Rendition Protocol Read online

  “You assumed it would end,” Jana said.

  Cade again wished he could be anywhere but here, listening to his ex-girlfriend talk with a person she obviously had feelings for.

  “Didn’t you?” Stone said.

  Jana looked him in the eye and then her mouth opened.

  To Cade, the expression was akin to someone who had just located[KM1] the missing piece to a puzzle.

  Her hand found her mouth and covered it and she took two steps backward. “Oh my God,” she said. She pointed at Stone. “Your last name is Stone? It can’t be. It can’t be.”

  “What?” Stone said.

  “Your eyes. That’s why there was always something so familiar about you.”

  It was Cade this time. “What are you talking about?”

  “Eight years ago,” Jana said shaking her head. “I was just out of college.”

  Cade said, “You two met eight years ago?”

  “No. My first job, before the Bureau. I went to work at a software conglomerate. I did investments for them. It turned out my bosses were up to no good. I ended up being a material witness for the FBI. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he approached me. My involvement in that case is what made me reconsider my entire career path. It’s what made me think about being an FBI agent in the first place.”

  Stone scowled. “Who? Who approached you?”

  “I didn’t put two and two together until just now when I heard your last name. But you have his eyes. Oh my God. How could I have missed that? You have his eyes. Agent Stone, that’s who.”

  Stone replied, “I’m a contractor now, Baker. And besides, in the military we were known as operators, not agents. I never went by the name Agent Stone.”

  “Not you,” Jana said, “your father. Your father is Special Agent Chuck Stone, isn’t it?”

  This time it was Stone whose mouth dropped open. “You know my father?”

  “Do I know him? He saved my life. Yes I know him.”

  Silence permeated the space the way smoke fills a room.

  Cade said, “Great. My ex-girlfriend has not only moved on, but apparently worked herself up a whole new family in the process.” Humor was his only defense. “You’d think that since I work for the NSA, I’d have known all this already.” He gave a little laugh, but it went nowhere.

  Jana shook her head and her face hardened. “You should have told me more,” she said. “But we don’t have time for this. We need to get down to business.” She crossed her arms and looked at Stone. “What do you know about the disappearance of Agent Kyle MacKerron?”

  17

  Last Sighting

  “Wait,” Stone said, “Baker, hold on. You knew my father?”

  Jana waited a moment but finally said. “Yes. This was back in the Petrolsoft case.”

  Stone’s mouth opened as if to speak but all he could do was exhale.

  “Petrolsoft?” Stone finally said. He looked at the floor. “I think I need to sit down,” he said as he leaned on an ottoman then sank into the cushions. “Dad nearly died on that case. He was shot in the chest. The only reason he didn’t die was because—” He looked at Jana.

  Jana interrupted. “They got a helicopter evac. I know, I was there. His blood was all over me.”

  “I can’t believe that was you,” Stone said. “He was in intensive care for days. We didn’t think he was going to make it. It wasn’t until a few months later—I had just gotten selected by First Special Forces Operational Detachment and was about to deploy—when dad finally told me about the case. “

  “First SFOD-D?” Cade said. “So you were Delta Force.”

  “Yeah. We did a lot of stuff. All under the control of JSOC.”

  “JSOC?” Jana said.

  Cade answered. “Joint Special Operations Command. Whenever we recommend an incursion into another country, we call JSOC. If approved, they assign either a team from Delta or one of the eight SEAL teams.”

  “Anyway,” Stone continued, “Dad had been medically retired and figured since I had gotten my security clearance, it would be okay to share the details with me.”

  “He’d been at the Bureau twenty-three years,” Jana said. “He was already qualified for retirement, but didn’t want to.”

  “Yeah,” Stone said. “The things he told me about that case. He talked about a girl he’d recruited to work undercover. He said she was the gutsiest thing he’d ever seen.” He continued staring at her. “I can’t believe that was you. You risked your life. And not only that, the other agents said it was you that stopped the bleeding. It was you that saved my dad.”

