met Darren as he came down the ramp and entered the airport lounge. He still remembered his disbelief. The encounter went something like this:
“Sir, General Burcks sent us to pick you up. Come with us.”
Before Darren could get a response out of his mouth, they whisked him through a nearby door, down two flights of stairs, out another door and into a gray Mercury Marquis. One man loaded Darren’s suitcase in the trunk, jumped into the driver’s seat and shot off the tarmac so fast Darren grabbed for something to hang on to. As they sped through airport security gates and east on the Dulles Toll Road, the other marine, a major, asked, “Sir, may I have your passport?
“I guess,” Darren said, as he handed it over.
The major handed the passport to a young lieutenant, and then turned to Darren and said, “Sir, your passport will be processed and delivered to your hotel room later this evening.”
“Well, thanks, that’s great service.” Darren began to feel a mounting apprehension, much like that experienced by pets owned by taxidermists!
The car finally entered an unmarked drive at the old executive office building next to the White House and parked in an underground garage with a musty odor. The major escorted him to the elevator and General Burcks’ office on the second floor. Washington’s cold but sunny weather invigorated him after the humid ambience of Southeast Asia. Thankfully he brought a light coat.
Ms. Clark greeted him warmly, took his coat and asked that he be seated while the general finished his phone conversation with the President. Wow, heady stuff, Darren recalled thinking. A few minutes later Ms. Clark escorted Darren into the office, introduced him and stood by for further orders.
“Darren, glad to finally meet you. I hope you had a pleasant trip,” Burcks said, rising to shake Darren’s hand.
“I slept most of the way. Thanks for asking.”
“Let’s get our luncheon order in before we start.” As the General relayed their request to Ms. Clark, Darren scanned Burcks’ office, noting pictures of several U.S. presidents and numerous notables as well as an unimpeded view of the White House and Lafayette Square.
Burcks wasted no time on pleasantries. Darren could feel his heart racing lickity-split. Sweat built up in his armpits.
“Darren, your boss at Global Analysis, Faulk Landrum, is an old friend of mine. Your name came up in a recent conversation as one whom we’d like to have working with us.”
“Ahhh, so he triggered this?” Darren said with a slight smile and a nod of his head.
“He and another friend of mine at Pentagon named Al Olsen. I’ve known Olsen for years and also value his counsel. And we’ve talked with dozens of people who have known you over the years. I think our research has been pretty thorough.”
Caught off guard, blushing slightly, Darren sputtered, “Really?
“Really.” Burcks got out of his chair, stared at Darren with fire in his narrowed eyes. Then, in a voice that would have made Moses proud, he said, “Since September eleventh, two-thousand-two, times have been tough. We are scouring the landscape to find the best talent. To date I’ve found nothing in your background that would be either a security risk or embarrass the present administration, but is there anything in your background that our investigation did not find that could prove to be embarrassing to you, me or the administration? If there is, tell me now and we won’t waste each other’s time. If you don’t tell me and the issue crops up to bloody my nose, I will be very unhappy. Am I clear?”
“General, my life has been embarrassingly plain vanilla! Anyone looking at my life would be bored to tears. And,” he emphasized, shaking his head back and forth as he said, “there’s not a thing in my background to embarrass anyone. Well, maybe a bad grade in high school English, but nothing more profound than that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Sir, I am sure.” Darren shifted the focus as he leaned forward and asked, “But what do you think I can do for you? Washington is awash with talented Wannabies. I’ve never worked in government and may end up being a square peg in a round hole. If I am, that will be embarrassing to both of us.”
Burcks Leaned back in his chair and said, “Yes, there is a lot of talent in D.C. I’ve talked to many. Wannabies are a dime a dozen here. But, frankly, I don’t want a wannabies. I want a ratherbie, as in ‘I’d rather be somewhere else.’ Someone untainted by government service, a self-starter, a doer and most important, someone with international experience beyond just tourist crap. This person has got to be smart enough to know a problem when hit in the face with it and guts enough to pursue the fixes. Above all, I’ve gotta have loyalty. One hundred ten-percent loyalty.”
Silence descended. Burcks stared at Darren with an intensity that made Darren uncomfortable.
Burcks continued, “I like the fact that you don’t have an ego that needs the limelight. We’ve got too many of those in government now. Also this is a fairly hectic place. We spend most of our time reacting to fires around the world. The White House pressures me, I pressure my staff and” after a slight pause, Burcks said, “Well, I suggest you get a punching bag you can whup-up on. If we can reach an agreement, that is.” Burcks again leaned back in his chair, waiting for Darren’s response.
Darren’s lips curled slightly and he let the silence linger. He raised his head and let each word trickle out, “General Burcks, someone may outthink me from time to time, but no one outworks me.” Burcks nodded, but said nothing. Darren continued, “Could you be more specific? What would I be doing?”
“Whatever task I assign you.”
“You must have something in mind for a starter,” Darren said.
“Yes, in fact I do. I’ll want you to help analyze our international reports. We need a new perspective. And you’ve not only got the international academic studies, but you also have years of work experience in dozens of countries. I also like that you can speak several languages.”
“My language skills are only as good as the amount of time I’ve been in that country. In other words, I’m not that fluent.”
Burcks nodded understanding, pushed his chair back, and said, “I get worried. The CIA and embassy staff around the world feed off each other. Hell, with all our intelligence gathering around the world, we didn’t know that the Shah of Iran had lost all chances of holding on, that the Soviet Union and East Germany had called it quits, that the students in the People’s Republic of China planned a revolution, and we sure didn’t have a clue that some Arab terrorists were planning to fly our own commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center. Since nine-eleven things seem to have improved in that area, but I still worry.”
“Yeah, that all looked pretty bad,” Darren said.
Burcks shook his head from side to side as he said, “By and large our agents are good people. And it’s true that budget cuts during the nineties left us wanting in our espionage efforts. But I also suspect many are afraid to pass bad news to their superiors. Or they’ve gotten too cozy with their foreign contacts and have been compromised. Good lord, we’ve even found agents sleeping with the enemy.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s easy to get comfortable and careless,” added Darren.
“I don’t want to be too harsh here,” Burcks said,
