Winter 2007

Date Unknown

The insulated concrete walls blocked any signals from coming in or going out of the room.  The steel cuffs were hooked into the metal desk that was planted to the floor.  I was in an HVAC site.  High Value Asset Containment.  

I tracked the time in my head, as best as I could, between my last site and this one. They keep me in an area with no clocks, no windows.  A straight lockdown.  White Torture.  The time in complete isolation is meant to strip away any sense of self identity.  

The door opens and I hear footsteps.  I stare at the table.  Looking up usually results in assault.  Someone stands on the opposite side of the table.  I hear another set of steps.  The second person is breathing slightly heavier.  I take in everything that I can.  I hear the thud.  And the scraping of metal against concrete.  A chair.  I feel the press against my shoulder.  It’s gentle.  I am guided to sit down.

I don’t look up.  The second person leaves.  The first person is still standing.  I feel the pressure release in my legs.  My muscles spasm.  I don’t recall how long I was standing for.  I rest my hands on the table.  

“This isn’t the welcome home I had in mind for you Ghost.”

It takes me a few moments to register the voice.  I cautiously look up.  Straight into the familiar eyes I knew so well.  

“It’s not the welcome home I wanted.”  I say with a smile.

Dan breathes out heavily.  He reaches into his pocket and takes out a key.  He walks around the table until he’s standing next to me.  

“Let me see those hands.”  

I lift my hands up and he un-cuffs the lock.  I rub my wrists and trace the bruises and welts on my skin.  

“How long do I get to keep them off?”  

Dan looks away.  “I don’t know.”  

“Thank you for being honest.”  

Dan leans against the steel table and crosses his arms against his chest.  

“What happened out there?”

This time I breathe out a heavy sigh.  

“I did my job.”

“Your job was to get intel.”  

“I did my job.”  

I press my fingers against my face.  I feel the hollow skin stretched against the bones of my cheeks.  I feel the beard that’s grown in.  

“I must look like shit right now.”

Dan gives a slight laugh.  

“I’ve seen you look better.”

“Have you seen me look worse?”  

“No.  I can’t say that I have.”  

“That bad huh.”

“Want a smoke?”

“You have?”

“I do.”

Dan reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of Parliament Lights and a lighter.  I take one of the cigarettes out of the pack, place it between my lips, and light it.  I breathe in deep and then cough heavily.  The smoke burns my lungs.  My eyes tear.  

“You OK?”

“Water.”

“Give me a minute or so.”  

Dan walks away and I breathe in hard, trying to compose myself.  I feel the rancid taste of the tobacco in the back of my throat.  I breathe in once more and then place the cigarette close to my lips and this time inhale slower.  As I let the smoke out, I feel light headed from the rush of nicotine.  My muscles spasm and begin to relax.

Dan walks back into the room and places a plastic water bottle on the table.  I slowly open it and take a sip.  The water washes some of the acidity from my mouth.  I take a few more sips and then place the bottle back on the table.  

“It’s been a while since I had a smoke.”

“I can see that.”

“Yeah.  I gave it up.”

“When?”

“It’s been a few years now.”  

“While you were in Johannesburg?”

I smile.  

“You’ve kept good tabs.”  

“Part of the job of being your oldest friend.”

“Probably my only friend now.”

Dan squatted down so that he was closer to eye level with me.  

“What happened out there Ghost?  What happened to the asset?”

I search Dan’s face for some meaning of where I am.  I try to see a reflection of myself in his pupils.  There was none.  

“I took the asset offline.”

“Why?”

“Because the asset was compromised.”

“By who?”

“The asset was compromised.  It doesn’t matter by who.”

“That’s not good enough.  That asset had worked with us for a long time.  We spent a lot of time and money fostering the intelligence that came from him.  Why would you kill him?”

“What happens to us when we’re out there Dan?  When we live on the edge of someone else’s rails?”

I realize the cigarette has almost burned itself down to the stub.  I flick my wrist and the ashes fall all over my hand.  I take one last drag and crush the cigarette against the table.

“Are you saying you burned out?”  

“No.  I’m saying that at some point, we’re so far out, that even if we know we should drown, we fight to stay above water.  It’s a futile action.  It serves no purpose for us, except to instill a greater sense of false security.”

“And that’s what’s happened to you now?  You think it’s all bullshit?”

I smile faintly.

“No.  Well, yes and no.  Everything we’ve done has always been bullshit.  We’re trying to escape an inevitability.”

“Which is what?”

“That people will die.  Crimes will be committed.  We’ll be fighting someone else’s war and pretend it’s ours.  That’s what we do.”

“What happened to you Ghost?”  

“The same thing that happened to our Asset.”

“Which is what?”

“He stopped believing.  And then he compromised himself.  And he compromised us as well.  Our intel.  We can’t believe our intel.”

Dan looked me deep in the eyes.  His face calm and serene.  He nodded his head ever so slightly.

“I’m moving you out and getting you cleaned.”

“Why?”

“You’re going to be meeting with the professor.”

“Do you prefer to be called Ghost?”

I nod as I look into his eyes.  They are warm and inviting.  Part of his charm.  Dr. Richard Phelps is the kind of man that screams of an old world.  And of an old war.  

“It’s an interesting name.  How’d you get it?”

