Chapter 22

I snatched five of the men and ordered them to follow me. I sat in one of the BMW's and tore down the street, heading for my house. When I was barely thirty seconds away from the house, two jaguar saloon cars burst through the gates and sped in the other direction. I chased after them, weaving dangerously through the light traffic. How did they even find my house?. We continued to chase them, but we finally managed to corner them, using our own version of guerilla tactics, backing them into a convenient space. We wasted no time in taking the offensive, but we soon found out that Royce wasn't in the car and neither was Matilda. We returned to the house to find out that Royce had taken care of them.

we spent the night at H.Q under protection. I was glad in the morning to hear that the mob had managed to sort things out with the Russians. I did not bother to ask how to save myself the gruesome details of the mafia. I had their man released and sent back to them. One short but terrifying chapter of my life had come to a close and so did another long and memory filled one. Somehow, the location of my house had been leaked to the mafia and in the long term, it would cause some major life threatening problems. I had to move.

I met with Khelanie at our usual spot and spoke for a while. She seemed to be the only constant thing in my life. The only thing I could be grateful for. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and looking at houses that were scouted and compiled for me. Wanting to get it over with quickly, I settled on a 2.4 million dollar manor in the middle of nowhere in Rocheport, Missouri. I had spent all eighteen years of my life in Washington and I was leaving. I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be, but overall I was just glad to be in a new safer place. The change of atmosphere was drastic but I really didn't mind. The only real problem for me was the fact that I was far away from Khelanie and David and everything concerning my mother and the Romanov mission. I tried to get the the thought out of my head, but I might be forced to drop the entire mission. No. I wouldn't let that happen.

We took a fourteen hour road trip back to Washington the next day. I waited anxiously, waiting for Morrison to call e and tell me that I had to drop the mission and I had been reassigned. He did call me later on in the day. My heart hammered in my chest, threatening to burst out and my throat felt like cotton. I wrapped my sweaty palms around the door handle and stood there for a couple of seconds before entering. Despite the air conditioned hallways and office, I had broken out in sweat. I sat opposite him and watched his smiling face, probably preparing to break the bad news to me. " Don't worry, you're still on the mission. I let out a long sigh of relief. A smile formed on my lips. " Agent Royce has been given a mission in Missouri and as for you." He paused, adding dramatic effect. " Whatever you arranged with the mobsters is working out really well because I have been receiving intel informing me that over two hundred of Romanov's men have been captured and killed and two dozen of her trades have gone south due to foreign intervention." I smiled more and shrugged my shoulders. " Right on the head."

I decided to treat myself to junk food later on in the day and it proved to be a good decision. Driving out, I saw a woman filling up her car. I froze. I stared at the woman. It couldn't be possible. The hair was different, but the face was the same. The same face I had known my whole life. The same face that comforted me as a child. After several months of searching, I had finally found my mother. Water was dripping from somewhere onto my face, making me look as if I was crying. I stared at her both confused and astounded. She wasn't in captivity. No. She was working willingly for Ivanka Romanov. I knew so because my two faced bastard of a brother was sitting in the drivers seat of the car behind her, shoving a hot dog into his mouth. I didn't know what to say or do. All along, the two of the had known. They had been working for Ivanka. It came to me as a flood of thoughts and memories. The warehouse incident was staged, practically everything was staged. I mustered all the self control I could and took a few pictures and left without saying a word to either of them. I was angry at her, undeniably, but the truth hidden deep inside me was that I missed her, but I made a promise, I swore an oath, the C.I.A came first.

The drive back to H.Q was torture. She was barely five yards away. All I had to do was say her name. To simply call out to her. She would have heard me. I didn't know how she would have reacted, but just hearing her voice would have soothed me. I had denied having a weakness my entire life. I was coming to the realization that I did have a weakness and a very dangerous one at that and my weakness had just become my enemy. My mother had just become my enemy. Just my luck.

I had the photos printed out and I sent them to Morrison's office. For the first time since I had met him, his face was blank, giving nothing away. I watched him go over the pictures several times. He raised his head and looked me in the eyes. His smile had returned to his face, but it did not reach his eyes. "Is this all you know?". I nodded my head in response. I was trying to make sense of the situation. A small part of me was telling me that he knew something about it, but I was choosing to ignore it. " Did you get a face id?" I nodded my head. " It's them aright" . He should know that. No agent could be identified on any database except the C.I.A database. " What happens now?." He shook his head. " I'm not sure, but we will figure something out. It just wasn't cutting it for me. My suspicions had been lurking in the shadows for a long time and they had finally forced themselves out. The C.I.A was deeply involved in ways I didn't know of, but I was sure they were involved somehow. There was only one way to find out.

" Why do I get the feeling you are not telling me something important?" . He laughed. " What are you trying to imply sonny?" His grin just annoyed me. " Is the C.I.A involved in the mission in any way that doesn't involve me?". He shook his head jovially. " I can assure you that..." I cut him off. " The only assured thing right now is that what you are saying is a lie." He looked genuinely surprised by my outburst. I knew I wasn't wrong. It made absolutely no sense at all that my mother would double agent the C.I.A. She was most likely being a triple agent and reporting to the C.I.A with important information. How else would we know when and where a trade or receipt of goods weeks before they went down?. We never knew exactly who the other party in the trade was going to be an d it made perfect sense. Ivanka would never be dumb enough to let that slip. Running an empire of such a magnitude, there were always bound to be moles and people with ulterior motives and personal interests. That was how we ended up entangling ourselves in the Russian mafia.

I came out of my deep thought and realized that Morrison was staring at me. " If you really want me to believe you, prove it." I could see that I was getting into his head. During our training we were told that people who overthink things were easy to crack in interrogation, because they would think you are trying to pressure them, whilst they were really pressuring themselves. I was mistaken. He did not break under the pressure, that was why he was the boss. I got frustrated and left s office. " I'll just figure it out on my own, after all that's what I've been doing all this while.

If I wasn't going to get the information I needed from him, I would get it by myself. I was already concocting an elaborate plan. I just needed to cement it was an opening.

My opening came as few days later in the form of intel that another one of Ivanka's transactions was going down. A large amount of military grade weapons from Russia were supposedly coming in. This time, we had been informed on who the suppliers were. The Russian government. Something smelled fishy. If it was really the Russian government supplying them, Ivanka would be sure to keep them anonymous. Such information could only come from Ivanka herself or her most trusted. It was either a lie to cover up another dealing with the mafia or another potentially dangerous organization. I decided that it was a trap. Ivanka was probably testing out her mole theory. She would probably capture me upon arrival and torture me to find out who gave me the information. That would all be useless because I had no name for her. The C.I.A told me and that was it. I was ready to walk into the trap. It was just the opening I was praying for. Perfect.

I was there hours before the time given for the transaction, waiting for whoever would come to come. At exactly quarter past eight, six men walked into the room, preparing for me or whoever would come. I made out David as their leader. My heart dropped into my stomach. The mob. I had completely forgotten that they would be receiving information of Ivanka's dealings. If they had gotten it, my plan was most likely screwed on a high level. I discovered moments later that they did receive the information. The doors burst open and they poured in in large numbers, each of them armed to the teeth. "Oh shit". I muttered. " I'm totally screwed."