Rete and Trident Vol. 01

"Mission. The two of you will work together to execute the thirty-nine people on this list included in your packs. You will do this carefully, methodically, and without getting caught. You have two rules of engagement. Rule one: absolutely zero collateral damage. I don't want to hear about wives, kids, or bystanders getting caught up in this. You will be held responsible for any collateral damage. Rule two: don't get caught. If you do get caught, I will completely disavow any connection to you. You will have no help, no backup, and only the resources we give you to draw on. Proceed with your task carefully and wisely.

"Reporting. Report your progress and activities to Assistant Undersecretary Matt Gilbert. He will keep me abreast with what you are doing. Speak to no one else. Not even Undersecretary Raines. You will not speak directly with me again until the mission is over."

"Resources. Activities will be funded out of the resources which we extracted from PT Hill's operation. In your packets, you each have a list of numbered accounts. Those financial resources are yours to draw on in any way that you wish. I will caution you that conspicuous consumption will get you noticed. Your best chance for success involves flying under the radar. Keep your living modest. Will, you have been trained in how to keep a low financial profile. Olivia, do as Will tells you.

"We have also provided four dummy identities. These are shallow identities. They are good enough to use for things like banking, international travel, and signing contracts. However, the only identity that will withstand real official scrutiny is your Archer identity. Do not use that identity in any way that will link to your mission, understood?

"We have three footlockers of weapons that were seized from Kimsu Theron's house during the cleanup of Indigo Harvest prior to the FBI's arrival. When left at a scene, their serial numbers, fingerprints, and DNA will sow confusion to investigators, but will link back to Indigo Harvest. Take care that you aren't caught in possession of them.

"Each one of the dummy identities corresponds to a safe house that you can use for the next calendar year. Make your own arrangements for the address for your Archer identity. The Archer cover story there is that you are moving back to the east coast after Will completed a long-term classified IT contract for the government overseas.

"For this mission, Will's code name will continue to be Rete. Olivia's identifier will be Trident."

Olive looked confused, so Bollard said, "Olivia, there was a type of Roman Gladiator called a Retiarius. The Retiarius was armed with a trident and a net. The net was called a Rete. That's Will's code name. You are to be called Trident. The imagery is that I am the Retiarius and you two are my implements. Any questions on that?"

We shook our heads.

"The last resource: we set up a meeting for you with a retired CIA training asset. He has agreed to give you a month of instruction. He will also help Mrs. Archer get a handle on setting up and maintaining covers, and he knows quite a bit about laundering money. Do not take cell phones to his location. Tell him nothing of your mission. He isn't cleared for it. Further, do not use or compromise your Archer identity with him, understand? He's expecting the Henry and Melinda Smith identify."

We both nodded.

"Reward. When you have completed this task, I will assign you a completely new identity, separate from the Archer identity. When you go through your packets, you will see that we provided significant financial resources. You can keep whatever assets you don't use on your mission. On completion, we will throw in some extra. If you keep your noses clean and perform up to standard, I will see to it that both of you have a future career in government or in private industry if that's what you want. However, that is contingent on successful completion of your mission. Do you understand?"

We both nodded again.

"Timeline. I am supposed to retire six months before the end of the current administration. That means you have a maximum two years and three months. However, if I get sick or have a medical issue, the time frame can shift, so I encourage you not to let the grass grow under your feet. The quicker you get this done, the sooner I get you a new permanent identity, understand?"

We both nodded a third time.

"Last thing. It became crystal clear today that you are going through marital difficulties and these may prove insurmountable. Whether you get divorced or stay together is none of my concern. Trying to divorce under your Archer identity would be foolish to the extreme given the task before you. Once you have eliminated your targets and we go about setting up your final identity, we can adjust for it then, understood?"

I nodded. A tear rolled down Olivia's cheek.

"In the meantime, you will have to work together to accomplish your mission and you're just going to have to grit out being around with each other."

She stood up and hit a button underneath her desk. The door unlatched. She said, "If you have questions or concerns, ask Assistant Undersecretary Gilbert. That is all."

***

Secretary Bollard's hipster assistant Nolan escorted us to the elevator.

While we were waiting for the elevator, Nolan gave me a disapproving glare, grabbed my necktie, and suddenly slammed my back into the wall next to the elevator. He got in my face and said to me, "You make me sick Agent Archer. You're a married man. Why the fuck are you fooling around with Sunny? She's a decent human being! You know that all you'll do is pollute her with the shit you're knee deep in. If you had any decency at all, you leave her the fuck alone!"

I saw a flash and Nolan's head jerked back as he fell on his knees on the polished concrete floor a nauseating crack. Olivia had unravelled Nolan's bun and had his long hair gripped tightly in her fist close to his skull. She was threatening to poke him in the right eye with something. As I looked at it, I realized it was the long decorative brass knitting needle that had been holding Nolan's man bun in place.

Olivia said, "Keep your fucking hands off my husband, Nolan, or I'll turn you into Popeye."

The elevator door popped open. I stepped inside. She released Nolan's hair and got into the elevator next to me, turning to face Nolan. As the door started to shut, she casually tossed Nolan's hair pin onto the floor with a clink.

