This is a work of fiction, using characters from the film, “Proof of Life”.  No insult or invasion of privacy or infringement of copyright is intended. The story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations.

The Lady and the Cipher

©02/2009  by: Ree

Chapter Four

Jane had her hand on the doorknob when she heard Michael’s music.  “God dammit,” she spat out, striding down the hall toward the sound. To her surprise, he’d not turned it off because he was still at home. He sat rigid in his seat, his attention glued to the monitors and his fingers fluttering over the keyboard.  “Michael!  You’re not dressed! It’s a weekday!”

He looked up, his eyes not quite focused on her.

“You’re not still playing that game, are you? I thought you said that Venus chick tells you when it’s time to go to bed.”

“She did. I stopped hours ago. This is isn’t SimWorld.”  A few clicks and the monitors went blank.

Her mouth fell open. He stopped playing when someone asked him to?  Who was this girl?  What little she managed to glimpse on his monitor struck a chord. “Work? From home? Jesus, Michael, you can’t do bank work at home! If they find out, you’ll lose your job.”

“You’ll lose your job,” he mimicked. “You think that, you’re stupider than I thought. What about you, you work at home. You could lose yours.”

She knew his words shouldn’t sting, that he must be agitated to act so rudely. “It’s different, I don’t work for a huge international financial institution.”

He shrugged and pushed his chair under the desk. “No distractions at home. Except you.”

Jane braced herself for a bigger argument, but none was forthcoming. “Believe me, I don’t want to distract you. We both have to get to work.  Go get ready. Now!  Jesus, I have a briefing this morning, Michael, I can’t be late!”

“Don’t be. I’ll get to work.”

“No, you’ll find something to keep you. Go. Go. Go!”

“Don’t rush me!”

“See? You’re stalling already! Jesus, why do you do this, of all days?”  Michael padded off to the bathroom. Jane looked at her watch. If she hustled, she could just make her 8 a.m. debriefing with Dino, Terry and the rest of the team. She’d wanted more time to rehearse her report, though.  Another glance at her watch did nothing for her patience. Why was he working from home? He’d never done that before. Work was work, home was for play, and never the twain met.  “Hey, Michael, who is this Venus girl again?”  She called out to him over the sounds of the sink running.

“Her real name is Debbie and she’s from Brooklyn.”

“She lives close? Have you actually met her?” 

Michael emerged from the bathroom, patting his cheeks dry after his shave. His lips were upturned in a sheepish grin. “Yeah, at our SimWorld meet-ups. We’ve had coffee together.”

“Coffee? You’ve had coffee with a girl?”

“Yeah. Why do you care?”

Jane found her mouth falling open for the second time that morning. Years, she’d waited years for Michael to show any signs of making friends, and here he was talking about possibly . . . maybe . . . perhaps . . . a girlfriend?  And why, on the morning of a big meeting?  Her head was beginning to pound.  “Later. You’ll tell me later. Ready?”

“Ready enough, okay?  Go ahead.”

“No, I need to see you go down to that subway.”

“My own sister doesn’t trust me!”

“Your own sister knows you too fucking well.  Go go go go go!”  She grabbed the messenger bag he carried and pushed him out the front door and to the elevator.  They scrambled to the subway together. Her stop was first and she nearly ran up the steps to the street. Three blocks until she reached her building. It was ten minutes to eight. She stopped in the lobby and looked at the elevators. One day wouldn’t hurt, would it? She’d be on time.

“Shit!”  She couldn’t do it; she knew what would happen if she did. One day would become two, two become three, three would become a week, and before she knew it the pounds would be sticking to her again.  She would just have to take her lumps being late.

The climb gave her the chance to review her part of the debrief. By the time she reached the top, she knew she could recite it without looking at her notes, although she’d keep them in her hand. It couldn’t look too practiced, too pat. When she reached the top, she started toward the restroom, hoping to clean up before entering the conference room, as she normally did. But the day refused to be normal.  Angie the receptionist spotted her as she exited the stairwell.

