by Becky Harmon
“Hey, Tag. How was Day One?”
She smiled as Miller pulled up a chair beside her.
“I think my team has settled in. Are you seeing anything that needs to be tweaked?”
“Not from my end.”
She turned her tablet so Miller could see the screen too. “I ask Rodriquez to send me a video from the rooftop at least three times a day. Just a scan of the crowd and anything else going on around the building. The man we observed this morning was replaced with this guy a few minutes before our shift change.”
“Right,” Miller said. “We’ll check him too, but I’m guessing he won’t have any kind of criminal record or be on our watch list. Same as the first guy, Imad Abadi.”
“I had my remote team work on him as well. Duncan, my tech guy, is identifying the men in the crowd. I’ll have him work on this guy too. I’ll send you this photo and everything he finds.”
She zoomed in on the new man-in-charge, captured his face in a snapshot, and emailed it to Miller and to Duncan.
She continued to speak while they watched the rest of the video. “The crowd seems to be mostly dockworkers and we haven’t seen any weapons all day. Haven’t uncovered any mysterious loyalties or family connections to terrorist organizations either. They don’t appear to have a game plan other than doing what they’re directed to do by the man on the wall. I think someone else is behind this and he’s being careful to avoid players that would send up a red flag.”
“That makes me even more suspicious,” Miller said.
“Me too. Has anyone from the embassy reached out to them?”
“The ambassador and Deputy Pantone made an attempt early on. No one had anything to say to them though.”
She nodded, closing her tablet as the video ended. “Can you send me the duty schedule?”
Miller pulled out his phone. “Just for the marines or everyone?”
“Everyone.” Her agenda for tomorrow was to begin connecting names with faces, starting with the marines and Diplomatic Security and going all the way to the Mauritanian housekeeping staff. She wanted to know everyone that was inside the embassy.
Miller stood. “If you have a few minutes, I can introduce you to the head of the Diplomatic Security, Agent Connor, and give you a tour of the Communications Center.”
“Now is good.” She still had more than twenty minutes before her meeting with the ambassador.
She followed him back to the main building and up the stairs to the second floor.
“Danielle Connor is the regional security officer for the Diplomatic Security Service and, as such, the senior law enforcement civilian within the embassy. I’m not sure if you’ve worked with DSS before, but they handle a broad range of security operations. Since we are currently without an assigned CIA analyst, here in Mauritania they’re basically stuck conducting counterintelligence operations and all investigations.”
“Will she still be in her office this late?”
“I spoke with her about an hour ago and asked her to hang around.”
They rounded the corner and Angel could see an office light glowing beyond the rows of empty cubicles.
“Agent Connor and I arrived at the embassy on the same day,” Miller continued. “This was her first post as RSO and with a staff of only two she was quickly overwhelmed with the workload. It was easy for us to decide for my marines to handle physical security. Some embassies allow the host country to help out, but neither of us was comfortable with that.” He slowed their pace as they neared her office. Turning toward her, he spoke softly. “She’s pretty straightforward so don’t take offense at what she might say.”
Angel nodded.
He knocked and then stepped inside the office.
“Agent Connor, this is Flagler Agent McTaggart.”
The dark-haired woman behind the desk stood and reached out her hand. Her suit was wrinkle-free and stretched tight where it buttoned at her waist. A line of freckles dotted the area beneath her eyes, softening her polished appearance. Angel guessed her to be in her mid-thirties, but the stress of her job was showing in the smattering of gray hair at her temples.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Angel said as she shook her hand.
“So, your boss thinks you can do a better job than Miller here, huh?” Agent Connor asked, looking Angel up and down.
Angel glanced at Miller and then met the woman’s stare. “I don’t believe that was the assumption. I’m here to work with both of you, not by myself.”
Agent Connor nodded as if Angel had said exactly what she wanted to hear.
“Let me know if there is anything I can help with while you’re here.” Agent Connor dropped back into her chair, returning her attention to the computer screen in front of her.
Clearly dismissed, Angel followed Miller into the hallway. She thought she saw the hint of a smile on his face, but she didn’t know him well enough to make a sarcastic comment about Connor’s brusque style.
“She seems nice enough.”
Miller nodded. “Like I said. She’s direct.”
They climbed one flight of stairs to the communications room.
“Is the gym open access?” she asked, remembering the facility located on the fourth floor outside the ambassador’s suite.
“For the marines and Diplomatic Security agents. Embassy staff can request access, which has to be approved by me and the ambassador. It doesn’t get a lot of use. Everyone works long hours and up until the lockdown even I preferred to get my exercise outside the embassy gates.”
Miller scanned his badge to enter the Communications Center.
“Who has access to this area?” she asked.
“You, me, Eric, the ambassador, and the marines that work here. There are two marines on duty at all times, working six-hour shifts. Six soldiers are assigned permanently and there are two alternates that rotate through.”
