by David Spell
On Saturday, they had visited the Georgia Aquarium, the Coca Cola Museum, and just enjoyed rekindling their relationship. That evening, they’d had dinner with Eddie and Candice Marshall. Eddie was Grace’s boss at the CDC but also one of Jimmy’s close friends. Jones was actually staying at their house for the weekend.
On Sunday morning, Grace had insisted that Jimmy come to church with her. The former Marine protested that he didn’t have any church clothes with him. The young woman had just laughed and told him that jeans and a polo shirt would suffice.
The Metro Community Church was friendly, casual, and fun. The music was upbeat and the message had gotten Jimmy thinking about his own forgotten faith. His mother had brought him up in church but after God didn’t answer his prayers to heal her of her cancer, Jones had told God “goodbye.”
The service that morning stirred something deep inside the former Marine. He especially loved to see how happy Grace was. She seemed to know everyone and they all wanted to meet her athletic-looking friend. After church, the couple enjoyed a last meal together downtown and then walked around the Atlantic Station Mall before Jimmy needed to be at the airport.
They had met and fallen in love several years earlier. Grace had been a campus police officer at the University of Georgia and unfortunate enough to be working the day the zombie virus was released inside the Sanford Stadium during the home opener football game. Cunningham had managed to rescue a group of survivors, hiding inside a restroom in the stadium for several hours. Almost the entire campus PD had been killed on that fateful day.
Grace eventually received notification that a team of federal police officers from the CDC Enforcement Unit had arrived on campus, near the stadium and could help her. She had to fight through a large group of zombies but managed to connect with the CDC officers and get her survivors to a safe location. Even in the chaos and violence of that day, Jimmy was able to get the young woman’s phone number.
Over the next couple of months, the two had spoken as often as they could, a welcome reprieve from their days of fighting infected people. When the National Guard pulled out of Athens, Cunningham had rushed home to check on her own family. What she found still gave her nightmares. Her parents had somehow become infected, killing and devouring her younger sister. Grace was forced to use her shotgun on her father and mother.
By this time, the power grid and cell towers had gone down. After not being able to get in touch with Grace for a couple of weeks, Jimmy had made a harrowing solo-trek to Athens, finding the woman he loved trapped inside a house with the bodies of her mom, dad, and the remains of her sister. The roving bands of zombies had prevented Grace from leaving.
The couple was eventually able to break out and work their way back to the remote CDC research site east of Atlanta. Jimmy knew that Grace was going to need some time and probably some therapy to work through what she had experienced. They loved each other deeply but the trauma of what the young woman had been through had plunged her into a deep depression that Jones was unequipped to deal with.
When Chuck had asked Jimmy to join him at the CIA, Jones had hoped that Cunningham would move to the Metro-DC area with him. Instead, she had not only turned him down but had broken up with him, as well. Since then, Jimmy had called, texted, and emailed periodically but Grace had not answered any of them. Jones had persisted, though, planning on showing up at her apartment unannounced since he was already in Atlanta for the SWAT school they had just finished. To his surprise, however, Grace had called him back and agreed to have dinner with him.
“So, what are we doing in the cell-phone lot? We gonna make out?” Jimmy asked, a big grin on his face.
Grace gave him a sideways glance trying to suppress a laugh. That was one of the things that she loved about him. Even in her darkest time, he could always make her smile.
“No, we’re not going to make out. I just wanted to take a minute before I dropped you off to say thank you for never giving up on me. I listened to every voice mail, read every text and email, over and over. Thank you for this weekend. I had such a great time with you.”
“It was so good seeing you, Grace. I’ve missed you so much and I’ve never stopped loving you,” Jones said, looking into the young woman’s eyes.
“I know,” she answered quietly. “I’d like to try again. I’m much better now. Working with CDC Enforcement is a great job. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be a cop again, but God has healed me of so much of the bad stuff I went through. Church has really helped. I’ve gotten close to a few of the lady leaders there and I feel like my life has a purpose again.”
