Black And White Ops

“Oh, this is absurd,” Monique snapped in English. The man looked at her funny and she stepped up to the counter and slapped one of the bundles of paper cash she’d found in her closet. She switched to Russian: “Here take some of this, it’s worth far less, but we need to get moving.” And she looked down. To her horror she realized the money she’d slapped on the counter was from the 1940’s.

“Where you get this?” the man asked. He picked up one of the bundles and stared at her. The other man picked one of them up and looked at it with wonder. They begin examining the money.

“I think something is very wrong here,” he told them. “Perhaps you tell me what is happening or I make a phone call. I don’t like to be played for a fool inside my own company.”

Before he could say another word, Rick had an automatic out and in the man’s face. The other man froze when he saw the barrel pointing two inches from the nose of the bald man and let the bill drop to the counter. Rick stepped forward and grabbed the super drive, shoving it in his pocket.

“Looks intact,” he said turning it over. “You two can keep the cash we just dropped.” He handed the gun to Monique. “Cover them, I’ve got to use the computer back here,” he told her in English. “I just told my comrade to shoot you in the balls if you move,” he said to them politely in Russian.

While Monique held the gun on them, Rick went behind the counter and used the computer. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but it didn’t take much time. He punched some keys, nodded, punched some more keys and frowned. He waited a few more minutes and tapped more keys. While she stood in silence she saw Rick’s face go solid. Whatever he was looking at was something unexpected. He walked out from behind the counter, and turned to the men as he retrieved the automatic from her.

“I thank you gentlemen for your help,” he said to them as he backed away with her to the door they had entered. “You can keep the money for all the trouble we have caused and are going to cause you. And by the way, you can tell the SVR whatever you want, but I would hide that old money.

They swiftly got inside the Ford and headed down the street.

“That was a stupid thing to do,” he told her. “Bringing out the old Rubles. You damn near got us killed in there. In the future, don’t make a move unless I tell you to.”

Monique had let him drive and was sitting in the passenger seat. “Sorry,” she said,” I took some initiative because I thought the guy was getting obstinate. I thought the extra cash would make him let us grab that device and go. I forgot it was old money. What did you learn when you were on the Internet? It didn’t take you long. Aren’t you afraid the SVR will trace whatever connection you made?”

“They can trace it all they want,” he told her. “The server is located in India and will be terminated in the next three minutes. The account was a special one I have for emergencies. Our situation qualifies as one.” He turned the wheel and made a quick, hard right onto a side street.

“What I learned,” he continued. “Is that it won’t be easy getting out of this place. The agency doesn’t want to soil its hands after the bomb went off yesterday and they will have to get us out on a new schedule. They want the super drive or we’d be left to find our own way out of the country.”

“So when and where are they picking us up?” Monique asked him. She checked her face in the rear view mirror and made sure no one was following them.

“It’s not the when which has me concerned,” he told her. “It’s the where. The damned agency wants to pick us up in Archangel.”

“Wait a minute,” Monique interjected. “That’s on the other side of the continent.”

“You got it right,” he said to her. “Near the Bering Sea. And only about a few thousand miles from here. No problem, they’ll be willing to wait till we contact them again. The train ride is going to be fun.”

“That’s insane!” she yelled. “Why can’t we take an airplane? Are they so cheap we have to use a train?”

“The SVR will be watching the planes,” he told her. “They’ll be watching the trains too. But not so closely because the train makes a lot of stops. They’ll be suspicious about a Muslim couple from one of the Asian republics, but not as suspicious as they might be of an African American lady.”

“You’ve got a change of identities?” she asked him.

“All packed up and ready to go in storage not two miles from here,” he explained. “As long as I can stay one step ahead of the SVR, we’ll be safe. I know some Ugar, which will work as a cover. I’ll teach you some basic phrases in case anyone stops to ask you. I hope you don’t mind wearing the full-face chador, because it will avoid a lot of questions.”

“Great,” Monique said. “Just like back in Philly.”

“What do you mean?” Rick asked.

“Lots of Black Muslims in Philly,” she told him. “You see the women walking around in full chadors all time. At least the more hardcore ones. Always thought of them as historical reenactors. Guess I get to find out what it’s like to be inside one of those things twenty-four seven. Nobody in my family ever went in that direction.”

Rick gave the car some gas and went it the direction of the train station. He didn’t tell her everything he’d found out. There were other reasons the agency was taking over and directly handling their case. It wouldn’t do her any good to be troubled by the new information. Right now he needed her calm and in support of him. Any news he might give to her about how messed up this operation really was could get them either killed or captured by the SVR. In their situation, it might as well be the same thing.

Rick turned and looked at Monique. She was very beautiful and he really wished he hadn’t run into her in this situation. It had taken every bit of self-control to keep his hands off her body when they were both in that bed. He’d been with a few black women in the past, but none with her magic quality. Monique was a woman he would like to have around long term. And he speculated he might be falling in love with her. Damn! He had to stop that! No falling for female operatives while on assignment. It was one thing to party it up later; another when doing so could compromise the assignment or put your life at risk. Too many agents in the field had fallen for some local talent and got themselves killed. It wasn’t worth the risk, dammit!