Angel pulled up the list of marines on her tablet and marked the six Miller identified. She momentarily closed her eyes as they stepped inside the room, hoping to speed up their adjustment to the dim lighting. There were three fluorescent lights across the ceiling, but they weren’t on. Two floor lamps sat in each corner and lit the room with a soft glow.
She studied the two marines sitting in front of a computer and monitor console that circled almost all of the room. Their chairs had wheels and they moved up and down the console, verbally relaying to each other what they were observing on the screens. She quickly counted two computers and ten camera monitors on each side.
“The audio in this room is recorded and backed up weekly. For everyone’s protection,” Miller mentioned as they stepped to the center of the room.
Angel nodded. She knew of plenty situations where the boots on the ground had informed the proper people of a situation, but the right decisions hadn’t been made. The fallback always landed on the low man, and she appreciated that Miller was doing what he could to protect his troops.
“How many cameras are placed inside the embassy?” she asked, wanting to make sure her earlier findings were correct.
“There are twenty-five on each of the first three floors, ma’am,” the female marine in front of the console responded. “Only ten on the fourth floor because of the ambassador’s suite. The first floor has an officer on patrol and two at the public entrance. Elevators, stairwells, and the rear exit doors require an access badge.”
Angel glanced at Miller. “And the ambassador’s quarters?”
“Just the ones in the hallway.”
She nodded again. That was what she had observed as well. “What about outside?”
“Both gates and every corner of the perimeter. Facing in and out,” the female marine answered again.
She watched the monitors flip from camera to camera.
“There are five monitors for each floor. One is always on the elevator and the rest flip through the other cameras,” the marine continued.
“Are the cameras movable?”
“Yes, ma’am, but
they each have a set stationary position. If you move it to view something else you have to lock it in place or after thirty seconds it will return to the set position.”
“Thank you, corporal.” In the dim lighting, Angel couldn’t read the woman’s name tag, but she could see the rank displayed on her uniform.
She joined Miller in the rear of the room. “How are the backups handled?”
“It’s all digital. You can view any footage from the last two years from here. Anything older than that has been sent to the vault in Washington and has to be requested.”
She glanced at her watch. She only had a few minutes until her briefing. “I should go.”
“One more thing.” Miller moved to an end console, displaying a diagram of the embassy. “You can log into this map from any device.”
She looked at the digital display in front of her. Tiny lights appeared all over the building. Some were moving and some were stationary. She leaned closer. “What is this?”
“Everyone wears a GPS tracking device. It’s removable so it’s not foolproof, but we’re still working on the system. My marines and the DSS are red, the staff is blue, and the Mauritanian staff is yellow. You can run the cursor across each dot and the display will give you the name assigned to the band.” He demonstrated. “The ambassador is purple and her band blinks every five seconds as long as it’s on her wrist. She only removes it to shower.” Miller shrugged. “Like I said, not foolproof.”
She nodded. “It works.” She watched Ellie’s purple light flash inside her office. “Do you have enough for my team?”
“We didn’t have much warning that you guys were coming, so for now the ambassador only has one for you. We should have enough for the rest of your team by the end of the week.”
“Excellent.” She handed her tablet to Miller. “Can you set it up for me?”
He downloaded the application and handed it back to her.
“Thanks. I’ll catch up with you later.”
* * *
Ellie stared at the paperwork on her desk. Her eyes were on the words, but her mind was on Angel McTaggart. The banter they had shared when she found Angel in her quarters was comfortable, and she found herself craving that companionship. She knew she shouldn’t be anxiously awaiting her arrival. Angel was here to do a job. As ambassador, she needed to make sure that it was done appropriately and well. Something in Angel’s stoic manner called to her, though, and she longed to see more of the softer side that she had caught a glimpse of earlier.
She put on her glasses and, pulling open her desk drawer, stared down at Angel’s brown eyes. She hadn’t meant for the photo to be on top of the file, but when it had ended up that way she didn’t change it. Throughout the day she had found herself opening the drawer for no reason. Angel’s face was serious, not unlike the way it had been when it appeared in Ellie’s door that morning. The picture had been taken several years earlier; she liked the older, more mature look of today.
“Ambassador?” Angel spoke softly from the doorway.
Angel’s voice brought goose bumps to her arms and she fought back a shiver. The gentleness of her voice was unexpected, and she wondered what might prompt Angel to raise her voice.
She took off her glasses and narrowed her eyes at Angel.
“Ellie?” Angel quickly corrected.
She smiled and pointed to the chairs in front of her desk. Instead of sitting, Angel stepped between them and remained at a modified position of attention. Her legs were spread slightly and her hands rested casually at her sides.
“You should know that I have attempted once again to convince Mr. Flagler to send backup but my request has been denied.”
She hid her smile. Clearly she had made her point with Vince. Now she needed to work on this agent.
“My team is settling into their security assignments and I have nothing more to report at this time. Is there anything you require of me?”
