Rogue Asset (Book 3 of the Wade Hanna Series) (4 page)

Wade told Megan a few Cajun jokes. She loved his sophisticated, backwater country drawl that he turned on and off at will to get the desired effect. After laughing at the story about two Cajuns walking into a bar she told Wade, “I have to be careful when you tell me those stories.”

“Why is that?”

“They lull me into a Southern state of mind.”

“That’s not all bad.”

“It could be if you see yourself in someone’s arms lying next to a bayou under a willow tree.”

“Yeah, that could be dangerous; some of those bayous have gators and snakes.”

“I didn’t mean that kind of worry.”

They couldn’t take their eyes off each other. When the meal was over the waiter asked if they wanted dessert. Both were too full for desert. They both looked at each other in a brief awkward silence. Wade wondered what he should say next. Megan broke the silence. Wade showed a sign of relief.

“How would you like to go for a walk? It’s safe around here – no alligators.”

“Sure.”

Wade asked their waiter for the check. Megan interrupted, “Give me the check. This is compliments of the company. You can thank Shaw tomorrow when you see him.”

“I wasn’t expecting that. That’s very nice of you and the company.”

They left the restaurant. Megan locked her arm in his, gently pushing for a hard left turn to start their stroll. The cool night air was refreshing. Other couples were locked in tandem in front and behind them.

Several shops were still open on the quiet street and beckoned a window-shopping crowd. Megan and Wade made jokes about window displays, laughing as they stopped in front of different stores showing everything from clothing to electronics.

Megan had a dreamy look in her eyes that Wade hadn’t seen before. It conveyed more than friendship. The look made Megan seem a little vulnerable. Perhaps he was getting a glimpse at another side of Megan. He liked what he saw. He hadn’t seen this side of Megan before this evening. He felt like a “Boy King.” His heart was pounding like he was at the end of a workout run.

The next window displayed a low cut black nightgown draped over an attractive mannequin. Wade saw it as overkill for eveningwear. Megan laughed. Her mind was somewhere else.

“How would you like to wake up in the morning seeing me in that?”

Wade had laughed before he commented, “I would love waking up seeing you with or without that on.”

Megan laughingly replied, “You’re not commenting on the style of gown.”

“Yes, I was. I was referring to how the clasp attaches to the neckline and how easy it would be to take off.”

They both laughed.

For that moment time stopped for Wade and Megan. They were miles away from their other worlds. They acted like a young couple in love and perhaps they were.

If the feeling was love, it wasn’t on the spur of the moment but emerged over four years of constant telephone conversations without ever seeing each other. Seeing each other was like a spark that ignited dormant feelings that had been brewing for many years.

Their wildest expectations of what each other might look like had all been exceeded. It was like waking up from a long sleep where images were out of focus. The drought ended when they laid eyes on each other. Now what?

Wade’s southern upbringing and respect towards women wouldn’t allow his imagination to drift too far from reality. Although their professional relationship would soon change, Megan was still his superior officer and handler. He kept ignoring inner voices that said
a romantic relationship between us would never work at the Agency.

On the other hand, Megan was ahead of Wade on that point. Seeing him in person only confirmed,
this is
the man I am in love with. How and when it happened is not important. We can make this work.

Whatever feelings had come through those telephone lines now engulfed her and were only reinforced by his physical presence. She had a plan. All she needed was to see him, and she would know. Other concerns were minor or non-existent for the moment. All she cared about at this moment was being with him.

Wade was enjoying himself more than at any time he could remember over the past four years. He felt an unusual sense of schoolboy joyfulness. Nothing else mattered right now other than being in Megan’s presence.

After a few blocks, they ran out of storefronts and crossed the street. Store windows on the other side offered just as many opportunities for laughter and comment as they walked back towards the restaurant.

As they approached the valet attendant their evening seemed to be coming to a beautiful end. Wade wondered what might happen next. His shyness started creeping in again. The attendant saw the couple approaching and disappeared with Megan’s keys in hand.

