Cameron Poe - Red Agenda

Jim sighed and gave Bump the nod. Bumper punched away on the keyboard and ran the tape back to the sound. He enhanced it and brought it up to a more audible level.

“Okay, here it is.” He played the sound, and to his amazement, it reproduced a balloon inflating. Then there was the faint sound of a cable coming taught and metal creaking. Then it went silent. “What the fuck?”

“What was it, Bump?”

“It’s something floating. An inflatable.”

There was hope in Mikhail’s voice. He didn’t know why or how, but he had some hope. “Can we ping it?”

The request wasn’t outrageous. It was just weird. Jim relented, though. He’d satisfy the old man if it helped. “Go to active sonar, Bump, and see if anything is out there.”

The War Eagle released the sound wave, and the whole ship listened to it travel in the depths. Nothing happened in the first couple of seconds. Then, very far off and very small, the wave came back.

“Jesus Christ, there is something out there.” Bump couldn’t believe it.

“Another sub?”

“No. Way too small.” Without asking permission, Bump sent off another wave. Again it came back. “Whatever it is, it’s coming up. Slowly, but up.”

Jim looked around the corner into the RRCC. There Josh was quietly conversing with O’Neil and McLeary. “Captain. Does your satellite still work?”

“Yes, sir,” replied Josh.

“Fire her up, please. We need to look for something.”

When the pod broke the surface, everyone was amazed but Andri. He smiled with great satisfaction.

“What the fuck is that?” remarked Kyle’s copilot.

The pod rolled over, and the small hatch swung to the top while the great steel sphere bobbed in the waves.

Kyle maneuvered above it, transfixed on who should emerge from the vessel. When the first person out was a woman, his jaw dropped to the floor. “She was with you?”

“Yes,” replied Andri. “My radio operator.” Then he saw Nick come up. It was a feeling of relief. He liked Nicholas very much. It didn’t matter who he was. Nicholas understood what he had created. No one else, even Sasha, had the insight to see how well the sub had been constructed. That made Nick respectable in Andri’s book.

“I guess we had better pick them up,” Kyle muttered.

Small cheers erupted from RRCC when Nicholas’s face appeared on Josh’s screen. ODIS’s console had been bounced off the wall, but its picture was clear enough for Mikhail to positively identify his grandson.

“He’s alive,” he said, smiling.

“With a woman, too,” McLeary added.

“Holy shit,” said Jim. “I can’t believe he pulled his ass out of that one.”

Mikhail’s chest swelled. “Of course he did. He’s my grandson.”

Jim, still in disbelief leaned his head into the conn. “Linc, Froggie was able to fix the rudder, somewhat. Head for home, best speed.”

“Aye, Cap.”

No one was more surprised than Nicholas when he saw the man helping him into the helicopter was none other than Andri Stemovich. Marina also was very confused by his presence and sat as far away from him as possible.

“I really didn’t expect to see you again, Captain.”

“Sasha pushed me over the sail when the torpedo struck. I felt you go under. I hoped you would get out. You see, my design worked.”

All Nick could muster was: “Yes, I guess it did.”

Beth had been in the CIA building many times since she was a little girl. Over the years, she had gotten to know the guards well, and they were aware of what position her father held.

Getting in was no problem. A few smiles, a couple of nods, and some polite conversation, and she entered easily through a back door, lacking any kind of security screening device, compliments of Levi.

She breezed past some familiar faces in the hall that had worked with her father on many Russian operations, and she seemed to be making her way toward his office. One more junction and she made the turn down the unfamiliar wing of the building that housed Mideast affairs. A marquee told her the office number for Dan Archer, and there she would find Sharon.

Dan had already begun cleaning out his office. Sharon had found some boxes, and she, too, was piling things on her desk in anticipation of being fired. She didn’t want to stay anyway, if her boss was to leave. Neither saw Beth peering around the corner, watching them shred files from Dan’s cabinets.

“Here are some of the first things we worked on,” remarked Sharon as she slid them in.

“I almost feel bad about the situation,” replied Dan. “No. I feel bad because of all the other people who don’t have the convenience to leave. After all, both of us can afford to go.”

“Sneaking off somewhere?” came Beth’s voice from the door.

They turned to see her aiming the pistol directly at Dan’s head.

“Beth! What are you doing?”

“What do you think, Sharon? I can’t let you go. You must come back to me.”

Dan boiled inside but kept his calm. “So, you’re Beth.”

“And you’re the one who fucked my girlfriend. Surprised to see me?”

“No, not really. I can only imagine how you got that gun in here.”

Sharon grew more concerned because Dan was using an aggressive tone with her. “Dan, don’t.”

“After all, when you’re Levi Carp’s little girl I bet you get about anything you want.”

“What?” Sharon jerked around. “I never knew that! You never told me that, Beth!”

The revelation pushed Beth off balance for the moment. “I—I didn’t think it was that important. I didn’t think it was necessary or that you would understand.”

“Beth!” cried Sharon. “You used me! Your father used me.”

“No, honey. No, I didn’t. Don’t you see? It was the only way for me to meet you and for us to be together.”

Dan laughed. “Blah, blah, blah. For a woman pretending to be a man you sure don’t handle pressure very well. What’s the matter? Your penis too small?”

“You shut up!”

“Or what? Pull that trigger, and fifty agents riddle you with holes. No way, babe. You can’t do it.”

“Sharon, leave,” said Beth calmly.

“That idea is the first good one you had all day. Get out of here, Sharon, and let us handle it a man’s way.” Dan didn’t care. He found being threatened with a gun very distasteful, and he tried to punch all of Beth’s buttons.

Sharon quickly slid behind Beth and back into her area.

Beth began, “You know, I’m not doing this for revenge—”

“Sure you are,” Dan cut her off. “It’s a typical male reaction when your girlfriend gets fucked by another.”

“Shut up, you fucker!” she screamed. “You’re making this hard.”

“Well, I ain’t going to make it easy. What did you expect me to do, beg for my life?”

“I’ve got to show Sharon how much I love her.”

“There’s some handy thinking. You love Sharon, so blow me away.”

“Fine, Mr. CIA Man.” She cocked the gun. “Have it your way.”

“You don’t have the balls!”

Dan didn’t know exactly what he heard first. The shot or the front side of Beth’s head exploding as the slug passed through it. Most of it wound up on his shirt before it was over. He stood rigid as he blinked himself back into reality and assured himself that it was not he who had been shot.