“Jane. They’re waiting for you!” 

“I’ve just got to duck in the bathroom, ten minutes.” 

“They said they wanted you first thing. I just buzzed them that you were here.”

She looked at the ladies lounge, then at the conference room. A couple minutes more wouldn’t matter, would it? A quick birdbath, she could change into the new suit she brought. “Okay, let me park my bag . . .”

“You can park it in here, Jane.”  She looked over to see Dino in the doorway, crooking his finger at her. “Now, if you don’t mind.”

Jane squared her shoulders and strode in. “I’m sorry I’m late, I had an inconvenience this morning.”

“Elevator out?”

“Not that I know of.”  She took her seat, pulling her laptop from its case.  “I took the stairs, like always.”

“Even though you were running late?” She looked around the room, everyone hanging on her answer. Except Terry, who was glancing down at documents.

“Yes, even though. I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m here now.”

“All right, all right,” Dino waved an impatient hand at her. “So you’re here, let’s hear it.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “Me? First?”

“You’re not first. We’re anxious to hear your report, Jane.”  She felt Terry’s steel grey eyes burn into her but she was not about to break her composure. Not now.

“Fine.”  She stood and cleared her throat, glanced around to locate the coffee pot. “All right then. To review, in case it wasn’t covered before, two teams were assembled to gather the employees and families of EnTech with the goal of escorting them safely to the Basrah airfield.  The Tyler team, code named Turtle, had responsibility for the Nasiryia facility.”  She aimed her laser pointer at the map. “Our team, code named Jackrabbit, was assigned the Amarah facility.  After considerable discussion and coordination among the Team leaders . . . ”

“And considerable heel-digging by a certain asshole . . . ”  Dino interjected.

“It was agreed that Turtle would escort the Nasiryia group through the alternate route. Although that route was initially rejected because of suspected land mine fields, Chief Operative for Turtle, Duke Trainor, had intel confirming that the route was no longer hot.”

She pointed out the revised route, then moved the light to the other site. “Dino and the rest of the Jackrabbit team had responsibility for Amarah. Terry manned the Finish Line rendezvous point two miles south of the airfield, liaising with the British Army, who controls this sector.”  She looked around the room. “Everyone knows this already.”

“They do, but it’s good to review. Keep going.” 

She walked over to the coffee pot, hoping that she could nonchalantly pour a cup. “Catherine monitored the team’s communications. I had the background - EnTech’s network activity, local telecommunications traffic, etc.  There were security concerns regarding the Chief Engineer’s spouse, an Iraqi national from a wealthy and unfriendly family.  The employees were told the evacuation was to be held in five days’ time, but the start time was moved up to forestall interference.”

“Woulda worked, too.  Jane, you’re eyeing that pot like it’s a lover you wanna jump.”  Dino said with a laugh.

She poured herself a cup and took a quick swig. “Just haven’t had any this morning.”  Dino grinned, and Jane could have sworn his eyes waggled. He’d never been so bold with her before, she noted.  “May I continue?” He waved her ahead with a chuckle. “Jackrabbit deployed at six a.m. local, proceeding along the specified route. Turtle departed at 7 a.m.  Everything was on schedule until I monitored a transmission initiating from EnTech’s facilities . . . ” she looked around to take the measure of the room, “. . . to the Iraqi national’s family.  I alerted Jackrabbit and the Finish Line about the breach and continued to monitor the local traffic at the same time trying to ascertain who had made the call.”  The coffee had kicked in; she felt more energized and started to pace while she talked. “Cell phone traffic picked up considerably, and by analyzing a number of factors, I was able to determine where the unfriendly interception was to take place. Again, I notified Jackrabbit and the Finish Line of the circumstances.  I think those in the field should take it from here, there’s more on my end we can address later.”