Before they reached the front door the attendant had the car waiting with both doors opened. Wade sat in the passenger seat struggling for words while reminding himself he was in Megan’s car and at her mercy. After paying the attendant, Megan took the wheel and turned to Wade, “I don’t want this evening to end.”

Thankful for her sentiment he was quick to respond, “I feel the same way.”

She leaned over and kissed him deeply with unguarded intent. Caught off guard Wade melted deeper into his seat not knowing what to say next. Before he caught his breath, Megan pulled out of the valet space moving at lightning speed passing slower traffic on the quiet street.

Wade held on to a door strap still a little breathless. As fast as the car was moving Megan’s mind was working even faster. Before making a hard left turn, she reeled off some directions.

“I have an idea. We left your car at the office. Why don’t we go pick it up and you follow me home? It will be easier for you to leave tomorrow from your hotel. You can get right on the Beltway to your session.”

Wade’s mind was muddled for the moment. All he could remember was they were kissing in front of the restaurant. He tried to get his mind to focus on Megan’s last comment. All that came out of his mouth was a mumbled, “That sounds great.”

Wade wasn’t exactly sure what Megan said. The new arrangements were too complicated for his current state of mellow euphoria. Wade held on from the last left turn with his mind trying to replay Megan’s instructions. He remembered she said they were going back to the office to pick up his car. Was he just hoping or did he hear her say that they were going back to her place?

Wade wasn’t sure what she said but right now was more concerned about whether he could keep up with her driving. His questions kept coming.
Will I be leaving for work from my hotel or her place? Did she mean we would be spending the night together? What class am I supposed to be attending at 7:30 am the next morning?
He kept trying to keep himself steady and focused, but it wasn’t working. He just told himself,
Keep your seatbelt tight and enjoy the ride; everything is going to be okay.

All Wade remembered were blurry streetlights and signs that he couldn’t read because of Megan’s speed. She drove back streets like they were on a racing circuit she knew from memory. They arrived at her office building, and she handed him her passkey.

“Now, follow me to my place.”

Megan took off in a flash and Wade had his hands full just trying to follow. The concentration needed to follow Megan helped Wade get his mind back together. Not wanting to jump to conclusions and still confused about his expectations Wade told himself the best course of action was,
This is our first date. Let the evening unfold naturally. Keep my mouth shut and just follow instructions
.

Somehow through twists and turns Wade made it back to Megan’s condo complex. The wind in his face and high-speed turns shook Wade out of his mellow state. He was more focused and balanced. Megan was much the same.

Megan was always honest with Wade and not shy about expressing her feelings. She had that dreamy look back in her eyes again as they approached her door. It was as though she was about to bear her soul to him while looking directly into his.

They crossed the threshold arm in arm.

“Make yourself comfortable. Would you like a glass of wine?”

“That sounds nice.”

Wade’s eye caught the sofa that seemed perfect for two. He headed for one side. Megan came out with two glasses of wine with napkins. Wade reached for the glass and wrapped his napkin around the base and stem of the wine glass. Megan gave him a strange look but didn’t say anything. She thought it was weird but couldn’t care less about how he held his glass.

Megan took a sip of wine and followed with a warm, gentle kiss. Wade responded with a cuddling embrace. She broke the silence in a low, quiet voice, “Something’s happening here I wasn’t ready for.”

“I’m feeling the same thing and part of me is uncomfortable. I don’t know why.”

“What do you mean?”

Wade thought before responding. He wasn’t sure he could explain what he just said, “I don’t know what our future holds. I want my future now to include you, and I don’t know if we can control that.”

“Of course, we can control it. It just means we will have to make choices.”

“That may be true, but I feel we may be caught up in a situation that is outside of our control, at least for the foreseeable future.”

Megan changed the direction of the conversation, “When did you discover you felt different about me?”

Wade didn’t hesitate to respond, “I’ve known I felt different about you several years ago. I just wouldn’t let myself feel that way. The moment I laid eyes on you it was all over. In that instant I knew I couldn’t pretend anymore. I just wasn’t sure how you felt about me.”

Wade returned the same question to Megan, “How about you? When did you feel something different towards me?