I look at the scars on my wrist.  “My old girlfriend gave it to me.”

“I see.  Any particular reason why she chose that name for you?”

I lift up my arm and show him the slits on my wrist.

“Whenever I’d make another one of these marks, she’d always say that I was so desperate to become a Ghost.  She just started calling me by the name.  It caught on.”

“Do you two still talk?”

“No.  In another of life’s ironies, she’s become the ghost.” I say and give him a faint smile.

Richard nods his head softly.  

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“She lost more than I ever did.  I’d save the condolences for her.”

Dan sat quietly not saying a word.  His head bowed as if in a prayer of some kind.  His plate was almost empty.  I looked down at mine and realized I hardly ate any of the food.

“You should come back when Anne’s around.  She’s a better cook than I am.”  Richard says with a slight laugh.  

“It’s very good.  I’m just not at the point of a full appetite yet.”  

He nods, seeming to understand.  “It takes a few days Ghost.  Eventually it comes back.  Like everything else.”

“Do you speak from experience?”  

“I do, yes.”  

His words ease me into my meal.  I begin to peck at the dish with a consistent speed. I don’t taste much of anything yet.  My body is still in shock from the torture.

“Why do they call you the professor?”

Richard gives a quick smile.  “Because I was.  I taught Political Science at the University of Maryland.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Sometimes.  In many ways, it was an easier job than the one I have now.”

“I understand.”  

I look over at Dan, trying to gauge the situation from his body language.  He had the same tepid look.  His only concern was probably that I don’t fuck things up too bad.

I finish three quarters of the food.  I put my fork down and move the plate away from me.  

“Thank You for the meal.”

Richard leans back in his chair.  

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You want to know what happened to the asset and why I did what I did…”

Richard shakes his head slowly.

“You already told Dan that the asset was compromised.”

“I did, yes.”  

“How did you know?”

“I don’t know if I can explain that.  It was a hunch.”

Richard watched me with detachment and intention.  

“You didn’t act out on the hunch alone though.”

“No.  I confirmed with the asset.”  

“He told you he stopped believing?”

“He did.”

“And he told you that our information was compromised?”

“Yes.”

“Why not bring him in, in that case?  Have our local boys find out the depth of the breach.”

“Because he deserved better.  He served his time for us.  And because his family deserved better too.”

“What did his family have to do with this?”

“Everything.  We turned him as one of our own on the promise that we would protect his family.  We negged on that promise when we realized the difficulty of honoring those terms.  And by that point it was too late for him.  At least this way, the Americans killed him and he becomes something of a national hero.  His family will be looked after.  His son will be raised to hate us.  Rightfully so in this case.  And history continues on in a vicious cycle.”

“Do you think they’ll take care of his family?”

“Better than we ever did.  And we were supposed to be the good guys in all of this.”

“Based on recent events, I can understand your cynicism.”

“I’m not being cynical Dr. Phelps.  I’m just reading the tea leaves here.  It’s what we do.  We commit murder in the name of patriotism.  But at the end of the day, it’s still murder.  But, I knew what I signed up for.  That’s more than I can say for the rest.”

Richard seemed to consider my words.  

Dan finally looked at me.  “What about Jian?”  

Emotional tactics.  Dan was on his way to becoming an officer in the intel space.  And I would always remain a headhunter.  

“Jian knows what she signed up for as well.  If she has any self delusions about it, that’s on her to figure out.”

“We both know that’s bullshit Ghost.  You were paired up with her because you two complement each other.  You guys took it a step further and turned it into a relationship.  You expect me to believe that if she gets tagged you wouldn’t do anything?”

Checkmated by my oldest friend.  And the fucker knew it.

“Why am I here?”

Dan situates himself back into his monk like pose.  Richard’s face returns some of his original serenity.  

“You weren’t wrong, Ghost.”  Richard keeps his eyes leveled at me.

“What wasn’t I wrong about?”

“About everything you said.  And about what you did.  You read the situation well.  And you acted on it.  That’s more than most may have been able to do to the extent that you did it.”

“And I was put on lockdown for it.”

“You were, yes.  But that’s SOP here.  One of our own goes after a high value asset and buries it, you can imagine the blowback it deals to HQ’s intel.  You exhibited behavior of a compromise.  We had to follow through to determine the root of it.”

I breathe out slowly.  

“I know.  I would have done the same.”  

I look deep into Richard’s eyes.

“That being said, you don’t strike me as a the type who cooks meals in an effort to apologize to agents.  So what’s the offer on the table?”

Richard flashes a brief smile.  

“You are pretty good at reading those tea leaves aren’t you.”  He folds his hands on the table.  “The world of intelligence is changing and we need to keep up.”

“I thought that’s why we had the NOC program.”

“The NOC Program is good, but, it’s a long game.  We need something more immediate.  Shorter term results without agency involvement.”

“There are plenty of Soldiers of Fortune out there Dr. Phelps.”

“Yes I know.  We hired them for cleanup back in 01.  You remember how that turned out don’t you?”

I breathe out heavily and give him a slight nod.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I want to start a small private unit.  It will be well funded and off Agency books. Mission specs are tactical in nature and meant to be carried out in short time frames.  Outside of funding, there will be nothing else on offer.  No intelligence that flows through official channels.  That means each agent has free rein to work and interact with who they choose.  As long as the job gets done.”

