Page 30 of A Moment Never Forgotten
“I don’t remember him treating Gabe that way.” Matthew inwardly shrugged. “Hopefully, we’ll figure out a way to work together soon.” He huffed. “Even the head CIA shrink thinks I’m overstressed. He wants me to come in tomorrow night for a sleep study. You believe that shit? I don’t have fucking time for him.”
Matt took a long pull of water as though to wash away that subject. “So, you’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’m going to meet Berit at this condo that I really liked.” He slowly shook his head side to side. “I’m surprised at the difference in what Jonathan showed me this afternoon compared with what Sandi spent days showing me.”
“So, you’ll head back to Virginia Beach tomorrow afternoon?” Thank goodness Austin didn’t have basketball practice after school. He’d be able to coordinate everything himself. The idea of finding a college student home for the holidays, or perhaps a part-time nanny who would be interested in going full-time once Wyatt was born, was looking like a better idea every hour.
“Yeah. I have a few more things I need to wrap up back at my command, then I’ll spend a week to ten days with my replacement. The change of command ceremony is set for December thirtieth.” Micah sipped his water. “I have VIP tickets for the four of you, but I’ll completely understand if you can’t make it. My fingers are crossed that at her next appointment, the doctor will release Elizabeth from bedrest. That’s what happened last time. Or should I say, the first time.”
“I can only hope.” Matthew finished the water in his bottle and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “When you get back, can you do a big favor for me?”
“I can try.”
Matt glanced down the hallway toward the bedroom he shared with Elizabeth. “I need to find out why Gabriel was trying to kill Elizabeth. Everything seems to lead back to the mission in Syria. My research shows that a SEAL team went in after we left. Do you think you can get your hands on their after-action report? I’m really curious as to what they found.”
“I could do that,” Micah reassured him.
“Daddy, I’m ready for my story,” Liza called from the top of the steps.
“Me, too, Dad.” Austin stood beside her.
“How about I take Austin, and you take Liza?” Micah stood.
Matt slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help.”
As soon as they had the children to bed, Matt couldn’t wait to talk about his latest revelations with Lizzie.
Chapter Twelve
Berit rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck. She’d been staring at her computer all morning, delving into the lives of her new friends. Part of her felt terrible for looking so deeply into their pasts. The other part of her knew it was her job, which demanded her to do things she really didn’t like doing.
Several things she found fascinating. Elizabeth Saint Clare was the only translator who was ever given conversations of Nassar al-Jamil. He, and his most senior men, kept her busy.
Matthew’s files left her with more questions than answers. His background looked expertly contrived. There were little telltale signs that only an experienced agent would see. Ten to twelve years ago, CIA artificial backgrounds looked very different than they do today. Thanks to computers, the Internet, and massive databanks, with just a few clicks and keystrokes, Berit could look at a copy of anyone’s second grade report card. Matthew Saint Clare didn’t have one nor was there any record of him attending the elementary school claimed during the vetting process. Only surface information was available until his accident, but even that was suspicious.
Exactly what happened was never defined. Where wasn’t either. Those blatant omissions were extremely strange given that he was supposedly one of their top assets in Syria. She was, though, able to see that he spent several months in the U.S. military hospital in Germany before being transported to Walter Reed Military Medical Center on the other side of DC. Probing deeper into the medical records, she discovered that his face was completely rebuilt by the now-famous Dr. Jessica Kessler, plastic surgeon to movie stars. She’d spent five years in the Army practicing on the worst cases imaginable. Matthew had been one of her greatest triumphs. The two had also had an affair. Actually, Matthew Saint Clare had been a bit of a horn dog, often carousing with Gabriel Davis. Their decade-long friendship rang bells of warning.
Teagan was exactly as she expected, to Berit’s relief. She truly liked the woman. Previously an Army officer, Teagan had been an excellent helicopter pilot in the Army and would have made it a career except her mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at a very early age. As an only child, care was left to her, so she resigned her commission and went to work for the government specializing in helicopters.
Logan and Micah were exemplary military officers. She enjoyed reading how Micah climbed the ranks and how the two had remained friends after the Syrian botched mission. She’d already explored the personal side of both and didn’t bother reading through that again.
Just to be thorough, she looked into Gabriel Davis’ files. She was surprised at the depth that her position allowed her to go. She skimmed through his vetting files and was surprised to find he had been recruited while in college by Joseph Lambert. Gabe’s first undercover job was infiltrating a group of radical Muslims on campus. She was shocked at how little information there was about those interactions, especially compared to the detailed files on most other missions.
Out of curiosity, she clicked on the link for Joseph Lambert. He’d been brought to the United States as an infant as part of a Christian rescue of children from a refugee camp in Iraq. He was raised by a Baptist minister and his wife in Blakely, Georgia close to the Alabama line. Since he’d been brought over as a baby, there was no birth certificate or previous name. He’d been a good student and attended Georgia Tech. Once he’d been recruited by the CIA, he worked as a handler for several years throughout the Middle East, then returned to headquarters. For the past twenty-five years, he primarily worked in human resources and supply, what agency insiders considered the softer side.
To be equally fair, Berit then explored Noah Hennel. His father had been an Army general and he followed in his footsteps from West Point all the way through an alpha team commander in Special Forces. Their paths separated when Noah was recruited to the CIA. He spent a few years in the special operations group where he interacted with Gabriel Davis and Joseph Lambert who both ran local offices at the time. Noah moved through the management ranks of clandestine services for the next two decades and worked his way up to director of operations.
The only connection she could find was the Middle East. Tugging that thread, she hunted for information on the Syrian mission that involved Elizabeth and Mason Sinclair, Logan, Teagan, and Micah. She could find hardly anything.
Under the joint task force, there was a brief mention that the team was gearing up for an anticipated mission to blow up a munitions dump, but that was about all. Backtracking, she opened the files under each name. The mission was highlighted as a link but when she clicked on it, nothing happened. She was a far cry from the computer geniuses they employed in the subbasement, but she could think outside the box.
Redirecting, she logged into USSOCOM. Although it was a relatively new command, records of previous similar agencies had been transferred to their database. To her surprise, she again found very little. The names of the players, which she already knew, the fact that Mason Sinclair had died during the mission, another piece of old news, and that the mission was to blow up a Russian supplied ammo dump. Again, nothing new. The individual after-action reports were missing.
She leaned back in her chair and stared at her screen. Where the hell were all of those files? Or the better question, why the hell did someone go to all the trouble of destroying them everywhere? They were thorough and precise.
Glancing at her watch, Berit decided she had time to visit Director Hennel before she was to meet Micah to look at another condominium.
Excitement bubbled up at just the thought of seeing him once again. She’d resigned herself to a possible date when he returned, most likely after the first of the year. She was shocked when he called while waiting for Austin in the parking lot at the school. When he’d suggested grabbing lunch afterwards, she’d actually given a small fist pump. It wouldn’t be long now, but she first had to see her former boss.
