The Wolves of Freydis Page 9

  They both nodded.

  Hunter continued. “I understand that Carter will be hospitalized and out of action for several months at least, and that is only taking into account his physical injuries. I’m sure he is strong enough to overcome those and make a full recovery, but what worries me is his emotional health.” Hunter paused for a few breaths. “How he will ever get over the loss of his family I don’t know. If it happened to me, I would lose my mind.”

  “Yes, Hunter I have to agree with you,” James said. Carter is a strong man physically and psychologically – I can testify to that, but to get over a loss like this is going to take a miracle.” James paused, “At this stage I’m not sure that he will even want to continue working for us, and no one can blame him if he makes that decision. In any event, I wouldn’t even think of discussing that with him for at least the next six months.”

  Hunter and Irene agreed.

  “And of the two projects Carter’s is the more important one,” Hunter noted. “My suggestion is that we find another person to take his place and continue the work until we know if Carter is coming back or not. It’s too important to let it sit in limbo.”

  James nodded in agreement. “I have to agree and have come up with a few names. Give me a day or two to check them out and get back to you.”

  Hunter smiled, James was by far his best and most senior agent, and he’d already decided he would recommend to his superiors that James be his replacement when he announced his retirement. “Thanks, Jim, let me know when you’re ready.”

  Hunter turned to Irene O’Connell. “Now Mackenzie’s work. I think the same goes for her project. It is, of course, not as mission critical as Carter’s; nevertheless, I believe it is important. I would hate for all the work she has done to go to waste. What do you think?

  “I agree with you, Hunter,” she said. “I’m very glad to hear you would like her work to continue. I feel like I have a moral obligation to her and her legacy, to make sure the project goes on.”

  James nodded his agreement. “Yes, that’s how I feel too.”

  “Good, we’re in agreement then.” Hunter continued, “So Irene I assume you have given this some thought?”

  “Yes indeed, I certainly have.”

  Hunter waved for her to continue.

  “I want to start by getting that Sirralnnudam text in Armenia translated first. For that, I need to assemble a team of linguists who can do it, and obtain the assistance from our embassy in Armenia again to get the necessary permissions for access to the document. I take it you would be able to help me arrange that like you did last time?”

  Hunter smiled and shook his head. “No, I won’t.” He paused and enjoyed the flabbergasted look on Irene and James’ faces.

  “Wha ... how do you … ah,” Irene stuttered in confusion.

  “You’ll have to ask Jim here to help you with that.” He was still smiling. He was starting to get an idea of what he had to do to relieve stress.

  Now both James and Irene looked confused, and Hunter enjoyed it.

  “Okay, let me put the two of you out of your misery. I’m going on six weeks leave starting this Friday, and Jim is going to hold down the fort while I’m gone.”

  James was surprised. Hunter hadn’t discussed this with him at all. “Well, ah, mhh ... what can I say. Do I have the option to turn down the appointment?” James grinned.

  “Nope, comes with the territory. Check your employment contract, there’s a paragraph that says something about accepting and diligently executing all reasonable tasks assigned to you by your manager.” Hunter laughed.

  “I have no contract. Agents like me don’t have contracts, and you know that.” James retorted in good spirits.

  “Yeah well, in that case, it’s even worse for you. That means you’ll have to do anything I tell you to do.”

  James shrugged. “Okay then, but be warned I’m going on leave the moment you walk back in here. You can pick up the pieces while I’m gone.”

  A few more good-natured comments and chatter followed before Irene and James left to get started on their work.

  ***

  Two days after Hunter left, James was sitting in the big office when Irene rapped her knuckles on his open door. She had a troubled look on her face.

  “Come on in, Irene; what’s up. You appear a bit concerned.”

  “Deeply worried is more like it, Jim. I’m not sure what to make of it. Let me give you the details.”

  James invited her to sit down. “What is it?”

  “This morning I phoned the Director of the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Armenia to let her know we are planning to send a team of linguists over. That was just to make sure we still had her goodwill and cooperation as we did a few weeks ago during Mackenzie and Harry’s visit. That’s when she gave me the shocking news. The Sirralnnudam has somehow disappeared from their vaults!”

  “What!” James exclaimed. He felt the hair rising on the back of his neck. “When did they realize it was gone? Do they know what happened?”

  “The Director told me they discovered the disappearance of the manuscript about a week after Mackenzie and Harry left. The Armenian police are investigating, but so far there are no leads. The text is gone.”

  James stared at her. “You don’t think …” He shook his head. “No, she would never.”

  “No, Mackenzie would never have taken it,” Irene replied. Besides, the library assistant who was assigned to Mackenzie and Harry has already confirmed to the police and the Director that Mackenzie gave the book back to her before she left on the last day. She also reported seeing the book on the shelves the day after. Mackenzie is definitely not on the suspects list.”

  Irene was a bit more paranoid than the average person because of the fieldwork she’d done during her time as a CIA agent.

  “Jim, since I heard this I can’t stop thinking about your question to Hunter and me that night when you first came back from Israel.”