Dino stood and took the pointer from Jane’s hand. “Right. With the heads up from Lady Jane here, we immediately deployed the backup plan.  Warren One, with the Iraqi National, headed east, while Warren Two stayed on the original course southward to the Finish Line.  Warren Two was intercepted by a troop of some fifty hostile Nationals about 30 kilometers down.  After a lengthy negotiation, we granted access to our convoy for a search. They expressed extreme displeasure at being unable to locate their target.  Fortunately, during the delay, a platoon from the British Army A division showed up and convinced the Nationals that the situation was best handled through diplomatic channels.  Seeing as how the platoon outnumbered the hostiles five to one, they were easily convinced.  The platoon accompanied us to the Finish Line, where Warren One and Tortoise had already rendezvoused without incident.  From there, we continued to the Basrah airfield, where we boarded the cargo and delivered them to Texas, safe and sound.  A close call, but all in all, mission accomplished. Client’s happy and best of all, we pissed off Tyler.”

“However,” Terry rose and Dino ceded the floor to him. Jane admired their ease with each other. Where one ended, the other began. “We have some concerns. First of all the transmission tipping the nationals as to our timetable and our route.” Terry looked at Jane. “Any more about that?”

“Yes.” Jane answered quickly, feeling on steadier ground. “At first blush it appeared to come from EnTech’s Amarah’s facility, but there was a trail.”

“A trail?”  Dino asked.

“Yes, the timing seemed a little too convenient - any earlier and the British Army may have picked up their activity by satellite. I examined the transmission data more closely and was able to trace it.  To Houston.”

“Houston? Fuck, not EnTech?”

“It was clever, it bounced around a little bit, but yes, it appears to have initiated from EnTech.”

“Son of a bitch. You can’t tell where inside EnTech, can you?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Jane replied with a bow of her head. That had frustrated her no end.          

“Sabotage. Why? Jesus, people could have been hurt. Valuable people.”

“We need to find out, that’s our next order of business.”  It seemed like a cue to leave and the staff started to gather their things.  “Wait, one last question for Jane. How did you know where the hostile nationals were going?”

Jane squared her shoulders. This was it. “Given the location and timing of the call, and knowing the route Jackrabbit was taking, it seemed like the logical intercept point.”

“Logical? It was a fucking hunch?”

Dino’s sudden vehemence gave her a jolt stronger than the coffee. “No, it wasn’t outright hunch. I studied the maps, I weighed the probabilities.”

“But you didn’t know, not with absolute certainty.”

Jane gulped, hoping the lump in her throat wasn’t visible. “No. But I was correct.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Bambridge wants to know how we knew as well.”  Terry added, his eyebrow raised. “I told him I’d get back to him following our review.”

“Great, and we tell him it was a hunch by some techno-jock thousands of miles away. See if they play nice next time.”

“I’m sure you will think of something to satisfy him.”

Dino shot her an appraising look. “You ever work in the field, Jane?” 

Jane felt her jaw clench, she knew she had to hold her position. “No.”

“Well when you’ve got lives in your hands, civilian lives, lives you’re paid to protect, then goddamn it, you can’t rely on a hunch.”

“And you don’t?”

“I have experience and I use my judgment. What if they went east instead? Intercepted Warren Two?”

“They didn’t.”

“You don’t get it do you? We planned this operation. Bad enough Tyler’s group got involved and changed their route, but this is just . . . unacceptable.”

“I understand, and I take responsibility.”

“No, that’s our job.”  Dino looked around the room. “You got that everyone? You don’t play hunches, we talk out the possibilities.”  There were murmurs of assent. “Okay, you can go.”

Jane hurried out of the room with the others, wanting to blend back into the woodwork. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Catherine, her eyes filled with concern.

“Jeez, that was quite some dressing down. You okay, Jane?” 

“I knew the job was dangerous when I took it, huh?” she chuckled wryly.

“Yeah, sure.”  They walked back to their room. Catherine paused at Jane’s desk. “How did you know, Jane?”

“I just knew!” Her shoulders raised, then fell. “I just knew.”

“I don’t think they liked that answer.”

