Kathryn Morris UK

In the interview room, Vera placed the cup of coffee down in front of Sharon, as he and Kat sat down.

“All right, we’ve got people looking for Omar where you said.” Kat said. “We still have some questions though. We still don’t know what happened to Jeff.”

Sharon nodded solemnly. “I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t risk putting Omar in danger. I have a pretty good idea though. Jeff’s boss Bob Garrison didn’t trust him to finish the job. He sent in some of his private security to take him out. We got a taste of them first hand.”

“They came after you?” Vera said.

Sharon sighed. “Jeff was already putting together a plan when they came to Omar’s house. I wasn’t sure about everything he was doing, but after I saw what kind of people were after Omar, I understood…”

***

Sharon looked out the window dark street, then headed into Omar’s living room where Omar was listening to Jeff and Steve.

“I checked out the body your girl Bonnie got us.” Steve  said. “Should do. What about the dentist?”

“We’re picking him up ten tonight.” Jeff said. “I got a warehouse set up we can use.”

Steve shook his head. “I just hope he was worth the trouble.”

Jeff turned to Omar. “I’m setting up a new identity for you. It’ll take another day or two but I’ll have a new place to live lined up for you, someplace safe.”

“Where?” Omar asked, looking puzzled.

Jeff smiled and patted Omar on the arm. “The last place they’d ever think to look.”

Omar looked at him for a moment. “I still don’t know why you’re doing all this, risking everything you have, just for me.”

Jeff sighed. “Same reason I joined the Company all those years ago, and the service before that; I wanted to protect American lives.”

Omar smiled slightly, then turned to Steve, who just shrugged.

“Me, I just didn’t have anything better to do.”

Jeff chuckled slightly, and turned back to Omar. “Anyways, we’re still gonna need you to testify about what you told me about one day. Until then, we gotta keep you safe.”

“Yeah, so-” Steve turned as he caught the glare out the window of the headlights from a large dark van pulling to a stop on the street. “Hey, we got company.”

Jeff frowned. “They must’ve doubled back.” Jeff quickly turned to Steve. “Go out the back. Take Omar to your place. We’ll call you in an hour. If you don’t hear from us, stick to the plan.”

Steve looked at Jeff. “What are you gonna do?”

“My job. Trust me.”

Steve shook his head and led an uneasy Omar out towards the back door. “Sure hope you know what you’re doing.” He said quietly.

“So do I.” Jeff said, watching a pair of men in dark uniforms moved in towards the house.

“Jeff?” Sharon asked, holding Jeff’s arm.

Jeff turned to his wife and smiled. “You remember Germany?”

Sharon smiled back. “How could I forget?”

Sharon hurried off, while Jeff turned towards the door. He could make out the sound of a lock being picked, then folded his arms as the door opened as a pair of a flashlights and handguns were pointed at his face.

“Looking for someone?” Jeff asked with a bored look on his face.

“Agent Royce?” The lead mercenary, a dark-haired man with a cold stare, said. “Where’s the house’s occupant?”

Jeff frowned. “He’s being dealt with. It’s not your concern.”

“We have orders to take the suspect into custody.” The dark haired man said.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you do.” Jeff said, narrowing his eyes. “Moreno, isn’t it? I know all about you guys. I don’t need any help, especially from a bunch of cowboys like you. This isn’t Desert Storm. This job needs a scalpel, not a damn chainsaw. Until I hear otherwise, this is my assignment.”

“Not anymore.” Moreno said. “Now I’ll have to ask you to remove yourself from the premises.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Moreno and the other mercenary raised their weapons.

“This is your last warning, Agent Royce.” Moreno said. “Exit the house immediately.”

Jeff uncrossed his arms and shrugged. “Okay, have it your way.”

As his arms dropped to his sides, Jeff shook his right had slightly. An instant later, he saw a quick pair of muzzle flashes in the corner of his eye, and made out two muffled shots of a silenced weapon. The two grunting mercenaries dropped the guns from their now bleeding hands. In a swift move, Jeff threw a quick punch into Moreno’s nose, then an elbow into the nose of the other man, knocking both of them to their knees.

