“I think we should go.”
Amanda, who’d been in the process of putting a casserole dish down in the middle of the table, dropped it the last inch. It clattered loudly.
Lee was apparently having a similar reaction. “What do you mean by that, Sport?”
“Exactly what I said,” answered Jamie. “I think we should go to London. You said you could probably wait until after the end of the school year, so I wouldn’t have to transfer in the middle. But I’ve only been at Swanson part of this year anyway.” He shrugged with one shoulder. “I don’t really have any friends.”
Amanda found her chair and sat down. This was the last thing she’d expected to hear.
“What about that girl you were arguing history with?” asked Lee. “I think you said her name was Nikki?”
“We’re just workin’ together on a project. It’ll be done by then.” He sniffed. “She’s in with the preps anyway.”
“There won’t be any baseball,” Amanda told him. “They don’t play that in England.”
“Oh, I know. But they do have that other game. Cricket. It might be fun to learn how to do both.”
Now she frowned. “You’re awfully accepting about this. It would also mean you couldn’t spend as much time with your father and Carrie as you do now.”
At that, Carrie and Joe, who’d been seated across the table, exchanged an inscrutable look.
“What?” asked Amanda.
Joe nodded slightly. Carrie spoke up. “We, ah, we — Jamie, do you remember a few months ago when we were offered positions in Côte d’Ivoire?”
“Yeah,” he said as his face fell. “Yeah. I’d forgotten. Maybe we should stay. I mean, I really do like spending time with you. It’s just that — well, it would be a different school, and a different place, and I wouldn’t have to look around and see Grandma an’ Phillip everywhere I go.”
Amanda felt her frown deepen. Jamie was still in therapy, but she’d gotten the impression he was making progress. She made a mental note to ask a few more specific questions the next time they met.
Carrie and Joe had exchanged another glance. “Part of the reason we were so willing to turn them down — it wasn’t just you, love. We didn’t really want to go there. We’d requested assignments in Algeria.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “And, well…” she trailed off. “Joe and I got a call yesterday. The IRC has found a place for me in Algiers. That’s the capital of Algeria.”
“And the EAO hasn’t been able to fill the position I’d been aiming for over there,” added Joe. “We were going to talk to you about me maybe asking for it again. To see if you were ready.”
Amanda sat up straight. “Not this soon.”
“Wait a minute, Mom,” said Jamie. “Wait. How long does it take to get from Al-al-algiers to London? Is it easier or harder than getting here?”
“It is closer,” said Carrie thoughtfully. “But it’s still a few hours on a plane. And plane tickets can get expensive.”
Jamie looked down at his plate for a long moment. Then he looked back up. “Am I old enough to work in England? Maybe I could pay for the tickets.”
“No,” said Amanda and Lee together. Lee continued. “Jamie, if this is what you really want, we can find a way to pay for the tickets.”
“No, Lee,” said Amanda. “No. We can’t afford to send him to a good school and pay for plane tickets both.”
“We’d help pay for the tickets,” said Joe. “There’s a travel allowance with both our positions.”
Now Carrie was the one shaking her head. “Jamie, love, you said you wanted to get away from everything that reminds you of your grandma and your brother. Moving won’t solve problems like that. It might be better for you to stay and keep working that out.”
“But it might help,” he answered, his expression firming. “And I’d keep working with someone in London, Mom, Carrie, if that’s what you’d want.”
“We’d all want that,” said Joe softly. Lee nodded as well.
Amanda turned it all over in her mind. Plane ticket prices fluctuated a lot. And it would be such a change, after him going through — after them all going through — so many changes during the last several months.
On the other hand, Jamie did have something of a point. There was something to be said for taking a break from an environment if it was emotionally difficult.
“We won’t be over there forever,” she pointed out. “It’s a five-year assignment. Lee and I would want to come back home after that.”
“Yeah, but that’ll be when I’m starting college. That’s different.” He looked directly at her. “Please, Mom? Will you think about it?”
She looked at Lee, wondering what he was thinking. His expression was carefully neutral. Not wanting to influence me, she realized. Wanting it to be my decision.
Amanda shook her head. They should all be a part of this decision.
“When,” she asked Carrie, “would you need to answer the IRC?”
“Soon. A day or two, at most. I’d like to answer them tomorrow, but if you think we should talk some more…” she trailed off with a meaningful glance at Jamie. “I can do that. I believe Joe can as well.”
“I can,” he confirmed.
“So can I,” said Lee. “All right, Sport. This isn’t what I…”
“We,” murmured Amanda.
