June 14th, 2005
Sarah Walker paced by the window of the darkened house on a back street in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. A vicious thunderstorm raged overhead, the lightning creating odd shadows in the house, and the rolling thunder making Sarah jump
What had she been thinking, sending Bryce out on his own? This was his first legitimate mission, for God’s sake, and she had sent him to retrieve a set of nuclear launch codes that had been stolen by a Venezuelan spy cell.
She knew what she had been thinking, but that didn’t make her like it any more. And she certainly didn’t like the thought of what he was probably getting up to right now.
“Happy birthday to me,” she whispered bitterly, looking out the window, hoping against all hope that the rental car would round the corner.
Eight days earlier
“Well, this prototype is about to be put to the test for the first time,” Director Graham informed them.
“You mean we’re finally going out on a mission?” Bryce asked excitedly.
“That’s correct,” Graham replied. “Now, before you get too excited about this, I have a news flash for you. This is one of the most sensitive missions this agency has embarked upon in years, and if the two of you screw it up, this concept goes away, and you both become file clerks. Clear?”
Bryce and Sarah’s eyes widened. “What the hell are we doing?” Sarah asked.
Graham sighed. The door was shut. He activated a white noise generator on his desk. Even though his office was swept for bugs twice a day, it never hurt to be careful.
“A set of nuclear launch codes was stolen from the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Maine,” he said quietly. “We believe they were stolen by a terrorist group that is associated with Hugo Chavez – the president of Venezuela.”
Sarah looked confused. “So why not just change them? It’s not that hard.”
“Agent Walker, unfortunately, it’s not that easy, either. Ohio-class submarines carrying Trident missiles patrol for a couple of months at a time. They can go for a couple of weeks with no contact with the mainland whatsoever. If somebody were to contact them with a launch code that matched up with their book before the Navy could contact them, they would assume that they had a valid launch order and launch against whatever targets they were issued.”
Sarah’s eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect “O”. “My God,” Bryce whispered.
“Exactly,” Graham said. “Now, we believe that we’ve tracked this cell to a safe house in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You two are going to go there, posing as a married couple on vacation –“
“Cabo at this time of year?” Bryce asked. “You sure this is a mission?”
“Positive, Agent Larkin,” Graham replied, an edge to his voice. “You and Agent Walker are going to go there, and find the cell leader, code name ‘Aire Fresco’.”
“Fresh air?” Sarah said. “That’s one of the lamest code names I’ve ever heard.”
“Nonetheless, that’s the leader’s code name. You are to find this person, and Agent Walker use whatever means necessary to discover the location of the codes and retrieve them.”
Sarah grimaced. Whatever means necessary. She knew exactly what that meant.
Bryce didn’t. “Whatever means necessary? Are we talking torture here?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, Bryce. We’re talking seduction.”
“Oh,” Bryce said, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. He didn’t like that idea one bit.
“Is there a problem, Agent Larkin?” Graham asked, seeing the look on Bryce’s face.
“No sir,” Bryce answered. “That just seems like it might be… unnecessary for Agent Walker to go through.”
“Agent Larkin, I’m sure Agent Walker is more than capable of making that call for herself.”
“Yes, sir.”
“One more thing,” Director Graham said. “You both remember that Common Intelligence Database project I mentioned a few months ago?”
“Yes, sir,” the two said simultaneously.
“Well, it’s been approved, and at my suggestion, they decided to go with your name for it, Agent Larkin – they’re going to call it the Intersect.”
Bryce raised his eyebrows. “Well, that’s cool, I guess.”
“Just thought you should know. Dismissed.”
As Sarah and Bryce walked down the corridor, Sarah asked, “What was that all about back there, the whole thing with saying it might be unnecessary to ‘go through’ with whatever?”
“I don’t know,” Bryce replied. Ever heard of jealousy, Agent Walker! “I guess I just don’t like the idea of an agent using her body for something like that.”
Sarah stopped. “Bryce. What was the very first thing I taught you?”
He sighed. “You have to be prepared to do anything, at any time.”
“Exactly. We’re talking about a missing list of nuclear launch codes, Bryce. Now, as an agent, I have to be prepared to do anything, at any time. So do you. If that means that I have to sleep with the leader of a terrorist cell to recover this list of codes, then I’m by God gonna do it.”
“Okay, Sarah, okay,” Bryce replied, starting to get irritated. “I get the reasoning. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t understand, Bryce. Ever since you got promoted to field agent four months ago, you’ve been gung ho, let’s go take down the terrorist bastards, and yet, as soon as we get a mission, you’re suddenly hung up on the idea that I might have to go have sex with –“
She stopped, and her jaw dropped. “You’re jealous!”
“No,” Bryce replied, his stomach dropping out from under him. “No, that’s not it.”
