Chapter 25

The good news was that the person was no more in the C.I.A and he couldn't really leak anymore sensitive information, but the bad news which was undisputedly way worse was that the person was my former boss. Even though he couldn't keep Romanov up to date as he used to he could still be feeding her valuable information. The conclusion of all of it was that every agent assigned to any mission before the 23rd of October had been exposed. I sat down and began scrolling through the list just taking in the sensitive operations that were going on. They were arranged alphabetically and the closer I got to B, the more my heart tightened. " We have to pull everyone out" Morrison was saying behind me. |" I need to tell you something Sammy" I was about to give him the go ahead, but I was sure that what he was going to say was what I had just seen. I swore loudly and stood up so fast that Morrison cowered.

I grabbed him by his throat, wrapping my fingers tightly around it. and raised him on the wall. " IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY FAMILY, I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS AND THERE'S NOT A SINGLE THING ANYONE WILL BE ABLE TO DO TO HELP YOU." I was right all along. My mother and my brother were in a deep cover mission. They thought they had Ivanka fooled, but she knew what was going on. They were sitting ducks and when the time came, she would definitely kill them. Their cover had been blown almost a month ago and that's what made it scary. for a whole month, Ivanka knew they were double agents and she was still keeping them.

I turned to look at Morrison. " Samuel, this should not leave the room and that's an order." I nodded my head. I understood what was at stake. Everything was at stake. The entire America was at stake. Four hundred and twenty three American agents were under cover all over the world and Ivanka had the power to blow their cover. It hit me and it hit hard. The companies were a rather insignificant part of her grand plan. She could get whatever she wanted from the government with the information she had. Both Morrison and I were in deep thought when a knock on the door shook us out of it. "Sorry to interrupt sir but it's urgent". Morrison beckoned for me it follow him.

My entire life I had dreamed of being invited to one of the emergency command meetings, but at that particular moment, it didn't feel much like a dream come true. It was more of a dream turned nightmare. The room was a mess of army officers and C. I. A agent of different ranks making calls and observing things that didn't make sense on large screens. The moment Morrison took his seat, the place calmed down and everyone's attention turned to us. I felt kind of awkward standing behind him. "Sir, three agents in Russia have been exposed. They were killed by the government not long ago and they sent us this video". The air was heavy as we watched the video. Our agents were beaten and killed. Beheaded. There was a sick feeling in my stomach as my eye caught their files. They all had families and two of them had little kids waiting for them at home.

Even after the video ended, the room was silent and had the air of a graveyard at midnight. I understood this wasn't the first time they had seen such videos, but these were the type of videos that one never gets used to. One of the military personnel broke the death like silence. "were working on tracing the Intel that broke their cover sir". Morrison turned to look at me. " No." I addressed everyone in the room. " We already know that... well I do, but pull everyone out. Focus on the agents in Russia first". Everyone seemed shocked to hear my voice. " Excuse me, but we don't take orders from..." The soldier was cut off by Morrison. He shouted "Do it". Almost immediately, everyone went back to work, furiously jabbing at keyboards and making international calls. A large screen covering one of the walls flickered to life with hundreds of images. Agents who were active on missions all around the world. I recognized the three images with red crosses on them.

A phone rang. It was not unusual as several other phones went off randomly, but that particular phone radiated bad news and I wasn't the only one who felt it. Almost everyone else in the room had paused what they were doing and had focused themselves on the phone. I watched in half horror as one of the agents picked it up. His fave immediately went dark. He turned around and made eye contact with me. I knew what he was going to say before he did. The call was for me.

I permitted him to put it on speaker. There was a moment of suspenseful silence. Ivanka's voice was cold and clear over the phone, sending chills down my spine. "Good evening Samuel." It seemed quite odd for her to start with a polite greeting when the reason the conversation was happening was quite impolite. She paused for a while but I refused to return the greeting. My heartbeat began to accelerate. " I'm sure by now you've figured out what's going on and who's behind it, but I will still proceed to eleborate. The drive you took was not the only one of its kind my dear boy. I am a very wise woman and I do not reduce myself to making such petty mistakes. By stealing it though, you have angered me. I will continue to expose your agents one by one until I am give what I want ". I took all that she was saying in silence. I didn't know what her demands were but I could predict that I was totally screwed. I took a deep breath." Fine. What do you want? ".

