“I understand. What Agency group will I actually be working for if I sign this?”
Jenkins’ response was evasive. “That depends on what project you’re assigned to. It could be any one of several intelligence organizations.”
Jenkins saw Wade recoil from his answer.
“You see, the program you’re coming into is new — well, new in the sense that the government wants to consolidate intelligence training activities and control costs. The government’s feeling is that there’s too much empire building between different organizations and not enough sharing of resources, cooperation, or coordination in performing intelligence work.”
After pausing, Jenkins continued. “This administration wants to see divisional walls broken down and organizations utilizing people across lines, all with the same core skills. It’s a new concept and something internal politics hasn’t fully embraced. I suspect it will take some time before it’s fully implemented. Most new Agency recruits will come in under the new system with the same training you will receive.”
“Under the program, you’ll be accessible to any one of three or four intelligence organizations. I know that may not satisfactorily answer your question, but it’s truthful, and all that I can go into for now. Perhaps we can have another chat if you decide to sign the contract.”
As the two men approached the front door, the rain pounded the green metal canopy over the restaurant. Ominous gray clouds in the far southern skies showed no signs of dissipating.
“I have a lot of traffic to fight before my next meeting,” said Jenkins.
“I’ll be back in touch as soon as I meet with the attorney.”
The two men shook hands before ducking under large black umbrellas and moving quickly across the wet parking lot in different directions, toward their cars.
It didn’t take Wade long to choose a medium-sized college located in a quiet Alabama town near three military air bases. His intelligence training schedule required him to be at one of those bases to fly out of, almost every weekend and even on holidays. The Agency came through on his transfer out of the Navy into the intelligence service. No more submarine classes or worries about being called back to sea duty. He just had to manage the next six years of his life between college and intelligence training, spending the last two years of his contract in full-time service with the Agency.
The quiet, laid-back town of Greenstone, Alabama suited Wade just fine. It wasn’t long before he settled into a grueling schedule of college and intelligence training. There was little time for himself or any social activities, and whatever hopes he had of a normal college social life were soon eroded.
The next three years of Wade Hanna’s life passed in a blur. Between college and intelligence training, no time remained for anything else. His feeble attempts at a traditional college social life were all unsuccessful. He was handsome and easy to talk to, but few potential dates were interested because of his long and frequent absences.
Heavy doses of core classes were the mainstay of Wade’s college schedule. He was also prone to taking unconventional classes. Questionable class electives like locksmithing, gemstone appraisal, art valuation, magic, and theatrical make-up were considered supplements vital for covert assignments, but caused the agency to wonder. Wade became proficient at persuading the agency to accept his strange course curriculum, arguing that he would make good use of every single skill he acquired.
His magic class actually turned out to offer a surprising application to undercover work. A large part of the class was spent on how human perception works and how the mind tricks itself by filling in the blanks for what the brain thinks it actually sees.
The fundamental principles behind illusion intrigued Wade. He made connections between magic tricks and what he was learning in other intelligence classes. He learned that “objects” in an illusion were not as important as the method of misdirection. The visual diversion had to be created while everyone was watching. His winning classwork brought surprise and praise from his classmates and a seasoned instructor who had performed professionally several hundred times. The class project at the end of the term had students design their own illusions and perform them in front of the class.
He convinced himself that underlying illusion principles would serve him well in real undercover assignments, but he didn’t know how or when such tricks might come in handy. But at least now he was ready to use them.
Life for Wade was not all about taking fun courses. Intelligence training occupied most his weekends, holidays, and even his summers. The government expected a high commitment to the training courses that consumed every spare moment of his time. Wade was a sponge, though, and loved almost every minute of his extensive training.
Government, law enforcement, and various forms of intelligence classes drummed into him every aspect of intelligence work. Intelligence classes took him across the country to numerous alphabet soup locations with the CIA, NSA, Customs, Secret Service, DIA, DEA, and FBI.
For field training, he attended classes at base after base throughout the country, including remote specialized training facilities operated by the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, and Special Forces. There were even a few remote clandestine facilities that trainees were taken to blind-folded.
Under Wade’s government-mandated training program, all military, intelligence agencies, and federal law enforcement courses offered, became available for his training. Scheduling and coordination of these training activities for each new recruit was complex and almost impossible to achieve for the uninitiated. They were handled by an assigned intelligence officer officially called a Training Coordinator, and informally called a handler.
The handler assigned to Wade was Megan Winslow, who was part wizard, part task master. Megan herself was an intelligence officer and recent graduate of the program. She was based in Washington D.C. and considered her role important, but temporary.
Megan’s career goal was to be a field operative, and she hoped to get a permanent posting in the next couple of years. Until then, she took her handler role seriously. She knew every trick in the book and didn’t take lip from recruits or any of the military officers she had to deal with.
Like tracking a covert target, Megan knew Wade’s whereabouts every moment of the day. She made sure he was where he was supposed to be at the correct time. Whatever little spare time Wade had, Megan was busy scheduling it. She knew every school holiday, when each of his college classes began and ended, homework assignment schedules, exam dates, and when a class had been canceled, often before he did.
She was Wade’s constant telephone companion and oftentimes his wake-up call. Megan saw something in Wade that she didn’t see in other recruits, and she liked what she saw. A mutual feeling of trust developed and began to grow to something more than just recruit and handler. Romance was in the air, but only a possibility at the end of her tenure as Wade’s handler.
Wade performed well in his intelligence classes and field work. Superior ratings were common in both classroom and field training. Performance write-ups over his three years of training suggested that his strongest skill was his ability to improvise.
Many of the courses were Special Forces training sessions for both Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. Intelligence trainees, although not expected to achieve the same level of proficiency as a Ranger or SEAL, were expected to show significant proficiency in weapons, explosive devices, navigational skills, encryption, and surveillance.
Wade wasn’t the strongest or most skilled at hand-to-hand combat, but he demonstrated good techniques on certain defensive moves and poise in making directed “kills” when so ordered. More importantly, Wade exhibited an ability to find ways to achieve results when resources were limited and the odds were stacked against him.