Cliff Ryder - The Powers That Be

Judy nodded. “There are several groups working toward an independent Cuba, both in the U.S. and in-country, but for Major Valdes to suddenly stop communication with us, someone else would have to dangle a fairly large carrot to bring him over to their side.”

Kate brought up the latest summary of their last communication. “Major Valdes had previously been a useful source of information on the status of the military and related areas under their control. Lately, however, our analysts found a growing undercurrent of dissatisfaction from him about the regime, that change is too slow in coming, and even the progress the military has made in bringing foreign business and tourists into the country hasn’t benefited the people. So, what if someone made him a better offer?”

Jonas grasped her implication first. “Put him in a position to remove a head of state and accelerate a true revolution.

That would most likely mean civil war, with factions of the government and the military going at it, with the population caught in the middle.”

“That certainly doesn’t fall in line with plans for the region,” Judy said.

Kate motioned for silence. “Let’s get all of the facts before we decide on a course of action. Jonas, we monitored your initial contact at the greyhound club. Please fill us in on the rest of your meeting.”

Kate wasn’t sure, but she thought Jonas seemed relieved to have the topic of conversation move elsewhere.

“Certainly. As we were leaving, subject invited me into his car for further conversation. Once there, his bodyguard produced a weapon, as the record will show. Subject then asked why an arms dealer would contact him directly, indicating that they had researched my background, and asked why I had contacted him. I reiterated my cover story and mentioned I was investigating rumors of an operation occurring in the Caribbean. Subject also accused me of taking advantage of the recent power vacuum left in Florida by the arrest of several prominent men in Mr. Heinemann’s occupation. I alluded to wanting to expand my business and mentioned a current weapons system I had that people he knew might be interested in. I left him with my cell number and an invitation to join me on my yacht. As of yet, I have not heard from subject, and expect that he is doing more research on me right now.”

Kate sent a message to the cyberjocks to see if any other data had been accessed on Heinemann or his company. “Do you think he is involved?”

“In a plot to free Cuba? Very probably. If I get a second meeting, which I expect will happen within the next twelve hours, I will do my best to confirm that.”

“All right, until we know more about Beta’s subject, I want you, Alpha, to see if you can find out anything on your own. We’ll get you whatever data on him that we have as soon as possible. Do not get involved in any other local incidents, do you understand?” Kate said.

“Yes.”

“Beta, is there anything you can do to push the meeting up?”

“Initiating contact again at this time would accomplish nothing. I’m sure our subject will call—we just have to be patient. If he’s as interested in the weapons as I believe he is, he’ll be in touch soon. The potential enemy force has several gunships, and that system would be worth its weight in gold to an incursion force.”

“Very well. Alpha, I expect contact every four hours with progress reports. We’ll crunch that data as soon as possible and upload it to you. Primary out.”

Kate tapped the two windows for Jonas and Marcus, making them vanish as the connection was broken. She kept Judy’s open. “What are your thoughts?”

“I’m thinking that Samantha may have been right. In my professional opinion, Marcus is too hot-headed for an operation like this.” Judy was looking off-screen as she replied, and Kate figured she was reviewing Marcus’s file. “If we weren’t already in the middle of it, I’d suggest pulling him out now, but it’s too late. We cannot have operatives running around like knights attempting to rescue anyone in need.

Damn it, he knows better. The mission is what’s important, not risking getting captured by the police. It’s bad enough that our Hawaii operation is a half step away from being scrubbed because our operative got too close to her targets.

As it is, she’s endangered the mission, and now we have another one on the edge because Marcus can’t control his macho instincts. I think when he gets back, he should go through the entire psych evaluation. We need to see if he really is Room 59.”

“I’ll take that under advisement. However, in the future, leave comments about an operative’s performance for the after-mission review. I don’t want them second-guessing themselves in the middle of duty,” Kate said.

“If it wasn’t addressed immediately, who knows what Marcus might have done under the guise of appropriate actions. I don’t like having to upbraid operatives in the middle of missions, especially since they’re supposed to be above that kind of behavior,” Judy said.

“Regardless of the circumstances, Judy,” Kate said, her tone frosty, “you were out of order, and I don’t want to see that again. Are we clear?”

Judy took in the steel-hard look in her superior’s eyes, and gave the barest nod. “Perfectly, Kate. Hopefully it won’t be an issue in the future.”

“It had better not. I’ll pull an operative from active duty—

any operative—before endangering a mission. What did you think about Jonas’s report?”

“Funny, I was about to ask you the same question. Does he know something he’s not telling us? And if so, will that endanger the operation? It’s bad enough we’ve got one operative on a loose leash. We don’t need another one—especially a department head—running around half-cocked, as well.”

“No, we don’t. Listen, when I first contacted Jonas about this, he mentioned wanting to be involved in this operation—”

“That was the end run, right? I just want to make sure I follow the chain of events properly,” Judy said.

Kate stifled a sigh. “Yes, before the board meeting yesterday morning. That led to his pushing for running the op himself—”

“So if you had reservations, or were concerned he had a personal or some other interest in this, why didn’t you say so before then?”

“Because all I had then is exactly what we have now—

vague suspicions. I’m not going to bar an operative from a mission because of a look, or a strange pause in the conversation. That isn’t enough. We need proof—like what Marcus provided on himself, unfortunately for him—before we suspend or discipline anyone. The one thing I’m not going to let this agency become is a nest of vipers all striving to take each other down for personal gain or petty rivalries.” And you can take that as a veiled threat if you want, Kate thought.

Judy’s expression didn’t change at all as she replied,

“That’s the last thing I want, as well. However, you and I also have to keep our eyes on the larger picture, which is accomplishing the assigned mission with the most appropriate personnel. Now we suspect that Jonas may have a personal motive in working on this assignment.” She paused for a moment. “I’m sure there’s no hope of just coming out and asking him, is there?”

Kate shook her head. “That would be about as effective as asking you the same question. Jonas is a professional, first and foremost. He’ll bury his feelings so deep neither of us, even with all our experience, would be able to see what’s really going on. More importantly, he’s already made the initial contact, so to pull him out now would cause too much suspicion and likely spook Castilo. Like it or not, we have to continue as planned, at least for the time being. I’m moving both operatives to round-the-clock monitoring, so at least we’ll be informed if anything untoward happens.”