Two Steps Forward

by Luana Ehrlich

  “I know he’s very organized. And, if you don’t believe it, he’ll tell you about his great organizational ability every chance he gets.”

  “Douglas has been an operations officer here at the Agency for over two decades, Veronica. His success rate is phenomenal.”

  “I realize that, but I think he’s gotten a little sloppy lately.”

  “Sloppy isn’t a word I’d use to describe Douglas.”

  “I’m telling you, Titus, this operation is doomed to failure because of his incompetence. There are too many loose ends in Phase Two, and the details of how Phase Three will be accomplished are completely unknown.”

  The woman I’d met ten years ago—the woman who’d introduced herself to me as Vee—had appeared to be a little paranoid back then, but if I remembered our time together correctly, I’d attributed her behavior to the breakup she’d recently had with her boyfriend.

  Even so, I couldn’t recall her sounding unhinged, which, unfortunately, was the word that kept popping in my head the more she talked about my boss.

  I said, “One thing you don’t seem to understand about Douglas is that he gives his operatives a lot of freedom in the field. When we’re in country, he allows us to make our own decisions. We improvise if we think it’s necessary, and we adjust the protocols as the situation warrants. What this usually means is that the protocols and his POA are always in a state of flux.”

  She appeared to think about what I’d said for a moment. “Sure, but let’s face it, Titus, with an assassin like Yousef Bakir, the more prepared you are, the better off you’ll be.”

  “I can’t deny that.”

  “Well, with the protocols Douglas has given us, I don’t believe my RTM Center is all that prepared. We don’t have the reconnaissance satellites scheduled. We don’t have the—”

  “I really wouldn’t worry about this, Veronica. Whatever it takes for this operation to run smoothly, I know Douglas will make sure you have it. I have complete confidence in him and so should you.”

  While I had complete confidence in Carlton, I no longer had that same level of confidence in Veronica Paisley, the person in charge of managing the RTM Center where every surveillance report, every wiretap, every video, every last bit of intel associated with Operation Invisible Target would be collected, analyzed, and disseminated.

  Whether I should mention my misgivings about Veronica to Carlton was a decision I needed to make sooner rather than later.

  Like in the next twenty minutes.

  * * * *

  Because I was curious to see if Veronica was equally critical of the other division heads, or whether she only had a problem with Carlton, I spent a few minutes quizzing her about her other operations.

  Although she had a few negative comments about C.J. Salazar, I finally had to agree with Olivia that Veronica’s critical attitude seemed to be directed primarily toward Carlton.

  When she told me she’d met Carlton after she was promoted to section head in Critical Mission Support, I asked her, “Was his wife Gladys still alive at that time?”

  “No, it was almost a year after her death, but he was still grieving over her. You know it took him a long time to get over her passing.”

  Although I didn’t say anything to Veronica, that wasn’t how I remembered it. Sure, he’d grieved over Gladys, but after he’d honored her memory, he’d made adjustments and moved on with his life.

  Veronica looked down at my wedding band. “Someone told me you’d recently tied the knot yourself.”

  “About two weeks ago.”

  She shook her head. “When I heard that, I could hardly believe it. I thought if anyone would still be playing the field, it would definitely be Titus Ray.”

  “Is that right?”

  She nodded. “When I met you at The Farm, I felt sure you weren’t the marrying kind.”

  I knew we’d eventually get around to talking about the two weeks we’d spent together at The Farm, but now that we’d rounded that curve, I wanted to slam on the brakes and do a quick turnaround.

  As painful as it was, I put my foot to the accelerator and drove on.

  “No, you’re right,” I said. “Ten years ago, getting married was the last thing on my mind.”

  “That wasn’t the case with me, but you may remember my boyfriend had just dumped me, so I knew it wasn’t happening any time soon. Hanging around with you was a good distraction.”

  She smiled as she reached over and touched my knee. “Remember that night we decided to—”

  “I’m sorry, Veronica,” I said, removing her hand, “but I’m a different person than I was ten years ago, and to be truthful, I feel like I need to apologize to anyone who knew me then.”

  “Apologize? You don’t owe me an apology. I knew the kind of man you were when I first introduced myself to you.”

  “But that’s my point, Veronica. I need to ask you to forgive me for being that kind of person. That was the old Titus Ray who only cared about himself and saw everyone else as a means to an end.”

  “Ah . . . okay. I think I hear what you’re saying. You want to forget about the things you did before you got married.”

  “No, that’s not exactly what I’m saying.”

  “Well then, spell it out for me.”

  “You said you were in Critical Mission Support when I lost my network in Tehran during Operation Torchlight. Is that right?”

  “That’s right. We were working with Douglas to extract you from Tehran, but after you broke your leg trying to get away from the secret police, we had to depend on Mossad to take care of you.”

  “I suppose you know Mossad arranged for me to stay in a safe house in Tehran while my leg healed?”

  She nodded. “I remember you were there for several months.”

