Devil’s in the Details (65 page)

Dani rolled her eyes, “Why are you here you? Aren’t you still on secret old man duty? Wiping his ass everywhere he goes?” The redhead faced the taller woman. “I saw you at the formal. I didn’t know they let in noncommissioned officers in there.”

Dante rolled her eyes and laughed, brushing her hand over a brand new set of silver lieutenant bars on her collar. “I’ve been a good girl, moved up in the world.”

She then looked up at me, “How’s that gorgeous girlfriend of yours? The one I saw draped on your arm. Old man tells me she’s a nurse downtown.” Her smirk grew into a grin when she saw my slight reaction. “I should go visit her, see what she knows about Voltaire and maybe persuade her that you’re not who she thinks you are.”

I spun my head to glare at the woman, “I will kill you, if you…”

Dani shoved me back, “Dante, get the fuck out of here, before I show the old man your Moscow mission notes. You know the one.” Dani smiled as Dante’s face fell.

Dante rolled her eyes again and dropped her arms, “Whatever. Your glorious run is coming to an end Chimera. It’s time to let the kids have their fun.” She winked at me, “Tell your nurse I said hello.”

Dante spun and laughed as I lunged at her. Dani grabbing my arms to hold me back, “Yo, Vic the Dick. Settle down. We’re on sacred ground where blood stays in our bodies and not on the floor.” She tilted her head until I met her eyes. “You’re good. Dante is just a shitty bitch that has some serious jealousy issues. I’ll put a bug on her and figure out why the old man has such a boner for her.”

I closed my eyes, “Find out how she knows about Alex and if she’s been poking around where she doesn’t belong. Give me a reason not to kill her.” I slowly opened my eyes.

Dani nodded, “You got it.” She reached up and smoothed out my lapel. “You ready to get this over with?” I took a long breath in and nodded.

I sucked in another deep gasp of air to calm down, before walking out and past the large oak door Dani held open for me.

I did think about Alex as I sat in the leather chair facing the large wooden desk waiting for the old lady and old man to enter. Dani was sitting next to me, eating from the bowl of nuts that was set out for decoration and not consumption. I gave her a dirty look, she only shrugged, popping another handful in her mouth.

I went to reach and slide the bowl away when the doors behind the table opened up. First to enter the room was a tall slender man in his fifties with grey hair in a neat politician hairstyle. He wore a dark blue pinstripe suit with a red tie. He kept his head down, buried in the stack of files in his hands.

Next to enter was an older woman, also in her late fifties with silver hair cut in a very clean, stylish, modern haircut. She was tall, slender and commanded attention with her bright blue eyes and dark grey pantsuit. The woman was very attractive and carried herself with grace, something I admired about her. She smiled gently at me, setting a large stack of files down in front of her seat.

I stood up at attention as my bosses entered the room.

The man was Joseph Arthur, head of the CIA branch of Voltaire, codenamed old lady. The woman, Margaret Gaines, head of the MI6 branch of Voltaire, codenamed the old man and affectionately nicknamed the Iron Hammer since she often resembled Margaret Thatcher in her cold, calculating way of hammering down orders.

Arthur never looked up, only moving to the intercom on the table. "Where is my coffee? I asked for it to be waiting for me ten minutes ago." He clicked off with a huff and sat down, even his voice was agitating in the high pitched, almost whining tone he had.

Dani looked at me, whispering, "Every time I think their code names are weird. He acts like a pissy bitch, and then it makes perfect sense why he got old lady. Cranky old lady."

I bit the inside of my mouth to prevent from laughing. Dani was right, I had always thought the code names were strange for the two, an old distraction technique leftover from world war two, but when I met the two, it was appropriate. Gaines wore the pants and controlled the show with professionalism, tact and a steady hand. Arthur was brash, childish and a pissy bitch. I also hated him more for the fact he and the Colonel were the two who latched onto me like leeches after I was rescued. Preying on my shocked state to pull me into Voltaire.

