And while they waited, they could speculate. The members of Congress and other high-ranking officials, however, weren’t so easily put off and left James’s and Irene’s ears ringing with threats when they wouldn’t say more.
Neither had much time to think about not hearing from Carter and Mackenzie early in the morning, even though they usually called when they landed. It wasn’t until almost noon when there was a break in the phone calls long enough to check in with each other that they both realized neither had heard from the Devereuxs.
Usually, either Carter or Mackenzie would call as soon as they landed. Then they’d check into their hotel and make their way to the A-Echelon offices. Irene tried to suggest they were probably napping or something, since they hadn’t had time to rest from their European vacation before being dragged to Washington by a mysterious summons.
James shook his head. “It’s past noon. We had a firm appointment. And they would’ve seen the headlines and known the shit has hit the fan. Something’s wrong.”
Irene nodded. “You’re right. I’ll call.” She dialed Mackenzie’s number first, and when it went straight to voicemail, she tried Carter’s. “Their phones are off.”
“Try the bodyguards,” James suggested. He was already picking up his desk phone to call the hotel and see if they’d checked in. After a ridiculous song and dance wherein the desk clerk said he couldn’t give out information about guests and James lost his temper and threatened to have the clerk arrested for interfering in a government investigation, he got his answer. They had not checked in.
Then Irene told James the bodyguards’ phones had gone to voicemail as well. Shaken, she fumbled the number and had to start over as she called the executive terminal at Dulles to determine whether they’d ever even landed there. In a moment, she reported to James.
“They did land. They and their bodyguards went through customs with no problems just before nine a.m. What could have happened to them?”
“There are still their GPS trackers. Check their location now.”
Irene made the call to Operations and put the phone on speaker so James could hear the answer for himself. They learned the trackers had been switched off. Major alarm bells went off.
“No, they haven’t,” he said to the Operations tech. “They can’t be. There’s no on/off switch on this model. The only way to make them go silent is to take out the battery or destroy the device.”
“Maybe it died?” the tech suggested.
“All four of them at the same time? Give me their last location.” He took down the address, a private residence on the outskirts of DC, and disconnected without another word.
“Get hold of Sean. I don’t like them being off the grid this way. I’m afraid something’s seriously wrong.”
***
Carter stood and pulled Mackenzie up on her feet and held her in his arms. She pulled his head down and whispered softly in his ear. “Carter, we have to get out of here.”
He buried his head in her hair and whispered. “Yes. But be careful what you say. I am sure we’re being watched and recorded.”
Outside, the EA bodyguards went on alert when they saw Kelly lock the door. They stood as she turned around and faced them.
“Ma’am, what’s going on? Why did you lock that door?”
“It’s none of your concern. I know you work for A-Echelon. Maybe you don’t know yet, but your Mickey Mouse organization has been outed as being part of the CIA. I have authorization from the Director of the CIA and your boss, James Rhodes, to question the Devereuxs,” she lied with complete confidence.
The bodyguards hadn’t just fallen off a turnip truck. They sensed something was wrong, but without their weapons they had no way to challenge the Army Counterintelligence agents. They also didn’t know if it was time for a show of force. They looked at each other and tacitly agreed it was probably best to wait and see what happened.
The walls and door weren’t soundproofed. Carter and Mackenzie could hear most of what Kelly told their bodyguards, and neither believed it for a minute. Mackenzie flashed him a questioning look, and he shook his head. There was no way James and Irene would do this to them.
Was there? What had happened in the last few weeks while they were out of the loop?
Carter would have given a significant portion of his considerable wealth to have a half-hour conversation with either James or Irene right about now.
There were more questions than he could think of, but no answers at all.
Continuing to hold Mackenzie as if comforting her, he glanced around the room, looking for the least likely place for a hidden camera. He turned until he could whisper to her without, he hoped, a spy lens being able to see his lips move. Risking also that his words couldn’t be picked up by the most sensitive of listening devices any security organization could deploy, he rapidly gave her his conclusions.
“It’s obvious Special Agent White, and we have to assume her superiors, have made up their minds we’re guilty of something. She’s going to use every trick in the book to pressure us into admitting wrongdoing. The fact that she’s refusing to call in James and Irene can mean several things. Either she doesn’t want to spoil a good story with the facts, which means she is in cahoots with the bad guys. Or James and Irene are in trouble up to their necks, too. Or… I am almost scared to say this; James and Irene have indeed agreed to this.”
“Well, all of those scenarios require that we escape,” Mackenzie said. “We can’t let her arrest us and lock us up until…”
“Agreed. Here is my plan,” Carter said. He went on to explain what they’d do.
She agreed.
“Okay, let’s go through the so-called evidence she left here. Maybe we’ll be able to piece together a theory,” Carter said. He gave her a last squeeze and then let her go so they could both sit down and look through the documents.
> Damned if they didn’t look absolutely authentic.
Mackenzie leaned over and said, barely audibly, “If I didn’t know for a fact these are false, I’d swear in court they were authentic. Who has the technical ability to do this to us? Who has the means to produce all this false evidence to set us up, and why?”
Carter rolled his eyes at her. “Who do you think? The Nabateans, of course. They have virtually unlimited resources, as we know by now. Why they’d choose this particular method, we’ll soon find out. My guess is this time they’re not just after the two of us. This will have wide repercussions, from us right up to the President. They must have a plant, or more likely several, very high in the government.”
“You don’t think…?” Mackenzie started. Then she put her hand over her mouth, and Carter could see from her widened eyes that she’d had a very disturbing thought. He’d already dismissed the same thought. They couldn’t both have been so blind as to misjudge James and Irene.
Carter shook his head. “I don’t. I seriously doubt that James or Irene has anything to do with it. Nor do I think Bill or the President is involved. In fact, I think they may be in as much trouble as we are. Put it out of your mind.”
He couldn’t help but harbor some concern, though. It was now noon-thirty, and they’d missed their meeting with James and Irene. Would that signal the two of them that something was amiss with him and Mackenzie? Or were they being detained somewhere else?
He had no doubt if Kelly White had her way, he and Mackenzie weren’t going to see the light of day anytime soon. Most likely, the next time they saw her, she’d be invoking the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Chapter 22 - More to this than meets the eye