“I really enjoyed church this morning,” Jimmy acknowledged. “Thanks for taking me. I can see why you love it there. And, I’d love to try again. I can come down every month or so and stay with Eddie. When you want to come see me, Chuck said you can stay with them. He also asked me to give you a hug and said Beth would love to see you. But, I’d really like to give you that hug, from Chuck, of course.”
Grace laughed out loud this time, unable to suppress it. “Well, if it’s from Chuck, I’m sure a hug would be OK.”
Jimmy had been such a gentleman on this trip. Not that she had expected anything different. He had always treated her well. After he had rescued her, she had asked him to sleep with her, hoping his presence might keep the nightmares away. After things had started to get back to normal in Atlanta, it had only been natural for the couple to move in together.
The problem was that her father had been a pastor and she had been brought up in church. She knew she shouldn’t be living with Jimmy. The guilt she felt on top of her depression was the main reason she had broken up with him. On this trip, however, Jimmy had not even hinted at spending the night with her. She wanted to see him to come back to God like she had but knew that it could take some time.
“I guess I need to get you over to the terminal,” she sighed.
Jones nodded, hating to leave. “Yeah, it’s about that time.”
Grace pulled up to the curb at departures and got out of her Jeep. Jimmy reached into the back and grabbed his backpack and a small black suitcase. Cunningham grabbed him, giving him a tight hug.
“That’s for Chuck,” she whispered.
She then pressed her lips against his for several seconds, her hands holding his face. “And that’s for you. I promise, from now on, I’ll answer every call, text, or email.”
“Well, in that case,” Jimmy said, dropping his bags to the sidewalk, and kissing her deeply, “this is for you.”
CHAPTER TWO
RESTON, VIRGINIA, MONDAY, 0650 HOURS
Elizabeth McCain slurped the milk out of the bowl after finishing her Raisin Bran Cereal. An open iPad lay on the table allowing her to get a head start on checking work emails. A pounding came from beside her as Raymond Charles McCain banged his spoon on the tray of his high chair. The almost two-year old toddler had eaten most of his oatmeal, was wearing the rest, and was obviously ready to be done with breakfast.
“Drink some more milk and we’ll get you cleaned up,” Elizabeth told him.
“How’s my buddy?” Chuck asked, entering the kitchen and filling his coffee mug.
“Daddy! Down, Daddy, down!” Ray squealed.
McCain wet a couple of paper towels and wiped the porridge off of Ray’s face and hands. He then poured himself a bowl of cereal and joined his wife at the table.
“What’ve you got going on today?” he asked.
“Just the usual. I’ll take him to daycare for a few hours so I can get some stuff done for Dr. Martin. He has a big presentation coming up in London next month. I’m helping him put it together. He said he might need me to come with him. Would you be OK with that?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice.
“Of course,” Chuck grinned. “Me and the little guy will be fine.”
Elizabeth worked for the director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Charles Martin, as his personal assistant. She had been on-site with him in Atlanta when the couple lived there
. When Chuck had accepted the job with the CIA in Northern Virginia, Beth had turned in her letter of resignation. Martin had torn the paper up, refusing to let her quit. Instead, he gave her a pay raise and allowed her to work remotely. Elizabeth flew to Atlanta a couple of times a month to meet with the CDC director but worked primarily from her home office.
Beth smiled across the table at her husband. “Thank you! I’ve never been out of the country and I couldn’t believe he asked me to go with him.”
“Dr. Martin is a nice man and very smart,” McCain said, “but he strikes me as the kind of guy who loses his glasses while they’re on his face. He needs you to keep him organized.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much my boss,” she laughed. “What’s on your schedule?”
“Monday mornings is our staff meeting for everyone who’s around. We’ll brief the general on how things went last week and see what’s on the docket. Then, Andy and I will start planning our next course.”
“Where will that be?”
“The next one I’m doing is with the Mercer County Sherriff’s SWAT team in a couple of weeks. That’s in Trenton, New Jersey.”
