Coming Apart (2)
A little further back in time, before Chapter 01 …
The one-bedroom apartment of Grace Miller, Hospital Lane, Canterbury, Kent, UK …
SEVEN MONTHS and almost one week after Jase had left Grace, and his family, behind in the UK to be with CIA Agent Barbara Moore in the US … (see Crucifying an Angel).
“He’s mine now, Grace …” The smiling, smug face of Barbara Moore grinned at Grace Miller, an expression which pushed her over the edge. She moved as if to raise her fist and punch the American whore who had stolen her husband, but her arms wouldn’t move.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
“No, fuck, nooooo stop! Grace looked down as nails were being hammered through her hands, securing her to the large wooden chair with the spiked seat, and suddenly she discovered that she was bare ass naked.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
“Please … stop! STOPPPPPPPP!”
Grace awoke, braced for impact … but found that she was in her own bed. The nightmare ended, but the KNOCKING continued … the sound coming from her front door. It was still dark; 5:35 AM showed on the nightstand clock as she gripped the Glock G17 pistol beside it.
Upon immediate reflection, if this was danger then the would-be assassin surely wouldn’t knock.
She padded barefoot out of the bedroom, through the living area and into the small reception hall, wearing nothing but a cropped white vest over a pair of tight pink panties.
The peephole confirmed her assumption. She unlocked and opened the door to a man.
“Time for us to talk again,” he said, barging past her.
“Yes, it is. Because I asked you never to come here, and maybe I need to re-affirm that, Caddis.” Grace spoke in the clipped tones reflective of her upper-class upbringing. Stephen Caddis, former gang leader and drug dealer and now MI6 Off-The-Grid Handler, entered Grace’s apartment uninvited. Fit and toned, with short hair, he wasn’t unattractive, but he was rough and ready and ridiculously socially inept. He wore a black leather jacket, over a white button-down shirt and jeans.
Many women found him attractive. Grace wasn’t one of them.
“This is my home. My private life. I didn’t agree to invasions of either.”
“You agreed to serve me,” Caddis said.
“I agreed to serve my country.” Grace replied.
“As far as you’re concerned, I am your country now. That’s the brief I have from Chief Moore.”
Grace entered her small but neat and tidy kitchen and flipped on the light. When she opened the refrigerator and bent to retrieve a bottle of water, she sensed Caddis contemplating her nudity under the thin tank-top.
“I would offer to make you coffee,” she said. “But you might stay longer than absolutely necessary.” Grace paused and stood upright to take a long drink from the open bottle. “You know that I can pick the phone up to Roger Moore at any time, don’t you?”
Caddis grinned shaking his head. “That was the old Special Agent Grace Miller. You’re working off the grid now Miss Miller and that means that Roger Moore is obligated to keep his distance from you at all times. Your only lifeline is me.” His grin just got wider.
Grace sighed. “So, this couldn’t be done during normal working hours.”
“Semper Occultus,” Miller, ‘always in secret’, he said somewhat cryptically.
“Fucking hell, Caddis, don’t start pretending to be educated!”
Caddis sat at the kitchen table, took out and lit a cigarette.
“No, really; it’s fine,” she said. “Go ahead and smoke in my house. I don’t mind.” She threw open the window over the sink, retrieved a saucer from a cupboard, and tossed it on the table for ashtray duty, before muttering, “Fucking asshole.”
Caddis opened his briefing wallet, removed a tablet, and placed it on the table.
“Your first mission …”
Grace smirked, and uttered a sardonic chuckle. “Yeah right …” she muttered. It was indeed her first assignment as an Off the Grid Agent working on black ops for MI6, but of course she was a very experienced Agent from times gone by.
“You leave for Budapest on the five thirty BA flight from Heathrow.” he said, as he opened a folder on the tablet’s desktop and a man’s unflattering headshot photo appeared.
“You mean tonight?”
He nodded.
Realising that was all he was going to say, Grace turned her attention back to the screen. “Ugh. Who’s the pretty boy?”
“That fat snake is Mr. Grzegorz Barta. We will discuss him in a moment.”
“Can’t wait. Ok, I’m going to Budapest. What’s my cover?”