Jeff kicked away one gun, then scooped up the other and trained it on the two mercenaries. He grinned proudly as he watched Sharon walk back into the room, holding her own silenced weapon on the two men.

“I don’t think you’ve met my wife Sharon. Met her when I stopped by the base in Germany where she was serving her tour. Instructor for advanced weapons training.” He gave her a sly smile. “Still the best shot I know.”

Sharon smiled back, then turned back to the mercenaries. “I think it’s time you both left.”

“I’d listen to her if I was you.” Jeff said. “You’ll be on the floor before you can call for backup.”

Moreno and the other mercenary stood up slowly and glared at Jeff and Sharon.

“This isn’t over.” Moreno hissed.

Jeff snorted. “It never is. Now get out.”

Jeff and Sharon watched the two men walk slowly back towards the van, cradling their injured hands. As the van drove off, Sharon put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder and sighed…

***

Kat leaned back and smiled slightly. “Hell of a move.”

Sharon smiled back wistfully “It wasn’t my first time.”

“You think they killed Jeff?” Kat asked.

“From what Jeff told me, they’ve killed for less.”

“Those guys were hired by the CIA?” Vera asked.

Sharon shook her head. “Private security on Bob Garrison’s personal payroll. He used them for ‘off the book’ assignment he didn’t want his superiors knowing about.”

“How’d he afford that?” Vera asked.

“Jeff and Steve did some digging into his financial records. Ethan Moore wasn’t the only one taking money.”

Kat and Vera looked at each other.

“They weren’t interested in bringing Omar in alive. Their job was to make him disappear”

“But why?” Kat asked. “What did Omar know?”

Sharon shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. Omar only told Jeff, made him promise not to tell anyone else.” She looked at the detectives. “Which means Omar’s probably the only person alive who knows why all this is happening.”

***

 Stepping out of the car, Scotty and Cavanaugh looked around the sunny suburban neighborhood, before Scotty pointed to a small house just up the street.

“Let’s hope Sharon Royce’s info’s good.” Scotty said, walking over to the house.

“DMV records checked out” Cavanaugh said.

“Guess you and Lil are gonna be doing a lot of travelin’.”

Cavanaugh gave Scotty a dull look. “Well that is how it works when you’re a federal agent.”

“Yeah, and if you see someone you like, you scoop them up too.”

Cavanaugh stopped. “I’m not gonna apologize for trying to recruit good people, Detective. As I recall, Yates thought you might be FBI material yourself.”

Scotty frowned. “I’m fine where I am.”

“Well maybe Rush isn’t.”

Scotty rolled his eyes. “Sure that’s the only reason you’re interested?”

“Meaning what exactly?”

“Nothing.” Scotty said, with a hint of a smirk. “You just seemed a bit concerned when you showed up at the bomb site. You two worked a lotta long hours on that Woodstock case of yours, didn’t you?”

“I’m not interested in talking about this with you.” Cavanaugh smiled. “Besides which, you really don’t have any business lecturing anyone on office relationships, do you, Detective?”

Scotty rolled his eyes again and said nothing.

“Like I said before, just because you’re not interested in something new, doesn’t mean she’s not.”

Scotty’s smirk returned. “You mean something better.”

Cavanaugh looked at Scotty. “I say what I mean, Detective.”

The two walked up to the driveway of the house, which had a mid-sized propped on a trailer attached to a minivan. A thin, slight-looking Arab man in his fifties emerged from around the other side of the van to inspect the trailer, before he looked up and noticed the two men.

“Ahmed Zahir?” Cavanaugh asked.

The man nodded.

Scotty gave the man a friendly smile. “Nice boat. You plannin’ to take her out?”

The man smiled back. “Well, the wife’s out of town for the weekend, and the kids are staying with friends, so I thought I’d get in some fishing.”

“You know they got some decent fishing spots around Philly.” Scotty said. “You ever been there?”

“No.” He said, shaking his head.

“Ah well, just gotta be careful though.” Scotty said. “Boat accidents are pretty common. Actually, I heard about a guy in Philly, died in a boating accident a few years back. ‘93, I think it was.” He turned to Cavanaugh. “What was that guy’s name? Omar…?”

“Omar Khalid.” Cavanaugh said, almost deadpan.

