Rogue Asset (Book 3 of the Wade Hanna Series) (7 page)

Wade wanted the first image to sink in. “The first things I greeted were my taxidermy friends, especially the ones I missed most. I said hello to my wild boar’s head and stuffed alligator head. I looked around the room at all my snakeskins on the wall. I said hello to my stuffed possum standing next to my collection of shotguns and rifles. I looked up and embraced the open wings of my stuffed Canadian goose poised to land.”

Megan responded with “Uhmm” suggesting he was pulling her leg.

“I checked my refrigerator. It was smelly, but there was a decent half a peanut butter sandwich left which I ate. I had to find a place to sit down to call you. I cleared off the table of scattered decks of cards from recent parties and put all the dirty clothes over the furniture in a pile. That’s about it.”

“That sounds like what I expected a country boy’s cave would look like. It’s just I don’t believe you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t because I was just kidding.”

After Megan had confirmed the hoax, they both laughed. The call ended on a serious tone each telling the other how much last evening meant to them.

After his call to Megan, Wade had the urge to call his father. His father was happy to hear his voice and thrilled he was coming to New Orleans soon for a visit. They talked about going to dinner and visiting family relatives. His father wanted to visit his mother’s gravesite and place some flowers there. He wanted Wade to be with him. Wade confirmed enthusiastically. His father sounded tired but excited they were soon getting together.

As Wade fell back into his home routine, memories of the Agency reception and the people he met had already faded. One person he met that evening was Henry Coulter. There wasn’t much to remember about that meeting. Coulter introduced himself as Agency staff attached to the U.S. Embassy in London. Their meeting was brief, and neither felt their first impression of each other was particularly memorable. Wade recalled Coulter telling him the advantages of being assigned to a large city where the population all spoke the same language.

Coulter wasn’t prepared for his MI-6 meeting two weeks later discussing England’s concern for a rogue agent who would soon touch the life of Wade in such unforeseen ways.

Victoria Towers Park

London, England

The meeting took place at Victoria Towers Park near the Buxton Fountain just east of the River Thames between MI-6 Assistant Director, Malcolm Ashley, and CIA Assistant Director Henry Coulter. Both men had known each other for years and worked on many joint assignments.

It had rained for the last two days. A stinging chill and fog enveloped the early morning weekend meeting at the park. Huddled under overcoats and neck scarfs the two men strolled down a path lined with short evergreen cover in patches of frost.

“Henry, thank you for coming. Sorry about our weather. You know if we could control it we would.”

“After all these years, Malcolm, why do we still meet in parks instead of offices over a hot cup of tea?”

“You know my director, Henry. He still thinks open spaces are the best way to meet.”

“Tell me why you called. I’m freezing my ass off.”

“We seem to be having a bit of a problem with one of our agents.”

“What kind of problem?”

“It appears that one of our MI-6 agents has gone astray. I think you Americans put it as ‘He’s playing off the ranch.’”

“I understand, but that doesn’t sound like it’s one of ‘our’ problems. Sounds like it’s one of ‘your’ problems. These things happen sometimes. You just have to reel them in or take them out. I’m sorry for your problem, but I don’t see where this involves Uncle Sam.”

“There are some complexities in this one that cause me to reach out to you once again, old chap.”

“And what might those be?”

“This particular agent happens to have sensitive lists of both MI-6 and CIA undercover operatives that he threatens to expose. He has some failsafe system set up where if anything happens to him the lists get mailed out automatically from different secret locations.”

“That is most unfortunate, but I can’t see why that cannot be handled by elimination. You just have to pick up your rogue asset and subject him to interrogation to discover his mailing sources. You certainly have the capability to do that operation. By the way, who is this operative anyway?”

“The agent’s name is Colin Sikes. He has been with the service for seven years involved in deep cover operations.”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

“Then we must be doing a good job at least with his cover.”

“Naturally, we want to be kept apprised of the CIA lists your guy wants to distribute and where he got them from. We may be able to help with Intel on this asset, but I still think this is a British problem.”

“Well, old chap, you would normally be correct except this one gets even more complicated.”

“I guess I’m not getting the whole story. I bet you’re about to tell me the rest of that story, old boy.”

Malcolm smiled at Henry’s comment and strolled while he gathered his thoughts before responding, “You remember when Uncle Sam spearheaded the overthrow of the previous extremist ruling Sierra Leone?”

“Yes, as I recall we took the lead but your government participated in that overthrow as well.”

“You are correct, dear boy, but Uncle Sam got all the good publicity as I remember.”