  James knew what she was referring to but wanted her to say it. He frowned as if he didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “Remember, you were standing there,” she pointed to a spot halfway to the door, “and you asked if we thought the explosion could somehow be related to either of the projects Carter and Mackenzie have been working for us.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” James replied.

  “Well, I know this doesn’t prove anything, but here is what’s going through my head.” She took a deep breath. “My understanding was that Mackenzie and that assistant were the last two people to handle that book. Harry wasn’t there on the last day; when Mackenzie went back to the Institute, he was on a guided tour of Yerevan accompanied by one of the US embassy staff members. There were, as far as I can reconstruct the events, only four people who knew Mackenzie was interested in the Sirralnnudam. Those were Mackenzie, Harry, the assistant, and the Director.

  “On the top of my list of suspects, at the moment, would be the assistant and the director. Although, anyone who had access to the Institute’s computer systems could have discovered Mackenzie’s interest in the text and then stole it.” She paused.

  James nodded. “I see what you’re getting at. The one sure thing is someone other than A-Echelon took an interest in Mackenzie’s work.”

  “Exactly,” Irene nodded. “If that is true, the question then becomes, what was in the text that was so important it warranted killing Mackenzie, her son, and 23 others plus wounding 60 more?”

  James sat back and went quiet for a few moments. He had decided, before he arrived back in DC, not to trust anyone at A-Echelon. Now he wondered if he should make an exception with Irene. He decided not to for the moment. Instead, he got up and walked over to close the door to his office.

  He returned to his seat at the desk and looked carefully at Irene. “Let’s assume someone knew about Mackenzie’s work. What do you think that infers?” James knew of course, but he wanted to see Irene’s face as he led her to the conclusion.


  “My first question would be. How did they come to know about it?” James saw the genuine shock and disgust erupt on her face when the answer to her own question flashed through her mind. “Oh – my – God! Jim. That means A-Echelon has a mole or moles.” She was shaking her head. “How …” she didn’t continue; she knew it was possible.

  Studying her face carefully as she responded, James became convinced he could make the exception he considered a few minutes ago. Irene could be trusted. That is what he needed, an ally inside A-Echelon, to help him trap the mole.

  The news Irene had just brought him, confirmed a mole existed in A-Echelon. He had worked with Irene before, at A-Echelon, and also during the time when they both served the CIA. She was an intelligent person, loyal, and he had just reconfirmed she was also trustworthy.

  James nodded with raised eyebrows. “There are two possibilities. The first is that whoever knew about her work killed her to prevent her from continuing with it, or …” James had one more revelation, and she was going to be the first person to hear it.

  “Or what?” She asked as she leaned forward when he paused.

  “… or Mackenzie and Liam were kidnapped and”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Irene interrupted, “Are you kidding? No one came out of that restaurant alive except Carter. You can’t possibly be serious. What evidence do you have for your theory?”

  “It’s not so much evidence for my theory that’s driving my thinking, but rather the lack thereof,” He replied.

  Irene held up her hand. “Wait. You mean the five missing people for whom there were no DNA matches?”

  James nodded, “Right.”

  “But their bodies would have been vaporized.”

  “Yes that’s true, but then it’s also possible that one or more of them were not vaporized and were simply not present when the bomb went off.”

  She nodded slowly. “I see. We need to talk to that assistant and the Director. Don’t we?”

  “We sure do,” agreed James. “Leave it to me, I’ll make arrangements.”

  Irene nodded. James then told her more about his suspicions and included a report of the men who had been watching his hotel in Jerusalem. He didn’t tell her about his contact with Ben Friedman; it could wait until it became necessary for her to know. He asked her to keep everything they had discussed a secret until he told her otherwise. Irene understood the importance and agreed.

  James went on to discuss his speculation that both Mackenzie and Carter were targeted and that the terrorists’ plans didn’t work out exactly as they hoped. Carter’s trip to the restroom had kept them from capturing him along with his family. The implication of that quickly registered with Irene.

  “That means, not only did someone know about Mackenzie’s project, but that same someone also knew about Carter’s research,” she said with an ashen face.

  James nodded. “And that, Irene, scares the hell out of me. In the wrong hands, Mackenzie’s project can’t do a fraction of the damage that Carter’s is capable of. And the nightmare is that it means someone out there, other than us, is also on the hunt for an ancient nuke. And we have just experienced how cold-blooded they are.”

  After a few more minutes of discussion, they returned to the respirocyte project and the impact of the loss of the Sirralnnudam.

  “It’s a setback, of course, but I’d like to believe that there are other sources of the information we are seeking.” Irene mentioned. “At least, we know the ancients had the knowledge and used it. There must be more information out there somewhere.”

  “Agreed,” James nodded. “I’m glad you have such a pragmatic view of the matter. So I guess the next step will be to find someone who could continue Mackenzie’s work and bring that person on board?”

  “Yes, I will start on that right away. I will also get hold of Liu Cheun to see if she has any information that we don’t have about Mackenzie’s work.”

