SAFE HAVENS: Shadow Masters (A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel Book 1) (25 page)

Draeger was surprised to hear the latest update.
Well, now there is an interesting twist. Nice work CPD. Keep busying yourselves with the nonsense.

“And how is Maggie doing? I hear she is in a coma?”

“Yeah, they don’t even know if she is going to come out of it. Doctors keep saying we just have to keep waiting and monitoring her progress. Clearly it means they don’t know either.”

“Probably so, but I know they are top notch over there.”

“I suppose. Guess I should give them more credit.”

“I think asking questions and keeping them on their toes is always best. I am sure you are doing the right thing. How is work, they give you some time off then?”

“Yeah, just spoke to them. I have time off…permanently.”

“No way. You didn’t quit did you?” Draeger was loving this.

“No, they gave me some time but since I am foreign tagged I have to be able to deploy when called. They called and I can’t deploy. That violates the contract so they need someone else.”

“I thought you were government, though.”

Havens lowered his voice as if it would really stop someone from hearing over the unsecured line.

“Pres, I don’t know how they ended up spinning the thing. I was govie then not govie, signed all these crazy papers that made me an employee of some company, but then it still counts for some things and not for others. I think we outsmarted ourselves to cover our tracks and now I don’t even get a severance.”

“Can’t you raise that to the boss or program director?”

“Well, that too is a great example of our genius compartmentalization. I don’t even know who I report to. I have a handler that I report to but I only know people along the horizon of my group and no tiers above. I am tasked unwitting to the client or intermediaries. It was a brilliant idea until I got canned. I don’t have time to look for a job. And now Chicago is like the worst possible place I could be to find a job for the work I do.”

Havens sighed over the phone.

“Sorry, Pres, I didn’t mean to shovel my shit your way like some sad ass pathetic guy who lost everything.”

“Well Sean, you are a sad ass pathetic guy who lost everything, but fortunately for you, you did manage to keep a couple friends along the way.”

“Thanks, man. So what can I do for you or were you just calling to say hello?”

“Just calling to see how you’re holding up and to tell you I am coming through the area today. Can you break free for a bit? I can even meet you at the hospital if that is easier.”

“I could use the company, actually. I wouldn’t mind getting out of the hospital for a bit. I’ve been here every spare moment between attending to the funeral or making sure the house was getting put back together.”

“The shit you must be going through…I feel for you. Well I land in about five hours over there. Do you want me to meet you somewhere near the hospital?”

“Sure, there are a couple decent places we could go to. How long are you in for?”

“Just the night. I will book over at the old Palmer House. Always liked that place.”

Havens smiled having recently recollected his times with Jerry there in his younger days.

“Sounds good. You sleeping any?”

“Not much. Let’s talk when I get in. I’ll call you when I am about 10-15 out from your position.”

“See you then.”

“Out.”

Havens walked back in to the hospital to sit with Maggie some more. As Havens exited the elevator he saw the orderly standing at the door of Maggie’s room peeking in from the side of the frame.

“Can I help you?” Havens asked hoping to startle the lurking orderly.

“No,” the orderly replied, unperturbed. Walking away he added, “Just checking for linens,” without turning to Havens.

Satisfied, Havens sat back in his chair where he would wait until the evening when Draeger would arrive. He brushed his daughter’s hair with his fingers.

I’m just glad your mother didn’t see you like this.

He would sit for hours holding her hand hoping for a squeeze or any sign of movement. Looking for some sign of life.

Prescott Draeger finished his meeting with Harrison in his hotel suite at the Palmer House. Havens had introduced him to the hotel years back and found it suited him. He would call Sean in about thirty minutes from the hospital’s main entrance to start the pitch and hook process of recruitment.

Over the past few days during his restless evening hours he reminisced about being at the Havens home. Christina was always very kind to him. Of all the men she was ever introduced to by her husband, Prescott was the only one she called by his full first name and not a nickname as the others would be called. She once told Draeger in one of their few exchanges before the guys headed down to the basement how she liked his name and enjoyed saying Prescott. Prescott, in turn, liked hearing her say his name. She was a beautiful woman with a penetratingly charming voice. Yet he maintained no illusion that her demeanor and attention to him was flirtatious. Christina Havens was just a sweet woman who was innately kind and devoted to her husband.

