Hunting the Fox

Chapter 12

The rest of the week seemed to pass by in a blur. To Kiera's surprise, Ryan stayed with her every day while she rested and healed. Her heart skipped a beat and she thought it must be a dream when Ryan made an announcement. He suggested that he should move in with her.

"There is no use paying for the hotel room if I'm here all the time," Ryan added, "What do you think?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Kiera said excitedly while jumping up and down.

"So can I stay here," Ryan said mocking confusion, "I not sure what you if that was a yes."

Kiera playfully hit him in the arm and laughed.

A couple of times Ryan did have to leave to handle business during the daytime, but would be back in the early afternoon. Kiera noticed how stressed he looked upon his return. Kiera attempted to ask how he was doing, but he would wave it off and change the subject. When the weather was warmer, they would go out for long walks.

One morning while Ryan was out handling some businesses, there was a knock on the front door. Kiera looked up from her morning paper at the door. She stood up and stretched her back. Walking over to the front door she looked through the spy hole and saw it was a person holding CIA credentials. Opening the door, she let the person in.

"Who sent you?" Kiera asked watching the person carefully. She wanted to be sure the person was here for the right reasons.

"Kate Jameson asked me to pick up a sim card." The agent said.

Kiera did not see any change in the person's expression or body language.

"Hold on while I get it." Kiera said to the agent. She felt satisfied with his response.

The agent nodded and waited.

Kiera walked into the open kitchen. She kept an eye on the agent as she opened the cabinet with the cereal boxes. She did not who to trust at the agency right now. Reaching into the cabinet, Kiera moved the cereal box that hid the envelope. She froze when she did not see the envelope.

'It was right here.' Kiera thought feeling confused, 'Maybe it was moved around.'

Kiera moved a few other boxes and let out a sigh of relief. In the far corner, she saw the envelope. Shrugging she grabbed the envelope and turned around. Walking back into the living room, she handed the envelope over to the agent.

The agent nodded and left.

Kiera closed the door and sat back down at the kitchen table. As she read the paper, she thought about Ryan. Lately she was feeling troubled by her feelings for Ryan. On one side, she had a mission to complete. People's lives depended on her discovering the truth. On the other hand, her feelings for Ryan were deep. No matter how hard she tried to push the feelings aside, she loved Ryan. She could not let her judgment cloud by her feelings, but she knew that Ryan was not working for the LNF.

'He is working alone,' Kiera thought taking a sip of her coffee, 'but what is his goal?'

One morning Kiera opened her eyes to find herself lying on Ryan's lean chest. She rubbed her cheek against his warm chest and snuggled closer to him. She felt his eyes upon her and looked up to see Ryan watching her with those enchanting china blue eyes.

"Well good morning love." Ryan said smiling down at her.

"Good morning to you," Kiera replied with a yawn, "You seem quite happy this morning."

Kiera stretched her legs and toes, enjoying the feeling of bed.

"I enjoyed watching you sleep." Ryan ran his fingers though her copper red hair.

"Mm," Kiera purred, "that feels good." She rubbed her cheek against his bare chest.

"Well I would love to stay in bed with you all day, but I need to finish the rest of the preparation for our trip." Ryan said stretching, "How about you stay in bed and I make us some breakfast."

"Mm that sounds like a plan," Kiera sat up and stretched upward no longer feeling sore. "Hey!" Kiera squealed in delight as Ryan pulled her on top of him.

"You are truly a beautiful woman," Ryan said, cupping her bottom with his hands.

Kiera slid her legs on either side of his hips. Ryan used his arms to lift Kiera up and slid her down on his shaft. Kiera lifted Ryan by his neck near her breast covered by a silk nightgown. Kiera moaned softly as his teeth bit down gently one of her erect n*****s. She threw back her head when he sucked hard on the n****e. Kiera shifted her hips so that his shaft rubbed against her sensitive part. She tightened her hands through his hair as he sucked harder on her n*****s and thrust hard into her. She cried out as the built up pleasure in her body released. Kiera shook and bit her lower lip as the pleasure ran through her body. Ryan gripped her hips and trust harder into her. Kiera held tight onto him as he plunged one last time climaxing into her.

"I'm really hungry." Kiera said a while later as she lied on him.

