C. Paradee - Deep Cover

For the second morning in a row, Shelby was up early, only this time, the cause was a small kitten sitting on the pillow playing with her hair. "Ouch." She lifted the kitten up, set it on her chest and gently stroked its soft fur. "Just what is wrong with the toys I bought for you?"

Shelby chuckled when the kitten looked right at her and meowed. "Whatsa matter? You hungry?" When her companion meowed a second response, she laughed. "Okay, already. I'm getting up."

She fed the kitten, and then played with it for a while, before looking through her closet trying to decide what to wear. Shelby was feeling considerably better than she had the night before, practicality exerting itself in the light of day. I probably wasin the wrong place at the wrong time. Just hope I never am again. She selected a rust-colored blouse that contrasted nicely with her light complexion and paired it with a white skirt. Unaware that she was doing it, Shelby took a little extra care with her hair and makeup before turning away from the mirror.

Shelby bent to pick up the kitten one last time. "I'm gonna find you a great home." She turned the kitten around and looked at its backside. "So you're a girl. I gotta go now, little one. You be good." Smiling at the purr that answered her, Shelby set her down before opening the door just enough to squeeze through sans kitten.

Kris rose early, as she always did, and ordered a pot of coffee. Her mind rapidly explored avenues that would accelerate the elimination of most of the twenty-seven operatives under suspicion. She hadn't been pleased to discover she was included on the list, but wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that her own name would not be among those quickly eliminated. She doubted the case would ever be solved conclusively, anyway. Her main priority right now was to get out of this assignment at headquarters, and to do that she had to produce a short list of names.

Try as she might, Kris was unable to stop her thoughts from turning to Shelby. She was unlike anyone the operative had worked with before and Kris tried to analyze what was so different. When she was unable to isolate the difference logically, her emotions took over and descriptive words began appearing in her mind. Refreshing, friendly, open, honest, warm, feisty, attractive ...

Kris snorted. "And I need to get focused on the case, not the scenery." But even as she spoke the harsh words, she felt a fleeting sense of loss for what could never be. Deep down, Kris knew Shelby was different in a good way, and cursed fate for dealing her the harsh lonely hand it had.

Consciously casting aside those thoughts, Kris cleared her mind as she continued to sip the strong black coffee. She knew "uncle" wasn't going to wait too long before getting impatient, so she needed to decide how to proceed on that front.

The operative had been in tough places before; it was the nature of her work. Still, this time, Kris knew she would need to use every bit of gray matter she possessed and every trick in her extensive repertoire to survive this dangerous new game in which she was only a pawn.

Kris sighed, torn by her limited options, and made the only decision she could. Her personal code of honor would allow no less, but she was well aware that her life would be forfeit if what she was going to do were discovered.

An hour later, she left the hotel wearing navy-blue slacks, a pale blue blouse and a white blazer. Getting into the Buick Regal she'd rented, Kris drove toward CIA headquarters, her thoughts on how to obtain the information she needed.

Shelby debated whether to go to her office first or stop to see Dennis and decided on the latter. She knew the police would forward a report of the mall shooting since a CIA employee was involved, but it was also her responsibility to report any unusual events because of the sensitivity of her work. She grinned ruefully as she entered the Director's office. I think the shooting definitely can be classified as unusual.

"Hi, Joanne. Is Dennis in yet?"

Joanne nodded and leaned forward conspiratorially, "I just gave him a fax from the Fairfax Police. I would've been scared to death!"

"Trust me, I was." Shelby waited while Joanne announced her and then entered his office.

Dennis eyed Shelby closely. "How are you?"

"Better than last night. You've already read the report?"

"Just finished." Dennis waved Shelby to a chair. "Tell me what happened." He listened as the analyst related her version of the incident, noting that it was virtually identical to the police report. "Do you have any reason to believe this is case related?"

"No." Shelby thought the question unfair. If someone had targeted her because of the case she was working on, they sure weren't going to advertise it. "But I don't have any reason to believe it's not either."

Dennis knew she had a point and said, "Have Joanne give you an Incident Report to fill out. Once I have that, I'll talk to Jeb."

"Okay."

Shelby filled out the report quickly and thoroughly, then handed it to Joanne. "Dennis is waiting for this."

Joanne smiled. "I figured."

Shelby rolled her eyes at having stated the obvious. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"No problem. You're doing a lot better than I would be."

After Shelby left his office, Dennis read the police report again. The police seemed to think the incident was simply a random shooting and he tended to agree. There was a remote possibility it was case related, but unlikely because she had only been assigned the case the previous day. He jotted down a note to call Jeb about it.

Shelby walked into her office to find Kris already seated at one of the computers, typing in commands. "Hi."

Kris diverted her eyes from the screen momentarily and nodded.

Shelby walked over and stood behind Kris, looking intently at the screen. "What are you working on?"

"I'm checking the location of each of the operatives."

"I already did that."

"I know. I'm checking it again." Kris turned around in her chair. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Suddenly uneasy, Shelby almost stepped back away from the cool blue eyes that were challenging her. "Just seems like a waste of time."

Kris hadn't wanted, nor intended, to scare Shelby, but she needed to keep the woman at arm's length for more reasons than one. You might try doing it a little nicer. "Look, I'm not questioning your work. I'm checking how long each operative has been in place, and which ones are scheduled for recall or are close to completing their missions. It'll help to eliminate some of the names." Don't ask how.

"I..." Shelby bit off her words, clearly reading the silent message Kris was sending. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't matter when they are scheduled for reassignment. The point is that they were in place when all three assassinations went down. But who am I to question her? She's the one with the experience. But we are supposed to be working on this together. "How?"

The operative couldn't believe she hadn't intimidated Shelby into silence, and tempered her response knowing she couldn't take a chance on her becoming suspicious. "If any more assassinations occur while we are investigating the case, we can automatically take them off the list."

Shelby decided that was a pretty big "if" because the assassinations had been spread out over six months, but decided not to voice that thought. "I'll work on the airlines some more."

She sat down, glancing over at the operative who was once again pulling up screens and reading them. Kris had unnerved her. The look she'd been given was just a shade warmer than frosty, and for the first time Shelby wondered if her gut feeling about the woman had been wrong. No, I was right, but I'd hate to have her for an enemy. Disjointed images and thoughts from her trip to the mall began floating, unbidden, through her mind and Shelby buried herself in her work trying to forget the events of the previous evening.