"Ladies, you may be seated." Gaines waved at our seats, her English accented voice was smooth and oddly comforting, waiting for us to sit before she took her own seat. "Commander Bancroft, Lieutenant Beckham, thank you for meeting us today. We will be quick." She glared at Arthur, the two had a semi volatile relationship as one does if they are on opposite sides of the fence.

I tried to avoid making eye contact with the woman, knowing she could read me like the expert she was. Instead I focused on Arthur flipping through my file like a manic child.

He cleared his throat, "Commander, you have done exceptionally well for us this year. Your work has been clean, precise and punctual. Something that does not go unnoticed here at Voltaire." He flipped a few pages, "Your cleanup is immaculate and perfect, and we've had extensive compliments on your work from our clients." He looked up at me with a smarmy brown eyes, "You've done us proud, just like I knew you would when I found you." He winked at me and I almost gagged, but instead I smiled tightly and nodded a thank you.

Gaines sighed heavily, glaring at her coworker, "Yes, Commander Bancroft. Your work has been impressive this year. One of your smoothest by far, it's apparent you have found a calmer way of approaching your work."

She waited until I met her eyes, reading them quickly with a smile, "As for your evaluation, I took on most of it since your jobs fell on my side of the table this year. We are giving you a thirty percent increase in your payments and moving you to a level three operative. You will still hold Chimera as your operative name, but you will now be handed the level three classified clients." She paused, waiting for me again to look at her, "Level three brings less travel, but when you do travel it will be longer than the one day trips you've been used to."

I nodded, clenching my jaw, this was exactly what I didn't want. Having to craft excuses why I was taking longer trips during the summer. "Thank you, ma'am."

She continued to look at me, "You're welcome, Commander Bancroft. You've seem to have found something in your life to calm you, and it has shown in your work. You're far more careful than you used to be."

My jaw twitched as I nodded once more. My anger was beginning to boil up, I wanted to get to the after meeting with Gaines and find out what she knew about Alex.

Gaines closed my file and set it to the side, looking at Arthur who was too busy hitting on the secretary who brought his coffee in. She rolled her eyes, "Lieutenant Beckham, looking over your files and reports, you've improved as well." I smiled hearing Dani's real name and how much she hated it, only for the reason people asked if she was related to that soccer player.

I could see Dani try with all of her might not to roll her eyes. "Thank you, ma'am."

Arthur finally spoke up, scattering the files in front of him until he found Dani's, "Yes, you have been incredible with the mainframe breaches and keeping our favorite, Chimera here, in check." He smiled and winked at me like a cheesy car salesman. I bit the inside of my mouth, Arthur would always refer to me by my operative name and I hated it, it made me feel like an object and not a person. "Because of this, we are promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, effective immediately."

Dani coughed, looking at me with confused eyes, "Um, thank you, sir?" Even I was confused. Dani had been stuck at Lieutenant for the last ten years, always being told that she had this or that to work on. That she needed to be a little more dedicated to the mission statement of Voltaire.

Arthur winked at Dani in an equally disgusting way, "You have saved my ass a time or two with these breaches and helping us develop more secure way to communicate and compensate the operatives."

Gaines cut in, "It was my suggestion that we finally move you up." She looked at me, "With this promotion, you will remain as Commander Bancroft's handler alone. You will also be granted a level three clearance to continue the work on the mainframe breaches."

She paused, boring into my eyes in a way that had me fearful she knew everything Dani and I were trying to work on. She finally moved back to a shocked Dani, sliding a white card with her new insignia on it across to her, "We will discuss details further after the meeting."

Dani nodded, taking the gold oak leaves, still in shock. "Thank you, ma'am, sir."

Gaines smiled genuinely while Arthur leered at us with that stupid smile of his. Picking up his coffee, he slapped our files closed, "With that, I have a lunch meeting with the NSA director." He stood up, "You ladies keep up the good work. I should have something on tap for you two by the end of the week."

Dani and I stood up at attention, watching Arthur issue Gaines a fake smile before exiting the room. Gaines took her time in standing up, "Commander, will you walk me to my office?"

