The Protector (5 page)

Her knowledge of Middle Eastern politics was impressive. To me, she belonged not at the labs but at a desk in Northern Virginia as an analyst with my former employer. I saw immediately why Tom had chosen her for the job she now held. It had nothing to do with her biology degree, but instead with her understanding of international politics and an understanding of what he truly did for his government, even if she didn’t know it.

She played softball in both high school and college, and had even been offered a scholarship with Arizona State. She had opted to stay in New Mexico and play for UNM. Her file for the most part was simple. She was not a complex woman. She was devoted to her work, and had little time for much else, not even a boyfriend it seemed. 

She had the most incredible emerald eyes I had ever seen. Her brown hair hung in soft waves around her face and for the most part, she moved with the grace of an athlete, but she couldn’t sit still if her life depended on it.  I didn’t know if it was because of nerves or just her natural state of being. I wondered how she had survived on the softball field as she seemed more suited for soccer. But who was I to argue her choices in sports, she was good enough to obtain a scholarship to play college ball. 

I continued to watch her as we circled Heathrow airport. I was grateful we didn’t have to change planes. I really didn’t want to wake her nor did I want to deal with her questions and I needed to use my phone. I wasn’t sure if they were going to make me take her to a safe house somewhere or continue on to Albuquerque.  Her boss was dead, killed by someone or some group we hadn’t figured out yet. We also weren’t quite sure how he was connected to the gentlemen she had given the processor to in Tel Aviv.

As the plane came to a halt at the Heathrow terminal, I waited patiently for the passengers to deplane. I knew it would be about 40 minutes before the next group would begin to board and that would give me enough time to check in. I wanted to have a clear picture of what I needed to do once we touched down in DC.

Conway was not happy with my phone call but frankly I really didn’t give a damn.  “Moussad let on who she gave the processor to?”

“No, they aren’t the most forthcoming with information. And they are pointing fingers at us and Tom.” 

“Do you think it was someone on the inside,” I had my suspicions but I wasn’t ready to discuss that over a cell phone connection even if it was a secure connection.

“We are trying to track down everyone he had contact with and frankly, everyone he had contact with has a Q or above clearance.  That doesn’t help the situation much. We have had someone tailing him for about a year now in Albuquerque and you when he went overseas.  We are combing through your reports now to see if we can catch anything. Right now everyone is under suspicion.”

“And the girl?”

“Does she know she gave the wrong processor yet?”

“Yeah. She’s asleep now, when she wakes I will talk to her more.” I glanced over at Alison. She had turned away from me and was sleeping quietly. I was pretty confident she had no idea of my conversation. “She had no idea what Tom was up to.”

“I know. She did what she was told to do. But talk to her and see what you can get from her. See if anything rings a bell.  We will go from there. Depending on what we find out in the next 5 or so hours is when we will make our decision about a safe house.”

Our conversation ended there and it was a good thing as first class began to fill up with passengers. It would be a full flight back to Dulles.  Alison stirred as the noise level increased around us.  She tossed in her seat but she was constricted by her seat belt.   I couldn’t help but watch her as she moved. She seemed so innocent lying there. My gut told me she was innocent in all of this.  Sometimes being young and naive wasn’t such a bad thing. Watching her, made me feel  so old in age and in life experiences.

She tried to move once again but seatbelt once again got in her way. I quickly reached underneath the blanket and unbuckled it for her. It was just my luck that her eyes flew open and she sat straight up in her seat.  Her movement was so quick that I was sure she was going to fall out of her seat and block the aisle that was now full of people.

She shot me one of the most evil glares I had ever seen. I had to laugh, I knew she was scared and waking up from drinking a fair amount of vodka didn’t help with the sudden disorientation she was most likely feeling.  “Hello Sonny.”

“Where are we?”

“London. We should be back up in the air shortly.  Do you want anything? Coffee, water, soda?”

She nodded her head and looked at all the people who now at around us in first class. “I guess this means I can’t ask you any questions can I?”

This time it was my turn to nod. “There will be plenty of time for that when we get to DC.  You can go back to sleep if you want.”  She adjusted her body and brought her seat back up so she was sitting straight up like I was. 

“No, at least not until we get back up in the air.”  She leaned back into the seat back and groaned.

“You really need to eat something or at least drink some water?”

“Probably a good idea. Vodka, on a semi empty stomach not a good combination.” Once again she had me smiling. Her hair was in tangles and her eyes had dark circles under them. If only she had a mirror, she would probably scream at her appearance.  Strangely enough she looked amazing to me.

“Can I get up and use the restroom?”

We were still at the gate, but they had closed the doors to the plane. I hesitated but nodded my head.  I was able to flag down and attendant and ask for something to eat for Alison.

She returned, her hair combed and her face fresh. The attendant followed behind with a sandwich and soda for her.

“Are we staying in DC,” she asked in between bites of food.

“Not sure,” I was being completely honest with her. I didn’t know what would happen once we landed in the Nation’s Capital. All I was sure of was that I was in charge of keeping her safe and that was what I planned on doing.

“If my opinion makes any difference what so ever in this, I would like to go home. I do have a funeral to go to.”  Her face was full of sadness. I had forgotten, as much as we believed Tom had sold out to the other side, he had still been her friend and her boss.

“Your opinion counts Sonny. But I am going to do what it takes to keep you safe and if means taking you somewhere other than Albuquerque to do that then so be it.”  Her look of sadness did not change but she did seem to understand.  She sat quietly for a few minutes. She watched as the rest of the passengers settled in their seats and the plane pulled back from the gate..