“We,” he repeated, “were expecting. How about your mom and me talk about this, and Joe and Carrie too, after dinner.”
“With me?” asked Jamie.
Amanda began to object, but the look in her son’s eyes was too compelling. And he’s thirteen, she reminded herself. He’s old enough to be part of these discussions now.
“Yes,” she answered. “With you.”
Francine seemed more like herself when she reported to Billy’s office the next morning. Good. That was going to make this easier.
“Come in,” he told her. “Close the door. We do have some things to talk about.”
She sat down quietly. “I figured we would.”
Billy sighed. “Don’t look so forlorn, Francine. Amanda told me what you said right after you locked Ansar al-Safa out of the Army mainframe. She was exactly right.” This one’s for you, Jonathan, Amanda had quoted. I got your message. I just wish I could send you my reply.
“Doesn’t change why I was suspended.”
“No,” he answered. “It doesn’t. But it did tell me you’re ready to come back.”
Her eyes flicked up.
“Yes,” he said. “You’ve been out three weeks, and that’s going to be treated as a suspension without pay. And you’re being reinstated, but there are conditions. I couldn’t get you out of everything.”
“I don’t think you should have,” she said, but there was no bite to her tone. “I deserved it.”
“You two were engaged, Francine. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Too much of that’ll send you right back where you were.” He paused. “You’re not going to be promotable for a long time. If ever. And that,” he continued, “means I can’t keep you as my second.”
She nodded. “Am I being put back out in the field full-time? Will my pay be cut for this demotion?”
“You’re right that it’s a demotion,” he told her, “but your pay’s the same. It may be frozen for a couple of years to compensate. And yes, you’re going back out into full-time field duty. But not alone. You’re going to require a regular partner, someone who has the authority to go over your head to me if needed.”
“Who?”
“That’s the other thing I managed to get for you. Unless you object, it’ll be Zeta.”
“Zeta? Not that I wouldn’t be happy to partner with her, Billy, but she’s still pretty junior.”
“She got through to you that time you were tearing into Scotty. And her performance in this case has been excellent.”
Francine nodded. “I agree. I just don’t know if she’s going to have enough confidence to refuse an order long enough to check with you.”
“We’ll work on that. Together. I’d like to think she won’t have to do it that often anyway.”
“I don’t plan on it,” replied Francine.
“Good. That’s a good place to start, Francine. I’m giving you your existing cases back. Zeta’s been doing a good job on those, too, but she feels like you should be the agent of record. You’ll want her to brief you when she turns them over.”
Francine seemed about to say something — probably I know that, thought Billy — but she bit her lip. Then she asked, “who’s going to be your new second?”
“I don’t know yet,” Billy told her. “I’m still reviewing personnel files, and I’m also considering bringing in someone from another section.”
“Maybe it could be —” but then Francine cut herself off again. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. We’re both going to have to unlearn some habits. And there’s no need to hesitate before asking questions or offering suggestions. You’re a good agent, Francine. You’ve earned the right to do both.”
That elicited a small smile.
“I’ll expect you back in here bright and early Monday morning. That gives you a few days to process. You should use them that way.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “Was there anything else?”
“No,” he told her. “Just get some rest, too, while you’re at it.”
Her steps weren’t as quick or jaunty as usual as she left, but the set of her shoulders and back were. They hadn’t been when she’d walked in, so that was good. It was going to take time for all of them to recalibrate, but he had no doubt everyone would — and it looked like the changes would be for the better.
Sighing, he turned back to the personnel files on his desk. He actually had an idea about where to put Francine and Zeta, but he needed to talk to Lee and Amanda first. He glanced up at the clock. 9:40. They should be in by now.
Pushing to his feet, he headed toward the Q-Bureau.
This conversation wasn’t heading in the direction he’d expected. Douglas pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, sir, not at all. It’s run differently from our office, but it runs well.”
“We were aware of that,” came his supervisor’s answer. “The Agency’s closure rate speaks for itself. Now that this case is concluded, what can you tell us about how they run? Would anything be an operational improvement if we implemented it?”
He hesitated.
“Agent Trent?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “The Americans…are much more relationship oriented. Almost surprisingly so.”
“Are you saying they’re unprofessional?”
“No,” he answered quickly. “Rather the reverse. But they…” how could he explain this? “They mix the personal and professional. Billy Melrose in particular. When Agent Desmond began behaving erratically after a personal loss, he didn’t allow it. Ended up suspending her. But all that time, he was also trying to help her. There were also other agents who did the same thing, even though they seemed well aware that they could risk their own professional status at times.” He paused. “I initially found it far too chaotic for an intelligence agency.”