  Cade glanced between them. He watched as tension eased from Jana’s face and shoulders. It appeared as though her earlier anger had melted.

  “He saved mine,” Jana said with a sweet quality to her voice. “He was the real hero that day. If he hadn’t burst into that apartment, I’d be dead right now. He’s the reason I went to work as an agent.”

  A long silence ensued and Cade shifted back and forth. It was as if the other two had forgotten he was there. He said, “I hate to interrupt this lovely story, but can we get back to business?”

  “Kyle approached me a while back,” Stone said. “He was new on the island and I was still trying to figure out who he was.”

  “What initiated him approaching you?” Cade said.

  “How do I say this?” Stone replied. “I’ve got a particular reputation down here.”

  “What reputation?” Jana questioned.

  “I’m known as a guy who can get things done,” Stone said.

  “Get things done?” Jana said to Stone. “You couldn’t even find your shirt in the morning.” The young couple laughed at the inference, but Cade shut his eyes.

  “Like what kind of things?”

  Stone removed the sunglasses from the top of his head and dropped them into a loose shirt pocket. “To the cartels, I’m known as a mule. I move drugs from point A to point B. It puts me in the perfect position to know what cartels are moving what product, and where it’s going. Then I tell the DEA about it. Well, not all the time, but some of the time.”

  Jana cocked her head. “You don’t disclose all the shipments? You work as a contractor for them, right? Isn’t that withholding evidence?”

  Stone said, “It’s not that simple. To survive down here as long as I have, you’ve got to be damned careful. If I told DEA about every shipment, they’d go and intercept it. How long do you think I’d stay alive? Besides, there are times when one cartel or another wants to test me. They’ve had shipments get seized, so what they do is, they set me up on a milk run. They don’t tell me, but sometimes the shipment doesn’t contain drugs. It’s just meant to look like drugs. They track it and make sure it gets to its destination, then wait to see if any DEA boys show up. A basic internal witch hunt.”

  Cade said, “So when the cartels give you an assignment, how do you know which of your drug runs are just a test?”

  “I can’t explain it,” Stone said. “I just get a funny feeling inside.”

  “Let’s get back on point,” Jana said. “Tell us about Kyle.”

  “Kyle found out I was a mule before he knew I was working undercover. He befriended me. Figured I’d be a good way to get to the inside. Damn, he was good. I had no idea who he was, and that’s saying something. Normally I can smell those guys out.”

  “He is good,” Jana said.

  “What?” Stone replied.

  “You said he was good. He’s not past tense. Kyle is alive and we’re going to find him.”

  Cade said, “How big are the cartel’s operations here?”

  “A lot bigger than you’d think. It’s because they’re keeping such a low profile. I don’t have numbers, other than what I’ve witnessed, but they move a lot of product,” Stone said.

  “How can you be so sure?” Cade said.

  “Look, as far as the cartels are concerned, they know one thing about me—I always deliver on my promises. That k
ind of loyalty goes a long way. The Los Rastrojos cartel in particular has taken a liking to me. All this to say, I get more access to see what’s going on compared to other, low level, mules. That puts me in places that others cannot go.”

  “But how do you know how big it is?” Cade said.

  “I don’t just move drugs. Sometimes it’s cash. Last month I transported a tractor trailer. It was filled to the brim. I’m talking about shrink-wrapped pallets of greenbacks—hundred-dollar bills. The semi was packed to the roof, all except a stack of pallets that were positioned against the rear doors. That was a roof-high load of white flour, intended to hide the cash from prying eyes. Sometimes the Antiguan police stop trucks to inspect them.”

  “So Kyle was successful. He had penetrated deep,” Jana said.

  Stone looked at Cade this time. “You bet your ass he was in deep. Like I said, he was the best I’ve ever seen. When I was at the Oficina de Envigado escondite, I’d see him come and go. He was obviously investigating them.”

  “The Oficina de Envigado what?” Cade asked.

  It was Jana that answered. “Escondite is Spanish for hideout.”