Scotty snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that was his name.” He reached into his pocket. “Actually I got a picture of him right here.” Scotty pulled out a small photo of Omar Khalid and held it up to Ahmed. Aside from some less gray in his hair and wear on his face, there was no mistake. “He look like anyone you know… Ahmed?”

The color drained from Omar’s face as he looked and the photo. He closed his eyes and shook his head, suddenly looking even older and more worn. “I’ve been dreading this day for seventeen years.”

“No one’s looking to get you in trouble, Omar.” Scotty said, his tone softening as he and Cavanaugh flashed their badges. “I’m Detective Valens, Philly Homicide. This is Agent Cavanaugh from the FBI. We’re looking into the murder of Jeff Royce. His wife told us where to find you.”

Cavanaugh looked around the street. “Hell of a hiding spot they picked.”

Scotty nodded. “Yeah, right in the middle of Langley, half hour commute from CIA Headquarters. Talk about hiding in plain sight.”

Omar said nothing.

“We know that certain people were after you and that Jeff protected you.” Cavanaugh said. “There was also a bombing in Philly that killed an ex-CIA agent two days ago that someone’s implicated you in. I think they were trying to force you out of hiding.”

“A bombing?” Omar looked at Cavanaugh incredulously.

“Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to find you.” Scotty said. “One thing we still don’t know though is why. We know you’re not a terrorist, so what is it about you that’s so dangerous?”

Omar looked at the two men and sighed. “You know, where I come from, there was so much destruction, suffering. When I came to America, I thought I could start over, leave it all behind.” He looked far off for a moment as his voice grew hoarse. “I never imagined it would follow me here…”

***

 Kandahar, Afghanistan

August 13, 1986.

Omar shook his head as he walked down the steps into the dusty basement. He’d already sworn this would be the last information he gave them. Not that he had any love for the Soviets, but he simply wasn’t a soldier. Just coming here made him nervous.

What if someone saw me going in or coming out? He thought. After this, I’m leaving. I can get a job in any city. Someplace safer.

An imposing looking mujahideen soldier, standing in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs, holding an AK-47, gave Omar a steely look, which softened as he recognized him.

“I have the reports you asked for.” Omar said in Arabic, holding up the small stack of papers he was carrying. “We agreed I was done after this. I’m not cut out for this.”

The mujahideen nodded and stepped aside, allowing Omar to pass through. Omar walked nervously down the hallway, unsure of what room he was supposed to go to, when he noticed the muffled cries coming from behind the door up ahead on the right. Omar paused for a moment, then went forward again, and found himself opening the door.

When Omar stepped in the room, the first thing he saw the man handcuffed to the metal table, with a cloth covering his face. Omar looked over to see a light-haired Caucasian man looking over the handcuffed man with a frown. He nodded to two mujahideen off to the side, who walked over carrying a large hose. One of them turned a nozzle at the head of the hose, which began spraying water over the handcuffed man’s face. The handcuffed man immediately began shaking violently and let out a muffled scream.

This went on for several seconds until the light-haired man held up a hand, and the mujahideen turned off the water. The light-haired man pulled the cloth off the man’s face. The handcuffed man was bald, middle aged, with his eyes wide with terror.

“All right, let’s try this again.” The light-haired man said in English, with what sounded like an American accent. “Where are the Soviet convoy routes?” He turned to another man standing next to him. “Tell him we know the reports go through his office.” He turned back to the handcuffed man. “Where are they, Rashid?” He asked, his voice raising. “Tell me!”

The translator, a young-looking man, calmly repeated the light-haired man’s words in Arabic. He then leaned forward and strained to listen as Rashid whimpered something in Arabic between sobs.

The translator looked up at the light-haired man. “I swear I don’t know.” He repeated dispassionately. “I’m just a low-level worker. They don’t tell me anything. Please believe me.”

The light-haired man looked back at Rashid with a glare. “You’re doing this to yourself.”

He pulled the cloth back over Rashid’s face and snapped his fingers at the two mujahideen carrying the hose. “Again!”

Rashid wailed until the two men started spraying his face again, causing Rashid’s body to shake even more violently this time.