“And if we’re caught?”

“You’re SOL.”

I look over at Dan.  

“So aside from him, how many people are in this unit so far?”

“We have a few.”

“How many that I know?”

Richard looks over to Dan.  

“Besides me, there’s one more.”  Dan’s eyes tell me everything.  

“When was she recruited?”

“While you were away Ghost.”  

I feel a sudden rush of anxiety and exhaustion running through my body.  I turn my attention back to Richard.

“So what’s this unit called?”

“A friend of mine named the unit Kage.  Japanese for Shadow.”

Summer 2012

New York

June 17th

I wake up to the scream of my own voice.  The room around me empty.  It’s been empty for days now.  I smell her perfume on the sheets.  The lingering tinge of her body where she slept.  

I stand up in the dark and make my way to the dresser, opening the top drawer.  I feel around in there for the metallic, shiny item.  My fingers graze it, the cool touch of metal.  I scoop it up into my palm and hold it for a moment, before flicking the top back.  I run my thumb hard on the gear, and watch the flame light up the room.

“A zippo lighter comes with a lifetime guarantee, and so does a good friend.”

The words echo inside my head.  “A good friend…”  I find myself saying to an empty room.  

I lie back down on the bed.  The scream from earlier plays out again.  Everything has changed.  

I sit in the lobby of the Carlyle Hotel, watching the host of people walking through the halls.  Everyone with somewhere to go.  The Carlyle attracts a certain kind of clientele.  They come from a pedigree that speaks of dignity.  I stand out a bit, dressed in my jeans and t-shirt.  I don’t fit the mold.  

I look at the time on my phone.  10:30AM.  I’m still early.  I look up to see him approaching me.  His short 5’2 frame, dressed in black, with the dragon tail, highlighted in gold, hanging across his face.  

He takes the seat next to mine.  

“How is he?”  I ask.

Mouse lets out a short laugh.  “On his third girl for the day.”

“It’s only 10:30.”

“When has that ever stopped him?”

“Someone’s going to notice all that foot traffic.”

“They won’t do anything about it.  He’s too prolific of a guest here.”

“I’m surprised you stayed with him.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t.”  Mouse lets a short smile cross his face.  “Ready?”

“Lead the way.”

I follow Mouse as he walks to the elevator.  He presses the 30th floor.  We stand in silence throughout the trip.  When the doors open, Mouse walks out and turns right, going past five doors before he stops.  He unlocks the door and as we walk in, I can hear the loud moans of a woman.  

“Let him know you’re here.”  

Mouse walks to the living area and takes a seat on the sofa and he motions me to the bedroom.  As I walk closer to the door, I can hear Eddie panting and growling, cursing the girl out in Cantonese.  

“You haven’t changed much have you.”  

Eddie turns to look at me.  The monkey tattoo covering his back, was beaded in sweat.

“What’re you standing there for?  Come here, get a piece of this.  It’s prime grade Gwailo.”  

I look at the girl underneath him.  Blonde haired, blue eyed.  Typical southern belle.  I’m half expecting an accent when she opens her mouth.  

“It’s too early for me Eddie.”

“Fuck you, Ghost.  It’s never too early.  Don’t tell me you got limp dick.”

“This isn’t a social call.”  

Eddie looks down at the girl, runs his hand on her throat, and thrusts her a few times hard.  

“Neither is this Ghost.”  He says and smiles.

“I’ll be in the living room when you’re done.”

I go back and take the seat next to Mouse.  He pulls out a cigarette and lights it.  Hands me the pack.  I simply shake my head.

“When?”  He asks.

“It’s been a few years.”  

He nods his head a few times and takes a long drag from his smoke.  “It’s been that long for us?”

“Feels longer.”  

The girl in the room screams, partially in ecstasy, partly in pain.  Her voice gets muffled between the gurgles of her choking.  I can imagine Eddie’s hands wrapped tightly around her neck as he reaches his orgasm.  And then the silence.  

A few minutes pass in the quiet, before I start to hear the shuffle from the bedroom.  Eventually she walks out, Eddie behind her, his face beaming.  He motions to Mouse.  

Mouse gives me a nod and walks up to the girl.  

“He’ll show you out.”  Eddie says to the girl.

She smiles.  “Am I seeing you again?”  She had an accent I couldn’t place.  Americano.  But without a region.  

“If you’re lucky.”  

“Too bad I wasn’t good enough for your friend over there.”  

Eddie looks at me.  “Don’t take it personally.  He’s just shy.  He gets limp dick around beautiful women.”

She lets out a short laugh.  

Eddie’s face turns hard.  “Don’t laugh at my friend you Gwailo Bitch.”  He looks over to Mouse.  “Get her the fuck out of here!”  He screams.  

Before she can protest, Mouse puts one hand tightly over her mouth, and he quickly pulls a Gloc-9 and puts the nuzzle to the temple of her head.

“Leave quietly.”  He pulls her to the door, as she muffles a low yelp.  Eddie watches, his face hard and full of hate.  Mouse opens the door and pushes her out.  I can see the frazzled look of fear in her eyes.  The gun pointed to her face, Mouse puts his index finger to his lips, in a motion of silence.  

