First Target

by Robin Mahle

  “Afternoon.”

  “Hi. What are you doing here? Figured you’d be out with the WFO, with Fraser, still working on the Turner shooting.”

  “I was with him this morning. Nothing new on their end. Still working on ballistics.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. It’d be nice to actually reach an end to one of the many problems we’re dealing with at the moment. I’m starting to feel like we’re running in circles, you know?”

  “I know.” He sat down. “Axell left me a message. He’s on his way home. Should be here late tonight.”

  “Oh yeah?” She checked her phone. “Damn. Looks like I missed his call.”

  “He wants to meet with us on his return, at the shop. He said he’d be there around 10pm.”

  “Sure. I can be there. Must be important if it can’t wait until tomorrow.”

  “Couldn’t tell you. He didn’t say much over the phone. But I assume it must be.”

  “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Are you starting to feel like you’re being pulled in too many directions? Like there isn’t enough time in the day and that we aren’t moving ahead the way we should be?”

  “Sometimes. Why? You feeling like that?”

  “I’m falling behind. Michelle was in here earlier. I was supposed to turn in a report. Haven’t done it yet. And with everything going on in the media, and the protests against seemingly every Chinese company in the country, she was right to push. There’s no room for error here. No room for slacking off either. What if I miss something? Like I missed the mall attack?”

  “You didn’t miss the mall attack, Lacy. You did everything you were supposed to do in those initial days and weeks before everything went south and we were running for our lives.”

  She smiled. “Yeah. How could I forget? I don’t know. I just don’t feel like we’re getting ahead.”

  “I know you don’t. But if it were easy…”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everybody would be doing it.”

  “Listen.” Will glanced at the time. “Why don’t you finish up your work. It’s what, 5:00 now? Finish that up and you and I will go grab a drink and maybe a bite to eat before we start our second job.”

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll finish this up, but then I need to run home and see the kids. How about we meet around seven?”

  “I can live with that.” He stood up. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Bye.” Lacy returned to her work. If she didn’t get that report out, she might no longer have to worry about working here anymore. And who knew how long this task force would last. Probably about as long as the sanctions. To her, it didn’t seem like any of this would last much longer because the American people were losing jobs and the dollar was wasting away to nothing. She’d pulled at the thread and the entire country was falling apart before her very eyes. Just like Turner said it would.

  With a fresh set of clothes and her straight, brunette hair resting against her shoulders, Lacy walked into the restaurant and spotted Will already seated at a table.

  He stood on her approach. “You look nice.” He glanced at his own attire, which had been exactly the same as earlier in the day. “I feel like a slob now.”

  “Don’t. I wanted to change. You look just fine.”

  “A ringing endorsement, if I ever heard one.” He pulled out her chair.

  “You know what I meant.”

  “I took the liberty of ordering you a glass of red. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Perfect.” She picked up the glass and took a sip. “Boy, I needed this. Don’t suppose you heard from Aaron? I haven’t talked to him since yesterday.” She perused the menu.

  “I did, actually. He says he’s working to get more information on our Casper Janz before meeting with Axell tonight.”

  She hadn’t yet heard back from Delgado, which was cause for concern. Either he was getting push-back, or there was nothing to find. Neither was a good result. “Now I feel bad he’s missing out on dinner.”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s a grown man who can manage to find something to eat.”

  She picked up on his blunt tone. “Are you upset with him or something?”

  “No. Not at all. I’m just saying that sometimes you treat him like a kid. And he’s our age.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Lacy, you do. I know you two have been friends a long time, but you treat him like he’s your little brother. Which I’m sure he appreciates, considering.”

  “Considering what?”

  “Nothing. What are you going to order?”

  She had no desire to address his comment. “Salmon. I’ll have the salmon.”

  “Sounds good. Me too.” He set down his menu and held her gaze.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I was just thinking,” Will replied.

  “About?”

  “Well, about your kind words yesterday when we were talking about my military service. And how much you knew about it.”

  “To be honest, I’ve come across a lot of vets working for the Bureau. As I’m sure you have too. And I respect the hell out of each and every one of you for the sacrifices you’ve made for this country.”

  “Thank you. I don’t often talk about it—my time in Afghanistan. I did a shorter stint in Iraq, but when the insurgency happened again, I was back to facilitate the movement of supplies. You know, I wanted to be on the bomb squad.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. Sure did. But I didn’t have the right training. I could’ve gotten it, I suppose, but I did the whole ROTC thing in high school and college and was recruited as an officer as a result. And I guess, well, I guess I just decided the responsibility of supervising was enough. I should’ve done more.”

  “You do realize how much you’ve done with the Bureau, right? If I hadn’t met you, I don’t know if I would’ve pursued any of this.”

  “Yes, you would have. Of that, I have no doubt.”

  In the hours that flew by, the food was gone, and so was the wine. Lacy was glad for the reprieve, but it was time to face the music, which was Axell’s return.

  “There’s no way we can show up buzzed like this,” Will began. “Axell will have our heads on a platter.”

  “I’m not drunk. Well, maybe a little. Guess we’ll be taking a cab there, huh?”