Omar who had been watching silently with a horrified look on his face, finally began to step backwards towards the door. As he did, he bumped a table, the noise causing the others in the room to turn in his direction.

As the light-haired man looked at Omar, a murderous rage came over his eyes. Before Omar could do anything, the light-haired had rushed over, grabbing Omar’s chest, and pushing him through the doorway, into the wall of the hallway outside.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The light-haired man hissed. “You think that’s any of your business?”

“I… I didn’t see anything.” Omar stammered in English.

The light-haired man’s eyes widened. “You speak English?”

Omar opened his mouth, but said nothing, unsure of what to say.

“It’s all right, Mr. Garrison.” The translator said nervously in English, rushing over to them. “He’s just a civilian worker who’s been passing us information. He’s not a threat.”

Garrison turned his glare to the translator. “He is, now that you told him my name!” Garrison pulled a heavy-looking gun from his belt and pressed it into Omar’s head. “I’m afraid your boys are going to have a mess to clean up.”

“Wait!” The translator said, grabbing Garrison’s arm. “You don’t have to do this! He’s not a threat!”

Before Garrison could respond, one of the mujahideen in the room shouted something in Arabic and pointed to Rashid, who was still shaking, even without water being sprayed on him.

Garrison and the translator ran back into the room. The translator placed his ear on Rashid’s chest. “I think he’s having a heart attack!”

“Dammit!” Garrison shouted. “Get the medic in here!”

Finally regaining his bearings, Omar dropped the stack of papers he was still holding, and started running towards the stairs.

“Hey! Hey!” He could hear Garrison yelling behind him. He didn’t turn to look, but ran past the startled mujahideen at the doorway, up the steps, and out the doorway as fast as he could…

***

Omar shook his head. “What he had them doing, I think they call it ‘waterboarding’. The man’s name was Rashid Kamal. He was a local bureaucrat they’d abducted for information. I heard later that he didn’t make it. In fact, they told me it turned out he was telling the truth. He didn’t have clearance to anything sensitive. He really didn’t know anything.”

“And what happened after you left?” Cavanaugh asked.

“I got as far away as I could. I heard later that man, Garrison, was looking for me but I never saw or heard from him again after that. It never occurred to me it would still matter by the time I came here. I figured everyone would have forgotten by then.” Omar swallowed. “I know I tried to.”

“You told Jeff what you saw?” Scotty asked, thoughtfully.

Omar nodded. “He set up this hiding place, got me a new identity. He said he didn’t trust anyone else, so he set it all up himself. Jeff said I’d be safe here, and told me to be ready to tell people what I saw when the time was right. But after I heard he was killed, I wasn’t sure that would ever happen.”

“All right, you better come with us, Omar.” Cavanaugh said.

Omar looked at them. “Am I under arrest? What about my family?”

“You can call them and let them know you’re okay.” Cavanaugh said. “We just need to get you someplace safe for now, until we can get Garrison into custody.”

“Believe me, Omar,” Scotty said, leading them back to the car. “The time is definitely right.”

***

“Yeah, okay.” Stillman said, before hanging up the phone and turning to Lilly, Vera, and Jeffries. “Scotty and Cavanaugh have Omar secure. They’ll have him brought back here once they’re sure it’s safe.”

“So all this was all to cover up a guy getting waterboarded back in the eighties?” Vera asked with a frown. “You don’t hear about any of the guys stationed at Guantanamo sweatin’ about this.”

“Well, it wasn’t always kosher, Nick.” Stillman said with a shrug. “They prosecuted the Japanese for waterboarding after the war.”

“That kind of scandal can’t be good if you’re trying to work your way up the CIA ladder.” Lilly said. “It’s not the only thing I found on Garrison either.”

They looked up to see Bob Garrison being led into the squad and towards an interview room by an officer.

“We still don’t have anything tying him to Jeff’s murder.” Stillman said quietly. “We gotta put him at the scene or connect him to someone who was.”

Jeffries leaned over to Stillman. “How’d you get the brass to sign off on you bringing him in anyway?”

Stillman gave a small facial shrug. “Well, chain of command’s a little fuzzy right now. They still haven’t settled on a replacement for Doherty. Figured I might as well take advantage of the power vacuum.” He turned to Lilly. “Come on.”

