against the light slanting through half-closed curtains. Despite the early hour, Katie was already
up and moving about, a dizzy smile spread across her face. Both were pleasantly exhausted after
having made furious love deep into the night and early-morning hours.
Ryan went about his normal routine in preparation for the day ahead. Every few minutes he
would catch Katie staring at the diamond on her left hand and she would look up with a
sheepish expression on her face. He knew how she was feeling, though, as it was his first time
being engaged as well. It was an unusual confluence of emotions: pride, that he was good enough
for a woman like this; anxiety, because he could still screw it all up; anticipation, thinking about
the family that they would make together. Most of all, he just felt fortunate, recognizing how
lucky he was to have her in his life.
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By eight they were both ready to leave. He checked out of the hotel while Katie had the valet
bring the car around. She drove south toward Langley because Ryan wanted her to take the
BMW back to Maine, but she wasn’t experienced driving a stick shift and needed the practice.
They both burst into laughter when the car stalled at numerous stoplights and the vehicles
behind erupted into a cacophony of horns and loud curses. For some reason, none of that
seemed to matter.
It was almost an hour later when they arrived at headquarters deep in the wooded hills of
Virginia. Harper had clearly made arrangements, as the security guards manning the gate waved
them through following only a cursory inspection. The heavy sedan slowed to a halt outside the
entrance.
“I hate this.”
“I know.” He gently touched her cheek. “I’ll miss you.”
“Me, too,” she said. Her long fingers came up to wrap around his. Ryan leaned in for a quick
kiss, but it went on for several minutes until he reluctantly pulled away.
“John’s probably pissed already, I’m really late. I’ll see you in a week or two — I’ll let you know.
I’ll call you, okay?”
“You’d better,” was her quiet response. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He looked into her eyes for as long as he could until he bumped into someone
and was forced to turn around as he went up the steps toward the main entrance. At the doors,
he turned once again and laughed when the BMW pulled jerkily away from the curb. Clearly, she
was having trouble adjusting to a third pedal.
Ryan had always been intimidated by the immense hall that marked the entrance to CIA
headquarters in Langley. The space was dominated by the Memorial Wall dedicated to those
field officers who had died in the line of duty. Due to the clandestine nature of the Agency, the
names were not listed; instead, a star was attributed to each fallen agent.
Ryan occasionally wondered if a star was waiting for him. It was not for want of recognition,
because he knew about the wall. He also knew about his profession, and was realistic when
handing out odds, even for himself.
In the hunt for Jason March, he didn’t care to hand out odds of any kind.
Leaving the elevator, he walked toward Harper’s office and was admitted on arrival. He was
surprised to see that Naomi was already there, waiting with the deputy director. She was
immaculately turned out in a white suit jacket with a matching skirt that ended at midthigh. He
was struck by her appearance until he thought of Katie and felt a small twinge of guilt.
“Good morning, Ryan,” Harper said. When he looked up, a strange little grin appeared on his
face. “You’re right on time, believe it or not; I was just about to tell Naomi what’s happening.
I’ve got you two booked on a 1:30 flight to Norfolk. The tickets are waiting at the airport, and
I’ve made some arrangements for transportation when you get there.”
“Sounds good. Who are we meeting?”
“Adam North is your liaison on the ground. He’s DEA — the same guy who hooked onto this
piece of information in the first place. They want to be kept up-to-date on this, probably so they
can claim partial credit when you run March down.”
“If, John. If I run him down.”
The DDO gave a little smile. “I have a lot of faith in you, Ryan. In both of you,” he said, turning
to look at Naomi. “Anyway, you’d better get moving, especially if you plan to check your
weapon. That plane is leaving with or without you. Good luck, and keep me updated.”
Harper shook hands with them both. On their way out the door, Jonathan pulled Kealey back
gently, whispering quiet words into his ear. “I want you to watch yourself with Elgin. I saw that
thing in your face yesterday when I mentioned the rape part — The president is willing to break
some rules, but there’s a limit to what he can overlook. You’re no good to me on suspension or
in jail, Ryan. Just be careful, okay?”