“Publicity isn’t my department, Malcolm. However, that publicity hasn’t turned out so well for us in recent years. The warlord we supported has turned out to be as brutal as the tyrant we replaced. We’ve been taking the heat on that operation ever since.”

“Precisely my point, old boy. This is where my story about Sikes might make more sense to you and Uncle Sam.”

“How is that?”

“You see there is another coup underway in Sierra Leone to overthrow the warlord we put in place. The rebellion is headed by a character we both know, Mosie Mabuto.”

Henry had thought for a moment before he continued, “I’m aware of the situation. Mabuto is that silver-tongued tyrant who speaks like a member of the British House of Commons.”

“Mabuto did get some early education in our country and he served on a United Nations committee for the country of Chad. It so happens that our Mr. Sikes has brokered a deal for Russian arms for Mabuto to support his coup. If Mabuto gets those arms and is successful your situation as well as ours becomes far worse in Sierra Leone. If Mabuto gets into power it will make our current warlord look like a Sunday school teacher.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, but it still seems this is your problem but centers around taking out your rogue asset, Sikes.”

“There are several issues that make that proposition an unpleasant alternative for the British government.”

Henry’s eyes opened wider with a smile expecting to hear another reason the British government would like the U.S. to do some of their dirty work.

“Oh boy, I can’t wait to hear this explanation.”

“There is a story already floating around our press about a missing British girl who was reported to be the lover of a secret agent. That girl has gone missing. We believe she may have been terminated by Sikes. Thus far, the press hasn’t connected Sikes with the missing girl but if they do they will soon uncover that Sikes is missing from our ranks.”

Malcolm paused. It was obvious to Henry that he had more to say. “If that weren’t enough, secondly, we are getting bad press for having backed the Americans in Sierra Leone. Our director has gotten orders from above and did not wish to stir the Sierra Leone pot further. Especially in capturing Sikes or in the event the proposed arms deal goes through with Sierra Leone. In other words, we have a sticky wicket of a situation.”

As the plot thickened, Henry’s brow tightened, and wrinkles showed on his forehead. “I understand Malcolm, but what makes your bosses think Uncle Sam will get involved in tracking down some rogue British asset and stirring the pot in Sierra Leone with a new arms deal? Neither of these two topics is going to sit well with my people. There is another possible alternative here for us to consider.”

“What’s that, old boy?”

“We go in together ‘off the books’ on this one. Both of our countries only offer intelligence information with no operational involvement.”

“Even that sounds very risky to me. I don’t know how that will be received in the U.S. Who do you have in mind for the operation?”

“The only one I know who could pull this off and be totally deniable by both countries if anything happened is The Leopard.”

“That’s an interesting thought. Let me bring this upstairs at my shop and see what kind of reaction I get.”

“Please let me know as soon as you can. Some of my people feel they’re sitting on a powder keg with this one.”

“Let’s get out of this cold or I’ll have frostbite to contend with. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“All the best, my good friend.

Chapter 7

Washington, D.C.

After seeing his father, Jake Pisano, and a number of friends and relatives, Wade returned to Greenstone, Alabama, and his one bedroom apartment. He also returned to his two workouts per day, alternating afternoons between one of several firing ranges to stay in shape.

After graduation, his name was posted on several of the Agency lists as being available for assignment. Local short-term assignments dribbled in. These assignments amounted to limited work and short duration. In one matter, he was loaned out for several days to the FBI office in Birmingham, Alabama. The office was conducting a forensic investigation of some real estate transactions done by a particular suspicious Panamanian entity.

The assignment was tedious, in fact boring, but Wade jumped in and did his part tracing invoices and poring through escrow closing statements. The only interesting part was the transactions all used the same bank in Panama whose owners were listed as nominees of other foreign entities whose ownership records were also kept private under the laws of different island registers. Known criminal entities also used this same bank to launder money. Wade was fascinated to learn more about how all the offshore transactions worked and frustrated that his role was limited to just following the paper trail.

Every evening Wade and Megan would speak about daily activities at work and the little spare time either enjoyed. It was clear they missed seeing each other and often compared schedules to find time for their next visit.

It was a bright sunny morning in March when Megan arrived at work to start her regular day’s activities when the interoffice secure mail pouch with her name on it arrived. She signed for the package and reached for her letter opener to break the seal. As she read, her heart pounded, and blood pressure rose. The content was another request for Wade Hanna’s personnel file. Megan thought,
Here we go again.
Just like the previous request for Wade’s file received from her friend Beverly, this one was also incomplete and improperly prepared.