“Yes, yes, it is!” Sarah replied, a hint of a smile beginning to form on her face. “You like me, and you can’t stand the idea of me having to do my job!”
“We’re not having this discussion,” he scowled, and began to walk away.
“Oh, yes, we are, Bryce,” she replied, catching up with him. “I’m your superior officer, and I’m telling you right now that we are going to get this out in the open before we go to Mexico.”
He whirled on her. “What the hell is with that, Sarah? You insist that I have feelings for you, and then when I don’t want to talk about it, you pull rank on me? Is that how you treat all your boyfriends?”
The word slipped out before he even realized he had said it, but when he realized, it was like the entire Langley complex had come crashing down on his head.
“Oh, shit,” he whispered, and then turned tail and literally ran away from the scene as fast as he could.
Sarah was left standing by herself in the corridor. She couldn’t help it. She started laughing.
“Oh, dear, this is going to be a problem,” she whispered to herself, wiping tears of laughter out of her eyes.
Sarah was waiting for Bryce at Langley the next morning. When he showed up, he looked like hell. It was pretty clear that he’d gone home and gotten completely blitzed the night before.
His hair was a mess, his face was pale, and he was wearing large, dark sunglasses. When he looked up and saw Sarah waiting for him outside the door, his entire body seemed to slump.
She shook her head. “He’s gonna have to face it eventually,” she whispered to herself. Standing, she approached him, and handed him the cup in her hand.
“Coffee,” she informed him. “Black. None of that crap you usuall-“
Her voice trailed off as he put the cup to his lips and proceeded to drain it. He winced and clutched his stomach for a moment, but then stood up a little straighter.
“That’s better,” he muttered. “I actually feel human again.”
Sarah shook her head again. “Okay, for your benefit, we’ll put off talking about what happened yesterday until later.”
“Or never.”
She reached up and removed his sunglasses, causing him to squint. She grabbed his face and looked him in the eyes.
“Bryce, listen. We’re partners. If we’re going to work as a team, we have to be able to talk about stuff like what happened yesterday afternoon. Now, like I said, I’m happy to wait until later to talk about it, but we are, at some point before we reach Cabo, going to talk about it.”
He took his sunglasses back and slid them on his face. “Fine. Is the car here yet?”
Right on cue, a black Crown Vic pulled up behind him. “Let’s go,” she said.
Bryce unconsciously opened the door for her, and then climbed in behind her, shaking his head when he realized what he’d done. He shut the door behind him and leaned back against the seat.
Unfortunately for him, the trip was short – just over to Langley Air Force Base. An unmarked Gulfstream waited there to fly them across the continent. They were to fly to San Diego, and then take a rental car down to Cabo.
“That’s a hell of a drive,” Bryce said, looking at the mission manifest.
“We have to,” Sarah replied. “We can’t take any chances on being identified as anything BUT tourists.”
“I got it, I got it,” he muttered.
When they reached the plane, he wanted nothing more than to sink into a seat and fall asleep, but Sarah insisted on going over mission particulars.
“You’re Mr. Don Tanner, and I’m Mrs. Jill Tanner.”
Bryce winced. “Does it really have to be that name?”
“Is there something wrong with the name?”
“It’s just – oh, never mind. Jill Tanner. That works.”
“Okay,” Sarah said, confused. “Moving on. We’re from New York City. You’re an investment banker with Bear Stearns, and I’m a professional massage therapist.”
“Really,” Bryce replied.
“Yeah…”
“Okay, Sarah, I know the lingo that a Bear Stearns banker would know, because my parents both work on Wall Street. However, can you do anything that a licensed, certified massage therapist can?”
Sarah narrowed her eyes, pulled out her wallet, and tossed him a card. It informed him that Sarah Walker was a massage therapist, licensed and certified by the state of Virginia.
God, I fail sometimes, he thought. “Sorry.”
“I had a little free time between missions,” she explained.
“So, continue,” he said.
“Anyway. You need to wear this at all times,” she continued, handing him a small jewelry box. He opened it, revealing what looked distinctly like a gold wedding band. “It’s part of our cover, and it contains a GPS tracker.”
He nodded. “That works.”
“And finally, what was with your comment in the hall yesterday?”
Bryce sighed. “Do we really have to talk about this right now?”
Sarah sat back and crossed her arms, a ghost of a smirk appearing on her lips. “Do you have anything better to do right now? ‘Cause, you see, you can’t run away this time.”
Bryce sighed again. He bent his neck and buried his face in his hands. “Sarah… I spoke without thinking. I allowed what I wanted to somehow get confused with reality.”
Then he realized. He’d done it again.
“Goddammit. I have got to get a control on my mouth.”
Sarah looked at him with a little smile. “Is that what you want, Bryce?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, Sarah. I mean, I know that… that I have feelings for you that are stronger than one ordinarily has for a friend, or even a professional partner.”