Their daughter, Maggie, was the same way. Maggie would always extend a casual hello from the kitchen table where she did her homework. Draeger had only engaged her once when he saw her writing a report on the significance of President’s Day. Prescott praised her for the topic choice but was chagrined when she responded that it was just assigned. Havens laughed, knowing how patriotic Draeger was, and chided him on it being simply a nice day off. By that time Maggie had disconnected herself from the conversation and continued on with her studies in another room.

On weekends when the men came by, it was not uncommon to see Maggie and her mother watching a movie together in the family room. They were a nice family and Havens was both appreciative of it and deeply attached. In Draeger’s mind, Havens was too attached to fully maximize his natural talents to rid the U.S. of its adversaries. Draeger would miss seeing Christina and hearing her say his name. No matter, he couldn’t have her. He could, however, have her husband. Draeger estimated that he would have Havens in his pocket in a matter of hours. He smiled as he rolled his shirtsleeve cuffs up.

Draeger called Havens twenty minutes early from the admissions area with the intent of flustering Sean a bit. Not expecting Draeger to be at the hospital so early, Havens rushed to the elevator so he wouldn’t keep his friend waiting. Havens lightly jogged through the long corridors navigating the labyrinth of paths and found his buddy, Pres.

He and Draeger got along well, being more intellectuals than hard men. Draeger had the formal ex-military pedigree but rarely acted like a former soldier. He was amazing at his work, but horrible on a team.

In the mixed presence of operators and analysts, Draeger and Havens fit somewhere in the middle, which most of the time meant they didn’t fit in with either circle. Like their status amongst peers, they were grey men. Like their jobs and their covers, their color of grey was blacker than coal.

While capable of extreme violence, both men would prefer a good conversation to an operational takedown. At least on most days. They preferred the hunt over the capture, the game and chase over the kill. After a surviving a close scrape in Iran together, Draeger and Havens had the makings of a deep friendship, but for reasons unclear to Sean, Prescott Draeger preferred to keep his friend at arm’s length. He pushed him away even more after Iran. Havens wondered at the time if Draeger wanted more of a full-time friend. Not one that was shared with a family.

They greeted one another with the requisite bro hug and started the short walk to a nearby restaurant.

“So Sean, I know you’ve already got a lot on your mind right now, but I was doing some thinking on the plane about you losing your job and your current situation.”

“That makes two of us.”

Draeger smiled and nodded in affirmation of the obvious. “Right, well what exactly would be an ideal situation for you?”

“Yeah, I have actually been giving a lot of thought to that and can’t come up with anything realistic given my location and constraints with Maggie’s needs. A perfect world would be a blend of what I have been doing. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you too much about that.”

“Look Sean, I have a pretty good idea that you are not trading bonds. We both know who we are and what we do. So, if I understand you correctly, you would do some type of hybrid operational intel collection or support work domestically that would give you flexibility for Maggie?”

“That’s about it, but not even domestically. It really would need to be here. I know that the FBI or some relic of CIFA, maybe Secret Service or even the DEA may have something, but I don’t know where to start and don’t think I would have the flexibility with a government job.”

“Yeah, that is a bitch. I don’t think anything would give that type of freedom given your limited skill set outside of your niche. Can’t see anything that would turn you loose on Chicago. You’d burn the damn city down.”

“I’d be happy to burn some of this city down. That whole personal side of everything just makes me want to get in and take out the trash. Never thought I’d say it, but I feel like those spec ops t-shirts that say ‘Kill ‘em all and let God sort them out.’”

“Have you looked on Monster.com for anything in Chicago that says killer for hire?” Draeger elbowed Havens in jest as they walked the city streets.

“Nah, that’s on Craigslist now,” Sean joked back. “There’s gotta be a Homeland Security program or something out there. Turn right up here on Michigan.”

