Cliff Ryder - The Ties That Bind

"Okay," she said. "I know you have questions. And I'll answer them, but the important thing is that I know the man behind all this. Feng Li. I know who he is."

"You're kidding!" Jason exclaimed. "You mean that being here among your family and friends, who happen to be working for the man, has suddenly filled in the gaps in your memory? Color me amazed."

"It's not the way it looks, Jason," she said. "And sarcasm isn't going to help us. It's not what we need right now."

"I'm sorry, Tina," he said, his tone mocking. "I'm just a little cranky after having my entire mission blow up in my face, being captured and tortured, only to find out that the one person I've been trusting has been lying her cute little ass off to me."

She lowered her head. "You're right," she admitted. "I have…lied. But they were lies of omission, not lies of fact."

"That will make a big difference when my boss has me killed," he said.

"Denny?" she asked. "I'll take care of it."

"What do you mean you'll take…" Jason's voice faltered. "Denny? How do you know that name?"

"Jason," she said quietly, "I know who you are."

"You've known that since the day we met," he said.

"Not your name," she replied, "but God only knows if that is your name. I mean I know who you work for. Room 59. Ring any bells for you?"

"How do you…" he began.

She shrugged. "I know because I work for them, too."

"What?" he asked, her words not registering as real. "You're not a…you don't act like a field agent. I don't understand."

"I'm not a field agent," she said. "I went through the basic training, but most of my work is doing intercepted-Russian-communication translations. When I worked in New York, I did some intelligence analysis, too. I used a different name, but when I came home, I started using my birth name again." She looked up at him. "I haven't kept any secrets from you that you haven't been keeping from me."

Still stunned, Jason said, "You work for Room 59?"

"Yeah," she said. "I came up here when I realized that city life just wasn't for me. They found a way to keep me on up here, and the work I do is valuable. We both had the same secret, the only difference being that I knew who you were working for and you didn't know that I work for them myself."

"But if you knew who I was…" he said, then his voice trailed off. "They told you I was coming, didn't they?"

She nodded. "Yes. I was supposed to keep an eye on you, lend you a hand if you needed one. This is your first mission, after all."

"Keep an eye on me?" he snarled. "Is that what…what all of this was? You keeping an eye on me?"

"No!" she said. "Yes." She sighed heavily. "At first, yes. You were just an assignment, but…I do care about you. I don't know what that really means yet or how you feel or even what I'll feel when all this is over. I was doing my job, damn it, the same as you."

Running his hands through his hair, Jason tried to wrap his mind around the fact that she worked for Room 59, that she'd been playing him as well or better than he'd played her. "I guess you'd make a hell of a field agent, if you ever set your mind to it," he said. "You sure had me fooled."

"I wasn't trying to trick you, Jason. You've said it yourself — the mission comes first. I decided that it was time you knew the truth. We're coming down to the end here and you're going to need all the resources you've got — including me."

"True enough," he admitted.

"Look," she said, "I've been trying to help you, but I'm not a field agent, and really…I'm better at doing translations than analysis anyway. It's been great to have a steady paycheck while doing something that came easily to me, but I'm not a big part of the Room 59 machine. I'm a little, tiny cog and other than filing my reports, I have almost no contact with them. When I was there, I just figured out that it wasn't my world. It was me trying to be someone I wasn't."

Jason sat down on a nearby crate, trying to take it all in, then he sighed. "I can't think of any reason for you to lie," he finally said. "So, you work for Room 59. That might be enough to save me, if I can get this mission salvaged."

"And that," she said, "is what I've been trying to get at. Feng Li. I know who he is."

"I don't get it," he said. "How do you know him?"

"I want to be sure," she said. "Let's get your stuff set up and get online with Denny. All my gear is back in the village. We can pull up the databases we'll need at the same time."

Jason stood up abruptly and crossed his arms. "No way," he said. "You think I'm just going to take your word for all this? Your grandfather works for them!"

"So does your brother," she snapped back. "You're going to have to choose whether or not you trust me."

"I don't have any reason to trust you, do I?" he said. "You could have been straight with me from the beginning. You could have said you worked for the CIA, the FBI or the NSA. Why play the native guide?"

"It's my cover," she snapped. "And I happen to be a very good guide!"

"You could have said you worked for…"

"P.E.T.A.?" she interrupted.

He stopped suddenly, realizing that he was yelling and waving his arms like a madman. This woman was going to drive him completely insane before this mission was through. They both laughed, and once again the tension eased between them.

"That was a pretty good one, wasn't it?" he said.

"Considering the circumstances, I'd say it was comedic genius," she replied.

In two strides, he had her in his arms. "I thought…I thought they'd hurt you," he said, holding her tightly. "You get me all turned around, you know?"

Laying her head on his chest, she nodded. "I know. You do the same to me. There's a reason why they preach the Don't Let It Get Personal motto to every agent. It messes with your thinking."

"You weren't an agent," he said. "So how do I get you turned around?"

"I care about you," she said. "More than I wanted to admit."

"Are you two about done in there?" Jesse's voice echoed loudly through the cavern. "Or should we book you a nice room at the village motel?"

Kissing him softly on the lips, she said, "We're about done in here. Did you bring Jason's equipment in?"

"Yeah, and I hid the truck on the back side of those scrub trees and covered it up pretty well."

"They'll be looking for us," Jason said. "And when they find us, they'll bring everything they've got, including the Asp."

"I know," she said. "That's why it's time for us to report in to Denny and give him an update. Once he knows the situation on the ground and I can tell him about Feng Li, we'll have a better idea of what to do next."

"Who is Feng Li?" Jason asked as he followed her back to the other room. "You sound almost scared of him."

"There's no 'almost' to it," she said. "I'm terrified of him."

"Why?"

"Because he used to work for Room 59, too," she said. "He started out as a field agent, and worked his way up to running one of the midnight teams until he went to the other side."

Jason stopped suddenly in his tracks. "He's an ex-agent?"

"Yes," she said. "And he's supposed to be dead."

"You are well, granddaughter?" Tanuk asked when they entered the main room. "You told him the truth?"

"Yes, on both counts," Tina said, leaning down to kiss the old man's cheek. "Though at some point, you and I are going to have a talk about all of this. I knew of this place, but you'd promised me that you weren't involved in the smuggling anymore."

She knelt down next to him and took his hand. "I don't understand," she said. "It's not like we really needed the money."

"I am sorry," Tanuk said. "I did not do it for the money. I just wanted to feel alive again, Tina. The years have crept up on me and I wanted one more adventure. Had I known what I was getting into…" The old man shrugged. "Wisdom can come from anywhere, at any age. This turned out to be a little more adventure than I had in mind."