He closes the door and then comes back to the sofa.  Eddie takes a seat on the armchair.  He pulls a cigarette from the pack.  Hands me the pack.  I shake my head.

“You believe this guy.  He doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t fuck.”  Eddie slaps me hard on the thigh.  “What the fuck happened to you Ghost?”

“Things change Eddie.”

Eddie looks at me and leans back into his chair.  “I suppose they do.  So what can I do for you?”

“My current employers are interested in some news that’s making the rounds.  About a Russian with some interesting tech that he was looking to peddle.  I thought you might have some intel on that.”

“There are a lot of Russians that do business with China these days Ghost.  It’s a different world now.  You gotta be more specific than that.”

“He wasn’t only peddling the tech to China.  There were some North Korean diplomats that also had a run of it.”

Eddie looks at me quietly.  He puts out his cigarette and then leans forward in his chair.

“That’s pretty specific intel Ghost.”

“I got it from a good source.”

“A good source.  You know, if you’re caught spying on Chinese soil, well, we have no treaties with the American government and what we do to foreign spies isn’t pretty.”

“What makes you think it’s a spy?”

Eddie looks over to Mouse.  Mouse stands up and leaves the room.  I watch as he opens the door, looking past him into the hallway in front.  It was empty.

“So I have a story.  Americans want in on some action going through Hong Kong so they send a surveillance team out.  They frontline with one of their best field intel sources, a Korean woman who goes by the name Jian.”

I look at Eddie and I think of the scream, the smell of her perfume, the shape of her body.

“How am I doing so far Ghost?”  

I nod for him to go on.

“So, this Jian, she’s making her rounds, trying to get tabs on this Russian fellow that you’re here to talk to me about.  Now, normally we’d let that go, because, if it’s not our people, we don’t care.  But, this Jian, she’s tied to someone else.  Someone that can be a problem for us.  Someone like you Ghost.”

“What’s your point Eddie?”

“I think you know what my point is Ghost.  If you want to kill a Dragon, aim for its heart.”

I sit in silence.  My shoulders feel sunken.  My stomach turns.  I feel Sue’s death all over again.  

Eddie pats me on the thigh and then picks up the pack of cigarettes.  He opens the pack and hands me one.  I take it slowly.  He picks one out for himself and then grabs the lighter.  He lights his own and passes me the lighter.  I light it and inhale.  I feel the burn on the inside of my mouth.  

“Who put the hit on her?”

“I did.”

I look up at him.  “Why?”  

He inhales the smoke and looks thoughtfully.  “When was the last time you went and paid your respects to Sue?  You remember her don’t you?  You should.  She loved you more than she loved anything else in this world.  She was willing to leave everything to follow you wherever you went.  And what happened to her?”

“She died.”  

“She did.  But how did she die Ghost?”

Her body floats up to the surface of my mind.  The mutilated corpse.  The deep lacerations.  The bloating of the skin.  

“I know how she died Eddie.”

“Do you remember it Ghost?”

“I was there!”  I hear myself shouting.  

Eddie’s face calm and collected.  “When was the last time you went to pay your respects to her Ghost?”

“I haven’t Eddie.”

“You haven’t.  And now you’re running around with a new girl.  Or you were.”  

“How much time does she have?”

“She’ll be dead in the next hour.”

“Why would you do that Eddie?”

Eddie let out a long sigh.  “Sue died because of you Ghost.  She died because she chose you.  But…”

“But what?”

“But if she had chosen me, she might still be alive.”

I look at Eddie and realize for the first time what I should have always known.

“Yeah.  I loved her Ghost.  I always loved her.  I still love her.  I could fuck a thousand different women and none of them could compare in warmth to what Sue had.  You were the luckiest mother fucker alive.  And you let her die.”  

I take a drag off my cigarette and lean back into the cushions.  The ash falls on my fingertips.  

“Have you spoken to Lor?”

“A few times a year.”

“How is she?”

“She asks about you every time we speak.  She always asks how you are.  If you’re OK.  It’s ironic, both sisters loved you more than they ever loved me.”

“I’m sorry Eddie.”

Eddie shakes his head softly.  

“It doesn’t matter anymore now Ghost.”  

I put my cigarette out and pick up another one.  I light it.  Inhale slowly.  I watch the smoke dissipate into the air, like carriers of the dead, lifted up into a make-believe version of a heaven.  

“Who is the Russian?”

Eddie let out a snort.  “You’re a fucking monster you know that.”  He laughs ironically with a tinge of disgust.  “We don’t know who the Russian is.  Hell, we don’t even know if he’s really Russian.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s like you, he’s a fucking Ghost.  A sleeper of some kind.  The worst kind.  He’s a man with an agenda.”  

“What’s he selling?”

“He’s not selling anything.  He’s threatening.”

Eddie looked at me and I could see the strain in his eyes.  He was afraid.  

“I don’t understand.  What is he threatening you with?”

“Economic collapse.”

“How?”

Eddie relaxes into his chair, his body slows down, there is a quietude in his eyes.  

“Ever since the whole worlds gone Digital, it became easier to steal information.  We prided ourselves on cyber warfare and weaponization.  It was one of the areas where we had a clear edge.  And then this fucking guy shows up.  And with a few clicks, he can manipulate our markets, create rallies in one area and cripple our holdings in another.  Randomly, intertwined, decoupled, planned.  You just never fucking know.  And that’s why they call him Spider.”