“Your tone suggests your attitude has changed.”
“Yes. That agent was a critical contributor to the case we just closed. We could not have succeeded without her.”
“I see,” said his supervisor. “You are referring, of course, to Francine Desmond. And to her friendship with Lee and Amanda Stetson. The four of you have spent quite a bit of time together recently.”
His free hand fell heavily to the desk. MI6 knew about her, of course; he’d seen the dossiers prior to accepting the exchange assignment. But he hadn’t known that there was apparently an active source in place, one that was in a position to be aware of his day-to-day activities. “You’ve been monitoring me?”
“Come now, Agent Trent. Did you really think you wouldn’t be monitored and assessed?”
“No,” he admitted, recovering some of his aplomb. “That would be standard procedure. I just wasn’t aware that MI6 was able to do so in such specific detail.”
“Of course we can. We also have already learned about your familial connection to Lee Stetson.”
His breath caught. “You’ve been monitoring him? Why?”
“That’s not your concern. However, the Service is quite concerned that you apparently elected not to share that information as soon as you learned of it.”
“I did…not believe there was any requirement to disclose,” he managed. Above him, one of the office’s fluorescent lights had begun to buzz softly. “It’s distant, and neither he nor I were aware of it until I learned a…personal detail…about him. Which happened inadvertently. We might not otherwise have realized it.”
“His middle name, the one you share, is in the dossier you were given to review.”
Douglas sat up straight. “I remember seeing that, but at the time the implication of him also being half-British didn’t connect. With respect, sir, how is the Service able to learn so much about my interactions with this Agency?”
There was a pause.
“Sir?”
At the other end of the phone line, his supervisor sighed. “Truth be told, Trent, I didn’t know if that was related to how you figured it out. Now that you have confirmed it, you still need to explain why you didn’t disclose it as soon as you found out.”
“As I said,” he replied, noting that his free hand had curled into a fist, “I didn’t believe it was required. If I had known about the requirement, I naturally would have alerted you immediately.”
“I’m sure you would have. You are aware that your reticence about how you learned about the connection is also noticeable?”
“Of course I am,” he said, peeved. This was supposed to be an after-action report. He hadn’t expected an interrogation. “But it was also a personal matter. The Hamilton family is…” he trailed off. “Not always well-adjusted to Her Majesty’s social goals.”
“You just indicated that operatives within this Agency have a tendency to mix the personal and the professional,” the supervisor pointed out. “It appears as though you might have developed the tendency yourself.”
Douglas focused on the office’s beige walls, forcing himself to take two breaths before answering. “Organizational culture does tend to spread. The Service should know that.”
There was another pause. Douglas began to break it, but remembered at the last minute his own interrogation training: a strategic pause could sometimes entice the subject to disclose more than they meant. Pressing his free hand down on the desk surface, he waited it out.
“At our request,” the supervisor finally said, “William Melrose has provided us with a written evaluation of your work, Agent Trent.”
That was hardly surprising.
“He speaks extremely well of you. We asked him to specifically evaluate evidence pointing to leadership capabilities.”
That wasn’t surprising either. “Yes?”
“Melrose seems to think you’re capable of becoming a leader, but he did note some items that would preclude your performance in a leadership role at this point.”
“I understand,” he replied noncommittally.
“Your reaction?”
Douglas shook his head. “I would need to know specifics before I could respond or rebut.”
There was another pause in the conversation.
“Melrose believes you could acquire more of the necessary skills if you remained with the Agency for a longer period. It would also be…advantageous to the Service to have an agent who had developed strong connections in Washington.”
He had to think about that one for a moment. “Are you requesting that I stay deployed here?”
“Not requesting,” said the supervisor. “Making the opportunity available. Pointing out its advantages. Of course, the major disadvantage is that you would remain away from England for a longer period.”
Now his hands were beginning to shake. “That is…something all agents expect from time to time.”
“Shall I take that as indicative of interest?”
“I am…” he trailed off again. “Not uninterested. But I would need time to come to a decision.”
“How much time?”
“A few days, at the very least. Perhaps over the weekend.”
There was another pause, but it was shorter this time. “We could allow that.”
“Thank you. Was there anything else?”
“Not at this time, Agent Trent. We’ll end the call here. Do remember that you need to call out-of-sequence on Monday during our office hours.”
“Of course,” he answered as he signed off. He lowered the phone into the cradle carefully, not wanting to cause a clatter, but aware that he wasn’t quite as steady as usual. This hadn’t gone the way he’d expected at all.