“Now that I think of it, Sean, there may be. I don’t know much about it but may know a guy who is in the city here doing work for them. Too bad I don’t have more time to find out for you.”

“What is it?”

“I think it’s called Silver Star. They have a Chicago office.”

“Silver Star? I think they were part of the funding for Christina’s funeral.”

“Oh, so you have heard of them before?”

“No, but they offered to take care of everything. I didn’t look into them. I figured there was some involvement with my employer and I knew not to ask too many questions.”

“Alright, well you may be closer than I am to this.”

“I don’t have a contact or anything. But I’m not sure I want to do a USO-type thing. It might be a bit of a stretch.”

“Well that is what I thought when I first heard of it, but the guy I know isn’t doing Honor Flights and Welcome Home events. Let me make a call. How about I have him call you direct. Can I give him your personal mobile?”

“Sure. Just have him leave me a number to call back if I have it off or miss it in the hospital. They have all these no cell phone signs up in the wing. I need to change out my phone number again but I can wait until we at least speak.”

“Will do. Let’s see if there is anything to this. See, things are looking a bit brighter anyway. I’m glad you prompted me to think of this. I had totally forgotten about Silver Star.”

“I’m telling you, man, we would be dangerous if we ever worked together again.”

Draeger put his arm around Havens’ shoulder as he opened the door to Ditka’s. “I agree. We should partner up sometime. We’d sure clean up a lot of dirt.”

“Shit, we’d probably get ourselves arrested.”

Draeger took in the sports memorabilia with little personal interest. “We’d just have to be careful. Do they have ribs here?”

“Awesome ribs. Awesome pork chops. Good red wine for you. Just don’t say Da Bears. Hate that.”

“Daaa…”

“Don’t make me kick your ass, Pres. Glad you called.”

“Two please, somewhere in the back kind of away from people. Need to discuss a presentation for the morning.”

“Come this way gentleman.” The brunette hostess, hardly in her twenties, motioned her guests to follow.

“Absolutely,” said Draeger fixated on the young hostess’ firm buttocks. “You have a very nice voice.”

“Is that the best you’ve got?” The hostess turned around with an appreciative smile to Draeger who rapidly looked up. “Thank you, no one has ever said that to me before.”

Draeger, his brow aggressively turned down, eyes assessing like a predator to prey, wet his lips with a subconscious shallow lick
. I could have you in my room tonight and kick you out before going to sleep.

“Is this table alright, gentlemen?”

“Perfect,” they said in unison.

“Your waitress will be with you momentarily.” She handed each man their menu, smiling at Draeger as she released the menu. He noticed a small-stoned engagement ring on her left hand.

Bitch. And marrying some poor sorry ass loser. I could break him. Maybe I should so you can learn everything that comes so easy to you can be taken away so fast. Whore.

Stuffed from food and wine, the two men walked a block south on Michigan Avenue before Draeger hailed a cab back to his hotel. The two parted with a handshake and loose embrace as Havens thanked his friend.

“Anything to help, buddy. I will call my guy and see if there is anything there.”

“Sounds good. Who should I expect to call? Do you have a name?”

“Let me see if it is cool first. You know how it is.”

“Indeed I do. Take care and stay in touch.”

“I’ll be close. By the way, you still keep in touch with Red, right?”

“Yeah, he was just asking about you, wanting to know if you were up for some soccer. Did you want his number?”

Draeger made his fingers into a gun gesture. “I got his number alright. Six in the six. Two in the head for good measure. Just seeing if you still stayed in touch. I know you were tight.”

“Should I worry that it will affect my candidacy?”

“No. What is between me and Red is between me and Red. It’s all good.”

“You know it was an act of a young adrenaline-driven pilgrim and not malicious, right?”

“We’ve gone through this before, Sean. It isn’t sour grapes. Red never respected me but we were always able to work together.”

On some things we agreed. Like how you would have been better off in the field with us instead of staying here with your family
.

“He just never understood you, Pres. You are a bit of an onion. If you don’t like the smell after peeling the first layer, you stop peeling.”