Heroes Never Die (11 page)

“We apologize for the intrusion, Mrs. Fairchild,” Matt said, “but we need your help.”

She couldn’t imagine why.  “I don’t understand.”

Matt continued, “One of our top agents is under investigation for selling sensitive material to the Russians.  Your name has been repeatedly linked to this agent.”

“My name?”  She was stunned.  “I don’t know anything about selling secrets to the Russians.”

“But you do know Kyle Robertson?”

“Kyle?” she asked incredibly.  “That’s ridiculous.  Kyle would never sell out.”

“We hope you’re right, Mrs. Fairchild, because if you’re wrong, Kyle will spend the rest of his life in prison.  Perhaps you wouldn’t mind coming with us to our headquarters so that we can ask you some questions about him.  You’re under no obligation to come, but your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.”

Flabbergasted, Stephanie lowered herself onto the bench in the foyer and considered Kyle’s predicament.  Treason was a serious crime.  But the only thing she could say in his defense was that he had broken her heart.  That wouldn’t help him.  There was nothing she could do.  Kyle found a way into this mess and now he could find a way out.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not able to go.  My husband was just deployed to Turkey, and I’m on my way to Columbus to stay with my in-laws.”

“I’m sorry about your husband, Mrs. Fairchild,” Zach spoke for the first time.  “But perhaps we didn’t make ourselves clear.  You can come with us now and we can do this off the record, or we can have you served with a subpoena in front of your in-laws.  The choice is yours.”

Another chill ran down her spine.  Had she just been threatened?  Or was it all a normal part of their severe demeanor?  She didn’t care to find out the hard way, nor did she want to invite unwanted questions from her in-laws.  “How long will this take?  I have a long drive ahead.”

“Not long, maybe two hours,” Matt answered.  Stephanie puffed with frustration.  The uninvited interruption would cause her trip to be delayed.

***

No one spoke during the short drive from Stephanie’s home to Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the CIA.  She sat in the backseat and thought about Brian.  His plane would have landed at Incirlik Air Base by now.  I wonder what he’s doing.  Is he safe?  Is he missing me as much as I’m missing him?

When they approached the CIA complex, Stephanie noticed thick woods surrounding the buildings.  They pulled up to the entrance, and the guard asked to see three badges.  All three badges were presented and cleared through a scanner.  The third badge surprised Stephanie.  Matt and Zach had planned on her coming with them all along.

Zach drove to the enormous parking lot where seemingly thousands of cars were already parked.  Stephanie looked out of her window and saw two huge office buildings and she began to feel anxious.  The CIA was bigger than she had imagined.  She got out of the car and followed the men toward the main building.  She noticed a large bronze statue of Nathan Hale, and she read his famous words to herself.  ‘I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.’  She cringed when she thought about Brian and her dad.  They too, had only one life to lose.

Stephanie trailed Matt and Zach through the double glass door of the main entrance.  There she saw an inscription on the marble wall:  ‘And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’  As they walked through the long hallway and passed through another checkpoint to gain access to the seventh floor, Stephanie wondered what kinds of questions she would be asked about Kyle.

The agents led Stephanie to a spacious office.  They opened the door without knocking and walked inside.  She followed them into the room and stood behind them.

“Mrs. Fairchild is here,” Matt said.  He placed the third badge on the desk, and then both agents stepped away to leave.  Stephanie gasped.  Kyle was sitting at the desk and he didn’t look like the victim of an investigation at all.  She heard the dull bang of the door closing behind her.  She was trapped.

Dressed in his usual starched shirt and tie, Kyle stood up and walked to the front of his desk.  He perched himself on its edge and folded his arms around his waist, looking cocky and totally in control.  “It’s nice to see you again, Stephanie.”

His arrogant, sweet talk was even more puzzling.  “Those men told me you were in trouble.”

“And you fell for it?  Come on, Stephanie, I thought I taught you better than that.  But look at the bright side.  At least I know you still care about me.”

Stephanie felt a burning pain flare up inside her stomach.  “What’s going on here?”