"Let's shower and I will make breakfast." Ryan suggested.

"Deal," Kiera said then laughed as Ryan tickled her side.

After their shower, Ryan left the bathroom. Kiera climbed out of the shower, dried herself off, and dressed for the day. She walked out of the bedroom humming a tune and froze as she walked towards the kitchen. She saw Ryan hunched over her laptop typing fast. Ryan looked up with a sheepish grin on his face. Kiera could have sworn she saw a look of surprise on his face at first.

"I thought I would have breakfast ready before your shower was over," Ryan ran his fingers through his hair.

"What are you doing on my laptop?" Kiera asked slowly trying to keep her tone neutral.

"I wanted to find a recipe for breakfast." Ryan replied standing up.

"On my laptop," Kiera asked, "Why not use your phone?"

"Yours has a bigger screen." Kiera heard Ryan say with a tone of 'This is obvious.'

"How did you get onto my laptop?" Kiera narrowed her eyes and felt her cheeks flush with anger.

"The password is Gazelle02 for your first place trophy. The one you won back in high school." Ryan said with a straight face and relaxed body, "You never changed it."

"I guess didn't." Kiera agreed slowly as she tried to calm down.

"When did you start working for the CIA?" Ryan inquired. The question was simple with no hint of suspicion.

Nonetheless, the blood drained from Kiera's face, "What did you just say?" Kiera blurted out.

"When did you start working for the CIA?" Ryan asked again, "You have a CIA intranet Icon on your desktop."

"I...I do contract work for them," Kiera said thinking quickly, "I don't work for them,"

She crossed her arms over her breast and gave him angry look. She was hoping the effect would throw him off guard. She observed confusion in Ryan's face. This gave her time to think of something to say that held some truth.

"I assist the CIA with field agents coming back from the field. I help them readjust to normal life and PTSD issues." Kiera said c*****g her head and raising her eyebrows in a challenging expression, "Are you happy?"

"Take it easy Gazelle. No need to get angry," Ryan held up his hands in defense, "I was just curious."

"Well you had no right to pry." Kiera said still feeling hot with anger.

"Gee, Kiera," Ryan said soothing.

Kiera watched as he walked up her and wrapped his arms around her. Kiera tried to push away, but Ryan held her tightly. She responded by wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm sorry Kiera. I saw the icon and was curious. I thought my girlfriend was a secret agent or something." Ryan chuckled and kissed her on forehead. "I have no clue what you do and I want to know more about you. It has been eight years and I missed you."

'I have to calm down,' Kiera thought, 'or this will not end well.'

"No Ryan I'm sorry," Kiera sighed laying her head on his chest, "I don' know what got into me. You were on my laptop. I have personal information about patients and..." Ryan cut her off with a kiss.

Kiera's eyes when wide and then soften as she kissed him back. After Ryan broke the kiss, Kiera looked up into his china blue eyes.

"Secret agent," Kiera laughed, "Is that some kind of fantasy you want to play out."

"Maybe," Ryan replied then took on a serious look, "I'm really sorry, I had no right to be on your laptop." Ryan paused, "Even though it was easy." She saw a satisfied smirk on his face.

"You are a real jerk," Kiera laughed and hit his arm playfully, "Now make me breakfast my sneaky fox." Kiera added and pointed towards the kitchen.

Ryan made a wonderful breakfast. Ryan kissed her passionately and then told her that he would be back in the evening. Ryan closed the front door as he left. Kiera stood and stretched. She heard her phone ring.

Picking up the phone, Kiera looked at the caller ID an saw it was Sandra, "Good morning Sandra."

"You sound chipper," Sandra responded, Kiera could tell by her tone that she was being playful, "I need you to come down to headquarters."

"Um, sure, I can be there with in an hour." Kiera replied slightly confused, "What is going on?"

"I will brief you when you arrive." Sandra said then disconnected the call.

Kiera placed her phone down on the counter.

'That was strange.' Kiera thought and shrugged, 'Guess I change.'

She leaned down and petted Ginger. Then she walked into the bedroom to change.

Once at CIA headquarters, she used her CIA identification to walk past the security checkpoint she saw Sandra waiting for her by the elevators dressed in a light grey business suit. Kiera chose an A line dark skirt with a white silk top and suit jacket to match. She had her glasses on and her hair tied back at the nape of her neck.