Caddis grinned. “Hooker, stripper, prostitute.”
Grace shook her head with a resigned sigh. “Saying that turns you on doesn’t it, you fucking animal.”
“Now, now Miss Miller,” … off the grid operatives were not officially classified as Agents …
“… what else could you be working as in one of the sex capitals of Eastern Europe, and …”
Grace exhaled, before cutting in. “… and this fat pig is a disgusting whore-monger who spends most of his time in strip clubs and lap dancing bars.”
Stephen Caddis took a long final drag on his cigarette, before stubbing it out on the saucer. “You’re good Miller, very good. That is precisely what he does.”
Caddis blew out the residual smoke and continued. “… and that is how you will make contact with him. Barta not only frequents those places he actually owns one, the biggest one.”
Caddis let the screen transition. “The Leopard V is officially for strippers and lapdancing, but it’s also a well known brothel, one that operates under the noses of the local police.”
“Most likely because most of the high up coppers over there are customers.” Grace rolled her eyes.
“Probably,” Caddis agreed, then added, “… and it’s a cover for drugs and trafficking.”
He swiped the tablet to a new page showing several more photos. “You will be provided with a small apartment located near The Leopard V. Fully, but sparsely, furnished. Fitting for a slutty whore.”
He grinned at Grace, who simply muttered, “Pig.”
“Can I take my Glock?”
It was now Caddis’ turn to exhale. “We didn’t have time to obtain a concealed weapons license for you. Therefore, you can, but I would not recommend getting frisked by any local authorities.”
Grace grinned, knowing how intrusive a frisking can be. “I wouldn’t recommend that either.”
“The apartment also contains an encrypted cell phone for secure communications. Also, eight million Hungarian Forint in cash.”
Grace laughed, “Oooh, I’m a millionaire!”
“It’s around twenty-two grand in sterling Miller,” her handler replied, stony faced.
“Yes Caddis, I have a degree from Oxford University, I know how much it’s really worth. I guess that’s to cover everything expense wise, is it?”
“Well, once you get yourself into the club, you can earn …”
“Wait … what? You mean you haven’t set the job up already for me?”
Caddis laughed, “We couldn’t Miller, authenticity is required. You need to get yourself an audition and put on a slutty show for the management. It’ll be fine, you’re a natural!” As he said this his eyes lasered in on her braless breasts and the points of her nipples pushing at the thin white fabric.
“Okay, now tell me the interesting part.” Grace, sticking her chest out to provoke Caddis just that little bit more, swiped the tablet back to the man’s photo. “Who is he, and why am I making contact with him?”
“He is an enemy of the State.”
“Can you be a little more vague, please?”
“Barta is a people trafficker. He has several ‘cargo’ flights scheduled from a private airfield in Budapest, plus … and this we’re not absolutely certain about, he is planning to route several Tomahawk surface-to-air missiles from the US, through Budapest and onto Moscow. I don’t need to spell out why this cannot be allowed to happen.”
“And what’s my job? Bring him in, or …”
“Execute him Miller. Without him and his contacts the deal will fall flat.”
“Can’t we just ask the US authorities to pick him up and hold him for us?”
“Significant American friends of ours do not wish Mr. Barta’s existence to even be acknowledged, and so we have agreed to be the providers of his ‘execution’. Plausible deniability for them, and nothing for you to concern yourself with Miss Miller.”
Grace sighed. “So, I need to get to this guy, gain his trust, get him alone and kill him?”
“That’s about it, Miller, yes, and how you do that is entirely up to you, within the confines of your cover of course.” His lascivious grin was back.
“Questions?” Caddis said. “Would you like me to go over it again?” Grace caught him lusting at her bare legs.
“No questions. Looks like everything I need is here. You can leave. I know you’re a man with much to do, even at this ungodly hour of the morning.”
Her handler consulted his watch. “Nope, plenty of time. I could stay for a while if you wish.”
“Erm, no, that’s ok.” Grace pulled her vest down in a wasted attempt to cover more of her thighs and yawned.
“I want to go back to bed.”
Caddis’ libidinous grin grew wider.
“On my own.” Grace added.
To Be Continued …