“You’ve been set up, ladylove.  That’s what.  As of today, it looks like you have a job with the CIA after all.  You’re going to love the great benefits.”

Stephanie snorted with unbelief.  “What are you talking about?”

“We need your help to carry out a dangerous operation.  As I’m sure you already know, Saudi Arabia has closed its air base to our military.  We need the base in order to put an end to this war, and we have every reason to believe that the Crown Prince, Tareef Hamid, would agree to let us occupy the base if given the ruling power.  But first we need to take the king for a ride.  That’s where you come in.”

Kyle sounded serious, but his words were far too outlandish to be true.  “If this is your idea of a joke, I’m not at all amused, and I really don’t have the time.  I’m out of here.”  She spun around and headed for the door.

“Let me ask you something,” he called after her.  “Did Brian and your dad make it over to Turkey as scheduled?”

Stephanie’s steps came to a chilling halt.  Everything suddenly made sense.  Kyle was the one responsible for Brian and her dad receiving orders to Turkey at the same time.  He had deliberately separated her from the men who could protect her.  She swung around to face him.

“You’re much too beautiful to be standing there with your mouth hanging open,” he taunted her.  “That’s one of the reasons why you’re so perfect for this job – you’re a tantalizing beauty.  You also have a degree in journalism, a very convincing cover.  In fact, at my recommendation, you mastered Arabic – how appropriate.  And you’re an expert marksman, or should I say markswoman?  Remember all of those times we spent at the firing range?  You’re a crack shot.”

Stephanie’s skin sizzled with fierce anger.  “So you’re the one responsible for taking Brian and Dad away from me.”

“Very good,” he mocked.  “That’s another reason why you’re the ideal candidate for this job.  You’re very clever.”

“You damned bastard!”

Kyle grabbed her arm and snapped her into his face.  “So you think I’m a ‘damned bastard,’ do you?  You don’t know the meaning of the word.  Take a seat, smart ass.”  He shoved her into a chair.  He reached for the light switch and turned off the lights.  Then he flipped on the projector and rolled a classified film showing the atrocities in Iraq.

“Look at this,” he ordered.  Stephanie defiantly buried her face in her lap and stiffened her body so that Kyle couldn’t budge her.  “Damn it, I said look.”  She still refused.  He squeezed her chin in his hand and forced her face upward to watch.  His grip was crushing her face.  She opened her eyes to watch so his pressure would ease.  Then Kyle narrated the bloody carnage.

“Pay close attention because I’m going to teach you how to identify a damned bastard.  Do you see those men standing there with rifles?  You’re looking at a firing squad.  Now look at the man with his hands tied behind his back.  He’s one of our operatives.  He was caught with a shipment of arms for Iraqi rebels.  Boom – he’s gone.  His wife and kids were told that his helicopter went down while delivering medical supplies to Turkey.  They think he died a hero.  And he damned sure did.”

“Take another look at the firing squad.”  Stephanie watched as the men in the firing squad pulled out their knives.  They were making a sport out of carving their initials in the man’s chest.  “They’re proud of their work, aren’t they?  Those men, Stephanie, are damned bastards.”

Stephanie felt sick to her stomach.  She closed her eyes and turned away, but Kyle tightened the pressure around her chin.  “Stop it,” she screamed.  “I can’t watch anymore.”

“But you haven’t seen the part where men, women, and children get torched with gasoline.”

“Stop it!”

Kyle released her face with a push.  Stephanie buckled over in tears.  “Next time maybe you’ll think twice before you do any more name calling.”  He flipped off the projector and turned on the lights.  “Pull yourself together, Stephanie.  We have a lot of work to do.”

Stephanie wiped away her tears and boldly jumped to her feet.  “I don’t know why you think I can help, but forget it.  I’m not qualified.  Send someone else who is.”

“We have two qualified agents who could go in your place.  However, one is pregnant and the other, sadly, was just diagnosed with a terminal illness.  We don’t have a lot of time.  You’re the best bet we have.”

“You can’t make me do anything against my will.”