Ryan nodded and they were out the door. He didn’t see the look that Naomi gave him. It was
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partially bemusement, but also understanding. She couldn’t help but revel in the knowledge that
she wasn’t supposed to have. Lost in self-congratulation, she didn’t quite catch his question.
“Sorry, what was that?” she asked.
“Your arm. How is it?”
“Oh, it’s fine, thanks. By the way, that’s a nice shade you’re wearing,” she said with a smile.
It took him a second to catch on, but when he wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, it
came away smeared with Katie’s pink lip gloss. So that’s what Harper was grinning about, he
thought with a rueful shake of his head.
They didn’t speak again until they got to the airport, but Ryan noticed that the little smirk never
quite left Naomi’s face.
Less than three hours later they were on the ground at Norfolk International. Ryan had checked
weapons on domestic and international flights many times before and knew how to fill out the
paperwork, so there was not a substantial delay in retrieving his gun case. Soon they were
moving through the automatic doors of the passenger terminal, stepping out into the cool
autumn air. He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. “Yeah, this is Kealey.
We’re at the entrance for United. Okay, we’ll be waiting.”
“When was the last time you fired one of these?” he asked Naomi after turning off the phone.
He tapped the small metal case with his left hand.
“I have no idea. It’s been a long time, though.”
“I’ll ask North to get you something.”
She was about to decline the offer, but then she remembered General Hale’s parting words:
Whatever happens, don’t let March get his hands on you. Believe me, that’s the last thing you
want. The memory sent another cold shiver running through her body.
It wasn’t long before a large black Suburban with government tags pulled up to the curb and the
driver jumped out. “Hey, Adam North, DEA.”
“Ryan Kealey, and this is Naomi Kharmai. Good to meet you.”
North didn’t look like any law-enforcement agent Naomi had ever seen. He was huge; she
guessed that he was well over 6' 4" and probably topped the scales at 270 pounds. He wore a
black-leather jacket over a plain gray T-shirt and threadbare jeans. Her eyes moved down and
noticed that his shoes were dirty Nike cross-trainers, scuffed and worn with age. The DEA agent
caught her disapproval and grinned through a thick, unkempt beard.
“Don’t look so disappointed,” he said. “I’ve been trying to put these assholes away for three
months, and it’s a little hard to blend in with a suit and tie.”
Ryan laughed as he tossed his little grip and Naomi’s huge suitcase into the back of the truck. He
sat in the front with North while Kharmai climbed into the rear seat.
“So,” North said as he pulled away from the curb and into traffic, “where to begin?”
“First off, I want your opinion. What was it between Shakib and this Elgin guy? Was he moving
in the explosives?”
“No, I don’t think so,” was the unexpected response. “Elgin’s responsibilities all lie on this side
of the ocean, and I highly doubt he has any real connections to speak of. Part of his job is to
check the bill of lading against the actual containers on the ship. I think what happened is that he
came across something he wasn’t supposed to see, and he tried to make that work to his
advantage. I would have to say he was successful, seeing as how he’s still alive.”
“Did you talk to the port authorities?” Naomi asked.
“I did, but only to get a grip on the loading and unloading procedures. If Elgin was trying to
extort money from Shakib, then the people running the terminal aren’t going to have any
knowledge of that anyway. Besides, I wanted to keep this information close to the vest. If Elgin
gets word that people are asking questions, he’ll find a way to disappear. He’s not very bright,
but he’s smart enough to know when to cut and run.”
“Tell me about Elgin’s job,” Ryan said. “What are his responsibilities? If he found something,
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how could that have happened?”
“Okay, when a ship comes into port, it’s issued a job number, a booking number, and the port
of discharge. Elgin is responsible for assigning the job number, which in turn places the ship in a
pre-assembly area. Basically, that determines when the cargo will be unloaded. Then a dock
receipt is issued against the cargo, and responsibility of the load is transferred from the ship’s
captain to the marine terminal.
“While the ship is waiting to be unloaded, the bill of lading is checked against the actual cargo.
That’s our guy’s primary job, to supervise the walkthrough of the cargo hold. Right now, there
are still no effective measures in place to check each container. It’s a huge problem for U.S.