Before the elevator doors closed, without facing me, she raged with a cold fury, "Who the fuck is Sandy, Pete?"

When the door was closed, I replied, "He said 'Sunny' not 'Sandy'. Details matter, Olivia." I deliberately over-pronounced her new name.

A little less harshly, Olivia asked, "Who the fuck is Sunny?"

Guilt swirled in my stomach. She fucked around on me with impunity for a month while we were married. I had just two evenings of sex after we were separated. Somehow, I was the one nearly overcome with guilt. I wondered how I could be considered a psychopath when I was feeling such guilt. With effort, I bit down on the guilt and seized the high ground. I reached over and flipped the emergency stop switch on the elevator. An electronic noise chirped from the control panel. A distant bell in the elevator shaft started to ring.

Olivia looked at me in confusion. Rather than answer her question, I waited a beat and said. "Interesting perfume you're wearing. I have a pretty good memory for scents, but it took me a while to place it. It's what your suitcase smelled like when you came back from your weekend with Mark Litton on Emerald Isle."

Her anger was instantly gone. She was suddenly very emotional. She looked like she might cry. She still would not make eye contact.

I continued. "I underwent some interesting training before I went undercover. Did you know that I was trained in seduction? One of the techniques is to wear a strong and distinctive scent that your target will always associate with you. Kimsu gave you the bottle of that perfume before you spent your weekend with Mark, didn't she? She told you to wear it around Mark, right? That would strengthen his Pavlovian association with you later."

Olivia was shocked. She blushed deep red.

"The only other time I've smelled that scent was on Kimsu herself. She was wearing it at your office Christmas party last year. When I showed up, the party was already in full swing. She greeted me and handed me a shot, just like she did to you on July 4th at PT Hill's farm. I didn't trust that bitch, so I poured it out into a potted plant when she wasn't looking. Twenty minutes later, she had Natalie come to you in a panic on some bullshit pretext like they were out of napkins or something like that."

Olivia nodded. She said, "I remember that...."

"While you were occupied, Kimsu cornered me in your office, got her fingers on my zipper, and told me she wanted to suck my cock. I sidestepped her and got the desk between us. When I escaped from your office, Kimsu laughed like it was a game. She said, 'You can't run from me forever!'"

Olivia's eyes were wide in shock. "You never told me, Pete!"

"Wrong!" I exclaimed. "I told you as soon as we got home that Kimsu came onto me at the party. You were tipsy. You said, 'That's Kimsu for you!' and you laughed it off. Their original plan was to seduce me first and then use me to get to you. When that didn't work, they went after you and ...well...you gave them the keys to the kingdom, didn't you?"

When she didn't respond, I said, "Getting back to the point, if I had to guess, you wore that perfume tonight because you were upset over our conversation earlier and subconsciously wanted some emotional distance from me. That perfume is actually quite lovely, but you know how scents make you remember emotions? Smelling that perfume makes me remember bad emotions. It puts me in a very dark headspace."

I let her see the anger on my face. She shivered in terror. That's when I became cold and indifferent.

"That perfume is the scent that Riley Gilbert Kintrell would wear. Your former cover was Riley Kintrell. Your current cover is Olivia Everette Archer."

I deliberately over pronounced her new name to punch it in and make her aware of it.

"Riley was a shitty cover for you on a particularly tough mission. Riley was a lying cheating slut-whore of an unfaithful wife. Who would want a cover like that? She would wear that scent when she cuckolded her husband. It is not a scent that Olivia Archer would ever wear. Olivia Archer is a dedicated wife of Will Archer, a man who makes his living doing classified technical work as a contractor for the US Government. Olivia would never wear that scent because Will Archer despises it."

Olivia's eyes opened wide as she processed what I was saying. As she realized that I was using official cover in a way that got her out from under the curse her infidelity placed on our marriage, she got an absurdly grateful and hopeful look.

"Remember, Will and Olivia as a couple is just a cover. They are two DHS undercover agents playing a role. They are no more married than Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston are when they play husband and wife in a movie. As long as we have to be around each other, Olivia, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't wear that scent around me."

She said with a great deal of emotion, "I won't wear it again, Will, I promise."

When I was sure I had her attention, I said to her with an angry emphasis, "You haven't been trained, so I will try to be understanding about this. You really have to ruthlessly compartmentalize your life when you are under cover. Riley Kintrell was a past cover and it is over. Forget that cover and that person and move on to your new cover. If you call me 'Pete' again, like you just did in front of Nolan, you could get us both killed. Do you understand that?"

She was abashed.

"What we're doing here is life or death. If you can't recognize that threat, take it seriously, and handle it like a professional, we're going to have real problems. Fuck up and call me 'Pete' in front of other people again and there will be very bad real world consequences for you. I will absolutely make sure of it. Do you understand me?"

She apologized and looked abashed. "Yes, Will."

I flipped the emergency stop switch back on and the elevator began to move again.

After a moment of silent ride, the elevator bottomed out and the door opened. I could see her father, Assistant-Undersecretary Gilbert sitting on a bench fifty yards away, playing with his phone. He looked up and made eye contact with us.

After Gilbert had us in sight, I said to Olivia quietly, "To answer your original question, Sunny is my lover."