Her blood began to boil.
Who did they think they were? There was no originating office identified. The assignment was unspecified with no Agency approval signatures.
Megan stopped the previous attempt to send his file to an unknown source, and she would do the same with this one. The Agency had a protocol for such requests and this one, like the last, contained none of those protocol signatures and approvals. She wasn’t sending out Wade’s file.

She slammed the file closed and proceeded around the corner to Shaw’s office. Shaw was just getting off a phone call, and Megan wanted his attention before he got back on the phone.

“You’re not going to believe what just arrived!”

“I can’t imagine, but I think you’re about to tell me.”

“I just received another request for Wade’s personnel file. It is just as bogus as the last request. Nothing is filled out properly. There are no approval signatures. It’s just ‘Send me the damn file.’ This is an affront to our department. They can’t just go around procedures and take who they want. I’m not even sure it’s from a legitimate Agency department.”

Shaw reached his hand out for the file. “Let me see it. I’m not going to have people in or outside of the Agency going around me to take my men without getting my approval.”

Megan handed over the file and Shaw flipped through four pages confirming it did not meet Agency policy for a personnel request. “This is clearly off the ranch, but I don’t think it’s from the same source that sent the last file.”

“How do you know that?”

“This one went through the New York office. I can tell by the delivery code ‘3102’ it is New York. At least it passed through New York. It didn’t originate from there.”

Megan took the attempt at circumventing her and the department personally. She was furious not only because it was Wade but because the protocol rules that she abided by were being ignored by some unknown person within or outside the Agency. She voiced her frustration to Shaw, “What are we going to do about this? It’s got to stop.”

“Don’t send his file out. I’m going to make a few calls. I agree we have to put a stop to this or all of our people will be up for grabs.”

“Is there anything you want me to do on this?”

“No, just hang tight until I make a few calls. I’ve got a meeting this afternoon, and I’ll see what I can find out tomorrow morning.”

Megan left Shaw’s office closing the door behind her with enough vigor that Shaw got the explanation mark she was putting on their conversation. The rest of the day Megan was irritable, showing stress over things she normally handled in stride. She couldn’t stop thinking about the file request.

On the evening phone call with Wade, Megan decided not to mention anything about the request until she knew more. Wade was good at picking up on how she felt from their conversation. Halfway through the conversation, Wade sensed something and the incident had come out before she realized what she had said.

“You seem uptight about something this evening. Did someone piss on your desk?”

“Something like that. We got another request for your personnel file for an undisclosed mission similar to the last one.”

“I never heard about what happened to the last request.”

“It was stopped dead in its tracks and that’s what needs to happen to this one.”

“Why are people interested in my personnel file?”

“I don’t know. In fact, that’s part of the problem. We have an Agency protocol for requesting Agency files. We don’t just send them out. There are forms and approvals necessary for a department or office to see a file. Neither of these two requests followed that protocol – so it’s not going any further than my desk.”

“Is this the same office that requested my file before?”

“Shaw doesn’t think so and I don’t either.”

“You discussed this with Shaw?”

“I sure did. He’s my boss, and he agrees this request doesn’t meet protocol. He takes it personally like someone is trying to go around him.”

“Wow! I didn’t realize it was such a big deal.”

“Shaw knows that this one passed through the New York office.”

“What does that mean?”

“Usually all international requests go through New York but this one didn’t have New York’s approval, just a delivery code.”

“What happens now?”

“Shaw’s going to start making calls tomorrow to see what he can find out. We just wait.”

“Could this have anything to do with the Birmingham job I’m on now? Maybe they made a request and don’t know our forms.”

“No, Birmingham just called our office to see if we had anyone for a few days’ ‘loan-out’ to lend a hand. We do that all the time with the FBI and other agencies. That was all handled by our office. This other request is an ‘Assignment Request’ and it’s probably a covert assignment.”

As they hung up that evening, Wade wondered if this could have anything to do with the Lockhart murder or his mission in Belize. He didn’t understand all the Agency’s protocol rules but was not going to accept the second undisclosed attempt at getting his personnel file as coincidence.

Shaw made his first calls to friends in the Agency he knew in the New York office. They were little help. None of the contacts knew anything about the request or a new agent by the name of Wade Hanna. One of his New York contacts mentioned the U.K. was gearing up operations that the U.S. might soon become involved in. The U.K. call renewed old friendships but failed to produce any results about the mysterious file request.