“My sweet little Stephanie,” he said as he tossed back his head and laughed.  “Sometimes you can be so naive.  It was so easy to arrange for Brian’s timely departure.  Just think how easy it would be to arrange for his timely death.”

Stephanie’s insides screamed with alarm.  She couldn’t let him kill Brian, but she hadn’t run out of resources yet.  “There has to be someone over you I can go to.  They won’t let you get away with this.”

“How about the President, Stephanie?” he asked, smugly.  “Is he high enough?  But I sincerely doubt if he has the time to see either one of us.”

Kyle’s arrogance was intimidating, but she couldn’t give up.  She had met the President when Kyle took her to the Presidential Ball.  The President seemed very pleasant.  In fact, he had treated her like his own daughter.  “If you think you’re so high and mighty, go ahead and secure a meeting with the President.  He won’t let you get away with this.”

“I’ll set it up.  In the meantime, you have three weeks of intense training ahead of you.  When you emerge on the scene to interview King Hamid, he won’t know what hit him.  Would you believe he’s already expecting you?”

Stephanie didn’t answer.  There was no way in hell she was going to Saudi Arabia.  She was in the middle of a very bad dream.  She would wake up soon, and then it would all be over.

“You’ve had enough for today.  I’m taking you home.”

“Like hell you are,” she protested.

“But I wouldn’t dream of letting you walk home in the freezing cold.  Besides, I have your badge.  And unless you’re really good at dodging bullets, you’ll never make it out of here alive.”

Stephanie wanted to kick and scream and fight, but that would only prove to be counterproductive.  Kyle would simply strand her there just to spite her.  He was the only safe way out.

Kyle grabbed his cashmere coat, draped it over his arm, and opened the door to leave.  Pausing, he looked over his shoulder.  “Coming?”  Stephanie grudgingly followed his steps to the door.  He motioned his arm toward the hallway to invite her to go first, and then he closed the door behind them.

Once they were inside the car, Stephanie ignored Kyle’s request for conversation.  She was smarting under the painful realization that Kyle, not the war, had taken Brian and her dad away, and she began to seethe with hatred for him.

Kyle drove straight to her house without any directions.  She wondered how long he had been keeping watch over her private life, but she wasn’t about to break the barrier of silence to find out.  She reached for the car door to get out, but he grabbed her arm and snapped her back.

“I’ll pick you up at six-thirty sharp in the morning.  Don’t bother trying to hide because we’ll find you.  And another thing, if you breathe a single word to anyone, Brian dies.  Understood?”  Frightened, Stephanie nodded.  Then he released her arm.

Stephanie jumped out of the car and sped toward the security of her home.  Kyle joined her.  “You’re not coming in,” she said with unaccommodating firmness.

Kyle pretended to be insulted.  “I’m just seeing you safely to the door like I always used to.”  He held the storm door open while Stephanie fumbled through her purse for the house key.  Her hands trembled as she turned the key in the lock.  Then she stepped inside.

“There – I’m safe – so go!”  She took hold of the door and slammed it in his face.  He slapped the door with his hand, and it bounced wide open.  He stepped inside and locked the door behind him.  “Get out!” she screamed, her voice trembling with alarm.  She had never felt so defenseless in all her life.

Kyle moved toward her like a hungry animal stalking its prey.  She turned to run, but he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall.  He pressed his body against her and held her tightly so she couldn’t move.  “Does this remind you of anything?” he asked.  “Remember how I pulled Duke off of you?  Who’s going to show up to save you now, Stephanie?”  He smothered her mouth with a kiss.

She shoved him as hard as she could, but he wasn’t even thrown off balance.  She dropped to the floor to get away.  He yanked her back to her feet and carried her kicking screaming body to the sofa and threw her onto it.  He lowered himself over her, pinning her beneath his weight.

Kyle held his hand over her mouth to muffle her screams until she was too weak to struggle.  “Do you miss Brian?  Do you miss him touching you?  I miss touching you.  Tell me, Stephanie, how does it feel to lose someone you love?  It hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”