***

“Been looking at the info you provided on Omar Khalid, Director Garrison.” Stillman said, holding a folder. “Not as much as I thought there’d be.”

Garrison shrugged. “What can I say, Lieutenant? Terrorists don’t always fill out the census forms.”

“Well, we’re just trying to find out what this guy’s done that makes him so dangerous.” Lilly said, sitting across from him at the table.

“The whole reason my job exists is to stop people before they do something dangerous.”

“Well, you certainly put in the effort.” Lilly said, leafing through the pages in the folder in her own hand. “Made inquiries to Interpol, foreign intelligence agencies, INS, anyone to try and track him if he crossed a border or came here. A lot of effort to look for one guy.”

“Everyone was still focused on the Cold War.” Garrison said. “Somebody had to pay some attention to the next threat.”

“Huh.” Lilly said. “You ever been to Afghanistan, Director?”

“Once, just after the Taliban fell.”

“No, I mean back in the eighties.” Lilly said, smiling. “Back when Omar was still living there.”

Garrison’s face remained neutral. “I wouldn’t have had any business over there back then.” He held up his finger and thumb close together. “Though even I did, I think that’s just a little bit out of your jurisdiction.”

“Well, I’m sure there’d be a few people interested.” Stillman said.

“As I said, I didn’t have any business over there.”

“Well, maybe we should ask Omar about that.” Lilly’s smile widened. “If we ever find him.”

Garrison’s eyes darted from Lilly to Stillman and back, but his face remained impassive. “Maybe you should. Of course, the word of a fugitive suspected terrorist against a senior government official with over four decades of service, not exactly the strongest of cases.”

“Jeff Royce thought differently.” Stillman said, his eyes narrowed at Garrison.

“Well I guess Jeff was getting a bit confused about which side he was on, but that happens to undercover operatives sometimes.”

“Is that why you sent that private commando team in to finish the job?” Lilly asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. My department’s never used private security.”

“Hmm, funny. That’s not what Ray Martin said.” Lilly said.

Garrison moved his head ever so slightly.

“Oh you remember him, the agent looking into that missing money.” Lilly pulled a page from the folder and looked it over. “He wrote a memo about it. Said he was concerned about some of it being used to fund a private security unit for some ‘off the book’ assignments. He wanted to follow up on it. Too bad you sent him on that mission in Prague he wasn’t cut out for, the one he never came back from.”

Garrison nodded. “Let me guess. Souvenirs from the collection of Steve Mitchum; disgruntled burnout. Again, not the best witness.”

Stillman leaned in. “If Ethan Moore stole that money and those commandos answered to you, that leaves the question of who was really blackmailing Ethan?”

“And who had a bomb planted in his motel room?” Lilly asked. “Maybe even had Jeff taken out?”

Garrison smiled. “Those are some good questions. You really are tenacious. No wonder Cavanaugh wants you. Hey, when you see him next, ask him about that poor fiancee of his. Is he still telling people it was a head-on collision?”

Lilly’s face slackened slightly.

“Oh, he didn’t share that with you?” Garrison asked. “Well some people like to keep things close to the vest.” He looked up at Stillman and grinned. “Kind of like the Lieutenant here and, what was her name? Abby…. Donovan?”

“All right, back to the question.” Stillman said, looking stoic as Lilly tried not to look at him.

“Right, well, I think I’ll let my lawyer answer that. I took the liberty of calling him on the way here.” They looked up towards a knocking sound to see a dark-suited man with a briefcase standing in the doorway next to a frowning Jeffries. Garrison gave the man a nod and stood up. “Well, what do you know? Anyways, this has been enlightening, but I think I’ll be going now.” He smiled as Lilly looked at him. “Don’t feel too bad. I was conducting interrogations before you were in a training bra.”

Stillman stepped towards Garrison with a glare, but stopped as Lilly stood up.

“I wonder what your bosses at Langley are gonna think about this?” She asked.

Garrison looked back at them with a hint of surprise. “Oh, you didn’t hear? I put in my retirement today. So here’s to new chapters.” He gave the two one final nod. “Be seeing you.”

Lilly watched Garrison walk out of the squad until he was out of sight. “Sooner than you think.”