  “The whole time I was there I was living with a family of Iranian Christians, and believe it or not, hearing them read the Bible and seeing them live out their faith caused me to start examining my own life. That’s when I realized the kind of person I was. I saw myself as someone who’d turned his back on God and was barely living up to his own standards, much less God’s standards.”

  “I see where you’re going with this now. I’m guessing you had some kind of religious experience while you were in Tehran, and that’s why you think you’re a different person today.”

  “That’s more or less what I’m saying. Before they smuggled me out of Iran, I made a decision to turn my life over to Christ, and ever since then, I’ve been trying to follow his teachings and be the person I know he wants me to be.”

  “Well, good luck with that,” she said, getting up from her chair. “Maybe it’s a good thing. I’m sure we could all use a dose of religion every now and then.”

  “I didn’t just get a dose of religion, Veronica. What happened to me was transformational. I’m a new person now because I have a relationship with Christ. That’s why I wanted to apologize to you and ask your forgiveness.”

  She looked down at me and smiled. “There’s no need to apologize, Titus, and I’m not about to forgive you for anything. I’ll say one thing though; I liked the old Titus better.”

  * * * *

  I took the elevator up to the lobby when I left the Ops Center, even though I figured by this time Sasha Gail was already on her way back to Washington. When I didn’t see any sign of her, I called Carlton just to make sure the two of them hadn’t gone up to his office.

  “I thought I might be hearing from you,” he said.

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because whenever Ms. Paisley made a comment during the briefing you looked disgusted.”

  “Her negativity could affect the operation.”

  “If I can live with it, so can you.”

  “Why live with it? Why don’t you—”

  “If you’re about to suggest I request her removal, save your breath; it’s not happening.”

  “I just had a conversation with her down in the Ops Center, and among other things, sh
e accused you of being incompetent. To me, that sounds like grounds for removal.”

  “You need to keep in mind Veronica and I are still trying to figure out how to work together, but I assure you, when the mission goes up on the board, she’ll settle down and do her job. That’s what she’s done in the past.”

  “So you’re saying she just gets the jitters before a mission goes operational, and after that she’s fine?”

  “We haven’t had any problems during previous operations, and other than her unfamiliarity with a few things, she’s handled herself pretty well.”

  “Her criticism of you sounded a little personal to me.”

  He was quiet for a few seconds. “That’s possible. Several years ago, Veronica and I had a major disagreement. I really thought she’d gotten over it, but now I’m beginning to think I could be wrong.”

  “What kind of disagreement?”

  “Nothing that concerns you. Did you have anything else you wanted to discuss with me before you head over to Baghdad tomorrow?”

  I was tempted to tell him about the plans Nikki and I were making to adopt Eleanor, and how that meant I would need another letter of recommendation from Sasha Gail, but since it was getting late, and I wanted to call Nikki before Eleanor went to bed, I said, “No, I’m good.”

  “There’s one thing I should mention that didn’t come out in the briefing. You heard Ms. Pack say the President will have a brief stopover in Baghdad on his way to Israel next week, and it’s possible he could be Bakir’s target. However, he’ll also be traveling with some Congressional leaders from his own party, and although I believe there’s only a remote chance one of them could be on Bakir’s hit list, I wanted to make you aware of who they are.”

  “Sure. Give me their names.”

  “It’s a small group. There’s only three of them, but the President has decided to invite these particular members of Congress because each of them has been exploring the possibility of challenging the President for the nomination next year. Ms. Pack said he hopes to use this trip to talk them out of it.”

  “If that’s the case, I already know the names of at least two of them. That would be Congressman Daniel Levin and Senator Elijah Mitchell.”

  “That’s right, and the third is Senator Betsy Fredrick from Texas.”

  “Is there any reason you decided not to mention this during the briefing?”

  “I wasn’t aware of their identities at that time. Ms. Pack only told me after the meeting. I thought you might want to let Ben know before he hears it from some other source.”

  “Do you think Ben’s presence on the operational team was the reason Ms. Pack didn’t bring it up at the briefing?”

  “Possibly.”

  “I doubt if this news will affect Ben all that much.”

  “No matter how professional you think you are, a situation can always come up that causes you to react in such a way that surprises everyone, especially yourself. That’s doubly true if it affects your family.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind when I talk to Ben.”

  After I hung up, I considered Carlton’s warning about Ben’s reaction. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if his statement was less about Ben and more about Veronica Paisley.

  Was there some way for me to find out the details of this major disagreement between Carlton and Veronica?

  Of course, there was.

  There was always a way.

  I just had to find it.

  * * * *

  It was seven o’clock by the time I picked up my Kit and the key card to my On-Call suite from Kellerman.

  Although I was getting hungry, my plans were to stow my Kit in my room, call Nikki and Eleanor, and then head back down to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

  However, a few minutes after I got off the phone with Eleanor—who thanked me several times for the jigsaw puzzle of the El Badi Palace I’d purchased for her in Marrakesh—I heard a knock on my door and found Mitchell standing there with two Styrofoam take-out containers in his hand.

  “I figured you were hungry, so I picked us up some hamburgers from the cafeteria.”

