Chapter 74
74
Rachel
Iknew it was irrational, but I was frightened about Lars’s new job.
The secrecy… his refusal to provide any details… the bizarre circumstances of the Swedish military letting him out two years early…
And now he wouldn’t be able to contact me while he was away for the next several days.
Yes, I knew that he’d had to put up with much of the same from me (as he kept incessantly reminding me) –
But like I’d said, he’d known about all of that from the very beginning.
And he had never seemed afraid about my job.
But I was definitely nervous about his.
When I kissed him goodbye the next morning, I reminded him of his promise.
“You’ll call me as soon as you can – right p>
“Yes,” he said, trying to repress a smile.
“I’m serious, Lars p>
“I am, too,” he said as his smile disappeared. “Everything’s fine – you have nothing to worry about. And I’ll call you as soon as I possibly can p>
“…alright…” I said grudgingly.
But it wasn’t alright.
It wasn’t even halfway close to alright…
So I took matters into my own hands.
When I got into work, I went to Sean Cooper in Operations. He was the research guy for all my missions and got me intel I needed on the fly when I was in the field.
“Good morning,” he greeted me when I appeared at his cubicle. “Wasn’t expecting to see you today. I haven’t got the report for Jakarta ready yet – ”
“Don’t worry about that. I, uh… I have a request that’s a bit outside the norm p>
He arched one eyebrow. “Do tell p>
“I need you to do some research on my boyfriend p>
He closed his eyes as though in pain. “Rachel – ”
“It’s not what you think. He’s former Swedish Special Forces – but they let him out two years early so he could take a job with a private contractor p>
Sean opened his eyes in astonishment. “Is that normal p>
“I don’t think so p>
“What’s the job p>
“He won’t tell me p>
Sean’s eyes widened, and he looked all around us nervously. “Um, is this a conversation you really want to have here p>
No. It wasn’t. But I didn’t really see any alternative.
“I just need you to do a search on him, that’s all. In particular, see if you can find out what he’s been up to the last couple of weeks p>
“That’s really Background’s purview,” he pointed out.
Background was the division within MI6 that researched non-essential targets…
Like the romantic relationships of agents.
“I know, and I’m sure they’re already looking into him, but I’d like you to take a crack at it p>
“On the books or off p>
Sean was asking me if he needed to keep it secret – so if something unsavory came up, my bosses wouldn’t know about it.
But if something did come up and it looked like I was trying to hide it, then Sean and I were both fucked.
I swallowed hard. “On the books is fine p>
“Alright… what’s his name p>
“Lars Henriksson,” I said and spelled it out. “He’s in the report I filed on Kabul – he was the sniper who saved me on the rooftop p>
“Ah, now I remember. Okay, give me a couple of hours and I’ll get back to you p>
“Thanks, Sean. I owe you p>
“More than you can possibly repay,” he said with a smirk, then went back to his computer screen.
A couple of hours later, Sean surprised me by knocking on the door of my temporary office. As a field agent, I didn’t spend much time at headquarters, so I grabbed a temporary room whenever I needed one.
“Hi, luv,” he said brightly as I looked up from my laptop. “Fancy a bite to eat p>
“No, I’m good. Did you find out about – ”
“I’m simply famished,” he interrupted, then said forcefully, “How about you join me for lunch p>
“…sure,” I said, finally getting the message. “Let’s go p>
We took a taxi so traffic cameras couldn’t track our cars’ license plates.
Sean didn’t say anything until we were sitting in a deserted pub ten miles from MI6. Even then, he kept glancing around like he was afraid the boogeyman would pop out of the shadows any second.
“How well do you know this guy?” he asked.
“Pretty well.” Or at least I thought I did. “Why, what did you find p>
“Are you sure he was in the Swedish military p>
I frowned. “Uh, yes – that’s where I met him. In Kabul, remember? I told you, it’s in the report – ”
“Which is what I went back to when I started the search. His name’s not in there anymore p>
“It was redacted p>
‘Redacted’ meant blacked out so that only someone with a higher security clearance could see it.
“No. It wasn’t redacted; it’s just not there anymore. Now all it says is a sniper in Special Forces. Nothing about a Lars Henriksson p>
“But – that’s – ”
“Very strange,” Sean finished. “It would take somebody way above our paygrades to alter a field agent’s report after it had been finalized and entered into the system p>
My stomach churned with fear. I felt like I had walked out into the middle of a field, and someone from the sidelines had screamed that there were land mines all around me.
