Jay nodded. “I’d rather face them on our home turf than out here. We’re out of here in ten. Move it!”
Langley, VA
AGENT DARREN CHESTERFIELD paced his narrow office, his sleep-deprived mind trying to think like Bridger and his buddies at Baba Yaga. He snorted in derision as he contemplated the balls it took to stroll into the most secure building in the United States.
“The nerve.” He stopped and stared out of his window, the tracks from the dirt bikes still scarring the ground below. “And then leave…on motorcycles?” He chuckled to himself at the simplicity of the operation.
Still, how did that third man enter the building? He hadn’t stowed away in the service vehicle which has given them exactly zero clues to their actual location. He hadn’t crept in during a previous shift. Or had he?
Darren sat back at his desk and gulped more of the cold black coffee. He switched on his screen and went through the entry/exit logs for the past four days. Nothing stood out and nothing went unaccounted for except for an old digital camera left out in an office. The person assigned to the office had never seen it before…or so he claims. At least the security chief had done that part of his job correctly.
He switched his computer to the security feeds and scanned the black and white images. “How the fuck did you get in?” Darren muttered to himself as he flipped between the different security cameras. “It’s not like you crawled in through an open window…” Darren paused and glanced at his window.
“Surely not…” Darren picked up the phone and called the security office. “I’m heading up. This is just a notification.” He came to his feet and pushed his way out of his office.
He ignored the comments and looks from his coworkers as he headed to the stairwell. Darren felt every step as he made his way upward. Once he reached the roof level he paused at the top of the stairs to catch his breath. “This sleepless thing takes more out of you than you’d think.”
He pushed open the steel security door and stepped out onto the roof. Immediately his phone notified him of the sensor alert. He clicked the alert, muting his phone and he stepped away from the door. His eyes scanned the rooftop and he shook his head. “What the hell was I thinking?”
He turned to walk back in when the noise of something flapping in the breeze caught his attention. Darren looked around the roof but saw nothing. He stepped to the side of the roof access and heard the noise again.
His eyes scanned upward and he caught what looked like a nylon string hanging from the roof of the access. He reached up and barely was able to touch the nylon. He hooked it with his finger and tugged.
Slowly, the silky material slid from the rooftop, small rocks rolling away with it. He pulled the material to him and held it, his mind refusing to connect the dots.
“Sir?”
Darren turned and saw the security officer standing at the corner. “Yeah.” Darren tugged the rest of the material down from the roof access and scooped it up into his arms. “Your men searched the roof earlier, didn’t they?”
The security officer shrugged. “I would assume so.” He stepped back and eyed the cloth in his arms. “What is that?”
“It’s a fucking parachute.” Darren marched past the man, dragging the harness behind him.
“A parachute?”
“This is how the third man got in; it’s also why he didn’t have to crawl through the entire building to get to the floor he needed.” Darren froze at the door and rolled his eyes. “The digital camera. Son of a bitch!”
“What camera?” The security officer pulled the door shut and rushed to catch up with him. “What camera are you talking about?”
Darren wadded the silk up tighter in his arms and ignored the man. He walked across the fifth floor hallway until he reached Colonel Nelson’s office. He “knocked” with his foot then pushed the door open.
“I was about to say…what is that?” Nelson slowly rose from his chair.
“This is how the third man entered.” Darren dumped the chute onto the floor and stepped aside. “And security found an old digital camera on this floor.” He crossed his arms and smirked at the officer across from him. “Three guesses who used both this and the camera.”
Nelson sat back down and eyed Darren carefully. “You realize what this means, don’t you?”
Darren nodded. “It’s the end of my career.”
Colonel Nelson chuckled and shook his head. “What did I say about giant fuck ups?”
“That’s for people on the fast track. People like me who are struggling to get ON the track? We get plowed over.”
Nelson leaned back in his chair and smiled. “We’ll see.” He pointed to the parachute in his office floor. “Get rid of that and get an IT guy on the computer that they accessed. We need to know exactly what they got.”
Darren hefted the harness and tugged the material and static lines back into his grip. “We know what they got, Colonel. The real question is what are they going to do with it.”
CIA Director’s Office, Langley, VA
“THINGS ARE STARTING to fall apart.” Assistant Director Ingram sat down across from the older man. “Just like you predicted.”
“That is my job, Robert.” Director Jameson leaned back in his overstuffed leather chair and crossed his legs. “I told you we could get this done in record time and as usual, I was right.”
Ingram fought the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. “My guy on the inside says that Chesterfield is running himself ragged trying to avoid the inevitable.”
“That, too, is to be expected.” Director Jameson reached for the bottle of scotch behind his desk and poured two short glasses. “I know it’s a bit early, but I really think we should toast your upcoming promotion.”
Robert