Customs because there is no way to verify the contents. Closed containers, which is basically
every container aboard, are listed as S.T.C. That stands for ‘Said To Contain.’ The entire
shipping industry is essentially run on the honor system. I mean, some of these ships can carry
7,000 twenty-foot containers. The amount of manpower that would be needed to check each one
is completely unfeasible. It just can’t be done.”
“Then how would he run across illegal cargo?” Ryan asked.
Naomi spoke up from the rear seat. “If the container was damaged, then they would have the
authority to open it and examine the contents, right?”
“Exactly.” North looked back at her with a surprised expression. He was genuinely impressed.
“It took me forever to figure that out, but you’re right; that is the only way it could have
happened. Indirectly, it was a huge break for us.”
“So from there, it was just a matter of locating the receiving party, which in this case was Michael
Shakib. Well, this is just great,” Ryan said. A look of disgust came across his face. “This guy
doesn’t have anything to tell us. All he did was blackmail Shakib.”
“That’s not entirely accurate,” North said. “Elgin can give you the ship’s point of origin, as well
as the person or company that consigned the container in the first place. I would say he has a lot
to tell us.”
“Well, let’s find out. What do you call this place?”
“It’s called The Waterfront. I guess the owner doesn’t have a lot of imagination.” He turned to
Ryan with a look of incredulity on his face. “You’re not thinking of going in now, are you?”
“Why not?”
“Well, the SAC at the Norfolk office is expecting you, first of all, and the deputy administrator
came down from Washington to help supervise this little powwow. If you don’t show up, that’s
going to be a problem. Second, I think we ought to decide how to deal with Elgin. I mean, he’s
not going to just hand over this information. He probably made a lot of money dealing with
Shakib, so he won’t be very forthcoming.”
Kealey frowned. “Listen, I’ve heard about Elgin, and I can’t say that I’m very impressed. I’m
under orders to move quickly on this, orders that came down from the president. I’m pretty sure
that supercedes the authority of the deputy administrator for DEA. The only problem I see is
that you can’t be involved in this if you’re part of an ongoing investigation.”
“Actually, that’s not going to be an issue.” A huge grin spread across North’s face. “My boss
got a personal call from the national security advisor. All domestic operations take a backseat to
your little mission. She even threw out your name. I guess you must carry a fair amount of pull.”
Ryan didn’t answer. He opened the metal case to reveal the components of his personal firearm,
a Beretta 92FS. It was broken down into four pieces: the receiver, slide assembly, bolt group,
and recoil spring. His hands moved in a blur as the weapon came together, the magazine
checked and inserted, and a round chambered. The safety was on as he placed the pistol at his
side and slid the metal case under the seat.
“That looks like military issue,” North said. “Got some years on it, too.”
“It’s served me well,” was the response. Ryan wasn’t giving anything away.
Adam North smiled at that as he took the next exit leading down to the docks. He glanced back
at Naomi. “Are you coming in?”
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“Well, I wouldn’t be very helpful sitting here, would I?”
“I’m just saying…” The DEA agent flushed slightly as he turned to look at her again. “This is
not exactly a friendly place, and what you’re wearing isn’t going to make this any easier.”
Naomi followed his gaze to the white skirt riding high on her thighs. She tugged it down
self-consciously as Ryan choked back laughter.
“Then we’d better stop so I can change,” she said, struggling to keep the anger out of her voice.
North pulled the Suburban into a gas station. Naomi jumped out and opened her suitcase at the
rear of the vehicle, pulling out several items before storming off toward the ladies’ room.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ryan said as they both laughed. “She doesn’t like me either.”
“Pretty cute, though,” North said. Kealey was surprised; Kharmai didn’t seem like the bigger
man’s type. “British?”
Ryan shot him a look. “That obvious, huh?”
“Well, you know.” North looked embarrassed. “I don’t deal with that a lot. Uh, why isn’t she
working with… What do you call them? You know, the guys on her side of the water…?”
“MI-6, you mean? I don’t know. It’s their loss, I suppose.” It was a good question, one that he
hadn’t thought to ask her, but Ryan wanted to get back on track. “Anyway, tell me about this
place. What kind of layout are we looking at here?”
North quickly turned back to business as he hunted for a piece of paper and a pencil. He drew a
