Rough Pt. 02

Rough - Part 2 - Tonopah Rendezvous

Coming from the south, Sam's wasn't hard to find, just a block downhill to the north of the hotel on Main St. Angie said, "Old mining towns don't look like much, do they?"

He answered, "Especially in the desert, with wind and dust blowing all the time. A few Indians used the springs here as a stop on a trading route back in the day. Before the white man found silver and messed the place up."

Despite jeans and a worn shirt, Smiley was not hard to pick out in the dimness of the bar. There were three of them, standing up for introductions. Arnie said, "Jason, this is my long time friend Angela Thompson. She wanted to say hello and then she is going to look for antiques."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am. My friends are going to leave us for a while too."

The bartender came over. Arnie ordered, "Draft beer and some chips." Jason nodded the same. The bar was nearly empty and they were far from any ears. Arnie looked around and smiled. "You swept in here yet?"

Jason smiled back. "First thing this morning. Understand this is a hotbed of jihadis."

Still looking around at the ancient structure, Arnie asked, "What do you suppose the locals would do if a couple of young Arabs showed up?"

"I think a couple of young Arabs, even with proper visas, would have shadows from at least two agencies I can think of. Tonopah is too close to the restricted area to take tourists at face value."

"And the shadows would flash a badge at the bartender and suggest taking Arab money and avoiding trouble?"

"About right. Can we talk business? You must have some idea of who I am and why I'm here."

"I thought I had talked the Pentagon into closing my military records."

"When the item is above Top Secret and has a phone call from the National Security Advisor behind it, the rules are flexible."

"Are you a Controller or an Operative? How big is this?"

"I was in Field Ops, but now they have me pretty much as interagency liaison. Glorified gopher, but at a pretty high level. I'm attached to the Director's Office."

"But you are recruiting today. How did you get here?"

"They flew me up from Nellis in an Apache. That is some helo ride. Glad one of them was never after me on the ground. Pilot had me put his battle helmet on, with the precision guidance stuff. Out of this world."

"Yes, until one of the bad guys gets a clean shot with a rocket launcher."

There was a silence until Arnie changed the subject. "Your friends are local?"

"Came up yesterday from the field office in Vegas."

"Seems like a lot of trouble for a worn out solo agent like me."

"Arnie, let's talk turkey. On paper, you look ideal for our requirement. You've been away from national security work for years. Not on anybody's radar right now. Your ticket is punched for the skills we need. Your employer can't say enough good things about you. The General who briefed me the other day said you were too good to be true and I was to get my ass out here and see if you are real and willing to do a very special and very important job for us."

They stared at each other for a minute before Arnie said, "Bullshit! You think I haven't been through this routine before?"

Jason gave him a quick laugh and a tight smile. "You are not going to decide without more info and that means flying back with me to Dulles tomorrow. Will you at least commit to a classified briefing?"

Arnie stood up. "Come on, let's take a walk. It's not too hot out there today."

They climbed past the hotel, Arnie continuing uphill for no particular reason. They had the sidewalk to themselves.

"If I am going with you to be briefed, there have to be ground rules.

"First, there is nothing in this brief that fences me off from what I have been doing if we don't make a deal.

"Second, no assassinations. No preemptive strikes unless absolutely necessary.

"Third, no employment provisions. Strictly onetime consultant contract. Fifty percent of fee in advance.

"Fourth, only one point of contact and one chain of command. And I approve additional team members."

He paused at a light post and eyed Smiley, who thought for a minute, and responded, "I told them you wouldn't be easy. There's a couple of brigadiers who will shit a brick when I call in."

"Angie and I are going back to our place. If we are ok so far, I'll come back here tomorrow whenever you say."

"I'll be in touch. Thanks for taking the time to talk." They shook hands and Arnie crossed the street to check the store with an Antiques sign.

Angie was standing in front of a small vanity dresser with a marble top. The finish was in tough shape and the edge of the marble had two small chips broken out of it. The tag said, "$500. 19th C. burled walnut."

"What if I offer them $250 cash and we put it on the back of the jeep? Would be nice in that bathroom you keep promising to build." She smiled and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"Never should have let you loose in this town. If you have this, you will beat me bloody about the construction."

