Rete and Trident Vol. 01

Bollard was shocked.

"When I asked her why she brought armed men into our house to cuckold me, you know what she told me? She told me she was convinced that it would be good for me, good for our relationship, and good for our sex life. The wife I loved and cherished imagined that humiliating me in that fashion and putting my life at risk would make the sex between us hotter."

When I said that, Bollard got a horrified look on her face. Her disapproval was gratifying.

"I was devastated by what I'd learned. I wanted to kill all of these people myself, but I never seriously considered actually doing it. If I had done that, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, would we? You would have no choice but to put me in prison. I'm not proud about how I treated the armed assailants, but these people came into my house to have sex with my wife, assault me, and humiliate me. Given how corrupt the whole county was and how politically connected they were, I knew none of those people would ever face justice. I made sure none of those monsters could ever do what they planned to do to me to anyone else.

I scored a point with that one. I pressed on.

"One of the details you are missing is that when I made it clear I was ordered to abandon her, my ex-wife begged me to tell her how to survive. Have you ever experienced that? Someone you love begging you help them survive a hopeless situation? We went over all of her options. I told her her best chance to survive was to insinuate herself in with the criminals, but she didn't think they would believe she was fully on their side. One of the options discussed was murdering her way out of it. I warned her she was unlikely to succeed, and told her she would probably face criminal charges in the aftermath. She begged me for advice on how to do it. I told her to take out the leadership of the operation, both of whom were tied down in our bedroom. I advised her to kill the five people in my house. Not twenty two people. Luckily, she followed my advice on how to do it properly and survived. She was able to bring you that notebook."

Secretary Bollard wrote something on a sheet of paper.

"You brought up my Navy career. Do you even know how I came to the DHS? On her deathbed, Captain Padgett told me I didn't pass my early command screen. She made some discrete inquiries and told me I'd been 'canoed'. She told me I had better scores than 85% of the people who passed the screen. She said that she pulled every string she could, but there was nothing she could do."

Bollard grimaced and nodded. There was a traditional overrepresentation on Navy promotion boards of officers who went to the Naval Academy, which was referred to by non-academy officers as "Canoe U". These boards tended to select less-qualified academy officers for the prime promotions over well-qualified non-academy officers. Non-academy officers referred to this as 'getting canoed'. Without an early promotion, I'd never get an O-5 command and without that, my career was capped.

"I talked to Captain Padgett about my opportunity with my father in law. She suggested that I look at it seriously. Assistant Undersecretary Gilbert convinced me that my contribution to our country would be far greater as a DHS undercover operative than as a naval officer with a limited career. I loved my career in the Navy, but I gave it up for what AU Gilbert described as the 'public interest of this nation'. I spent a year on the farm with the CIA. I spent three years in law school that I didn't want to attend. I delayed having children for four years, and ultimately my marriage was destroyed. I gave everything I valued for the mission you sent me on.

"Why did the mission fail? Your subordinates put me into an impossible situation. I was ordered not to tell my wife I was working undercover. My cover was designed to lure PT Hill's gang into pulling me into their organization. Not one of your subordinates ever considered how this made my wife a target. I was not even allowed to tell my wife who those people were. The mission itself was a massive intelligence failure because the size of the organization and resources were ten times larger than expected, and no one had any inkling the operation was run by the wives and not the men."

Secretary Bollard used my conscience against me, I figured it was time to turn the tables.

"Now that the mission has failed, you stripped me of my good name, literally, by declaring me dead. You intentionally ridiculed me by assigning me the name of a contemptible cartoon character as my new identity. You also refuse to take responsibility for your decisions and those of your subordinates, and heap all of that on me."

I shook my head and said, "You can't imagine how disgusted it makes me feel, Secretary Bollard, that you find my personal sacrifices and misery are a source of amusement for you. I'm simply stunned to find out that you are the type of officer who ridicules the people she sends into harm's way. To think that I once thought you were respectable."

This comment cut deeply. Her expression shows she was deeply ashamed of that.

I stood and said quietly. "I cannot and will not work for you. You will have my resignation on your desk within the hour. I quit."