“I’ll hafta take my lumps, I guess.  But now, Jesus, I need a shower.”

“What made you late, anyway?  You’re never late.”

“It was Michael,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, lately.”

“Maybe he’s picking up on your stress. This operation was a big deal for you.”

“Could be.” She rubbed her hands against her face. “Never quite know with him, that’s the fun of it. Damn!”  Her eyes flew open. “I hate having to shower while everyone’s here. I’ll be fifteen, twenty minutes, tops,” she added, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

The ladies room was generously appointed with a small locker room and two showers on one end, a modest lounge in the center, and a traditional lav and toilet area at the other end. It was normally deserted when she made her morning trek up to the twenty-fourth floor, but at least the locker area was unused at that hour.  Jane caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she undressed. ‘“Fuck. I gave a report looking like this? I’m going to kill Michael. Destroy his SimWorld. Cut off his internet. Lock him in his room . . .” She continued her solo rant until the first hot bursts rained upon her, then she exhaled, willing the tension down the drain with the water. Better to think positively. Better to plan how she could regain Dino and Terry’s confidence. If she could find the source of the transmission in Iraq, that would go a long way.

“Jane?”  She stopped cold, mid-rub, when she heard Terry’s voice. “You in there?”

Her arm stretched across her body, instinctively covering herself at the sound of a male voice. “Terry? I’ll be out in a few.”

“No worries, if you can hear me we can talk here.”

Curiosity sharpened her wits. Interesting tactic, trying to catch her off guard. “Sure, talk away!”

“You were recruited by the FBI, weren’t you? Out of university?”

What was he getting at? “Yes, it’s all in my file.”

“But you were never a field agent?”

“No, I was an analyst.”

“And that’s how you wanted it?”

She’d finished rinsing off and stood, dripping wet, her mind racing through her options. Stay in the shower? If she were a man, she wouldn’t think twice about getting out, wouldn’t care if he was there. He knew that, too, and it rankled her.  A few seconds embarrassment would be worth making a point.  Sucking in a breath, she put one foot out, then another, then strode out.  She saw his eyebrow rise, but he made no move other than to hand over her towel. “Actually no, but I didn’t pass the fitness test. Is it important?”

Terry hadn’t expected her to walk out of the stall. He’d expected her to be taken off guard, giving him a lever to pry open the door she’d shut to them. Did she expect him not to look? To look? She had to know he would. He took her measure quickly: solidly built, broad shoulders, strong thighs and calves. But there was a pleasing roundness to her, a little extra padding on her hips and belly, and her breasts . . . weren’t uncovered long. She was all business, patting herself dry and wrapping herself up before heading for her locker.  Interesting move, he thought. “It’s the type of experience that builds teamwork. That’s what we’re all about, Jane. Teamwork and trust.”

“You don’t trust me?”  There it was again, defiance flashing in her eyes. Where did that fire come from? Why hadn’t he noticed it before? “I did my job, Terry.”

“Hmm. Did you?”

She frowned at him then looked into her locker. Deciding whether to change in front of him, no doubt. “Yes, I did. The engagement was a success, wasn’t it?”  He saw her chin set as a choice was made. She unclipped her hair from her head and smoothed it down to her bare shoulders, like an afterthought. She didn’t seem to be aware that the simplest of gestures was the most fascinating. “Almost,” she turned her head to him. “We need to find out the source of the transmission inside EnTech.”

Terry nodded, relieved to get back to the subject at hand. “Did you know anything about Duke going to work for Tyler? You were close.”

“Not at all. That totally shocked me. I really thought he wanted to retire and play golf.”

“We were surprised too. Much like we were surprised that you knew where the nationals were going to show.”

Instead of answering, she reached in to get her bra, pulled down her towel and wrapped it around her.  She slipped on her blouse next and stood, dropping the towel completely, Her shirttails covered much, but he could still glimpse the curve of her bum and wisps of delicate hair.  She stopped, panties in hand. “I don’t know how to answer that any more than I have, Terry.  I don’t know anything about Duke. And I can’t tell you how I knew where they’d be. You’re just going to have to believe me.”