She poked his chest and walked lazily over to the proprietor, who couldn't quite figure out what kind of tourists they were.

After two minutes of head shaking, Angie turned away, headed back to Arnie. "I guess not, honey. We'll have to take that one on eBay."

They were almost out the door when an unhappy voice from behind them said, "Ok. You did say cash?"

Twenty minutes later, the chest was tied down on the rear of the Jeep and they were driving away. Angie said, "Well, the day isn't a total loss. Did you make a deal? He seemed like a halfway nice guy."

"He is. This is very highly classified, so to go further I have to travel with him to DC. Gave him several tough conditions that may not fly with his bosses. He will call tonight if they want to keep talking."

Later, the sun was sinking fast as they sat on the old fashioned porch swing, sipping a tall rum drink after a long dry day. She kissed him, the tip of her tongue playing with his lips. He said, "That was sweet, what you said this morning about me."

"It was sweet of you to tell me all that." She hesitated and asked, "Are we going to be sweet on sweet instead of rough on rough?"

He growled at her just as his phone chimed.

"Schmidt here."

"Arnie, we have a go. Gulfstream at Tonopah airport at 6:30 am. Nonstop to Andrews."

"Damn, Jason, what have you got me into? I thought it took stars to land at Andrews."

"You've got 'em. Four stars on four different bodies!"

Smiley went on. "They are not all warm and fuzzy. One of them said it was gross insubordination until his classmate from the Point reminded them you hung up your uniform more than ten years ago."

"And I suppose another one wanted to know why the entire U.S. Military was shy of anyone with my qualifications?"

"I shouldn't tell you this, but I laid into them. I said, "This is not going after Bin Laden from the Situation Room. You want someone used to operating on his own, using all his experience to survive and accomplish the mission with no fuss, no muss, and no arrows pointing back to the Pentagon."

"Thanks for that. If I come back alive, I'll have to sign you up as my agent. Probably have more business than the two of us could handle."

"The next time I get invited to the porch you are sitting on in the sunset, we'll have to talk about that. I'll see you in the morning. There is secure parking for your vehicle if you want to use it."

Angie was curled into his side. "I heard most of that. When they've got you in their briefing room, are you still prepared to say no?"

He let the silence develop. "You've got my number, don't you?"

He waited another minute and said, "I have a powerful reason to return here. A reason that will give me courage to say no if I should." His arm went around her.

A muffled voice came from the face buried in his shoulder. "You are making me cry."

* * *

In the dark, she said, "I'll drive if you like."

He kissed her cheek, "I'll take the Jeep. Might be back soon."

By the time he parked, the Gulfstream was starting its engines and Jason was waving to him from the stairs. He smiled to himself that there was no evidence of any airport security. The plane was the standard federal white color, with just a tail number for identification. He wondered idly how many other anonymous flights were taking off this morning.

There was good coffee and a good breakfast on the plane, served by an efficient woman dressed in black. He and Smiley were the only passengers. Jason sipped his steaming coffee and said, "We've been diverted to Dulles. I know you are terribly disappointed, but they decided the brief should be at Langley. Not that we love the agency, but their higher ups insisted on being in the loop. Neither we nor they have any business working on domestic turf, but what else is new?"

Arnie realized for the first time that when Smiley said 'we,' he was referring to an unnamed branch of the military that was funded in the black budget. One whose assignments and paperwork were deeply buried in agency accounts. One whose personnel records did not exist for any regular HR requirements.

The ride was smooth and he dozed. There was no need for conversation, which would only occur in a carefully secured room in CIA Headquarters. His mind recalled, fitfully, the recruiting these people had tried on him years ago, just after he left military service. He had been tempted, but the same desire to recover his life from behind a uniform and veils of secrecy had made him turn them down. No wonder his name popped up in their latest search for possible helpers with a tough assignment.

An hour out, the woman served them gourmet sandwiches. "Better eat up. Who knows what the spooks serve for lunch." Smiley gave him the standard 'no love lost' interagency look. He smiled and asked, "This is a CONUS job?"