  When Irene left, James got ahold of Harry and asked him to come and see him. During the meeting, James had to be very careful not to raise any suspicions. He explained to Harry that he just wanted to get a good idea of Mackenzie’s project now that they had to look for a replacement for her. They went over the work Harry and Mackenzie did in detail during the time they were working together, especially during their visit to Armenia. By the end of the conversation James had all the information he required, and Harry was none the wiser. In fact, Harry was quite excited about the prospect of visiting Armenia again.

  James made his daily call to Carter, who was still at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. They had a long talk, and Carter told him that the doctors expected him to be able to go home in four weeks. Carter was apparently doing extremely well physically, but James could detect that his friend was going through hell on an emotional level.

  His next call was to Ben Friedman on the secure phone. He wanted to know if Ben had any assets in Armenia who could make a few urgent, but discreet, inquiries and perhaps conduct a private interview or two on his behalf.

  Chapter 13 -

  A few inquiries and a private interview

  Ben Friedman had somehow wangled things with his bosses at the Mossad to put him in charge of their investigation into the latest Triangle explosion. He was, therefore, more than happy to oblige James when his request came through for assistance with the inquiries that had to be done in Armenia.

  James provided Ben with all the details he had, and Ben went to work. He contacted his senior agent in Armenia, Vartan Chagoyan, and arranged for surveillance to be placed on the Director of the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts as well as Meryl, the woman who’d assisted Mackenzie and Harry when they were there.

  Ben required as much highly detailed information as possible about the personal lives and routines of the two people under surveillance before he would make the next move. Vartan Chagoyan was a native Armenian, who spoke the language, understood the culture, and blended in perfectly with everyone. It took him seven days to collect all the information required by Ben and pass it on to him.

  A few days later, Ben landed at Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan. Posing as an Israeli businessman on a short trip to the capital to meet with a business colleague, he went through Armenian customs without any problems.

  The Ural Airlines flight from Tel Aviv was smooth, and Ben had used the six-hour flight time to consider various strategies. He had made the decision to work his way from the bottom up, and would have a private interview with Taline ‘Meryl’ Jafarian first. Then he’d approach the Director of the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts.

  Vartan Chagoyan met him when he arrived at the airport shortly after 8:00 that night. They drove straight to Meryl’s apartment and waited for her in the car. She had gone out to dinner with friends and was expected to return about 10:00 pm according to Vartan’s information.

  At almost 10:45 pm, just when Ben was getting tired of waiting, Meryl was dropped off at her apartment by a car with several other women in it. Ben and Vartan made sure the car was gone, and then waited for Meryl’s apartment lights to go on before they moved.

  Varatan had studied the lock on the backdoor to the ground floor apartment a few days before and had made a copy of the key, which he now handed to Ben. Once Ben was out of the car, Vartan drove a block away and parked on a side street. From here he would wait and listen. He and Ben were both wearing earpieces and microphones to keep in touch.

  Ben slipped unnoticed, through the backdoor. Once inside, he pulled a black balaclava over his face and moved quietly through the apartment. It was important to get close enough to Meryl to put his hand over her mouth to stifle any scream. Indeed, he didn’t like the idea of doing what he was about to do, sneak up on a defenseless, unsuspecting young woman and most likely scare her half to death, but there weren’t any other options. He couldn’t approach her in the open, in a public place, or at her workplace. He had to keep his face hidden. Still he couldn�
�t shake the morality of the attack from his conscience. Unfortunately, it came as part of his job. There were 25 people dead, and 60 wounded; their family and loved ones wanted to know who committed this terrible act, and this girl or her boss could be holding information that would help him answer that question.

  He saw the light in the bedroom; the door was ajar. He approached slowly and carefully; she was standing with her back to him in front of the cupboard less than two paces away. He moved quickly, placing his right hand over her mouth from behind and his left arm around her neck. A jolt of shock coursed through her body. She was screaming, but his hand muffled the sound.

  “Meryl, I’m very sorry to sneak up on you like this,” Ben spoke in a very calm voice. “I won’t hurt you, I promise. I only want to talk to you. It is vital that I ask you a few questions. All you have to do is answer me honestly, and nothing else will happen.”

  He could feel her relaxing a bit but knew it wasn’t over yet. He kept his hand over her mouth and his arm around her neck but let her feel him relax just a bit. He kept talking to her, assuring her that no harm would come to her and kept on apologizing for scaring her. Slowly she calmed down and finally he felt safe to say, “Okay Meryl, I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth. Please don’t scream or make any noise. Okay?”

  She nodded slowly, and he removed his hand from her mouth but kept his arm around her neck. “What … what is it … you want from me?” She stuttered.

  Ben felt like the lowest of heels when he turned her around and saw her tear-filled eyes. He apologized again. “Let’s go and get you a drink of water.” He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. “You sit down while I get it.” She was still shaking.

  He started slowly, “I know you understand English. Are you comfortable speaking in English, or would it help if I get someone who can speak Armenian to interpret for us?”

  She nodded; “English I not speak well” Ben’s Armenian was non-existent, so he pushed the button on his throat mic and asked Vartan to join them. He explained to her that Vartan was a good friend of his who was coming to interpret for them, and she had nothing to fear from him.