“I knew there was something special when we first started talking. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was something I had never felt with any of the other recruits I was handling. The defining moment for me came with the incident at Fort Benning. I knew you were in danger and when they couldn’t find you I became sick to my stomach. I never cry, and I cried all night before you finally called. I couldn’t imagine living like that when you were on assignment.”

“That could become an issue. When things aren’t going right, I go silent and deal with whatever it is. I have to deal with it on my terms. That is true of me now and even when I was a kid growing up in the swamp. If my outboard motor broke down or I couldn’t get back home before dark, I would sometimes spend two or three days alone in the swamp.

No one knew how to reach me, and I couldn’t communicate with them, but I survived and always came back. By the time I was a teenager my parents got used to it. I seem to do my best work when I work alone. That’s just part of my makeup and something you may just have to learn to accept about me.”

Megan held her hands out. They touched and held each other. They just looked into each other’s eyes and kissed. Eyes and touch were doing the talking. They spoke infrequently and only when necessary.

For this evening everything that needed to be said had already been said between them. They lay in each other’s arms across the small sofa feeling each other’s heartbeat, matching each other’s breathing. They broke their embrace only to kiss gently. At some point their pulse slowed, and breathing became uniform. They both drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

It was well into the early morning hours when Megan woke first giving Wade a gentle nudge, “You’re going to be wasted tomorrow unless you get some real sleep. I think it’s best if you go now.”

Wade woke half asleep not recalling what Megan had just said, “Maybe I should go now.”

“Do you remember how to get to your hotel from here?”

“Yeah, I think so. I’ll be fine.”

“Thank you for a wonderful evening.”

Wade looked into her dreamy eyes and said, “I will dream of you tonight.”

She replied, “I will of you as well.”

Chapter 4

Washington, D. C.

The 4:30 a.m. alarm shocked Wade out of deep sleep as the intrusive buzzer scraped the inside of his brain. Struggling to put one foot in front of the other he managed to get out of bed and into a hot shower.

Wade’s mind was still holding Megan in his arms. He couldn’t remember how he got back to his hotel. He forced his brain to focus on his day and why he was awake at this god-awful time. They only shared one bottle of wine last evening. Although Wade was not a drinker, he wondered how a shared bottle of wine could do such damage to his brain. The shower helped but his mind still randomly bounced flashing images of last night. Images came and left his mind like a ping-pong ball. None of his thoughts stuck more than a millisecond.

Managing to get the complimentary cup of black coffee in the hotel lobby seemed overwhelmingly complex. Perhaps the coffee would help him focus. He reviewed the directions on his class registration sheet not remembering that his surveillance class was in Virginia.

He tried to think of where he parked his car. The next vision he had was the hood of his car pointing southwest on the Beltway towards Virginia. He had no memory of what turns he took from the hotel.

The first order of the day was his photographic surveillance class. This was an easy refresher lecture not requiring much from him. The class covered basics of photography, which he already knew, and an overview of new equipment.

He was thankful that this class would not take much thought or mental energy. His afternoon session was his polygraph test. There was no way to prepare for the polygraph except practice Megan’s suggested, “humming.” He tried his first humming exercise while he drove. It produced a squeak rather than a hum. He decided to practice the technique later after he was awake.

The rest of his itinerary required his presence but no preparation. He just had to show up on time for the reception that evening. As freeway exit signs buzzed by, Wade’s mind was showing some measure of improvement. At least he could read the signs.

There was nothing he had to prepare for before showing up at the reception. He shifted his thoughts to the off-ramp exit he had to take for his class session. Wade arrived early and walked directly over to the coffee and pastry table. Two pastries and another cup of coffee made life more tolerable.

Wade wandered over to one of the other agents taking the class and introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Wade Hanna. I think I remember you in yesterday’s surveillance class?”

“Hi, I’m Charlie. Yes, I was in that class. That target, Emily, was very good. I don’t think we could have kept up with her if it weren’t an exercise.”

“I agree. I just guessed when I saw a shadow go between the buildings. Otherwise, I would have been on that bus.”