  “Alright,” Cade said, “so you’d see him at the Envigado place here on the island. When was the last time you saw him?”

  “It was about five days ago. He was there, apparently in a meeting. I walked by and he was having breakfast on the balcony with . . .”

  Jana stepped toward Stone. “With? With who?” When she received no reply, she said, “Who was Kyle meeting with?”

  Stone looked at her then Cade, then looked down and let out a long exhale. “Montes Lima Perez. Word on the street though is that he was snatched by the other cartel, Los Rastrojos, the one run by Diego Rojas.”

  18

  Rojas’s Background

  Upon hearing the name Diego Rojas, Cade shut his eyes. Jana looked from Stone to Cade. “Okay. Will somebody tell me what the big deal is?”

  Cade rubbed his neck and let out a long exhale. “He’s bad news, Jana.”

  Stone said, “That’s putting it mildly. He’s Los Rastrojos’s number one on the island. But not just on the island. He’s a big-time player. And, he’s as ruthless as they come.”

  “Be honest with me, Stone,” Jana said. “What are the chances that Kyle is still alive?”

  “If it was anyone other than Rojas, he’d stay alive just long enough for them to get whatever information out of him they wanted. But with Rojas, you never know. His temper is legend. He’d be dead by now.”

  “NSA has been involved on and off for years in surveilling the Colombian cartels. Cade said Rojas isn’t just high in the organization, he’s the new young blood. And, he’s got a pedigree.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jana said.

  Cade replied. “It started with the Cali cartel. Cali was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers in the town of Cali in southern Colombia back in the early ’80s. In those years, it was an offshoot of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel, but by the late ’80s the Orejuelas were ready to branch out on their own. They were led by four men. One of them was a man named Hélmer Herrera, known as ‘Pacho.’ Pacho and the others led the cartel to a point in the ’90s where they controlled ninety percent of the world’s cocaine supply. We’re talking billions of dollars.”

  “So why the history lesson?” Jana said.

  “Los Rastrojos is the successor to Cali. Diego Rojas is Pacho’s son,” Cade said.

  “Yeah,” Stone said, “his last son. The others were killed. So, apparently, Pacho changed Diego’s last name in order to protect him.”

  Cade said, “After the murder of his older brothers, the kid grew up with vengeance on his mind. His psychological profile is thick, Jana. The US has been trying to get at him for years.”

  “DEA hasn’t been able?” Jana said.

  Stone said, “It’s more complicated than that. The DEA has had a lot of pushback that’s prevented them from shutting Rojas down.”

  “Pushback from who?” Jana said.

  It was Cade that answered. “Pushback from the State Department. They’ve been afraid that if Rojas was killed, a power vacuum would start in Colombia. You see, so much of the government of Colombia has remained swept up in corruption. If the balance of power shifts, State is concerned the country will become unstable. And if that happens, you’ve got a hot new place for terror organizations to set up shop without anyone bothering them.”

  “I don’t think I want to hear this,” Jana said. “It makes me sick. Anyway, if the State Department doesn’t want Rojas taken down, what is Kyle doing trying to penetrate their cartel?”

  “Disruption,” Stone said. “Likely they want to continue disrupting each new route of drug shipments to slow the flow into the United States.”

  Jana’s impatience boiled over. “I don’t care about all this background crap. I want to know how we’re going to save Kyle.”

  “You’ve got to know,” Cade said. “You’ve got to know who Rojas is and just how ruthless he is before you go in there.”

  Stone stood. “Before who goes in there? Goes in where?” He looked at Cade. “Wait a minute, she’s not going in there,” he said as he pointed.

  “She has to go in there,” Cade said. “She’s our only chance to get Kyle out alive.”

  Stone’s volume increased. “He’s dead, I told you. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know these people.”

  “I know all about these people,” Cade spat back.