I turned and marched for the door.

I heard her shout, "Wait! Agent Archer!"

She tried to hit the door lock to latch it closed, but I beat her there by a smidge and got the door open. I walked through the waiting area outside of her office. Undersecretary Alan Raines and Assistant Undersecretary Matt Gilbert were standing up in the waiting room. It was clear they heard the Secretary call me back and were trying to figure out what to do. I was past them before they made a decision.

As I walked through the door, I heard a computer voice on the office speakers PA say, "Security Code seven to the Secretary's office". I walked down the hall the long hall to the elevator. When I got there, there was an empty elevator going down with the door open. The doors started closing just as I stepped into it. I never had a more perfectly timed departure before. I could see armed guards running down the far end of the hall towards the Secretary's office just as the elevator doors closed.

In the lobby, I quickly stepped out and headed for the front door. As I headed out, I saw the DHS memorial wall. It was a direct copy of the famous CIA memorial wall, where they placed stars in memory of fallen agents. When I started with the DHS, I was brought to the wall and made consider that this might be my fate: to be an unnamed star on the memorial wall. There were seven stars there now. There had been six when I was in training.

I touched the seventh star and wondered idly if this was mine-- the one they put up for the death of me: the undercover agent formerly known as Peter Kintrell. If so, the star that was representative of the death of my former life. My childhood, my Navy career, my DHS career, my ersatz legal career, and even my marriage was stripped and taken from me by an ungrateful country on the whim of a Secretary of the DHS who made it clear she despised me. I was suddenly overpowered by emotion. I broke down and cried. I dropped down to my knees and wept as hard as I'd ever wept in my life.

I heard a familiar woman's voice behind me. It cried out, "Pete is that you? Oh my God, Pete! Are you ok, Pete?"

It was Riley. I hadn't seen her in four weeks. I couldn't bear knowing she was there watching me lose my shit, but there was no holding it back. My crying redoubled.

A heard a bustle and a commotion behind me. A stairwell door slammed open. There were raised voices. I heard someone shout, "There he is!"

I heard footsteps running up behind me. Next thing I knew I was tackled from behind as I knelt before the wall. I wasn't braced for it, and my cheek slammed into the marble wall. I felt my skin tear against the sharp-edged point of the engraving. My head hit so hard I saw stars. My vision went blurry.

I heard Riley suddenly scream out in rage. "Get off of my husband!"

There was a ripping sound. I looked over and my wife had torn the helmet off of the man who tackled me. The ripping sound was the Velcro on the chinstrap separating. She swung the helmet back using the strap like a nunchuk and clobbered the man's face. Blood splattered everywhere. The guy fell to the floor, she dropped down and kneed him in the balls screaming, "Don't you hurt my husband, fucker!"

They wrestled on the ground, and Riley grabbed the guard by the hair and slammed his head down on the floor. Two more guards arrived and tried to jumped on top of her as she was straddling the injured guard. My wife sensed they were coming and ducked. The two guys flew over her. She reached down and grabbed at the injured guard's belt. She came up with a large can of pepper spray in her hand. She squeezed the trigger. There was a crack of a plastic seal breaking, and a thick foam shot out of the nozzle. She hosed down the faces of the two guards who had overshot her. She was very generous with the spray. They started screaming piteously. She transferred the pepper spray to her left hand and picked up the helmet with her right. She cocked back to hit the first guard again with the helmet, but he wasn't resisting. He held up his hands like he surrendered and cringed.

She ran to me and knelt down next to me. My vision was still blurry, but I could tell that she was weeping too. She said, "Oh my God, Pete! They hurt you! Your cheek looks awful! You sit still, we're going to get help for you. It's going to be ok. We're going to get you fixed up good as new. She bent down and kissed my torn cheek. It was excruciating and I screamed.

More voices came up to the lobby area. It was a group of four guards. They formed a phalanx. My wife dropped the helmet and brandished the pepper spray. One of the guards pulled out a taser. He shouted forcefully, "Ma'am! Put the pepper spray down! Put it down, or I will be forced to use force to ensure your compliance! This is your last warning!"