“Why not take him out?”

“We can’t.  Not yet.  We don’t know how deep he goes or how much he can break us.  Until we know that, we can’t do anything.”

“What does he want?”

“Nothing.  Not a fucking thing.  All that power, you’d think he would have a few demands for us.  But no.  He doesn’t want a fucking thing.  He just wanted us to know what he can do.  How deep and how far he can fuck with us.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s all we have.”

I take another drag off my cigarette and then let it rest on my lips as I reach into my pocket.  I pull out the zippo lighter.  I hold it out to Eddie.  He takes it from my hand.

“You still have it…”

“You gave it to me when I was 15.”

“I remember.”

“Do you remember what you told me when you gave it?”

“About the lifetime guarantee?”

“Yeah.  Did you mean it Eddie?  Back then, did you really mean it?”

Eddie flashes a brief smile.  “Yeah, I think I did.”

“How about now?”

“Things change Ghost.”  

I look at Eddie.  Deep into his eyes.  And I remember the days when we were kids.  Patrolling the streets of Chinatown.  Nearly inseparable.  

“I’m sorry Eddie.”  I take one last drag of my cigarette and then put it out.  I spring from my seat, flicking the blade out of my back pocket and thrust it deep into the hollow of his throat, listening to the pierce of skin and muscle as the blade cuts through.  Eddie’s blood spraying all over my face.  And then I twist the blade.  His body convulses, his hands gripping at my t-shirt, his eyes wide open, bloodshot, full of fear, confusion, and panic.  

And then he stops.  His arms go limp.  His eyes look hollow.

I wash his blood off of me in the bathroom.  Every few moments I see the face staring back at me.  I feel disconnected.  

I grab one of Eddie’s shirts from the closet and leave my t-shirt, bloodied, by his feet.  I then walk out of the hotel room.

It takes me about ten minutes to walk to Columbus Circle.  I get up to the third floor of the mall area and head to the bathroom.  I pick a stall and stand for a minute.  My actions finally catching up to me.  The paranoia taking hold.  I wait, listen for the footsteps.  

After a while I settle down.  The adrenaline wears off.  I peel off the latex from my fingertips and off the bottom of my shoes and throw it all in the toilet.  Another identity flushed away.  

I walk across the street to the Columbus Circle fountain and sit on the concrete benches.  I dial the number.  Three rings before he picks up.

“Are you secure?”

Static on the other line.

“Secured.  We’re feeding white noise on anyone who channel surfs.”

“Status?”

“En route currently.”

“Collateral damage?”

“Yes.  A local girl that could pass for Jian.”

“Did she have any family?”

Silence.

“Yeah.  She had a kid.”  I let out a breath.  “It was either her or Jian.  I made a call.”

“Learn to live with that.  I’ll see you both at rendezvous.”

I click off the call.

I dial Mouse.  It goes to voicemail.  The clocks already running.  

Washington DC

June 18th

I take a sip of my Bloody Mary.  My third one.  I had to pace myself.  I look over at the clock.  12:35.  Dan was 35 minutes late to our meeting.  I finished my first drink fast.  The alcohol eases some of the tension.  The second one I paced.  And here I was, drinking my third.  

The customers in the Diner were lined up, waiting for a free table.  I raise my hand, about to ask for a check when I see Dan.  Instead I wave to him.  He walks over, dressed in his usual slack and shirt outfit.  His head cleanly shaved.  The wolf fang shows as he smiles and approaches the table.

“You’re late.”

“Traffic was bad.”  He picks up the menu and starts looking it over.  “Know what you want?”

“My usual.”

“Variety is the spice of life my friend.”

“Lest we die unsatisfied.”

Dan nods his head.  “Touche.”

The waiter comes by.  Dan orders himself a steak and eggs.  I take the Diner Royale.  We both order a round of Bloody Mary’s.  

“How long have you been coming to this place Ghost?”

“Long as I can remember.  It’s a staple of the DC crowd isn’t it?”

“You need to elevate your style every now and again.”

“I’m a creature of habit.  It’s why we’re still friends.”

“And here I thought it was my charming personality.”

“That would only work if you had a personality to begin with.”

Dan lets out a hearty laugh and I give him a smile.

“It’s good to see you man.  Thanks for coming.”

“Always Ghost.  Part of my job description right?  Cleaning the shit that you always end up stepping into.”

“I deserve that.”

He leans back and looks around the room.  The afternoon Adams Morgan crowd making their way into and out of the tables and booths of the Diner.  

“How many prying eyes do you think we have here?”

“Doesn’t matter.  We’re in the heart of espionage country right now, aren’t we?”

“How many you think are Chinese?”

I measure his eyes.  “News travels fast.”

“They want your head.”

“They wanted Jian’s head too.”

Dan lets out a soft breath.  “I know.  I had a side op going there also.”

“Who were you hunting for?”

“The same person that Jian was.”

“Did you know?”

Dan shakes his head.  “No.”

“What’s that mean?”  

“It means that the powers that be either didn’t think I could get the job done, or they wanted to cover their asses across the board.  Or both.”