The few seconds she took to respond were rather nerve racking. Hundreds of thousands of possibilities raced through my mind. What did she want. Money? Power?. Sadly I didn't have to wait long to satisfy my curiosity. Her response came in one word, but that one word might as well have been a death sentence. As a matter of fact it was. Her voice was clearer and colder than ever when she responded. "You". At that point I was unable to control myself. I let out a gasp of shock. If anyone in the room wasn't listening intently before, their attention had been fully captured. All eyes were on me. I took a moment to calm myself down. I was panicking inside, but I had to stand my ground. "What happens if I don't give you what you want?".

Another tense moment of silence followed my question. I looked at the faces of the others in the room. Some of them seemed to be a little impressed, but the dominant emotion on everyone's face was shock and fear. Just great. " My dear child, I would. Like you to know that there are over three hundred lives resting on your head, but if that doesn't phase you then please remember that your mother and brother are in my custody. Safe for now. If that still doesn't compel you to give yourself up, then note that I am ready to break into C. I. A headquarters and take you by force. The line went dead. A few people had relaxed and were almost grinning. There was no possible way she could get into headquarters. It was impossible. Suicide... to say the least. " Urrmmm guys" the blinds had been drawn and the view was absolutely shocking.

There were like two hundred cars surrounding the building. Ivanka wasn't bluffing. She was going to take me at all cost and she was prepared. More than prepared. The room was quiet and everyone was looking at me like I had become the enemy. A lot of lives were resting on my shoulders as Ivanka had pointed out. She had chosen her words very carefully and I was realizing it. If I didn't turn myself in, I would probably be handed over once her men managed to get in. The screen with the active agents on it started changing. More red crosses appeared on the faces of agents. I turned to Morrison. " I have to turn myself in. It's the only way to stop all this. What else can we do?". He looked deep in thought. " Whitmore". It took me a second to realize he was calling someone. An agent came over. " Evacuate the area and H. Q for self destruction". The agent nodes his head and left.

Everything fell in place. Morrison wasnt about to sacrifice me. He was evacuating H. Q and the whole area for self destruction. That could only mean he was going to blow the place. I resisted a smile. Once we managed to lure Ivanka's people in, we would bury thm in the rubble. "Pull every active agent now!" He shouted the command with authority. Everyone went back to making calls and typing on their computers. The heat was back on. Twenty minutes later the necessary communications had been made to withdraw active agents and backups were being made onto the servers. They would be accessed at the new H. Q.

Three military personnel and three agents approached Morrison. It was time for him to leave. He was priority. Undoubtedly, the safest way possible had been made for him to escape unseen by our enemies. The others wouldn't be as safe, but they would most likely be effective. Morrison shocked me when he called for me to follow him. He had something under his sleeve. A plan. We were escorted to his office which had been completely cleaned out. We were made to sit at his desk and the escorts also took their places around the desk. A lever was pulled or a button was pressed unseen by me. There was a faint hiss and we began our descent into the unknown. To escape. To freedom.

It took barely two minutes to finish the descent. We found ourselves in an underground garage. Four cars and their drivers were waiting for us. We arranged ourselves into the cars and we began our drive through a dark tunnel. After thirty minutes we began to go up a slope and emerged finally into an underground parking lot. We exited and drove for another half hour before pulling into a three storey building. More agents ce to join us and we were escorted into the new command center. It was the same as the first one with agents busy with all sorts of things. I was quite surprised to see that they were the same agents.

We watched on a large screen as Ivanka's guards entered the building. They realized too late that they had been set up. The building went up in flames. A mushroom cloud could be seen all over Washington. We watched in silence. It was only a temporary victory. Other battles had to be fought and won. " What now?" I asked Morrison. "Now, you bring your mother and brother home". I had almost forgotten about them. I nodded my head. I was ready. Ivanka would be vulnerable. Most of her guards were dead and it was the perfect time to strike. I was going to take my family back and I wasn't going to play nice.