Actually, she mused, it had been a good exercise. Her tail had been driving a black Honda Accord and had picked her up as she left the Avis car rental place. Since one of her errands was more immediate than the other, Kris set out to quickly lose her pursuer, and was satisfied that it had taken only a few minutes to do so. She smiled, pleased that she hadn't lost any of her evasive driving skills while ensconced in the Middle Eastern desert.
He had appeared again as she was driving down Wisconsin Avenue, and Kris had led him on a leisurely sight seeing tour through Northern Virginia and Washington D.C while at the same time familiarizing herself with the layout of the streets. It was her first trip back to the area since she'd graduated with top honors from her training course, and the operative didn't intend to be caught short by not having escape routes planned. When it was time for her meet, she'd simply lost him again.
Kris quickly showered, settled onto the bed, and flicked on the TV, but was unable to concentrate, her thoughts focusing instead on a set of friendly, but wary green eyes. Just forget about her. She is no different than any of the others. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to force the image of the attractive woman from her mind. She's nothing but danger wrapped up in a pretty package. Besides, she'd hate me if she knew what I did tonight. Her last thought finally caused the image to fade away and, exhausted from the mentally draining activities of the past few days, she fell asleep.
For the second morning in a row, Shelby was up early, only this time, the cause was a small kitten sitting on the pillow playing with her hair. "Ouch." She lifted the kitten up, set it on her chest and gently stroked its soft fur. "Just what is wrong with the toys I bought for you?"
Shelby chuckled when the kitten looked right at her and meowed. "Whatsa matter? You hungry?" When her companion meowed a second response, she laughed. "Okay, already. I'm getting up."
She fed the kitten, and then played with it for a while, before looking through her closet trying to decide what to wear. Shelby was feeling considerably better than she had the night before, practicality exerting itself in the light of day. I probably was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just hope I never am again. She selected a rust-colored blouse that contrasted nicely with her light complexion and paired it with a white skirt. Unaware that she was doing it, Shelby took a little extra care with her hair and makeup before turning away from the mirror.
Shelby bent to pick up the kitten one last time. "I'm gonna find you a great home." She turned the kitten around and looked at its backside. "So you're a girl. I gotta go now, little one. You be good." Smiling at the purr that answered her, Shelby set her down before opening the door just enough to squeeze through sans kitten.
Kris rose early, as she always did, and ordered a pot of coffee. Her mind rapidly explored avenues that would accelerate the elimination of most of the twenty-seven operatives under suspicion. She hadn't been pleased to discover she was included on the list, but wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that her own name would not be among those quickly eliminated. She doubted the case would ever be solved conclusively, anyway. Her main priority right now was to get out of this assignment at headquarters, and to do that she had to produce a short list of names.
Try as she might, Kris was unable to stop her thoughts from turning to Shelby. She was unlike anyone the operative had worked with before and Kris tried to analyze what was so different. When she was unable to isolate the difference logically, her emotions took over and descriptive words began appearing in her mind. Refreshing, friendly, open, honest, warm, feisty, attractive...
Kris snorted. "And I need to get focused on the case, not the scenery." But even as she spoke the harsh words, she felt a fleeting sense of loss for what could never be. Deep down, Kris knew Shelby was different in a good way, and cursed fate for dealing her the harsh lonely hand it had.
Consciously casting aside those thoughts, Kris cleared her mind as she continued to sip the strong black coffee. She knew "uncle" wasn't going to wait too long before getting impatient, so she needed to decide how to proceed on that front.
The operative had been in tough places before; it was the nature of her work. Still, this time, Kris knew she would need to use every bit of gray matter she possessed and every trick in her extensive repertoire to survive this dangerous new game in which she was only a pawn.
Kris sighed, torn by her limited options, and made the only decision she could. Her personal code of honor would allow no less, but she was well aware that her life would be forfeit if what she was going to do were discovered.
An hour later, she left the hotel wearing navy-blue slacks, a pale blue blouse and a white blazer. Getting into the Buick Regal she'd rented, Kris drove toward CIA headquarters, her thoughts on how to obtain the information she needed.
Shelby debated whether to go to her office first or stop to see Dennis and decided on the latter. She knew the police would forward a report of the mall shooting since a CIA employee was involved, but it was also her responsibility to report any unusual events because of the sensitivity of her work. She grinned ruefully as she entered the Director's office. I think the shooting definitely can be classified as unusual.
"Hi, Joanne. Is Dennis in yet?"
Joanne nodded and leaned forward conspiratorially, "I just gave him a fax from the Fairfax Police. I would've been scared to death!"
"Trust me, I was." Shelby waited while Joanne announced her and then entered his office.
Dennis eyed Shelby closely. "How are you?"
"Better than last night. You've already read the report?"
"Just finished." Dennis waved Shelby to a chair. "Tell me what happened." He listened as the analyst related her version of the incident, noting that it was virtually identical to the police report. "Do you have any reason to believe this is case related?"
"No." Shelby thought the question unfair. If someone had targeted her because of the case she was working on, they sure weren't going to advertise it. "But I don't have any reason to believe it's not either."
Dennis knew she had a point and said, "Have Joanne give you an Incident Report to fill out. Once I have that, I'll talk to Jeb."
"Okay."
Shelby filled out the report quickly and thoroughly, then handed it to Joanne. "Dennis is waiting for this."
Joanne smiled. "I figured."
Shelby rolled her eyes at having stated the obvious. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"No problem. You're doing a lot better than I would be."
After Shelby left his office, Dennis read the police report again. The police seemed to think the incident was simply a random shooting and he tended to agree. There was a remote possibility it was case related, but unlikely because she had only been assigned the case the previous day. He jotted down a note to call Jeb about it.
Shelby walked into her office to find Kris already seated at one of the computers, typing in commands. "Hi."
Kris diverted her eyes from the screen momentarily and nodded.
Shelby walked over and stood behind Kris, looking intently at the screen. "What are you working on?"
"I'm checking the location of each of the operatives."
"I already did that."
"I know. I'm checking it again." Kris turned around in her chair. "Do you have a problem with that?"