and on her way to her vehicle, two tall basketball players started harassing her. The boys were not used to being rejected and were becoming very abusive. On instructions from Sheriff Rice, she had programmed his private mobile phone number on speed dial and decided to call it. When the Sheriff answered the phone, he did not have to ask who it was, he immediately grasped the situation, picked up his office phone, dialed a number and gave instructions. Within a very few minutes, Tatyana heard the sirens of the Arlington police vehicles and four of them converged on her location as if they knew exactly where she was. The two boys were handcuffed and led into one of the vehicles and driven away.
One of the police officers approached her, offering her any further assistance she might need. Very respectfully she declined.
Soon after the incident, Eudean Rice took her under his wing, gave her a course in handguns, after which he supplied her with a small caliber pistol and a concealed weapon permit. Although she thought that she would never use the gun, it made her feel safe.
Tatyana loved everything about her new life and loved everyone in it.
One month after everyone’s return, Austin received a call from Sheriff Rice early in the morning.
“Good morning Sheriff,” said Austin when he answered the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure so early?”
“Agent Hamilton contacted me this morning and he wants to talk to you. He asked if he could give you a call.”
“Absolutely not,” replied Austin with apprehension. “Tell him he is never to call me direct. I want no one to be able to connect me to the CIA; a phone call from them would raise a lot of questions.”
“Whatever you wish Austin. I’ll ask the man what he wants and get back to you.”
“Who was that?” asked Emily.
“That was the Sheriff. Our ‘friends’ seem to want to talk.”
“Any indication what about?” she asked, with obvious excitement.
“Eudean will get back to us after when he finds out. They wanted to call us direct and I told the Sheriff to insist they never do that.”
“Good thinking, sweetheart,” a word she used a lot when addressing him. A word he loved hearing.
“Tell him we’ll meet them in Chicago if they need to talk. We need to make a trip there anyway to check on the advertising agency.”
Austin realized that his new bride was already thinking things out. Her excitement about the whole thing really scared him. He did not want to get her involved. What the hell did they know about espionage? They were a couple of amateurs and he feared things might not turn out the way he wanted. This was the big league and they were getting involved. This should be left to the boys who knew how to play hardball, the people that knew how to handle these situations as professionals.
When the call came from the Sheriff a couple of hours later, a meeting was set up at a hotel in Chicago for one week later.
*****
“Our party is already here,” said Austin as Emily and he walked towards the front desk to register.
“How do you know that?” Emily asked.
“Don’t look now, but when we turn around to head for the elevators, look around the lobby. I have never seen such an assortment of nationalities in one place.”
“Now I think you are being paranoid,” she exclaimed. This is the United States of America, Chicago in particular. Every nationality in the world lives here.
“Just notice how so many people are trying to look busy but yet doing absolutely nothing,” he replied.
After they had checked in and were assigned a pre-arranged room, Emily realized that her husband knew what he was talking about. She was amazed that he would even notice such details and realized his reasons for not wanting to talk to the CIA directly. She saw that a phone call to the Sheriff could be interpreted one way, yet a call to a private number totally differently. She held onto him tightly and somehow felt safe.
As they entered their room, Austin headed for the door connecting to the next room, unlocked their side and knocked.
The corresponding door to the next room was opened almost immediately and both Barrow and Hamilton entered.
“You are a very popular man Mr. Barrow,” said Austin after the initial greetings.
“What makes you say that Mr. Hunter?”
“Just about every nationality in the world is represented in the lobby of the hotel.”
“Very perceptive Austin”, interjected agent Hamilton. “How do you figure they are here for our benefit?”
“I have never seen so many people in one place acting busy yet doing nothing. One thing they were all doing together though, they were all watching who checked in.”
“Did you notice how many Arabs were there?” asked Hamilton.
“I noticed at least three.”
“Actually there are five of them; they are the ones we have to worry about. A couple of them are known Al-Qaeda operatives. The others might be too, but we’re not yet sure. Their pictures have been snapped and are being analyzed as we speak.”
“Why are they interested?” asked Austin
“We believe they suspect that we know something about the nukes, and want to see who we converse with,” answered John Barrow this time. “They may have snapped your pictures. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though, there is nothing to connect you guys to us. As far as anyone is concerned, you are just a couple who happened to check into the hotel.”
“And what makes you so sure, director?” asked Emily.
“We can’t be a hundred percent of course, but we haven’t used a husband and wife team in a great many years, besides which you two have no ties whatsoever to us. You are not even on our payroll and that is the one ingredient that usually exposes people. Hell, with your fortune, you could almost buy the CIA. Trust me,” the Deputy Director continued, “you are above suspicion.”
Emily seemed to be satisfied with Barrow’s answer, yet somehow Austin was not totally convinced.
“What is it you want from us?” asked Austin finally.
“We have discovered that the nukes are in Lebanon,” said Barrow, grimly.
“Then go get them. Why did you ask us here?”
“We don’t know who’s got them. We only know they are there,” replied Barrow.
“You are kidding, right?”
“We don’t kid about crap like this,” interjected Hamilton, clearly annoyed at the way Austin kept addressing his boss.
“Don’t get in such a tizzy Brad,” said Austin. “I find it difficult to understand how you guys always come up short.”
“We wouldn’t