"I didn't tell you, but the answer is yes. By the way, this is classified above my pay grade. They are going to usher me out when you get to the sensitive stuff."

He pondered that for a minute and said, "I told Angie she gave me the courage to say 'no' if I should."

Now Jason waited a minute before saying, "That's the crux of it, Arnie. Deciding what 'should' means."

The plane landed and taxied to the far outback of Dulles, where the usual black SUV waited. Less than an hour later, they were in a windowless room in one of the Langley complex buildings. He hadn't bothered to track any of the directions they took getting there. Escorted in means escorted out, he expected.

There were six people in the room besides Jason and himself. Everyone in civilian clothes but not looking all that comfortable. Once you started wearing the uniform with stars, and the instant deference it commanded, you didn't do civvies easily.

He was directed to a seat at the head of the table. Another standard technique. Make him feel important before you start. There were no papers on the table, which suggested the super high classification. One of the men, all in their forties or fifties, asked, "Ok to call you Arnie?" He nodded and they each introduced themselves with first names only.

Another one started in. "Thank you for coming. Jason tells us you are a very quick study and had experience in uniform with special operations, so we will skip over most of the standard preliminaries. We are aware that one of your conditions is that this briefing not disrupt your regular work if we fail to reach agreement, but I must impress on you the sensitivity of the assignment we would like you to take on. The National Security Advisor would be here, but was told that since his physical movements are tracked, it was inadvisable."

Another voice took up the story. "You've guessed by now that we are dealing with an operation of a foreign government, which accounts for all of our care in bringing you here since even in today's intelligence world, moles are not unknown. For your information, our deputies do not know why we are here today and what we are talking about."

Arnie spoke up. "Ok, I get the message. You know from my record that there has never been a security lapse on my watch. There won't be about this, either, regardless of whether we reach agreement or not."

The atmosphere warmed and Jason left with a nod to everyone. For half an hour, details were filled in, each officer providing his own section's information. There was no provision for notes and he didn't need to ask why. After half an hour or so, one of the short haircuts asked, "Arnie, since we don't really know you, perhaps we could have a clue as to whether this sounds like something you would be willing to take on?"

He waited as six pairs of intelligent and experienced eyes focused on him. They actually knew a hell of a lot about him. Including a detailed psychological profile from his years in special ops. He wondered how generals and admirals dealt with the cynicism gained from years of living with a chain of command headed by a politician, versus the idealism that sent them to a service academy in the first place.

He smiled. "I'm going to pretend you have your dress uniforms on. I'm going to pretend that I am a recently promoted colonel looking at your stars and wondering whether my next set of orders is going to be a forced retirement not reported anywhere."

The eyes weren't happy.

He continued, "Your stars don't mean you roll over every time a dumb order comes from the White House. You didn't reach flag being dumb yourself. I didn't make Colonel by being dumb. So here we are, talking about something I could easily not come back from. It's so sensitive you are devoting time you probably shouldn't to recruiting me. If this blows up, you could get those retirement orders too."

Silence filled the room. Wheels were turning. Eyes were now curious.

"I think you have your answer, don't you?"

He stood and reached out to shake their hands. The voice at the end said, "Goddamit, Arnie, you sure know how to give a guy palpitations!"

Afterwards, Arnie realized his impromptu speech had forged a bond. He had focused their attention on the job at hand, crossing over internal jealousies and privileges of rank. The discussion turned to logistics. Dossiers of potential team members would be couriered to Jason, who would continue to be the liaison. Training would be at Fort Belvior, Virginia, beginning in ten days. The initial relaxation in the room was replaced by tension over the actual carrying out of the assignment. Without a team leader, lots of details had not been attended to.

"Arnie, the report to the NSC about today will only say that discussions on the U.S. response to this intrusion are ongoing. Before you return in ten days, we will have developed a cover story that includes every echelon of command, bottom to top. Your employer will receive a classified government contract that calls for services attached to a Pentagon security section with an indefinite time commitment. In addition to your normal payments through your employer, an offshore account will be opened with an initial deposit of $250,000."