Charlie laughed and commented, “She was a pro and could have easily slipped us anytime she wanted.”

Charlie changed the topic. “Do you know much about photography?”

“I’ve done quite a bit. It’s not difficult once you know the basics.”

“I don’t know anything about photography, cameras or film.”

Both men sat together as the standing members took their seats. The instructor was introduced as a professional photographer with many years of experience.

The class started with basics in very simple terms beginning with identifying different parts of the camera, lens, and film, how to load and unload film, and how to operate the camera.

Charlie listened intently and took notes. Wade knew the subject and tuned out of this first part of the lecture. His mind was still groggy. As the instructor covered the camera operations, depth of field, and aperture settings Wade closed his eyes and focused on his humming not realizing he was making a humming noise that others found disturbing.

Some of the other students turned around looking at him with annoyed looks on their faces. Wade caught himself and apologized for the interruption forgetting he was supposed to “visualize the humming” and not hum aloud. His new friend Charlie decided to move down a few seats away and gave Wade a weird look.

The instructor finally got to more interesting topics which caught Wade’s attention. He gave a good description of shortcut methods for doing the depth of field calculations and how to deal with subjects that were in backlit or had low light conditions.

Wade was pleased to find out that film speeds of ASA 1500 were now available for low-light use. Wade could see an immediate use for this film in low-light surveillance applications.

He glanced over at Charlie indicating a nod of approval when the new film was being discussed. Charlie still seemed in a state of bewilderment with all the technical jargon. The rest of the session was taken up with demonstrations of surveillance devices including recording film and tape recorders, camera and tracking devices, all of which were becoming more miniaturized.

After a nice buffet lunch, Wade headed back to D.C. for his session with the polygraph specialist. It was mid-afternoon. Wade seemed a little apprehensive over the unknown topics he would soon be questioned about. He practiced his humming all the way from the surveillance class to the D.C. office of the polygraph expert.

When he approached the receptionist, she told Wade, “Please have a seat. Mr. Kolb will be with you shortly.”

Wade picked up the usual waiting room magazines and leafed through them. While he read magazine articles, he practiced his humming. After going through most of the magazines in the office Wade realized his stomach hurt and felt his wait had been unnecessarily long.

He wondered if the waiting was part of the test. Tension from the wait seemed to be working. Wade felt more anxious than when he arrived. He got up with some frustration and approached the receptionist window.

“How much longer will the wait be?”

“Mr. Kolb is finishing up with a client now. He shouldn’t be much longer.”

Wade asked for the key to use the restroom and practiced his humming on the way there and back.

It wasn’t long before the interior door open, and Wade was greeted by a jolly, white haired person with a matching beard. A red suit would have completed a Christmas greeting.

“Please come in. I’m sorry for the wait. It’s been a long day. By the way, my name is Joe Kolb. Please come with me.”

After following Kolb down two hallways with offices on both sides, they arrived at the large room fitted with arrays of electronic devices. Just seeing the electronic equipment caused Wade to start automatically humming to himself again.

This equipment was a far cry from the simple portable suitcase size equipment used when he took his first polygraph exam at the Agency.

Kolb turned to Wade, “Please have a seat and give me a moment to get your file.”

His stomach was cramping, and his hands were already sweating when Kolb returned with his file. The file was far thicker than Wade thought was possible to have on him. As Kolb starting reviewing the file Wade automatically starting humming quietly to himself. Mr. Kolb was a stout man with short gray hair and rimless spectacles he looked over. His wrinkled shirt and misaligned tie told Wade that Mr. Kolb spent far too much time playing with his electronic gadgets and wires.

Kolb flipped through pages in Wade’s file stopping infrequently to utter an “Ohm” sound, which Wade didn’t understand. Kolb finally looked up.

“So you are here for your graduating class exam is that correct?”

“Yes sir, that’s my understanding.”

Looking around the room Kolb pointed at the stacks of monitors and equipment on racks with wires coming out in all directions.

“As you can see we are better equipped here than the portable equipment we use on-site exams.”