Chuck downed the last of his coffee as Beth got Ray out of the high chair. The toddler held his arms out for his father to pick him up.
“Are you still happy at Century?” Elizabeth asked.
McCain bounced his laughing son on his knee and shrugged. “Do I not look happy?”
“I don’t know. You’ve always had a job where you were in the middle of the action. Now, you’re sitting behind a desk or out training other people. I know what I prefer. I love the fact that you aren’t getting shot at anymore.”
Chuck smiled. “I’m fine. It’s definitely a transition, but the pay is good, I enjoy training people, and I get to work with some of my best friends. There are some days when I miss the adrenaline dump but the trade-off is that I get to come home to you and Ray. Plus, you’ve been known to give me a few adrenaline dumps, yourself.”
Elizabeth laughed again and gave him a lingering kiss before taking the baby from him. “Let me get him changed so we can head out. See you this afternoon.”
CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA, MONDAY, 1050 HOURS
Only one pastry remained on the large platter in the middle of the long table in the conference room adjacent to Director of Operations Kevin Clark’s office. Clark and CIA Director, Larry Purvis, sat at one end of the table while the team from the mission in Canada sat in the other comfortable leather chairs, drinking coffee, tea, or energy drinks.
For almost three hours, they had debriefed the op at the Canadian mall. For most of the meeting, Purvis had sat quietly, letting Clark guide the discussion. Purvis had not come up through the ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency. Instead, he had been a career G-man at the FBI, retiring the year before as the Director of Counterterrorism. The current FBI Director, Cameron Pickard, had recommended his former deputy to the president after the Maxwell Sterling scandal.
Purvis had looked forward to a retirement of fly fishing and tinkering in his woodshop and the call from President Asher caught him off-guard. Normally, a position like the Director of the CIA would have gone to someone with more political savvy. Larry had actually pointed this out to the president as he had tried to turn the job down.
“Dammit, Larry, I don’t want a politician,” the president snorted in his mid-western twang. “I’ve got enough of them around me all day. Your former boss, FBI Director Pickard, told me you were a good man. He said that you had balls and integrity. That’s a rare combination these days, especially in Washington. If you’ll take this job and focus on rebuilding the CIA after what that son-of-a-bitch Sterling did, I’ll take care of the politics. You just run the Agency.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Purvis heard himself say. “I’d be honored to accept.”
“Great! Glad to hear it. I’ve already given you a solid man as your operations chief. Colonel Kevin Clark was an assistant director of ops but Maxwell fired him along with a lot of other good people. I hired him back as quickly as I could. Clark’s the real deal and will rebuild that division for you. He’s a pro on every level.”
The president had been right, Larry thought, listening as Kevin debriefed the team. Clark asked question after question, making sure he had squeezed every bit of intelligence out of the men and women. Now, they were faced with a dilemma. What were they going to do about Aaron Richards and Wang Lei Chen?
They viewed the hacked security video that Gabriella had downloaded. Even though Chloe’s phone had been destroyed, the audio recording was salvaged and enhanced so they could all hear the conversation. It was clear to everyone that former Green Beret and CIA agent Richards had gone over to the dark side.
Aaron had dropped out of sight after giving Norris and Donaldson the slip at the mall. They didn’t know if he had gotten back into the U.S. or stayed in Canada as there was no record of him entering or leaving Canada, Clark had discovered.
Chen had diplomatic status, even though the CIA now had confirmation that he was actively involved in espionage in America and was attempting to recruit United States citizens as spies. They had records of him traveling back and forth to the U.S. from Canada, but would have to possess overwhelming evidence to detain and deport him. Now that Wang Lei was on their radar, though, the Agency would be watching him even more closely. With the Chinese spy based in Canada, the CIA’s hands were tied, for the moment at least.
“So, the next question,” Clark asked, looking around the room, “is what’s our next step in regards to Aaron Richards?”