  “I’d say so.” He signed the bill.

  “Thanks for dinner. You didn’t have to pay.”

  “I know that, but I wanted to. Come on, we’d better get going.”

  “I’ll text Aaron and let him know we’re on our way. He’s probably already there.”

  “Probably,” Will said as he helped Lacy out of her chair. “You know, he’s a good man. Flawed though he may be. He is dedicated to the team and to you.”

  “As if any of us are perfect.” She followed him outside. “Holy hell, it’s cold out here. I left my coat in the car.”

  “Here.” Will placed his coat over her shoulders and hailed a cab.

  Will held the door as Lacy entered the shop. Ten o’clock on the nose.

  Axell noted their arrival with some reservation. “Thanks for coming down. You two look like you’ve been out enjoying yourselves.”

  Lacy greeted him with a warm embrace. “I’m glad you’re home, Trevor.”

  “Have you been drinking?” Aaron asked her.

  “Will and I had dinner and I had a couple glasses of wine.”

  “My fault. I think we both needed to blow off some steam and I ordered the wine.”

  “I think we deserved it, to be honest,” Lacy continued. “What with the country falling apart.”

  Axell regarded her once again before turning his attention to the others. “So it does appear our friend Matthew Greiner is working in some capacity with Beijing.”

  “You mean Casper Janz?” Aaron said. “We were able to track down more information about him while you were away. Turns out the guy was in the armed forces and I was able to get hold of som
e records.”

  “And what else did you discover?” Axell glanced at Aaron and Lacy. “I know you two did some investigating of your own.”

  “We did,” Lacy replied. “I wanted to follow up on Bruce Quintero. And I was right to. So was Aaron. He got into Greiner’s personnel file, even if it didn’t yield all we had hoped. And then he managed to discover the military service. That’s when we put two and two together.”

  “You two did your job. And I need to remember that is exactly why you’re both here. I’m sorry if I made it seem not to be the case. So what else did you find?”

  “Apart from the fact that Greiner, or Janz, used intimidation tactics on Bruce. Threatened him if he ran the background check. And of course, discovered his alias. We were hoping you could shed some more light on your return,” Aaron replied.

  Lacy noted Axell’s demeanor. As if he was already well aware of this information. And it was probably the wine, but she had to speak up. “Look, Trevor. There’s something else I have to tell you. I went to see Martin Delgado this morning. I asked him to look into Casper Janz for us after Aaron uncovered his alias. And with you away, I thought Martin could offer up something new for us. And I need to ask you, is Janz CIA?”

  “How would he know? We only just got the name,” Aaron replied.

  Axell paused for too long.

  “Axell?” Aaron pressed him. “What’s going on?”

  With a heavy sigh, Axell finally spoke. “I wish you hadn’t involved Delgado. Especially when we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Which was why I went to Beijing in the first place. What did he have to say?”

  It seemed the entire team realized Axell hadn’t answered her question. Lacy continued anyway. “Nothing yet. I don’t know if he’s had any luck. I’m sorry. I know I should’ve waited. But do you know who he is?”

  “Patience never was your strong suit. But then, it’s not mine either. And you know what?” He cast his eyes to the team. “I owe you guys the truth. I knew who he was before I left. Not long before, but I knew. And in the interest of safety, I didn’t want to say anything until I figured out what part he played. Who else might be involved. Mostly because I wasn’t sure who or what to believe. But now that I’ve confirmed my suspicions, it’s time I let you in on the details.”

  Axell carried on and told them about how he knew Janz back in Cairo and his unexpected visitor in Beijing who had offered a vague message.

  Regardless of his reasons, Lacy felt betrayed. “You should have told us, Trevor. What do we have if we can’t even trust each other?”

  “You want to talk about trust? You went to Delgado rather than talk to me.”

  “You weren’t here.”

  Will stepped in. “It doesn’t do any of us any good to argue about this.” He turned to Axell. “I get why you kept this to yourself. Honestly, I probably would have too. And except for the fact that Aaron and Lacy have been running in circles as a result, you did what you thought was in our best interest. But the question remains, if everyone suspects Yang of terrorist ties, why is he still here?”

  With regret written on his face, Axell continued, “With the intel I have at the moment, consensus seems to be that with all eyes on Yang, it would be easier to spot if he was planning something either here or in China. The subway station bombing a few weeks ago? Beijing suspects Yang was involved in the planning of that attack. There have been several other smaller attacks they believe the Separatist Movement to have been a part of. But are unsure if Yang was too.”

  “Why would Beijing have wanted Lei Jian to become involved with Dalian Company to begin with then? To what advantage did that serve?” Lacy worked to dismiss the frustration she felt at Trevor’s actions. But if she was being honest with herself, she was keeping something from him too. There was another reason why she went to Delgado. And it was something she would not divulge. Not now or maybe ever. Not unless her suspicions rang true.

  “Ultimately? Because they wanted the market. They wanted to subvert the US economy. And in the process, it seems Yang wanted something else. And so here we are,” Trevor replied.

  “In the beginning, Jian was Beijing’s puppet, plain and simple,” Will added.

