OPEN SEASON PART III
Iranian Captive (1)
Briefing Room Number 1 – MI6 HQ, SIS Building Vauxhall, London
The intel had been good, clear and concise. Agent Catherine Lavigne was in Tehran, held by an Iranian Quds unit but about to be sold onto a larger unit in Shemshak. MI6 also had a name … Omid Nazari, a terrorist, trafficking monster already known to MI6
Grace’s undercover date with Omid Nazari had been set, and following him seeing her picture along with her name being ‘introduced’ to him as a front for a Southern European Trafficking Network, he was keen to meet her. He had made it clear that a very saleable asset was about to fall into his lap, and Grace, calling herself Stefani Grabowski, a German national with a Turkish background who spoke both fluent Altaic and Semitic languages (Grace’s Oxford degree was in Middle Eastern and Ancient languages –
See Oxford, Spies and the Secret Service), made it clear that she was in the market for such an asset.
Major Jason Underwood called his team into Briefing Room Number 1 to brief them, and Grace, who sat fiddling with her phone, had to admit that she was a little bored as the Major went about assigning details of who would be out in Shemshak with Grace, along with who would be monitoring what, while she was being wined and dined by Nazari.
“We’re going to need to keep on our toes, people,” Underwood said. “Our target hasn’t told Special Agent Miller where he plans on taking her or what he plans on doing, so we’re going to have to stay mobile and flexible. We won’t be able to pre-scout any of his planned locations, so it’s going to be impossible to get bugs into them before …” His words were cut short as Grace spoke.
“Actually, it appears he’s taking me to the Cheragan Restaurant which is housed in the Shemshak Boutique Hotel, which happens to be where you guys have booked me in to stay,” Grace said as she swiped again at her phone.
“Oh. Okay, good,” Jason said. “Let’s get onto that team …”
“He’s got a regular table there,” Special Agent Miller added, “… Back corner, by the window. His favourite dish is the lobster ravioli.” Underwood’s glare turned more curious.
“Okay…”
“Then he plans to take me somewhere where he hopes he can show me what a proper Iranian good time actually is …”
Underwood blinked at Grace. “How do you know all this?” he asked.
She showed him the app that she had open on her phone.
“It’s all on his Facebook feed,” she said, I just friended him as Stefani and he accepted ..." This also told Grace that her full online back story was in place, "... The guy posts there constantly, his ego is huge so seducing him should be a sinch.”
The Major stared at the Special Agent, as though what she had just said was too complicated for his brain to comprehend.
“Facebook?” he muttered. “He’s on fucking FACEBOOK?” Underwood turned to his team, looking as though he might explode. “How did we not know this?” he hissed.
His team all looked at each other as if to imply that each one thought the other had checked Facebook.
“FUCK IT!” he yelled. “We are motherfucking MI6 and we don’t know our fucking target has a motherfucking Facebook page?” Even Grace’s eyes widened at Jase’s language.
“Apparently it’s a great source for trafficking targets too,” Grace added, continuing to flick through Nazari’s feed on her phone. “… given the number of girls he’s befriended.”
“Mother fucker.” Underwood stopped pacing and looked at his team as if to say
what the fuck are you all still doing here. “Don’t just sit there, you fuckers, find a fucking computer and Facebook-the-shit out of this prize twat! Find out what other social networks he’s on! Start fucking monitoring them! MOVE!!!”
“Apparently, he tweets a lot as well!” Grace called out with a smirk, to the Analysts and Support Agents as they ran for the door, escaping Underwood’s wrath.
She watched Underwood as he paced back and forth, his face flushed with anger, his eyes wild. She hadn’t seen him so filled with passion and emotion since Kat’s death.
“I can’t believe we could miss something like that!” he sneered to himself. “I can’t fucking believe it!”
Grace got up and led him to sit in her chair, the entire time he was mumbling about rolling heads and firing someone … anyone …
She immediately went to work massaging his shoulders, which were wound tighter than steel cable. “Shhhhhhh …” Special Agent Miller said, trying to calm him. “It was just a little oversight, no big deal.”
“That little oversight would have fucked our entire strategy with Nazari if it wasn’t for you,” he continued to grumble.
“Stop,” I told him. “This isn’t your fault. We’re on it now. You don’t need to be upset.” She could sense his breathing start to slow down as she kept on kneading his shoulders. They were slowly loosening up under her soft touch. Poor guy. He was so not over Ekaterina, still so stressed out and angry.
“What the hell are you doing?” he looked at Grace.
“Trying to keep your head from exploding with rage,” she replied softly. “Would you like me to stop?”
Underwood remained silent, as though he felt like he should tell her to stop from both a professional and personal standpoint, but it felt way too good to do so. She took his silence for consent and kept working his shoulders.
“It was a stupid mistake,” he muttered. “We should have known to check his Social Media Accounts.”
“It’s not the end of the world, Jase,” Grace replied, her tone gentle.
“No, we have to be better than this,” said Underwood. “We can reposition satellites to see the hair on a man’s head in the middle of the desert, but we can’t be bothered to check fucking Facebook?”
“You’re being too hard on yourself.”
“I can’t afford not to be,” he said. “These bastards don’t have to be perfect, but we do. One mistake … just one, is all it takes to allow a mission to fail, and then people like you and others die. And then your blood is on our hands as much as theirs.”
“You can’t really believe that,” Grace said.
“It’s the truth,” he replied. “They may pull the trigger, but we’d be the ones to let it happen. It’s our job to stop them. It’s what we’re paid and entrusted to do. And if they succeed, it means we were asleep at the motherfucking wheel, and our carelessness has allowed them to win.”
His words washed over Grace, so full of pain and weariness. She could almost feel the burden he was carrying on his shoulders and it was so overwhelming it felt like it would crush her too beneath its weight. This man was a hero, a brave soldier, who had lost the love of his life. Here he was sacrificing everything, his body, his mind, his very soul, to protect the innocent people who would never know or care about what he was giving up for them. It was no wonder he was so angry and miserable most of the time. Grace felt that since Kat’s death he’d given up ever trying to be happy. Happiness would make him lazy. It would make him content. Happiness was what would prevent him from remembering Kat, how and why she died and what she stood for, and so even though he craved contentment, he couldn’t allow himself to experience it.
Grace moved around the Major, and straddled his lap, cupping his face in her hands and looking into his eyes. He looked back at Special Agent Miller, confused at what she was doing. Then she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss.
To Be Continued …