“I didn’t realize that the Russian was making such waves.”

“He’s something else.  He’s got the Chinese by the balls right now.”

“And?”

“And we want to know if we’re next on his tour list.”

“You think he’s acting alone?”

“Hard to say.”  

The waiter comes by and places our drinks in front of us.  I drink down the remaining alcohol in my glass and put it aside.  We pick up our freshly made drinks and toast.  Dan takes a sip and I can see the smile start to form.

“This is good man.”

“I know.  It’s why I keep coming back.”

“How’s Jian doing?”

“She’s secure.  I had Sung act as her shadow.  He pulled her.”

“Where they at now?”

“Some place secure.”

Dan looks at me.  “Keeping secrets from me?”

“No.  Not you.  Keeping it from the room.”

Dan smiles.  “Same old Ghost.”

“You’re not a corporate merc.  Paranoia comes with the territory.”

“So what can I do?”

“I’m not sure.  What do you have available right now?”

“In terms of resources?”

“No, intel.”  

“Only what I already told you.”

“Do you have any back story on the guy?”

“Nada.  Why, you hear anything?”

“I’ve got some whispers.  Shit that Jian was apparently linked in with.  I don’t know how much of it’s true though.  I never had a chance to verify with her.”

“I’ll take anything right now.”

“Even if it’s under false context?”

“Better than the straws we’re grasping for.”

I think about what Dan says.  I think about where I am.  

“Apparently there was a contractor that wanted to switch sides.  Came in with some intel.  Whatever it was that he said, is what got Jian on a flight to Hong Kong to track this guy down.”

“So what happened in NY?”

“I found out that Eddie was the one who put the hit squad on Jian.”  

“And you decided to bury him for that.”

“I decided to send a message.”

We sit quietly and sip our drinks.  There was nothing more to say after that.  Eventually our food comes to the table.  Dan meticulously cuts into his steak.  I eat the food in front of me unceremoniously.  I try to taste what I’m eating, but nothing registers.

Dan finally breaks the silence.  “You know that message got received by more than the Chinese.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means you’re now a person of interest.”

“I thought all was fair in love and war.”

“We’re not at war with China.  At least we weren’t until you did what you did.”

“The whole point of Kage was to be able to operate outside of the rules, or did I get that wrong?”

“You took out a Chinese diplomat on US soil Ghost.  That means something.”

“Eddie was an enforcer in Chinatown prior to finding himself in the ranks of China’s newfound diplomacy.  And that only happened because of the inclusion of Triad ranks since the absorption of Hong Kong back in 97.  Eddie was a lucky piece of shit.”

“Eddie was also your friend.”

I can’t help but smile.  “He was.  He was both of our friends at one time.”

“I knew him by proxy Ghost.  I never played in your sandbox.”

“Yeah, you always managed to keep your hands clean.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.”  I take a sip of my drink.  “So, how bad is it looking for me?”

“It’s not just you.  It’s all of us.  My unit was in Hong Kong also.”

“And we’re just a bunch of mercenaries as far as they’re concerned, so, it’s not a stain on any government officials hands right now.”

“Except for Sung.  He’s agency property.”

“Then let the agency take some of the heat.  Make it a cooperative effort.  They went after an asset of theirs.”

“You know I don’t have that kind of pull.”

“But the professor does.”

Dan looks down at his plate and cuts another piece of steak.

“What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head.  “Nothing.”

“I’ll talk to him.  Don’t worry.  I won’t involve you in it.”

“I appreciate that.”

“It went down that bad over there?”

“Not that bad.  We didn’t lose anyone on the team.  I just don’t like the roach motel idea.”

“That only means the Russian’s got a pretty price.”

“He does.  And you’re going to have to use that to take some of the heat off you.  Make this about the Russian; not about Jian.”

“It’s not about Jian.”

“You sure about that?”

I take a sip of my drink and shake my head.  “Not entirely.”

“Get sure Ghost.  You’re not going to have a lot of margin for error.  What cover are you going to walk in under?”

“For my meetup with Jian, I’m walking in as a tourist.  At this point, with everything you’re telling me, it’s less conspicuous that way.”

“And after that?”

“I don’t know what comes after that.  I don’t know enough of about what Jian found that sent her on this path in the first place.  And I definitely don’t know shit about this Russian.  I’m hoping the Professor fills in some of the blanks for me.  Otherwise I’m just pissing in the dark.”

“I’ll be around if you need anything.  I’ll try to give you whatever cover I can.”

“I don’t want you getting involved any further.  It’ll only complicate things for you.”

“I think I already signed up for that when I became your best friend back in high school.” Dan smiles and raises his glass.  “May the wind always be at our backs.”

I raise mine in return.  “And may the sun always be there to greet us.”

We take a sip of our drinks.  And the realization that this may be the last time I have a drink with Dan begins to dawn on me.  And for the first time, in a long time, I feel something I told myself I wouldn’t ever feel again.

I feel the fear of death.

Maryland

June 18th

I drive up the dirt road to the house.  The porch lights are on, as the clouds overcast what on a good day is blue skies.  I hear the buzz of mosquitoes.  I ring the doorbell once.  I hear the shuffle of footsteps.  Anne opens the door with a warm smile.

“Julien!”

“Hi Anne.  How are you?”