“Oh, we can take care of that, Boss,” Jay Walker answered with a slight smile. “Just give the word and we’ll make sure that Richards’ career as a Chinese asset is short-lived.”
Kevin nodded and looked at Larry. “That would be the easiest way. Director, if you’ll sign an Apprehend or Terminate order, we’ll get to work tracking him down and dealing with him before he can do any more damage.”
The CIA Director looked uncomfortable. He knew that this was normal protocol for handling rogue agents at the Agency but after a lifetime of following the law and allowing the courts to do their job, Purvis wasn’t sure what to do. After a moment, he shook his head.
“No, I think on this one I want to get the FBI involved. Colonel, if you’ll designate one of your people as a liaison, we’ll put them in touch with Director of Counterterrorism Valerie Morris at the Bureau. I’d like our agent to brief her and work with them, utilizing the FBI’s resources. I know Valerie and I’ll call her to set it up.”
Purvis noticed the disapproving looks on the faces of everyone in the room. Clark’s face remained neutral, probably because he was used to receiving orders he didn’t agree with during his time in uniform. I bet he’s a good poker player, Larry thought.
After a moment, Kevin nodded again. “Yes, sir. Hughes, you’ll report to the FBI in the morning. Give them everything we’ve got so far. At this point, there’s no need to keep secrets. We’ll dig out Richards’ file and let you take that, as well.”
Jennifer took a deep breath, clearly unhappy at having to work with the Bureau. At the same time, she knew that the FBI was very good at what they did. The thought of putting a bullet into Aaron Richards’ head was her obvious first choice, but seeing him in handcuffs wasn’t a bad visual either.
“Got it, Boss,” she answered.
“The director’s right,” Clark continued. “Richards could be a treasure trove of information by the time they have him in custody. Good debrief, team. Let’s get back to work. Chloe and Gabby, great work. Thanks for helping us out on this op. Jay, can you and Tu stick around for a minute?”
Everyone filed out of the conference room as Walker and Donaldson moved to seats closer to Purvis and Clark. After the door was shut, Kevin spoke up.
“Great work, Jay. That went as good as it could go, other than Richards managing to get away. But, then again, you guys were in Canada so what would you have done with him
if you’d caught him?”
“He’s slippery,” Donaldson said, shaking his head.
“All good,” Kevin smiled. “Tu, you were a master sergeant in the Army and a Green Beret. I know you’ve been with us for less than a year, but screw it— I need you as a team leader. The rebuild is going well, but I need some seasoned people helping me run ops.”
“Thanks, Colonel. I’m just here to serve.”
“Just like the old days,” Jay grinned at his friend.
The former SEAL and former Green Beret had first served together as team leaders in the Washington, D.C., office of the CDC Enforcement Unit. Tu had eventually been promoted to the agent in charge but had been thrilled when Colonel Clark had called to offer him a job with the CIA. Donaldson was bored out of his mind at the CDC since all the zombies had been eliminated and had jumped at the offer to join the Agency.
“I’ve got some new recruits joining us from the Farm next week,” Kevin continued. “You guys decide how you want to divide them up. I was thinking about making Chris a team leader, as well. What do you think, Jay? You’ve spent more time with him than the rest of us.”
“No worries, Colonel. He was a Chief Petty Officer in the SEALs and led teams for years while he was in the Navy. He’ll do you right.”
Clark nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll probably bump him up to team lead as soon as we have enough people to fill out the squads. Thankfully, we also have plenty of good folks like Gabby and Chloe that we can draw from in the contractor pool. Reading between the lines of what Chen told Richards, we could be on the verge of some new terror attacks. It sounds like we’re about to get busy.”
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, WEDNESDAY, 1310 HOURS
Musa Khan disconnected the phone call, hating the fact that he had to work with Wang Lei Chen. The Chinese thought they were so much better than everyone else. They were even worse infidels than the Americans. The Chinese were a nation of atheists. At least the Americans had some concept of god, flawed though it was.
