have sat on it! he thought, alarmed. If the desk did came apart, and Hermosa found the phone, it would all be over. Even Hermosa wasn’t that stupid that he couldn’t put two and two together. All Damason could do was try to keep his superior’s eyes from wandering over the desk.
“Yes, yes, at ease. What I’m about to tell you is to not go beyond this room, do you understand?”
Damason nodded. Hermosa loved the sound of his own voice and Damason had learned early on to just shut up and let the man speak. He tried not to betray his discomfort as Hermosa leaned forward, planting his pudgy elbows on the creaking desk.
“Given the
A broad smile crossed Damason’s face as he gave his crispest salute. “It will be my pleasure, Colonel!”
“Good, good. I knew I could rely on you, Major.” With a wheeze, the colonel pried himself out of Damason’s seat, pulling himself up using the desk, which groaned under the pressure. “Let me know if you need anything for the detail, and I will see what I can provide. Also, you should really get this desk fixed. It looks like it is about to fall apart.”
With that, he waddled out of the room, leaving an exhil-arated Damason in his odiferous wake. The major closed his door, suddenly uncaring about the cloying odor left in his office, or how close he had come to being caught. He locked the door and leaned against it in dizzy exultation.
Truly, God is on our side, for who else would deliver my people’s enemy to me in this manner? he thought. He walked to his desk and sat there for a moment. Then he wrenched the desk to one side, grabbed the cell phone and battery pack, fit them together and tried to control his shaking hands long enough to dial a familiar number to deliver the wonderful news.
Kate paced back and forth in front of her Perceptive Pixel touch screen, which, along with her viewglasses, was one of the most vital pieces of technology she used. Taking up most of one wall in her office, the huge screen enabled her to keep track of various ongoing operations around the world without having to spend twelve hours a day in virtual reality. She could manipulate between operations, bring up data files at a glance, move things around in 3-D and connect almost anyone in the organization to anyone else, all just by touching the screen.
But as impressive as it was, she knew no technology was a substitute for eyes on the ground. While she could use the touch screen to zoom in on a city block in downtown Mos-cow if she wanted, or order a Predator III UAV launched anywhere in the world in about an hour, without the context from someone who knew exactly what was going on, all of that data was just that—pictures or bits of information that were useless without the right interpretation.
She returned to the screen and was about to review status reports from the Southeast Asia sector when the entire screen flashed green, indicating that field operatives were reporting in. Kate drew four windows on the screen and connected to all of them. The faces of Judy, Jonas and Marcus filled three of the screens, with the fourth available to display other information as necessary.
“This is Primary. Everyone have clear access?” she asked.
There were nods and murmurs of assent. “All right,Alpha, due to your narrow window, let’s proceed with your report first.”
Marcus had already uploaded his digital film file for analysis. “I knew there was a weekly address by the government at their usual place. When I went to observe, I found our subject there as part of the assembly. I did not have the opportunity to make contact with him, as the event was disrupted by protesters demonstrating against the government. They were met by progovernment forces, and some violence ensued—”
“Yes, we saw that.” Judy sounded like a cat about to catch a mouse. “Also, your footage showed that you took part in the riot. Care to explain how that happened?”
“Per SOP, I attempted to leave the area, but was attacked by two agitators and was forced to defend myself before I could exit the area,” Marcus said.
“Yet the first person that you struck had his back to you and looked to be engaged in attacking a civilian—not a threat to you at all,” Judy said.
This time there was a pause before Marcus answered. “I took the appropriate actions necessary to leave the area.”
“And put your cover and your mission at risk by getting involved in local matters that were not part of your objective.”
“I wasn’t about to stand by and let an innocent person get stomped into the ground for doing what she felt was right!”
“Alpha, that is exactly the kind of behavior that we cannot tolerate on assignment—” Judy began.
Kate stepped in to head off a full-scale argument. “Fortunately, no long-term harm seemed to be done. We’ll discuss the appropriate action upon your return. Please continue,” she ordered.
Marcus composed himself before speaking. “Since I lost sight of the subject before contact or tagging could occur, and our available data does not list his whereabouts, I could use a follow-up avenue. Something other than risking my neck here asking questions out in the open.”
Kate brought up the satellite photos of the riot, with the real-time shots of the military convoy leaving the plaza.
“Our people are going over the satellite photos of the speech and the demonstration now, but it’s going to take some time to trace their route, much less track where individuals may have gone once Castro had reached his destination. The important thing is that our contact is still alive. However, why he hasn’t contacted us is what concerns me at the moment.”
“Kate, may I see the data file Alpha recorded? It may hold some clues as to what is going on with the contact,” Jonas said.
Kate and Judy had a quick, silent conference. Both agreed with a slight not that it would be best to bring Jonas in completely. Kate drew a fifth window and brought up a data file, showing the pan across the standing lines of officers. She froze the file and zoomed in on the face of a major in the Cuban army. “Our contact was a man named Damason Valdes.”
Kate took a closer look at the serious officer, with his dark hair and unusual blue eyes, and thought he looked familiar.
Jonas didn’t say anything for a long time, just stared at the photo with his lips compressed in the tight line. Kate gave him a few more seconds, knowing that a first read of a subject was usually best done in silence. However, when she thought he had taken enough time, she cleared her throat. “Beta, your initial thoughts?”
“Sorry, he just reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago. Typically, when a double agent has been compromised, they are removed from their duties for immediate interrogation. However, I don’t see anything here that leads me to believe he has been compromised to his superiors, which means one of two things. Either they’ve made him, and are trying to keep him in place in hopes that he’ll lead them to other members of his resistance cell, or they haven’t, and there’s another reason why he has broken contact with us.”
Judy nodded. “There are several groups working toward an independent Cuba, both in the U.S. and in-country, but for Major Valdes to suddenly stop communication with us, someone else would have to dangle a fairly large carrot to bring him over to their side.”
Kate brought up the latest summary of their last communication. “Major Valdes had previously been a useful source of information on the status of the military and related areas under their control. Lately, however, our analysts found a growing undercurrent of dissatisfaction from him about the regime, that change is too slow in coming, and even the progress the military has made in bringing foreign business and tourists into the country hasn’t benefited the people. So, what if someone made him a better offer?”
Jonas grasped her implication first. “Put him in a position to remove a head of state and accelerate a true revolution.
That would most likely mean civil war, with factions of the government and the military going at it, with the population caught in the middle.”
“That certainly doesn’t fall in line with plans for the region,” Judy said.