  “That’s what we’ve been led to believe. Look, I can’t postulate on the reasoning behind anything the MSS does. All I can tell you now is that I believe the reason we haven’t found this so-called US investor is because we aren’t meant to find him. There’s a strong possibility we’re being played. And before you hurl more questions at me, I don’t know why or how, but there’s a reason why we’ve been virtually at a standstill since the beginning.”

  “What do we do about this?” Will asked. “If what you two are saying is true, then this reaches far beyond anything we ever suspected. Far beyond the State Department.”

  “This could go all the way up to the president,” Aaron said.

  “There could be another explanation,” Axell continued. “Like I mentioned, the agent who came to my hotel room essentially warned me that Yang was far more important than anything we might be working on. And the only way for us to find out is to bring Janz into the fold.”

  “What? No way. He’s a spy. You said so yourself,” Aaron replied.

  “I’ve known him, from a distance, but I know what he’s capable of doing. What he’s done. And I do believe that he’s being handled by someone on our side. It’s that someone we need to find.”

  Chapter 13

  The parking lot of the restaurant was empty, except for the two cars that had been temporarily abandoned, but whose owners had now returned. Her head down, Lacy minded her steps in the thin blanket of snow on the asphalt as they walked toward their cars.

  “Are you okay?” Will asked

  “To drive? Oh yeah.”

  “No, I mean about the meeting. What Axell said?”

  She stopped short of her driver’s side door and turned to Will. “No. I’m not okay. Not with what he did, keeping the truth from us, and not about the idea that we’ve been sidelined on purpose. If it’s true—that this whole time we were just placated and made to be distracted from what was really happening.” She shook her head. “Then nothing we’ve done will have made a damn bit of difference.”

  “That’s not true. And aside from Axell withholding Janz’ identity from us, which by the way, I think he was right to do.” He held up his hands in defense. “He was, Lacy. He was. Janz is dangerous. Everything Axell told us about him? He was right to try to find out for sure what was happening and who he was working for. And as far as everything we’ve done—you’ve done—it has meant something. People know now, Lacy. That was the whole point. That the government was held accountable.”

  “Accountability? No. I don’t think so. More lies and manipulation. More corruption. And for what? So a few powerful people at the top can become even more powerful?”

  “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “I don’t know what to believe right now, Will. I thought they wanted us to help keep tabs on those who weren’t playing by the rules. But it seems no one is playing by the rules, except for us. Two hundred thirty-five people died in the mall attack, including my husband. Countless others were horribly injured. We lost a good friend. For what? Where does it end?”

  Will pulled her close. “Please don’t give up. I don’t think I could take that. There’s more to this and that’s what we need to find out. Axell’s being cautious and rightly so. He wants to protect us, more than anything, I think.”

  She pulled back and held his gaze. “And what about our theory? Where was he that morning, Will? Where the hell was he? First, he keeps this from us. What if we’re right about Turner? Especially in light of Janz’ identity. Former CIA? Maybe Axell knew something else and didn’t tell us.”

  “You can’t think like that. Not about Axell. Come on. You know him better than that. We both do. It has obviously crossed my mind, but frankly, after tonight, I’m thinking we’re the ones off base on that idea. He’s been
worried about us. I don’t think he’d risk taking out Turner. Not if he already knew what Janz was.”

  “There’s just one other thing I have to know.”

  “And that is?”

  She wore a dismal smile. “How can you stay so positive in the face of such adversity?”

  “What choice do I have? I won’t give up. Not on our team, not on this country, and more importantly, not on you. I won’t watch you throw in the towel. I think it would break my heart.” He tucked her hair behind her ear and placed his hand on her cheek. His eyes never left hers, even as they swelled with tears.

  “I’m tired. I need to go home.” Lacy turned away from him and opened her car door, wiping away a stray tear as it streamed down her cheek. “Good night, Will. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She slipped into the driver’s seat and pressed the ignition.

  Will closed her door and stepped away. She watched him shrink in the rear view before turning on the car radio. A news broadcast was on. It was 12:30 in the morning when she heard the breaking bulletin.

  “A Chinese Cultural Center was burned to the ground earlier tonight in Richmond. The four-alarm blaze brought firefighters from the Richmond Fire Department and surrounding communities to get the fire under control. Current reports indicate no one was inside, but authorities caution that they cannot confirm this until emergency services are allowed inside the charred remains, which could still be some time. The mayor of Richmond advised residents to keep calm, and stay home. Reminding the citizens that the community must come together and not be allowed to rip itself apart in the wake of strained relations between China and the US.”

  Lacy turned off the radio as a flood of tears fell from her eyes.

  The house alarm beeped as Lacy entered through the garage side door and into the kitchen. She keyed the code and the beeping stopped. The house was dark with everyone asleep at the late hour. Lacy slipped off her shoes and padded along the travertine floor toward the foyer, eventually making her way upstairs. She pushed open Olivia’s door and spotted her tucked under the covers. With a smile, she pulled it closed again and walked across the hall to check on Jack, who was fully covered, and began to wonder if she should turn up the heat. Her own skin seemed to be numb to anything, any feeling at all, but it was her children for whom she shared this concern.