  “Did you have them leave off—”

  “—the lettuce? Of course, I did. The take-out box on top is yours.”

  “Well, thanks, Ben. I wasn’t expecting this.”

  He placed the containers on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. “I admit I had another reason for coming by.”

  “Oh, I see; now the truth comes out. Well, let me get us something to drink, and then you can tell me all about it.” I opened the small refrigerator. “What looks good to you?”

  “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

  I grabbed us both a Diet Coke, and after he took a swig, he said, “Okay, the main reason I came by tonight was so we could talk about our operation without Liz present. I know you told me earlier I shouldn’t worry about Veronica not having much experience managing an RTM Center, but you can’t tell me you didn’t notice the tension between her and Douglas this afternoon at the briefing.”

  “No, I can’t tell you that,” I said, taking a peek inside my burger to make sure some sneaky lettuce hadn’t slipped in there without someone noticing it. “It would have been hard to miss.”

  “I’m glad to hear you noticed it too.”

  “Did Liz say anything to you about Veronica’s negativity?”

  “No, she didn’t mention it, but she’s never worked with Douglas before, so maybe she didn’t realize how unusual it is for anyone to question his methods.”

  I debated with myself whether to tell Ben about the conversation I’d had with Veronica following the briefing when she’d questioned Carlton’s competency as well as his organizational ability, but I decided to take a different approach.

  “Here’s the thing, Ben. I mentioned Veronica’s attitude to Douglas when I spoke to him after our briefing, and he assured me I had nothing to worry about. He said Veronica has a tendency to be a little nervous before an operation, but once a mission goes live, she performs her duties without any problems.”

  “Let’s hope so. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I think I’d rather have Olivia running our RTM Center instead of Veronica, especially for this assignment.”

  “We’ll be just fine. For one thing, I believe Liz will make an excellent team member, and for another, it sounds like Henry is a very competent station chief with an extensive network of assets in Iraq, so he’ll be able to give us a lot of assistance.”

  “Yeah, from what I can tell, Henry’s doing a great job over there.”

  He ate a couple of bites of his hamburger, along with a handful of fries, and then he said, “I’d be surprised if Henry didn’t have his own ideas about who’s in Bakir’s crosshairs. What about you? Who do you think the target is?”

  “I’m still undecided. Prime Minister Madi seems like the logical choice, but your suggestion of the Saudi Prince was also valid, despite the DDO’s reaction.”

  Ben nodded as he squeezed a packet of ketchup over the last of his fries. “By the way, thanks for supporting me today. I appreciated it.”

  “If you believe strongly in something, and the DDO questions you about it, don’t hesitate to stand up for it. That’s the only way you’ll gain his respect.”

  “Yeah, I noticed he revised his opinion when you and Henry agreed with me, but you know, he is right about one thing. Our job would be a lot easier if the Prime Minister was the only person on our short list.”

  Although I’d planned to wait until we arrived in Baghdad before mentioning the new intel on the Congressional delegation traveling with the President, I decided it would probably be better to mention it now before he heard the news from someone else.

  “Were you surprised to hear the President plans to stop off in Baghdad next week?” I asked.

  “Not really. He’s gearing up for a Presidential election next year and visiting a foreign capital is sure to create all kinds of impressive footage for his c
ampaign videos. My father does it all the time. So do all the rest of the members of Congress.”

  “Has the Senator said anything to you about any trips he’s planning in the next few weeks?”

  Mitchell gave a short laugh. “No, why would you ask me that?”

  “When I talked to Douglas a few minutes ago, he said he’d just learned the Congressional delegation accompanying the President to Baghdad are members of his own party who’ve indicated they may be challenging him for the nomination next year.”

  He paused before he took a bite of his burger. “The Senator will be on the President’s plane? I suppose that also means Daniel Levin and Betsy Frederick will be part of the President’s delegation.”

  “Douglas said as much. Of course, there’s only a small chance any of them could be Bakir’s target, but he still wanted us to be aware of who would be traveling with the President.”

  Mitchell looked away for a moment.

  A few seconds later, he said, “That’s good to know.”

  As far as I could tell, Mitchell wasn’t affected by the news his father would soon be in the same city as an assassin who’d accepted a contract to take out an unknown government official.

  A few seconds later, my analysis of his reaction was confirmed when he gestured at my take-out box and said, “If you don’t plan to eat those fries, I’ll take ̕em.”

  PART FIVE

  Chapter 28

  Friday, May 24

  We arrived at the Baghdad International Airport—formerly Saddam International—in the predawn hours Friday morning on Turkish Airlines Flight 302 from Istanbul, Turkey.

  Henry Garrison was at the airport to meet us.

  Although he was the Agency’s chief of station in Iraq, his position at the embassy was listed as senior political officer. This position afforded him plenty of reasons for meeting arrivals from the U.S.

  To any outside observer, he was at the airport to meet the Advance Preparation Team from the White House chief of staff’s office, and as we entered the baggage claim area after clearing Passport Control, I spotted him holding up a placard with WH—APT printed on it.