She nodded, looking downward. “The thing is, though, Sarah, I know you might not be ready for anything. The director told me about Piers.”
She looked back up at him. “And if you’re not ready, if you haven’t been able to move on yet, I totally understand. But I want you to know, I like you. For whatever it’s worth.”
Sarah smiled sadly. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if I’m ready to move on. I’m not sure if I want to move on.”
She paused. “But thank you, Bryce. Thank you for being honest with me. It really means a lot.”
They arrived in Cabo around 8:00 PM. They checked into their condo. The bedroom had one king bed, just for cover purposes. Bryce promised to stay on the opposite side of the bed.
The next four days were completely uneventful. They went to the beach, went to various clubs and bars that Aire Fresco was known to frequent, and tried to act like a couple. They took a couple of pictures with Sarah’s camera phone that she had to admit were kind of cute.
On their fifth full day there, they were in a club called Callé 66. Sarah and Bryce were sitting at the bar, when there was a stir at the door. They turned to see a beautiful woman enter, a man on each arm.
“Good Lord,” Bryce whispered. “Who is that?”
The bartender overheard him. “That, my friend, is the most powerful woman in Baja California. That is Aire Fresca.”
Bryce’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Sarah. “No way.”
She clapped a hand to her forehead. “Shit.”
Sarah pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “This is Walker, secure,” she said quietly. “We have a problem. The code name was screwed up. It wasn’t Aire Fresco, it was Aire Fresca. The cell leader is a woman.”
They sat in the hotel room, trying to figure out what to do. “Shit,” Sarah muttered. “One letter. One fucking letter. How hard is it to get that right!”
“Sarah, let it go,” Bryce said. “These things happen.”
“Yes, but this mission is going to fail, because I’m not going to be able to get close to her like I need to.”
“Why not?” Bryce asked. “Anything, at any time, remember?”
Sarah shook her head. “Langley ran a profile on her. She’s a devout Roman Catholic, finds the idea of homosexuality repulsive. It’d never work.”
“For you,” Bryce replied.
“Yeah, which means the mission is a bust,” Sarah said.
Bryce shook his head. “No… I can do it.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide. “Wait a minute. No. You can’t.”
“Why not?” Bryce asked. “You think I can’t pick up a woman in a bar?”
Sarah glared at him. “I’m sure you can. But I’ve been trained. I have professional training. I spent a month at a CIA institution nicknamed the Sparrow School. I was taught how to seduce people like this. You don’t have that training, because you’re not a deep cover.”
Bryce rolled his eyes. “Oh, well, your precious Sparrow School makes you so much better.”
“Bryce, I’m not going to let you do this,” Sarah retorted. “It’s not appropriate for me as your superior officer to let you do that, and I don’t want you to do it.”
And now the shoe was on the other foot, as the words were out of her mouth before she realized it.
It was enough to give Bryce pause, but just for a moment. “We don’t always get what we want, Sarah. Believe me.”
She had frozen, unsure of what to say next.
“We have to retrieve those launch codes, Sarah,” Bryce said. “I HAVE to do this.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Tomorrow evening,” Bryce said. “I’ll do it tomorrow evening.”
Langley hadn’t been big on the idea at first, but Director Graham had agreed with Bryce that getting the codes was the number one priority here. Sarah had reluctantly agreed to stay out of it, knowing that her presence would likely just screw things up.
Before Bryce left that night, though, he called information, and then went out. When he came back, he had a Wal-Mart bag in his hand.
“Wal-Mart in Cabo?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah,” Bryce replied. He reached in, and pulled out a blue envelope. “Listen, as I understand it, tomorrow’s supposed to be your birthday. I… I’m sure it’s not even your real birthday, but I couldn’t just let it go without saying anything.”
He handed her the envelope. “Happy birthday.”
And with that, he walked out the door, into the wind of an oncoming storm.
Sarah opened the card. There was a picture of a cake on the front, practically engulfed in flame.
I have no idea what your real age is, the front said, but one thing’s for sure – they don’t make ‘em like you anymore!
She smiled at how silly a sentiment that was, and opened the card.
Dear Sarah, it said. I can tell that you dislike the idea of me going off to seduce this terrorist just as much as I disliked the idea of you doing it. I know that I’m not trained for this like you are, but I’m sure I’ll do just fine.
I’m sure that I’ll come out of this mission without a mark on me, but just in case I don’t, I wanted to let you know how much I’ve come to care for you these last eight months. You’ve left such a mark on my life, and there is no way I could ever forget that. I hope, that in some small way, I’ve made a difference in yours as well.
Happy birthday.
Your partner and your friend,
Bryce Larkin
Sarah closed the card, and realized that her face was wet. “Dammit,” she whispered. “I can’t let this happen, not again.”