“I see that.”

“It’s all the same technology. We use more probes to monitor different parts of your body’s responses. Our equipment can now pick up even the most minor changes in those responses than the portable equipment.”

“That must give you much more detailed information.”

“Yes, it does. Isn’t it interesting that most of this new technology has taken place just in the last few years?”

“Yes, that’s interesting.”

“I’m going to ask you to move over to this chair next to me. We call it the hot seat.”

Kolb laughed at his little joke. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing here that is going to shock you.” Kolb laughed again at his, joke and making comparisons to his chair and the electric chair with wires and probes running to what looked like amplifier devices. Wade didn’t find his jokes funny but moved to the chair as instructed as Kolb smiled.

“According to your file you were given a polygraph for the Agency at least one time before, is that correct?”

“Yes, only one time before.”

“As you may remember from that experience we have a few rules that I will go over. I will be asking you a series of questions that you are to respond to with a ‘Yes,’ ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know.’ No other answers are acceptable. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your answers should be truthful at all times. If I ask a question you don’t understand you should answer the question with a ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know’ whichever best describes your feeling about the question. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t ask me a question no matter how much you may be confused by my questions. If you do, you may invalidate the test, and we have to start over. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“Now, let’s get you set up here. Some of this equipment is new state-of-the-art electronics that’s a little tricky. After I get you hooked up, we will do some testing to see that our readings are calibrated.”

Wade sat erect in the hard chair as Kolb starting attaching probes to his fingers, chest, ankles, feet, and legs. He also placed an EEG cap on his head with attached probes. He wondered how the few skimpy portable test probes could have told them anything. By the time Kolb finished Wade felt like an electronic man with wires and probes coming out from all over his body. His hands were sweaty and he wondered what reading that might project. He went back to humming before Kolb spoke again.

“This will all be a little uncomfortable for you for a while. You’ll soon forget you’re all wired up.”

Not on your life will I forget these probes are attached to me,
Wade thought.

“Just so you know we are picking up on a whole series of physical responses that you give and then I compare those response patterns to known patterns of response we have at the Agency.”

Kolb’s explanation made Wade even more nervous. He wished he would just do the work in silence. Kolb continued his explanation as he hooked up the last couple of terminals.

“We pick up brain activity, galvanic skin response, blood pressure changes, eye movement and even skin temperature changes.”

Wade wasn’t amused. Kolb ignored Wade’s obvious increased tension from his non-stop equipment lecture.

“Some of these probes are new areas we are tracking while others have been used for many years. The electronics have gotten so much better. They are much more sensitive today.”

Wade just wanted Kolb to shut the hell up. He was getting more apprehensive by the minute. He wanted to get on with the questions. Kolb finally took the seat to Wade’s left outside of his peripheral vision.

Wade was unable to see Kolb’s face or any changes in his expression that might show Kolb’s reaction to his answers. At this point, Wade felt like some cyborg robot and just wanted to get on with the questions. He was already tired of seeing and hearing Mr. Kolb. He told himself just to relax and hum.

“Okay, I think we are ready. Let’s make sure we are calibrated and getting responses from all the probes. I’m going to ask you some simple basic questions that we all know the answers to for testing whether all the equipment is working correctly.

“Do you go by the name of Wade Hanna?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born in Louisiana?”

“Yes.”

“Are you currently in Washington D.C.?”

“Yes.”

“Everything seems to be working well. Now, I’m going to ask you some questions. I want you to intentionally give me a false answer for test purposes. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Are you currently single?”

“No.”

“Are you currently attending college?”

“No.”

“Okay, I think we’ve done enough calibration testing. All of the equipment readings look good. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Answer all of the questions I am about to give you truthfully. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

The test started with simple basic questions like Wade’s name, parents’ names, age, high school, and recreational activities. Wade started feeling confident about the questions and his humming. He felt he was in a relaxed state and groove he could maintain. He visualized the hum chant emerging from his sore stomach until some questions jarred his frame of reference.

“Have you ever provided services to a foreign country?”

“No.”