“But that’s just it, Jane. We don’t know.  Give me something here.”

“Let me think for a second.” She looked down at herself, clearly pondering how to maneuver the panties.

“Do you want me to turn around?”

Another challenging look, this one with a glint of humor in her eyes. “And face the mirror? Don’t bother.” She took two careful steps into the legs and shimmied them up.

“Have you thought then? No, wait,” he held his hand up. “Before you say anything, let me tell you something.  Dino and I both left bigger firms to set up shop together. And we swore we weren’t going to have the layers, the bureaucracy that went with them.  Too many times our lives have been in danger because a key piece of information was withheld from us. Nothing’s on a ‘need to know’ basis here.  And now, Tyler’s playing games. He wants to swallow us up, or at least take us out.  Then, surprise, surprise, Duke’s playing for them now. Someone from our client’s office is setting a trap for us, and you obviously know more than you’re telling about how the operation went down.  So, I’m laying it on the line, luv. If you want to be part of this, you have to trust us, and show us we can trust you.”

He knew he’d reached her. With that last, the defiance in her eyes turned to interest.

“Sometimes it’s better not to know. Plausible deniability and all that.”

“Ah. If you’re worried about being found out, then it’s probably foolhardy in the first place.”

“I won’t be found out.”

“Then why not tell us?”

It was clear she was not the sort to rush to fill silences, and Terry waited for her to speak. “I don’t want to put you in the position of lying to people you’re working with. Like Lieutenant Colonel Bambridge.”

Terry laughed. “Jane, Dino’s the biggest bullshitter I know, we can deal with that. But only if we know what we’re to deal with.” 

She tugged on her slacks and tucked in the bloody long shirt before stepping up to the mirror.  She caught his eyes in the mirror as she took a brush to her golden hair. “Can you deal with me having hacked into DoD?”

He wasn’t sure he heard right at first. “Department of Defense? U.S.?”

“Of A.  Yes. In particular, this time, surveillance droids. I could see the clan of nationals move on Jackrabbit. Saw the whole thing.”

“No. You can’t do that. Not without detection.”  His mind raced to damage control.

“Nothing to detect. My brother . . . he’s a cryptologist. Rather a genius at it too. Between the two of us, we got in. And I know enough about networks not to get caught.  FBI analyst you know.”  The ends of her lips jerked upwards into a smile.

Terry laughed. “Well fuck me!”  She smiled, looking pleased to get a rise out of him. “Hold it, did Duke know you could do this?”

“No, I’ve only just managed it, actually. I wouldn’t have told him though. Same reason I hesitated today.”  She packed up her locker and turned back to him. “So I’ve told you. Is that enough?”  Is she part of it? The question was unspoken, but it was loud and clear.  That was good, he thought. He could use that.

“It’s getting there. Dino and I would like a demonstration of what you can do, if it’s safe, that is.”

“It is. Give me a few minutes to start my system up. And I need more coffee.”

“Okie dokie.”  He let his eyes travel the length of her. “Wait, your buttons.”  He touched one in the center of her chest. She looked down immediately to see that she’d gotten them misaligned.

“Shit,” she said, fumbling with the buttons. “And I was doing so well.”

“You were,” he chuckled. “It was a good touch, just careless enough to be ordinary.” 

“Exactly what I was trying for,” she said, finishing. “How’s this?”

“I’d say you pass inspection, luv.”

“I hope so, I hate to fail.” 

Terry watched her stride out, waiting a minute or two to leave himself.  He chuckled at the thought of Dino’s reaction to this conversation. Knowing his partner, he’d probably be pumped for details about how the younger member of their Systems Group looked like in the altogether. But that was a diversion. Dino would know right away what they had in front of them, new weapon to use against Tyler. He grinned and rubbed his hands together. Time to get to work. Lady Jane wasn’t the only one who hated to fail.

Chapter Five