  “Oh really?” Stone said as he crossed his arms. “From your cubicle at NSA?” He turned to Jana. “Baker, don’t do this. I’ve been on the inside for a long time and I’m telling you, not only is Kyle dead, but even if he weren’t, they’d sniff you out. And don’t even ask me what they would do to you if you were discovered.”

  She put a gentle hand on Stone’s arm. It was only then that she realized her hand had begun shaking. “I’ve got a perfect way in,” she said as a shiver rode her body. “They’re going to ask me in, in fact.”

  Stone shook his head.

  “Johnny, it’s something I have to do.” She crossed her arms in an attempt to hide her shaking hand. “I have to. I have to. I have to.”

  “Yeah,” Stone replied, “you sound real convincing.”

  19

  Nightmares

  Jana knew she’d be up late and decided to take a power nap. It wasn’t long before she nodded off. Her pupils raced back and forth across her closed eyelids. She had already cycled through the first four stages of sleep and rapid eye movement began in earnest. Her breathing deepened then slowed. But as the dream began to unfold, visions of light popped into her mind’s eye. She began to discern a particular shape, the telltale silhouette of Waseem Jarrah. Those awful scars. They were always there, a constant reminder of his power over her, and they had a mind of their own.

  Her breathing accelerated. She had killed Jarrah in the moments before he was to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. The visions flickered and popped in her mind. It was as if she was watching footage from an old newsreel. Her pupils darted left then right in ever-increasing speed as Jarrah emerged from his silhouette. It was as if he had stepped out of her memory of that fateful day, high on a cliff, deep within YellowstoneNational Park.

  Jarrah, now clear and in sharp focus, walked out of the silhouetted background of the newsreel footage and approached Jana. At the time, she had been badly injured and was lying on top of the rocks, faceup. Blood and scrapes covered her face, arms and legs—badges of honor earned after a two-mile sprint through the woods and rugged terrain in pursuit of Jarrah. Jarrah had knocked her to the ground, slamming her head into the rocks. The resulting concussion had made things even fuzzier.

  This was another recurring nightmare, and one she could not escape. She would relive the same terrifying ordeal several times each week. And now the edges of her own sanity were beginning to weaken. It was like an earthen dam that had become saturated, the massive v
olume of water starting to seep through.

  In the dream, Jana watched the newsreel play out behind Jarrah, who now stood before her with crystal clarity.

  “It is fun to watch, is it not, Agent Baker?” Jarrah said through a sickening grin. He put his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s watch it again, shall we? It’s the ending that I love so dearly.” Jana’s breathing accelerated.

  On that day, when Jarrah had reached down to pick Jana up and throw her body over the cliff, she had plunged a knife into his chest. She then slashed his throat, spraying blood across the pine needles before barrel-rolling him over the edge. Jarrah had died and Jana had thwarted the attack.

  But here, in her nightmare, the memory had been altered and Jana faced her worst fears. She watched as Jarrah picked her limp body off the ground, tossed her onto his shoulder, then walked to the edge of the cliff. With Jana’s torso dangling behind him, he turned around so Jana could see over the edge and into the canyon below. Sharp rocks on the bottom pointed up like fingers of death. Her body was wracked in pain and her weakened arms dangled at her sides. Jarrah laughed a monstrous laugh and said, “Oh, come now, Agent Baker. When you were a child, did you not want to fly like a bird? Let’s see if you can fly.” He threw her over the edge.

  As she fell, she could hear Jarrah’s laughter from above. Her body slammed into the rocks at the bottom of the canyon and she was left in a crumpled heap. Jarrah then casually strolled over to his backpack, reached inside, tapped a button on the device, and watched as a digital screen blinked to life. He tapped a coded sequence onto the tiny keyboard and armed the device. Without hesitation, he flung the eighty-pound pack over the edge. It landed not far from Jana’s body. Five seconds later the ten-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated.

  A mushroom cloud rose into the atmosphere, but that was just the beginning. The canyon where Jana lay sat just above the largest volcanic magma chamber in the world. What followed was a cacophony of primary and secondary volcanic eruptions.