“Good.  You’re right on time.  Tables already set for dinner.  Come on in.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Don’t be silly.  Come in, come in.  You know where the washroom is.  We’ll see you at the table.”

“How was it Julien?”  Anne asks.

“The food was delicious Anne.”

“Well, you could have fooled me.  You didn’t eat much.”

“I had a heavy lunch.”  

“How long have you been in the area Julien?”  Richard asks.  His soft southern drawl pulls on my name.

“Since this morning.  I had lunch with Dan.”

Anne looks at Richard quietly.  “It’s been a while since Dan stopped by.  You and Jian don’t come by much either. How are you two doing?”

“We’re still going strong.  I can’t imagine what she sees in me.  But, it’s still working for now.”

Anne lets out a short laugh.  “You need a woman like that to make you an honest man Julien.”

“It’s a good thing she’s not here to hear you say that Anne.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll let her know myself one of these days.”

She looked back at Richard and then at me.  

“Well, I think you boys need to catch up.  Leave the dishes where they are.  I’ll take care of it.  You two go on ahead.”

I grab my dish, and then pick up Anne’s and Richards.  “You cooked Anne, the least I can do is clean.”  

“Always the gentleman.  But, no, the dishes can take care of themselves.  Just leave them in the sink.  My kitchen, my rules.”  

“Don’t argue with the woman of the house Julien.”  Richard says with a soft chuckle.

I leave the dishes in the sink and wash my hands quickly and dry them off.  Richard walks into the kitchen and picks up two wine glasses.  

“I have a nice bottle of Opus One for us.  I’ve been looking for a good occasion to open it.  Where do you want to drink, here or by the lake?”  Richard gives me a knowing look.

“How about by the lake.”

“Good choice.  Let’s head on out.”

I take the seat next to Richard as he uncorks the bottle of wine.  He takes a sniff of the cork and then passes it to me.  

“It’s a special kind of bottle, these Opus One’s.”  Richard says, with a sense of satisfaction.

“It’ll be my first time trying it.”

He looks at me.  “This’ll be a treat for you.”

He pours the wine into a glass and hands it to me.  He then pours a glass for himself.  Twirls the wine.  

“Like all good things Ghost, you need to let it breathe for a bit.  Let it come to life.  A good wine tells its story with each sip.”

We toast our glasses and then I take a sip.  

“How is it?”

“It’s very good.”

Richard merely smiles.  “You’re a terrible liar.”

“I think Jian is better with delicacies than I am.”

“Don’t short sell yourself.  You’re good at what you do because you can be anybody that you need to be.  You wouldn’t have been effective otherwise.”

“I appreciate that.”

Richard looks out at the lake.  “You’re probably wondering why all the pleasantries, with everything that’s happened.”

I let out a short laugh.  “I’m just wondering if you’re trying to soften the blow for what comes next.”

“You’re not out of a job yet, if that’s what you’re worried about.  But, there is going to be a significant amount of heat on you.  Everyone wants a head.”  

“Am I going to be the consolation prize?”

Richard looks over at me.  “If they can’t get to the Russian, you will be.”

“I heard that both Jian and Dan were deployed to scout him.”

Richard nods his head slowly.  “Yeah.  We had a few teams at the Hong Kong ball, trying to scout for this man.”  He lets out a sigh.  “I know Dan’s not happy with me about that.”

“He feels like you don’t trust him to get the job done.”

“Technically, he didn’t complete the op.  He came back empty handed.  And Jian almost got herself killed.”

“I know.  Which is why I’ve gotten involved.”

“By killing a Chinese diplomat on US soil?  There were other ways you could have joined in on the action.”

“Eddie and I had a history.  That was more personal than anything else.”

“That makes it worse.  What you did was commit cold-blooded murder.  It just makes you a killer Ghost, not an agent of the Kage unit.”

I take a sip of the wine and look out at the lake.  

“I know he put the hit out on Jian’s life.  We’ve been aware of the relationship you had with Eddie for a while.  Still, I’m not sure how we can keep explaining these things away.  You have a history of going to the extreme options.”

“Is this because of Moscow?”

“Amongst other things.  We’re in the intel space.  We can’t gather much in the way of intel if the person is dead.”

“I don’t think the world is going to miss Eddie.”

“And what about you?  Is the world going to miss you?”

“I can make it all better as long as I find the Russian, right?  Ultimately, that’s all that really matters to anyone right now.”

“What do you know about him?”

“Just the little bit I got from Eddie.  Probably the same thing that everyone else already has.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“He showed up at the doorstep of the Chinese.  Proclaimed to be able to bring their entire economy down using some kind of cyber warfare technology that can manipulate the markets.  And apparently he goes by the name of Spider.  And that seems to be about anything anyone knows.”

“And what’s wrong with all of that?  What everyone knows.  What are we all missing Ghost?”

I could tell that Richard was asking me to question the facts.

“If he is Russian, why haven’t the Russians made any declarations of his involvement?  This tech he has, if it can do everything that he says it can, it only reinforces the super power that Russia is.  They’d want to flaunt it, wouldn’t they?”  

“And because they haven’t?”

“It means that they know as much about him as anyone else does.”

Richard nods his head.  “That wine telling you any stories yet?”

I smile.  “The wine, no.  But I’m hoping you will.”

