C. Paradee - Deep Cover

The Russian had not anticipated her coldly logical assessment. He shrugged his shoulders. "As you wish. I will contact the CIA directly."

Blue snorted. "And by the time you get through the layers of bureaucracy, Sergei's informants will have already notified him." She nodded towards the door, indicating the conversation was over.

Shelby sat on the couch watching the exchange intently. Kris was playing a dangerous game by even considering the Russian's offer, but it was the closest they'd come to getting a lead on her partner's mother's whereabouts without contacting Sergei. It would greatly increase the chances for a safe rescue, but Sergei was, by far, the best bargaining chip her partner had. If Gregor made good on his threat to contact the CIA, Kris' own plans could go up in smoke and she could lose her mother and her freedom.

The operative's countenance revealed none of her qualms as she watched Gregor unlock and open the door. She breathed an inward sigh of relief when the Russian closed the door and turned to face her.

Gregor inwardly cursed, hating the woman that had brought about his fall from grace. "I agree to tell you where your mother is only if you arrange my transfer at the time of her rescue."

Blue nodded. "Deal."

Michael waited until the parking lot was dark and quiet. He had no intentions of sitting on the roof another night. It would only take him a few minutes to reset the detonator to go off at 35mph. He cursed Blue's good luck at never having attained a speed of 53mph that day, and decided to end this once and for all. He finished a short time later and departed.

Gregor was in his car, ready to start it when he spotted a tall man stand up next to the rental car Blue had been driving. There was something familiar about the man, but it was too dark for Gregor to see him clearly. Suspicious, he watched until the figure disappeared from sight.

Starting the car, he began driving around aimlessly, debating what to do. An hour later, he made his decision. He didn't care if anything happened to Blue, but the fact remained that, right now, he needed her. Sighing, he picked up the phone and dialed her number.

The shrill ring of the cell phone woke both women.

Kris reached over Shelby to the nightstand and grabbed it. "Yeah."

"Check your car very carefully in the morning."

Kris narrowed her eyes at the sound of Gregor's voice. "You want to explain that."

"I saw someone suspicious near your car when I left."

Kris snorted. "And you just realized you still needed me, right?"

"Something like that." Gregor disconnected the call.

Shelby turned tired eyes to Kris. "What's going on?"

"That was the guy that was here tonight. He thinks someone may have been tampering with the car. Someone just refuses to give up."

Shelby sighed audibly. "Great. At least he told us."

"Yeah, but only because he needs us." Kris returned to her warm spot next to Shelby and fleetingly kissed her partner. "Don't worry. I'll check it out in the morning. It's too dark to do anything about it now." Kissing Shelby again, she said, "We'd better get some sleep."

Shelby relaxed against her companion, and fell asleep, the long day taking its toll. Her dreams were full of love and a lifetime of happiness with the woman at her side, where danger didn't lurk around every corner and no one was trying to kill them.

Kris hugged Shelby. "Would you quit worrying? I haven't found a bomb yet I couldn't disarm."

"Yeah, because if you had, you wouldn't be here now." Shelby had spoken the words lightly, but meant what she'd said.

"Oh, ye of little faith." Kris kissed Shelby, then released her and picked up the wire cutters, screwdriver, pliers and flashlight her partner had provided her with. "Be back in a few."

"Be careful."

Kris smiled reassuringly and left the apartment. She thoroughly checked out the parking lot before sliding under the car and shinning the light upwards almost immediately spotting the hole that had been created in the metal. Aiming the flashlight into the opening, she saw the telltale red blinking light and began the tedious job of disarming the explosive device.

Shelby stood out of sight at the balcony window, her eyes trained on the rental car. She couldn't see Kris, and her emotions fluctuated wildly between hope that it would be easily disarmed, to terror for her partner's safety.

When she finally saw Kris appear next to the car, she sank down onto the couch, her knees weak at the visceral relief that washed over her. A few minutes later, she greeted Kris at the door with a bear hug, which her partner enthusiastically returned.

The analyst sat in the rental car across the street from the outdoor café, carefully studying Kris and Earl, trying to assess the director's reaction to her partner's revelations.

Shelby sighed. She couldn't tell anything from either countenance, and wondered if all wet operatives protected themselves by remaining so outwardly unaffected.

She suddenly saw a flicker of anger cross Kris' face but it was gone in a second, replaced by the stoic look that Kris donned when fully tense and alert. Shelby studied Earl's face carefully for any indication of what had caused her partner's anger, frustrated that she couldn't hear the conversation.

Earl stared at Kris, shocked and stunned by what he'd just heard, trying to maintain his composure and not allow the sudden anger of betrayal he felt to surface. This was one of the Company's top operatives. He'd trained her, mentored her and supported her, only to learn that she was a mole.

He tried to analyze the idea of her being a Russian logically, but he was having difficulty doing so. Earl liked and respected Blue, making her revelation so much harder to take because an enemy agent was an enemy agent regardless of how he felt about her.

He looked up when a low, bitter voice interrupted his tumultuous thoughts.

"Tell me this, Earl. What if you were stolen from your mother as a child, thrown into a training facility for moles, sent to an enemy land and then grew to love the country you were supposed to hate? How would you feel; what would you have done?"

The director gazed into the frustrated, angry blue eyes glaring at him. What would I have done? She's in a no win situation. Blue had been a loyal operative for almost ten years and she needed his support. He suddenly knew she was telling the truth and could be trusted to deliver exactly what she'd promised. It was the fallout afterward that he was much more worried about.

Making his decision, Earl knew he would most likely face a board of inquiry for not forwarding this information to his higher ups immediately. He made one last attempt to do it the Company way, although his heart wasn't in it.

"I need to take you into custody." When he saw her eyes narrow, he quickly added, "You'll be in on the whole operation. I know we can't set it up without you. You will remain with me, directing the agents. Once we rescue your mother, we'll arrest Sergei and take Gregor into protective custody."

Kris leaned across the table, irritated at Earl's suggested compromise. "No way! My mother is in there, and I'm going in. No disrespect intended, but I have a lot better chance of getting her out safely than your team would."

Earl eyed her impassively, giving no outward indication of what he was thinking.

Kris quietly reminded her boss what was at stake. "I'm giving you one of Russia's top spies, another that wants political asylum, a double agent and a traitor. In return, all I'm asking is to participate in the operation, and for you to request political asylum and immunity for me."

Earl sighed and with a touch of acidity, asked, "Anything else?"