Goodbyes were warm but brief. Escorts took them out, and the SUV's rolled immediately. He asked Jason, "Do you have family here? I don't really need an escort home."

"My girlfriend lives in Front Royal. They told me back there to stick with you and gauge your psychological readiness for the assignment."

Thinking rapidly, he said, "Jason, I'm going to spend tonight in the warm embrace of a loving woman. I suspect you need some loving too. What is going to happen is that you and I are going to the Gulfstream and have a beer with that pretty woman in black while you evaluate my psychological readiness. When the bottles are empty, you are going to go back down the stairs and head for Front Royal."

Jason looked across the seat at Arnie as they zoomed down the Dulles Access Road, "Damn, Arnie, you are already exhibiting team leadership. This will have to go in my evaluation report." They butt fisted, laughing.

At the plane, they climbed the stairs to find the same cabin attendant who had come east. "Pardon me, what is your name?"

"Julia. Do I get to know your names?"

"Only if there are three beers available and you tell the plane captain that we are on a thirty minute delay for assignment coordination."

She smiled, "You must have had a good day. Our passengers are not always happy, coming from Langley."

There were even iced mugs in the freezer. She served, "When is the third coming?"

"Julia, you've been on your feet too long. Take a seat across from us, and hoist that cold glass."

"I'm not allowed to drink on duty."

"We are giving you two direct orders to consume a relaxing beverage. Close your eyes. No work thoughts for thirty minutes."

She leaned the seat back and sighed. "The only other time this happened, they wanted to hit on me."

"Sorry, but we both have loving arms to spend the night with. What about you?"

Another sigh. "He is in San Francisco. That's home for the pilot and copilot too. But we are supposed to overnight in Tonopah. Ugh!"

"Jason, use your phone to declare an operational necessity for this aircraft to drop me off and continue to overnight in San Francisco."

Jason smiled. "He has just been named leader of an important assignment. Flag level orders."

"Oh. My. God." Julia pretended to faint.

The ride west was jovial. Both pilots came back to shake his hand. "Sir, you really made our day. Let us know if we can help sometime." He sipped on his bourbon and answered Julia's questions about Angie. "She likes the desert, and she likes me. I don't know why. She is a very talented writer and puts up with a lot."

He told Julia that he required conversation, and she was to take the seat opposite as she served the filet steak entree to both of them. She was also required to have her own glass of the decent red wine.

"I'm totally corrupted. I hope my supervisor doesn't hear about this."

"Why did you take the job? Where is your career going?"

"Art. I have some talent, but need more school. Money is short and this pays pretty well."

"Lean that seat back and have a nap. I am going to clear."

Using his name for the first time, Julia said, "Arnie, this is so not allowed. If you want a helper, I'll follow you anywhere."

Thinking about the mission, he said, "Sleep."

They arrived at Tonopah at nine local time. At the top of the stairs, Julia gave him a scorching kiss, "Don't forget what I said, and tell Angie I think she has a good deal going."

The plane's engines were turning up before the door was even fully closed. He smiled at having done a few team building things in his first hours of leadership. The next days were going to be tough. Do what you can while you can.

Angie answered on the first ring. "You're back, aren't you? Otherwise I would have had a grumpy call from back there. What is the news?"

"Not all bad. I'll be there as soon as I can. Warm the bed." He ran for the Jeep and exceeded the limit all the way north.

She was at the kitchen counter in a warm robe, opening two beers, when he entered the beat up shack they loved so much. She even allowed his cold hands to wrap around her backside and press them together.

"A shower?" she asked.

"Yes. Climb in the bed with those, I won't be a minute."

Standing under the warm desert water, he could feel his body shutting down after the long, tense day. She would get only a few sentences now, and more tomorrow.

After a warm kiss, she said, "I'm very happy you are here. Did you decide what to do? I suppose you can't talk much about it if they flew you to talk to Generals."

"Yes and yes. More tomorrow. Bottom line is I accepted their assignment and they accepted my conditions. I think we can pull this off."

A fleeting thought went through his mind as sleep took him. Why would such a wonderful, sexy woman put up with a man who lead the life he did.