Richard leans back in his chair.

“I’ve been in this space for a long time.  I’ve lived through some of our greatest victories and also some of our biggest blunders.  When we’ve been wrong, we were really wrong.”

“When have we been wrong?”

“We were wrong back in the 80’s when we decided to get involved in training Afghan soldiers to fight a war against the Soviets.  We had the best and the brightest from the Agency flown over to teach guerrilla warfare tactics.”

“The same guys that taught Bin Laden?”

“Yeah.  That’d be one of them.”

“That wasn’t the mistake you’re referring to though.”

Richard shakes his head.  “No.  It’s not.  There was someone else in those camps.  A young Palestinian man.  A professor of mathematics.  Came to the Afghan fields to learn how to fight after his family were killed in a bombing in Palestine.”

“What happened to him?”

“That’s the real question isn’t it?”  Richard looks over at me.  “You ready for your story?”

I say nothing, unsure of what Richard means.  

“This Palestinian man catches the eye of those deployed there.  His mathematical expertise translated very well into the areas of strategy.  He would build complex attack patterns that could be used in the field, with small groups.  Completely tactical and designed to beat out the larger weapons caches that the Soviets were using in their warfare.  Big machines versus small hand ingenuity.  The attack patterns eventually had a definition.  SWARM.”

“What did SWARM stand for?”

“Strategic Warfare Against Rapid Movement.  It worked in desert combat in those spaces.  Langley brought the same models over here to try to replicate, with some degree of success, those methods in other tactical areas.  Except we used it with newer technology initiatives.”

“And in the desert?”

“Well, Bin Laden and some of the others trained on these methods used it to start their Al Quaeda network.  Sleeper cells and such.  I don’t need to explain that to you.”

I shake my head.  “What about the Palestinian?  What happened to him?”

“They found a body that they identified as his initially.”

“Initially?”

“The body wasn’t his, only the teeth were.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“It’s a story with a twist.”  Richard drank down the remaining wine in his glass and then poured himself another.  He motioned to me.  I declined.  “The teeth were surgically implanted onto the body of another and then made to look as if the teacher was dead.”

“Why the teeth?”

“That’s how we tracked most of the guys in the field.  Dental records.”

“What about names?”

Richard smiles.  “Every one of them had a codename that we referred to them by.  Bin Laden included.”

“What was the teacher’s code name?”  

“… His name was Ankabut.  Do you know what that means?”

“Spider.  It means Spider in Arabic.”  

“And that brings us to our current predicament.  You know that Jian was called in to interview a straggler.  Someone came in and promised us intel for a security blanket.”

“Yeah, I got wind of that.”

“Well, what set everyone adrift is what that person said.  They wanted to trade intel on a high value asset in exchange for coming in from the cold.  The only piece of intel they had to share though was a name.”

“Ankabut?”

“How’s that for a wine story?”

I lean back in my chair and look out at the lake.  “Any fish in there?”

“Some small little critters.  I wouldn’t go casting a line in there.”  

“Where’s a good place to cast a line then?”

“I’d start with where Jian’s at right now.”

I finish the wine in my glass.  I pick up the bottle and pour myself a half glass.

“You know, I’ve heard my fair share of ghost stories before Richard.  But this one’s closer to an urban legend.”

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

“It also doesn’t mean there are giant, mutated alligators in the sewers.”

“Do you have a better explanation?”

I let out a quiet sigh.  “I don’t, no.  What happened between Eddie and I seems so simple compared to this.”

“Yeah, this one’s a shitter alright.”  

“I heard that the North Koreans are also interested in him.”  

“Well, if his tech can do what he says it can, and he apparently has demonstrated to the Chinese that it can, then a lot of people would be interested in him.”

“What’s stopping these other nation states from going after him?”

“The same thing that’s stopping us.  If a guy’s smart enough to show up at the front door of the red army and give the kind of demonstration he has.  Then they probably aren’t the only ones that he’s got a line on.  And should anything happen to him, prior to them finding out what he wants, well, it won’t end well.”

“There are other ways to get someone to talk.”

“A man like that doesn’t talk unless he wants to.  And anyway, no one can know for sure that what he’s saying isn’t going to just trigger off the very thing that they are trying to stop.”

“So we’re hunting a Russian who stole the identity of a Palestinian teacher whose death was faked, what, 30 years ago, give or take.”

“You’re hunting the guy that’s going to help you and Jian stay alive and out of the firing range of multiple intel agencies looking to bury you for what happened.”

I nod my head.

“I have a contact for you when you get out to Tokyo.  A man by the name of Hiroshi Nakamura.  He’s the Oyabun of the Nakamura clan.  North Koreans tend to rank in different Yakuza clans.  He might be able to help point you in a direction or get you in contact with some people.”

I drink the remaining wine in my glass in a single gulp and stand up.  Richard does as well.  He holds his hand out to me.  I take it.  He grips it tightly and his face softens up a bit.  “Ghost, keep one thing in mind.  When hunting monsters, make sure you don’t become one in the process.”  

He gives me a nod and let’s go.  I hand him my wine glass.  

“Please say goodbye to Anne for me.”

“I will.”  His voice barely above a whisper.  I turn around and walk back to the car.  The clouds give way to night.