“You keep calling me Sonny why?” she stared at me with her intense green eyes and I couldn’t tear myself away from them.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure why. I shrugged my shoulders.  “Fits you.”   She appeared to be satisfied with my answer.  It was the truth. It fit her.  Her smile, her eyes, her demeanor. She was a happy person, Sunny at heart.

The plane finally took off and I could breathe a small sigh of relief. Although I didn’t think anything would happen to her in London, there was no way to be sure.  As the force of the
takeoff
pushed us both back into our seats, I could feel my weapon in its holster. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to need it and for that I was grateful. But once we landed in DC I wasn’t sure where that road was going to take us.

We made small talk as we flew across the Atlantic.  I wanted to ask her about her job, but I couldn’t. After a little small talk, she focused on the movie and seemed to forget the world around her.  I wasn’t sure what the movie was, but I did notice she didn’t laugh when everyone else did. It ate at me to see her so sad and quiet but I focused on the task I needed to complete and that was my report on what happened in the market. If anything, I was anal about my reports.  There was no one behind us so I felt comfortable turning on my small hand held device and getting a least a portion of it done.

I spent about an hour working on it, filling in as much as I could about the exchange that took place between Alison and her contact in Tel Aviv. I remembered it vividly. I was trained to do that, but for some reason this exchange was so clear to me. As I replayed it in my head I could remember her hair blowing in the soft breeze. She wore a light blue shirt and white pants.  Her hair was loosely tied back with a white ribbon.  I closed my eyes to replay everything in my head. I wanted every detail in writing.  I wanted to note everyone that stood around Alison and the man.   I had scanned faces and now as I thought back, I did remember Joed standing somewhere near Seth, watching the whole exchange. I realized he had as much of a vested interest in her as I did.

I could feel someone watching me and I closed my laptop before I looked at Alison. She was watching me as she had done in the airport. But she had a different look in her eyes now. I could tell she had questions she wanted to ask, but she wasn’t sure she could.

“You ok,” I asked turning my body to face hers.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”  She shifted in her seat and sat facing me.

“No worries, I’m done anyway. “

“Can you tell me anything about what is going to happen once we land DC? Where are we going?” She looked at me searching for some sort of answer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an answer I could give her.

“I am not sure. There should be someone there at the airport to meet us and take us to a safe house. But I am not sure how long we will be there. I am hoping that you get to go on home. But I honestly don’t know.”

She struggled to digest my words. She looked nervous and scared and she had every right to be. Her world had just been turned upside down. “Will you be coming to Albuquerque with me? Or am I on my own?”

I made the mistake of looking directly into her eyes. Looking into them gave me no other option but to be honest and up front with her.  I was hoping that I would go on to Albuquerque with her, but I wasn’t the one who had been tailing Tom there. Someone else had been assigned to watch him. “You won’t be on your own, but I don’t know if they will send me on to Albuquerque with you,” I said honestly to her. “Whoever it is will protect you.”

She nodded her head in acknowledgement. She half laughed and looked at me, “Not a whole hell of a lot I can do about this is there? I guess
whatever
information I have, I’ll give it to you. I am just afraid it won’t be enough.”  Her words were sincere but I could tell she was full of fear of the unknown.

“Thank you,” I responded. I wanted to change the subject and help her relax a little bit. But I wasn’t sure what I could talk about. I decided it was best to keep it neutral. “I read your paper on the Middle East conflict and technology.  You should be at the State Department or Langley.”

Her eyes lit up as I praised her.  “Thank you.  More money in biology” She hesitated for a minute realizing I knew something more about her. “How did you know about those?”

“You could say it’s my job to know as much as possible about the people I protect,” or hunt.  I didn’t include that last part in our conversation. I was more than a protector, I also played the deadly game of seek and destroy on occasion.

“How many of them did you read?” I
peeked
her curiosity and her attention was fully mine now.

“The last three.  I like the one you did on India.  I guess with all the talk of Iran and North Korea and China, mainstream often forgets what a potential problem India could become.”

“India, and definitely Pakistan aren’t as friendly as we would like to believe.” 

I wanted to talk more with her, but now wasn’t the time and this plane was not the right location. “Why didn’t you pursue it?” I wanted to know what would have pulled her away from her dream job.

She smiled innocently. “Wasn’t what I wanted at the time. Plus it’s one thing to write about technology transfer, it’s another thing to live it!”  She hid the fact from me she had been offered an analysts position with the State Department when she graduated. “I wanted a quiet job and look what I got?” She laughed at her own joke, but behind the laugh was a look of confusion and fear.  “Do you think the state department job would have been safer?”

A chuckle came up through my chest. Ironically, a job at Langley would have been less exciting than the one she held now. She would have been stuck behind a desk. I had decided that her stuck behind a desk analyzing a country’s nuclear capability was safer than her handing off a processor.

We made small talk throughout the flight and it was well after midnight when we landed in DC. Even if we were going to catch the next scheduled flight home we would have to wait about 6 hours.   I wanted to get her some food, and maybe some more sleep.  Seth would be landing in a few hours and he had mentioned he would meet up with us. 

“When we land stay seated. I need to make sure we are the last off the plane.” She nodded in acknowledgement but didn’t say a word. She reached below her seat and grabbed her back pack.  She pulled out a brush and brushed her brown hair. It fell softly around her face and shoulders.  I watched intently, forgetting what I was originally going to do.  She rummaged through her bag for a hair clip and once she found it she swept her hair into a twist.  She managed to miss a large piece of hair and I, without hesitation, reached up and brushed the stray behind her ears.  As my fingers softly touched the side of her face, I could see the heat rush to her cheek.  An electric bolt shot through my body and I quickly pulled my hand away from her face.