I gave Dani a look, "Yes ma'am." Dani shrugged in a comforting way.

Gaines walked around the table, looking over at Dani, "Lieutenant Commander Beckham, meet me in my office in ten minutes."

Dani nodded, issuing her own yes ma'am as I went to open the door for Gaines.

Closing the door behind us Gaines, looked at me with her intense blue eyes, "Shall we take the stairs?"

I smiled lightly, "I could use the exercise." I knew that the staircase was nothing but pure, eight inch thick concrete that any listening device would struggle to cut through. It was old fashioned of Voltaire, but it made sense, sometimes the ones breaching the world's privacy needed their own.

Inside the stairwell, Gaines wasted no time, "That lovely elegant woman on your arm at the formal, is she the calm you've found?" She caught my reaction, "Relax, I honestly was there to meet with the Superintendent. Spotted you glowing from a mile away, and I must admit, it was refreshing to see you at ease."

I swallowed hard, clenching my fists, knowing it was useless to lie to the Iron Hammer, "Yes ma'am, she is." I kept my tone clipped, not giving the woman more to read and expand on. She was already well past my stiff façade that worked on Arthur, but again, Maggie was the best the MI6 had, hence why she was in the position she was now.

Gaines stopped on a landing one floor up from the meeting room, "Victoria, leave the formalities for that shitbird Arthur. You and I have always had a different relationship." She smiled gently. She was right, her and I had a different relationship. One that I didn't understand in the early years when the Colonel and Arthur were taking advantage of my PTSD and underlying fury kicked off by my torturers.

In the last few years, I came to see she was treating me like a human and had all along the way, but I never saw it until it was too late and I thought I was lost to the world, then I met Alex and found my world.

"I'm sorry, Maggie." I folded my arms across my chest, looking at my perfectly shined black shoes. "Is she the conversation we need to have?" I grimaced, remembering the matchbook delivered to me by a drunk Dani.

She laughed, grabbing my elbow, "Part of it, yes. Relax Victoria, I can assure you, I already know what Dani is doing. That she is the reason why Arthur is slowly losing his mind. Those mainframe hacks my tech unit back at MI6 traced to the North Koreans, but they also found a unique signature when those hacks were stitched up."

I could feel the blood drain out of my face, "I don't…"

Maggie cut me off, shifting away from Dani's devious activities in the basement, "Do you want out of Voltaire?" Her face was void of any negative emotion, her eyes pure with concern and expecting honesty. "I've known you for ten years, watched you grow from a despondent zombie following orders, to a heart beating inside of a human shell, struggling to understand how to live, to the bright shining woman I saw with that brunette on Saturday." She let go of my elbow, stepping back to lean against the concrete wall, "Victoria, you and I are very similar in how we fell into this work. I won't try to say I understand, but in some ways I do." She looked at me, "That is why I asked you over and over that day in the oval office if you were sure. If you were sure you wanted what the old lady and the Colonel was asking of you."

I clenched my jaw harder, trying to hold back my tears. "I can't retire, it's been made clear that I have another ten years and that plumbers never get to retire alive." I gave Maggie a hard look, "But to answer your question, because I have always been honest with you since you are the only one who has ever treated me like a person in this stupid job, yes I want out. Yes, it's because of that woman you saw on my arm." I curled my hands into tight fists, "I don't know how to do the double life like the rest of you."

Maggie laughed softly, "None of us do, my dear girl, we all just play it by ear and pray no one notices we suffer in silence with plastic smiles on our face." She blew out a breath, shifting the files in her arms. "To the point of why I ask if you want out. I think I might be able to help." She pushed away from the wall to stand in front of me, "As you know the old lady, Arthur, has been acting like a petulant trophy wife. Losing his mind in paranoia and picking strange bedfellows as our new clients." Maggie sighed, "He's drawing too much attention and this is not why Voltaire was created. We were created to bring two interests together and take care of mutual problems. He has begun to make it personal and become the housekeeping services for the world's trash. I don't agree with his ways, and there are others with me that also don't agree and want to do something about it."