Second thoughts about pursuing this file request were starting to creep in. Perhaps he should just leave it alone. He decided to make one last European call to his friend Erik Stoffler, CIA Station Chief from Zurich, Switzerland.

The phone was answered by his secretary, “Mr. Stoffler’s office.”

“This is Tony Shaw calling from Washington D.C. Is Mr. Stoffler in?”

“Hello, Shaw, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Erik.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your call today, Shaw? I hope you’re going to tell me you’re coming to Switzerland for a visit?”

“I wish I were. Erik, I have a favor to ask. My department received a special information request for a personnel file on one of my new agents that didn’t come through normal channels. I’m trying to find out if the request came from your office or if you happen to know of any request coming out of Europe. I also have some security concerns about how the request was handled.”

“I see you’re calling on a secure line. Can I have the person’s name on the request?”

“Yes, the agent’s name is Wade Hanna.”

“I don’t recall that name but please give me a moment to check our files.”

After a few minutes had passed, Erik came back on the line. “The request is not coming from my office. My records don’t show any personnel requests, especially from America. We have only a couple of administrative and secretary positions open, but we are filling them right here from Switzerland.”

“Shaw, you know that if I were requesting one of your men for an assignment I would call you first.”

“I know that, Erik.”

“We won’t have our budget approved until July and I am expecting I will have to cut back on resources and not add anyone new this year.”

“Do you still have that former U.S. agent operating out of your office that goes by the name of Leo?”

“Ah, yes. We refer to him in Europe as ‘Leopold’. He just has a secretary and phone in this office, but we rarely see him. He’s not under my budget and doesn’t report to me. He’s always been a mystery man. Does this request have something to do with him?”

“I don’t know. I am guessing the request came out of Europe to our New York office. I already asked around Europe. No one seems to know anything. Leo was the only other person I could think of unless we have an attempt to breach our security lines.”

“Please, wait a moment Shaw and let me see if I can find out when Mr. Leopold might be in.”

There was another minute’s pause before Erik replied, “I’m back now. His secretary says he hasn’t been in the office here for over three months. She claims she doesn’t know where he is but can get a message to him. I will have his secretary ask Leo to call me, and I will get him to call you. If this request is not from Leo, I don’t have any other suggestions. I hope we don’t have a system penetration attempt.”

“I appreciate your assistance. I’m going to hold up sending this file until I can speak to Leo.”

“I would do the same if I were in your situation.”

Shaw ended the conversation, “Thank you, Erik. It’s always a pleasure speaking with you.”

“Please let me know when you’re coming to Switzerland. I hope it is soon.”

Shaw gave a final greeting before hanging up.

Three days later Shaw received a call from Phil Damien out of the New York office of the CIA.

“Hi, it’s Phil. I heard you’ve been asking people in our office about a file request on Wade Hanna.”

“Yes, no one seems to know anything.”

“You didn’t call me.”

“If this request were out of New York it should have followed protocol. I didn’t want to disturb the Assistant Director.”

“Where do you stand on the Hanna file?”

“I spoke with Erik Stoffler in Switzerland. He doesn’t know anything about such a request. He’s checking with Leo, but Leo hasn’t been in the office for over a month.”

“I’m getting pressure from way above my pay scale to get this file out.”

“Who the hell is putting pressure on you?”

“My calls are coming from the Director’s office.”

“You mean to tell me someone’s from the Director’s office wants to see a file on a recent recruit still wet behind the ears for some clandestine, undefined assignment in Europe? Does that make any sense to you?”

“Beats me. My office was just asked to forward the request. I can confirm to you that the source of the request is Leo.”

There was a pause before Phil continued, “We’ve known about Leo’s operations for many years. He doesn’t do anything by the book. On this one, he apparently has the Director’s go ahead. If it helps, you can send the package to me, and I’ll take full responsibility for getting it to the right place.”

The conversation went silent for a moment while Shaw thought through his next response. “I need to have more information and input on assignments before someone plucks one my best agents just out of training from under me. Let me give this some thought and I will call you back this afternoon.”

“That’s good. I’ll wait to hear from you before passing anything upstairs.”

Shaw pushed the intercom button on his phone and asked Megan to come to his office with Wade’s personnel file.

“I just received a call from Phil Damien. It looks like we are going to have to comply with that request and send off Wade’s file.”

“Do we know where the file is going?”

“The request originated from Leo out of Zurich. We’re going to send the file to Phil in New York who will take full responsibility. He will forward it on. This request is coming with the approval of the Director’s office.”