My wife was so angry her voice dropped about half an octave. In a demon voice, she screamed, "If any of you lays a finger on my husband, I'll make you wish you'd never been born!"

I heard the pop of the taster dart and the distinctive click-click-click-click of the taser firing off. My wife made an agonized groan and fell on top of me. She electrocuted me as she was tased. My body convulsed and my head hit the marble floor. Darkness descended over me.

***

I woke up in a hospital room in a hospital bed. It had been adjusted so my back was raised, elevating my head above my feet. My cheek ached and burned fiercely. I tried to touch my cheek to feel it, but for some reason, I couldn't lift my hands to my face. After a minute of struggle I realized I couldn't move my hands because my arms were handcuffed to the handrails of the bed.

From the view out of the window, I could see the DHS headquarters building in the distance. I speculated that this was the confidential clinic that Matt Gilbert used when he brought Riley in.

I became aware of two furtive and angry voices arguing quietly. I heard Riley's voice raise slightly say, "I don't give a green god damn who you are! I swear to God if you hurt my husband like that again I will make you wish you had never been born! He gave up everything for you and you had him tackled like a fucking criminal. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I asked, "Who's there? I've got a wicked headache and my vision's blurry."

Riley called out, "I'm here honey. I'm in the next bed over. How are you feeling?"

I asked, "I hurt. I'm handcuffed."

She said, "I got some bruises and burns when that asshole guard tased me. The nurse told me you've got a split cheek and they had to give you some stitches. She also said that they think you have a concussion, but they don't think it is a bad one."

I said, "I'm thirsty. I'm really parched. Do you have any water over there?"

She said, "No. Even if I did, I'm handcuffed too."

"I've got the headache of the century."

Riley said, "That's probably the concussion."

I asked her, "Can you call the nurse?"

She sounded sad. "The nurse call button isn't close to me. We have our guest to thank for that."

I asked, "Guest? Who's here?"

I heard Secretary Bollard's voice say, "I am here, Agent Archer."

With a commander's voice Bollard shouted, "Peterson!"

One of the guards from the DHS building stepped into the room. He was one of the two that Riley had hosed down with the pepper spray. His uniform shirt was soaking wet and stained and he was not wearing his utility belt or helmet. His eyes were bloodshot and still running.

He said, "Yes ma'am?"

She said, "Roll Mrs. Archer's gurney out into the hall. I need to have little chat with Mr. Archer and it is going to be difficult with her in here chattering."

He replied, "Yes ma'am."

There was a pop as the wheel brake on the bed was released and Riley fussed at the guard as she was rolled out of the room.

When Peterson closed the door. The fussing continued, but at a much lower volume.

She said, "Charming wife you have there Agent Archer."

I said, "Ex-wife."

The Secretary was amused, "Have you convinced her of that yet?"

I said, "Our old identities are officially dead. Legally, marriages dissolve at death. Further, there is no legal framework for corpses to petition the state for a divorce. There's a pretty compelling argument that we aren't legally married anymore-- at least not in the eyes of the government."

She said, "You still have the same last name. You are mister and missus Archer now. Part of your new identity was a marriage certificate, so the facts are on her side."

I said, "I specifically requested that we not be given the same last name."

She replied, "Your request was denied. Your wife's situation was far worse than yours and unlike you, she handled her situation productively. She single-handedly took down the top security threat to our nation. I denied your request as a reflection of my gratitude for her service. If you insist on getting divorced, then you will have an opportunity to do that later."

I said, "You harassed me in your office. You sent your goons after me. One of them tackled me while I was already on my knees, causing me personal injury and giving me a concussion. I'm thirsty, I have the migraine of the century. I have no way of alleviating either because you handcuffed me to my gurney. On top of that, you hang out in my hospital room uninvited and give me shit."

Secretary Bollard cracked a smile. "Mr Archer, you can rest assured, I'm not giving you shit. Were I giving you shit, you would know it."