Eight hours later, and still no word from or sign of Bryce. Sarah’s stomach was tied in a Gordian knot.
She tried not to think about it. She failed.
She tried to have a glass of wine to sooth her nerves. It just made her worse.
With a heavy sigh, she turned away from the window as a bolt of lightning pierced the sky and a crash of thunder followed close behind.
“Happy birthday to me,” she whispered.
Trying to find something to distract her, she crossed the bedroom to the radio and turned it on. As bizarre as it seemed, it sounded like some Mexican station was playing American country. Sarah turned up the radio.
It was Garth Brooks’ The Thunder Rolls.
“How bizarrely appropriate,” she said, laughing bitterly.
Three thirty in the morning, not a soul in sight, the city’s lookin’ like a ghost town on a moonless summer night.
Bryce lay in bed with the woman known as Fresh Air. He had been successful in the execution of his mission. All he had to do was get his hands on the codes, and he’d be out of there.
He closed his eyes. Why did he feel so guilty?
Raindrops on the windshield, there’s a storm movin’ in. He’s headin’ back from somewhere that he never should’ve been.
Sarah had called Langley. She was worried. Bryce should’ve been back by now.
“Trust your agent, Walker,” a very grumpy Director Graham instructed her. He had just arrived at the office – it was just after 5:00 AM in Washington. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
And the thunder rolls, and the thunder rolls.
Bryce couldn’t just lie there anymore. He rolled out of bed, careful not to disturb the woman. He crossed to her desk, and began to rifle through the papers on top.
Then, he saw it, sticking out from under a stack of other papers. The seal of the Department of the Navy.
In triumph, he tugged on the corner of the paper, making a noiseless Yes! with his mouth as he did so.
Then he heard the hammer of the gun cock behind him. “Looking for something, Mr. Tanner?”
Every light is burning in a house across town – she’s pacin’ by the telephone in her favorite flannel gown.
Sarah had tried to go to sleep. It hadn’t worked. She just lay in bed, tossing and turning.
She remembered something that Carina had told her at the Sparrow School – “It’s practically impossible to have a real relationship in this line of work, Walker. Something comes up, you have to move on. You have to leave it behind. Worse still, somebody like me comes along and tries to take what you want.”
She rolled over, burying her face in the bed and covering her head with her pillow, trying to block out the noise of the storm.
Askin’ for a miracle, hopin’ she’s not right – prayin’ it’s the weather that’s kept him out all night.
Bryce turned to see Aire Fresca standing, gloriously naked, a gun pointed at him. “And here I was hoping that you were just some young attractive stud who wanted to fuck me,” she said, a note of disappointment in her voice. “I should have known better.”
“You can’t have these,” Bryce said, holding the paper up in his right hand. “You could cause chaos, even war with these.” His left hand was busy behind his back, looking for something – anything! – that he could use as a weapon.
She smiled. “Ah, war. I like that idea. And you will be the first casualty.”
And the thunder rolls, the thunder rolls!
The longer Sarah went without sleep, the more vivid her imagination got. She was starting to imagine in explicit detail just what Bryce might have done with that woman.
She tried to force the images out of her head, but she couldn’t help it. Then, an even more disturbing thought occurred to her.
What if Bryce hadn’t returned because he was dead?
And the thunder rolls, and the lightning strikes! Another love goes cold on a sleepless night, as the storm blows on, out of control – deep in her heart, the thunder rolls.
“Don’t do this,” Bryce said. Ah ha! His left hand had found a letter opener. He gripped it in the palm of his hand.
“It will be a pity,” she said, crossing closer to him. “You were so… vigorous.”
Reaching him, she reached down and grabbed him as she drew the barrel of her gun along his cheekbone. “I suppose I should at least make it a… climactic death for you.”
She started moving her hand, enough to distract Bryce. He squeezed his eyes shut, and clenched his teeth, and then, with a soft hiss, brought his left hand up and swung the letter opener into her throat.
She’s waitin’ by the window when he pulls into the drive. She rushes out to hold him, thankful he’s alive.
Sarah was pacing by the window again, when she saw headlights come around the corner. She looked outside –
It was their rental car. She didn’t care that it was pouring rain. She ran outside as the car pulled into the driveway.
Bryce stepped out, one hand covered in blood – the other hand holding the list of codes. He held them up, and smiled.
She ran to him, but instead of taking the codes, like he was expecting, wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight.
But on the wind and rain, a strange new perfume grows. The lightning flashes in her eyes, and he knows that she knows.
Sarah could smell the scent of another woman on him. The perfume, the sweat. But she didn’t care. She knew that Bryce had done only what he had to do.
She moved back, and looked up at him. She could feel the water dripping from her hair, see it dripping from his face, but that was all irrelevant.
Sarah gently placed her hand on his cheek, and then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
And the thunder rolled.