She was puzzled at Angel’s brusqueness. She had thought they would discuss the security measures already in place around the embassy. Was it possible that Angel was only going to go through the motions at each briefing? She certainly hoped that wasn’t her plan.
She could see the bags under Angel’s tired eyes and knew it had probably been a long time since she had slept. Asking her to stay longer would be selfish and could possibly hinder the rapport she hoped would develop between them. Her carefully crafted speech to remind Angel that ultimately all embassy decisions belonged to the ambassador would have to wait until morning.
“I have nothing for tonight, but I look forward to hearing tomorrow your observations from your earlier tour of the embassy.”
Angel gave her a slight nod and then glanced at the GPS band laying on the desk.
“Oh, right. Except for this.” She held the band out to Angel. “Did Sergeant Miller explain how these work?”
“Yes.” Angel took the band and buckled it to her right wrist. “If that’s all then, I’m going to retire for the night. Please call me if you need anything.”
Ellie nodded, wondering again at Angel’s brusqueness. She shrugged off her irritation as she watched Angel leave the office at a quick pace.
She logged into the GPS display on her computer and watched Angel move around the embassy. When her path took her out the front doors, she turned to the window and watched her stride down the sidewalk to the gatehouse, walking with a purpose. Ellie’s thoughts jumped from one hypothetical idea to another. If they weren’t in this country and being confronted by a group of protesters, would they be able to be friends? Or maybe more? She laughed at herself. She didn’t know if Angel preferred men or women; had had to bite her tongue, in fact, to keep from asking Vince. It didn’t matter to the job, but to her annoyance, she realized, it was coming to matter to her. A lot.
The deep background dossier called to her from the closed desk drawer. If she opened it, she would know the answer to all of her questions. There was a time and a place for having the information contained within it, but she wasn’t at that point yet. Angel had been short with her tonight but she would blame it on the long day and give her a chance to start fresh tomorrow.
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to see the crowd outside the gate. There was only one streetlight on this block and the wattage was very low. It also flickered on and off often due to the power situation in Nouakchott. Several embassy floodlights covered the area around the main gate, but the crowd seemed to hang outside the coverage area.
After a few minutes, movement from the gatehouse caught her eye and she watched Angel returning to the main building. Directly beneath her window, Angel hesitated for a second before glancing up. Ellie forced herself to remain still. Angel’s intense gaze penetrated the bulletproof glass, driving straight into her. She was fairly certain Angel couldn’t see her, but she met her gaze anyway, watching as the breeze blew strands of dark brown hair across her face and Angel quickly tucked them behind an ear.
Dropping her gaze, Angel stepped into the building and out of Ellie’s view. She turned back to the display on her computer screen and watched Angel climb the stairs to her new quarters. The red light become stationary and she wondered if Angel had fallen into bed or removed the band to take a shower. Hitting the button to close the display, she quickly stood. She couldn’t let her mind continue down this path. Angel had a job to do, and she needed to stay out of her way.
* * *
Angel dropped into bed, lying with her arms behind her head. She knew sleep wasn’t going to come fast. She often had that trouble when a mission was starting, but tonight it was more than work. Tantalizing visions of the ambassador were dancing in her mind. It was hard to see into the windows of the embassy even when they were lit up at night, but she had felt Ellie’s eyes watching from her office. She rolled over and grabbed her tablet. Flipping on the GPS display, she located the purple light inside the ambassador’s suite on the fourth floor. She flipped off the tablet and tossed it on the bed beside her.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she dialed Sarah’s number.
“Hey, boss. How do things look from your angle?”
“Unsettling.”
Sarah chuckled. “That about sums up Eric’s observation too. What’s the ambassador like?”
Sarah would be more surprised to hear about her earlier banter with Ellie than to hear about her curt handling of this evening’s briefing.
“She seems to have a handle on her job, but her single-mindedness will make our mission a lot harder. I’m preparing myself for a daily fight to keep her in check.”
“Well, if anyone can handle her, it’s definitely you.”
Angel wished she felt as confident. She quickly changed the subject before she voiced her concerns. “How are your accommodations?”
“Good. The house has two floors and plenty of space to set up equipment. Keep sending the video footage and we’ll eventually make sense of it.”
Angel listened for several minutes as Sarah hypothesized on the gathering of the crowd outside the embassy and then told her to get some sleep. Truth was, her mind was going to the same places. Why had the crowd gathered? What were their goals? What would they do next?
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The ambassador’s background and knowledge of this country made her a huge asset even if being near her elicited feelings Angel hadn’t expected. She knew that the way she had handled this evening’s briefing was not the solution. She couldn’t speed through all of their contacts. She needed to use this resource, complete the mission, and return home. Just like every other assignment.
Feeling that she had reached a conclusion on how she would proceed, she closed her eyes and tried her usual breathing techniques for sleep. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Ellie. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. More Ellie.
Her life wasn’t really conducive to relationships. Between missions she looked for companionship when she needed it and then left before they asked too many questions. Usually that was before the next morning.