I asked, "Can I get some ibuprofen and a glass of water? These circumstances are inhumane. That's cruel and unusual punishment. You are headed for a hell of a lawsuit, Secretary Bollard." I knew it was a weak threat, but I had to use it.

Secretary Bollard barked a single laugh. "Ha! Your sense of humor does you credit. Of course, your employment with the DHS is still deeply classified. You won't be able to file that suit without breaching your duty of secrecy. Your imagined lawsuit isn't going to happen."

She stood up and rang the nurse call button. The nurse stuck her head in almost immediately. Secretary Bollard said, "Can we get something for Mr. Archer to drink, and maybe something to help him with his headache?"

The nurse said, "Certainly, Secretary Bollard. The doctor left a prescription for an analgesic for a headache. What would you like to drink Mr. Archer?"

I said, "Water is fine. No ice, please."

When the nurse brought my medicine, put the pills in my mouth, and held up the cup of water so I could drink through a bendable straw. I drank all of the water in one long sip. Even though I asked for no ice, the water was ice cold and it made my headache worse. The nurse refilled the cup from a pitcher and I drank that one down also. When she asked me if I wanted more, I shook my head. The nurse left the room.

Secretary Bollard said, "I owe you an apology. Our guards used excessive force in bringing you back to me. The men responsible, including Peterson, will be spending the next six months guarding critical national security assets on Amaknak Island in the Aleutian chain. It should give them time to consider their actions. I can take no official notice of what happened, but I can offer you that satisfaction."

I said, "I would prefer to have my handcuffs removed."

Secretary Bollard said, "You have my word I will release your cuffs within the next half hour."

"Secretary Bollard, I resigned."

"Request denied," she said. "I have some classified matters to discuss with you concerning the notebook that was found. Matt Gilbert told me that he briefed you on the contents."

I said, "He did, under Echelon Lima Nine clearance."

She nodded and said, "Then you know that the names on the blackmail list showed that our government's counter-espionage apparatus had been penetrated at the highest levels and that they were actively being leveraged to alter US federal policy on a number of issues."

Technically, Matt told me there was blackmail material on those people. He didn't tell me they were being leveraged as a consequence of their blackmail material. I kept my mouth shut about that difference.

Bollard continued, "Once I understood what was going on, and more importantly, who was involved, I formed a secret working group with leadership from the big four: FBI, CIA, NSA, and DHS. Later, the working group brought in the POTUS. That's the working group named Echelon Lima Nine."

Secretary Bollard continued. "We realized immediately that there were going to be significant problems with unseating the traitors from positions of power and bringing them to justice. The working group decided that extraordinary measures were called for to remove the threat. When the nation is in a state of emergency, there are provisions and some latitude in the Patriot Act for the DHS to act on that matter in a way that the other agencies cannot. I won't burden you with the legal rationales applied, or exactly how the spirit and the letter of the law were stretched to make this happen. I will say that a state of emergency was secretly declared and I was given a hall pass by the working group to arrest the political appointees and to remove them from office.

"The operations to remove them were all completed last week. They were all arrested and are being held in secure facilities pending the completion of the plan.

"The cover story we used for Director of National Intelligence Frederick Schwartz was that he had a stroke while traveling in the western United States.

"The cover story for the CIA's Deputy Director For Intelligence, David Larton, was that he was in single car accident while traveling to Kennebunkport, Maine on vacation.

"The story for the FBI Deputy Director of Counterespionage Jeffery Tilley was arrested for DUI and possession of stolen prescription narcotics. That wasn't a cover story, those are legitimate charges. He has already resigned and we are having his security clearance pulled.

"We offered the elected officials in Congress a deal: in exchange for retiring from public life in perpetuity, they will not be prosecuted for treason. They all took the deal. They will all announce their retirements at random intervals over the next four months. In case you were wondering, the traitors were evenly divided between both parties and were heavy on the intelligence committee members.

"It was under the auspices of this extraordinary hall pass that I rescued you and your wife from criminal prosecution. Prosecution is still an option if you continue to be a source of mayhem, is that understood?"

I said, "You do realize that you are treating me worse than admitted traitors to the nation? That says a lot more about you than it does about me."