Sean continued. “When I couldn’t find him in the report, I went looking in the Swedish military databases – and there’s no record of a Lars Henriksson for the last 25 years p>
“…what p>
“I checked the NATO databases as well. Nothing p>
“How is that possible p>
“It’s not. Or it shouldn’t be. It’s like somebody erased him completely from the record. No pictures, no fingerprints, no record… nothing. It’s like he never existed p>
I sat there, stunned. “But p>
Sean leaned forward. “You need to go to Background with this p>
He meant the department responsible for checking up on agents’ significant others.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“I wanted to tell you first.” Sean shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “In case Background had to p>
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to; I knew what came next.
In case Background had to bring Lars in for questioning… and then he mysteriously ‘disappeared,’ never to be heard from again.
I nodded numbly. “Right p>
“But we have to let them know,” Sean said urgently.
I winced. “Can you at least hold off for a few days p>
Sean frowned. “Rachel, if there’s a fire here – and there’s a fuck-ton of smoke, so it’s looking like there’s a goddamn fire – you can’t tip him off. If he gets spooked and runs, you’re looking at a Section 36 p>
Section 36 was the part of the penal code that dealt with high treason.
Like informing an agent of a foreign power that he was under investigation, giving him time to flee the country.
I felt absolutely sick, but I knew my duty.
“…go ahead and file the report p>
Sean raised his eyebrows. “You’re sure p>
“First you tell me I’m committing treason if I say anything to him,” I snapped, “and now you want to talk me out of it p>
Sean held up his hands like Please don’t hurt me. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it when we get back to the office p>
I nodded in silence.
“Out of curiosity, why’d you ask me to wait a few days?” Sean asked. “Why not just a couple of hours so you could talk to him p>
“Because,” I said miserably, “he had to go out of town… and I can’t contact him while he’s gone p>
Sean stared at me. “Where did he go p>
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me p>
I knew exactly how bad that sounded.
Sean’s eyes bugged out. “Rachel – ”
I gave him a warning look, and he dropped it.
When our food came, we ate in silence.
After a couple of hours trying to concentrate on my work and failing miserably, I decided to leave early. I had no idea what I would do to take my mind off Sean’s discovery, but I figured it would probably involve getting black-out drunk.
I was packing up my laptop when Sean rapped on the door again. He looked absolutely bewildered.
“What happened?” I asked nervously.
“After I filed the report, I went to Background and asked to speak to a Division Chief. Said it was a matter of utmost urgency. When I went into his office, I laid it all out while he looked at the report. After about 30 seconds, he cuts me off, smiles, and says, ‘Great. We’ll take it from here.’ And that was that p>
I stared at Sean. “…what p>
“I know p>
Given the possibility that my boyfriend might be a foreign agent, Sean’s report was the equivalent of a four-alarm fire…
And yet the Division Chief had treated it like a memo about Casual Friday.
“Did you mention my name?” I asked, stunned.
“Yes p>
“And he knows – ”
“Everything’s in the report. Which he totally ignored p>
I stared at Sean, unable to figure out what was going on. “Does this mean… that Lars could be one of ours p>
“MI6’s?” Sean whispered. “If he is, then why the fuck don’t we know about him p>
I didn’t have an answer for that.
Sean shook his head. “It’s far more likely he’s with somebody else p>
I knew exactly who he meant: Russia or China.
“Then why was the Division Chief so blasé about it?” I shot back.
“I don’t know. Maybe your boyfriend’s already in their sights and they’re getting ready to pick him up, and they don’t want us mucking it up for them p>
My stomach churned as I realized that was a definite possibility.
“All I know is,” Sean continued, “if they don’t come to you with questions, then don’t bring it up. EVER. Because I’m getting the feeling we stumbled onto something we weren’t supposed to know about p>
I was quiet for a few seconds. Then I managed to say, “Okay… thanks, Sean. I’m sorry I got you wrapped up in this p>
He gave me a sympathetic look. “Whatever it is… good luck p>
Then he walked away.
I sat there in stunned silence.
Lars… what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?