"Hey Sandra," Kiera said starting to raise her arms to hug her friend, but Kiera saw that Sandra was tense, "What is going on?"

"Director Thompson is here." Sandra said sourly and pressed the up button for the elevator.

"The Director of the CIA is here?" Kiera asked raising an eyebrow.

"He wants a status report and I'm not going to lie to you," Sandra said walking into the elevator, "This does not look good."

Sandra held the doors open for Kiera as she walked in. Sandra pushed the button for the top floor as the doors closed.

"I don't understand." Kiera said confused.

"Marcus is creating waves, "Sandra said looking over at Kiera with a worried expression, "He has been saying that you are working with Fox."

"That's not..." Kiera started to say but Sandra cut her off.

"You two have quite the history together and word is that you were eager for the mission." Sandra kept her hand up, "I know that is not true, but you need to prove that to Director Thompson."

Kiera thought about this information a moment as the elevator stopped on the top floor and opened up. Sandra held the elevator doors open as Kiera stepped out. Sandra pointed over to conference room one. Kiera walked over to the conference room and stepped in. Kiera saw it was a small room with only six chairs. Taking a seat alongside Sandra, the doors to the conference room opened up a few minutes later. Kiera looked up to see Director Thompson and Marcus walking in. Kiera and Sandra stood quickly as the Director walked in. He waved his hand for them to sit down.

Kiera observed Director Thompson. He was a grey haired man with brown eyes. He looked to be in his early sixties. She noticed that by the way he carried himself with his shoulder squared and back erect. Director Thompson was a person who wanted the truth, straight and to the point. Kiera swallowed feeling nervous about meeting the Director of the CIA for the first time. She glanced over at Marcus, who in turned kept his eyes adverted

"Thank you Dr. Reid for coming in this morning, I know your time is valuable to the agency." Director Thompson said as he sat down. Kiera saw that he did not care about this meeting.

"Thank you Director." Kiera acknowledged with nod.

"You do know why you are here this morning." Thompson stated placing his elbows on his armrest looking directly at her.

Watching the Director, she thought about his statement. 'Do I play dumb or say yes.'

Kiera opted for the latter, "I really have no idea why I'm here Director." Kiera replied. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sandra's body relax.

'Go call.' Kiera thought.

"Come on Kiera," Marcus huffed out leaning forward in his chair, "You know why you are here." Kiera knew from experience that when he leaned forward he was trying to intimidate a suspect.

"Frankly I have no idea." Kiera repeated keeping her face and voice neutral, "Why do I get the feeling like I'm a suspect?"

"Director Thompson sighed dramatically, "Apparently, you have been accused of working with the rogue MI-6 agent, Fox. Is this true?"

"No sir." Kiera responded giving a look of concern, "Why would anyone accuse me of this?"

"Drop the act Kiera." Marcus slammed his hand down on the table. The violent act caused Kiera to jump.

"Why don't you drop the act Marcus?" Sandra chirped in.

"Please," Director Thompson said holding up a hand, "Control your outburst, Marcus. If I remember right, you brought her onboard with no field experience."

"Sir if I may," Kiera asked, "I believe that the Fox is not behind this, I believe he might be still working for MI-6 or at least working with them."

Kiera saw dumbfounded looked on both Sandra and Marcus. The Director on the other hand laced his fingers together in front of his face with a look of continue. The Director also had a brief expression of appreciation.

'That was an interesting look,' Kiera thought, 'Am I getting close to something?'

"I have reasons to believe that he is trying to find out who is in charge of the Liberation National Front and their motive." Kiera said taking a deep breath.

Kiera had been thinking about this theory for a long time. The way Ryan had been acting was not the same as someone who was willing to cause acts of terror. He seemed in control and determined.

"Wow, how convenient Kiera," Marcus scoffed, "what proof do you have?"

"I have the sim card from the agent who attacked me in the alley," Kiera replied coolly staring directly at Marcus, "I saw the video, and it was odd that the Fox hid the burner phone instead of taking it." She explained, "Re-watching the video I also discovered that he took his time hiding the phone. It was as if he wanted me or us to find it."

"Come on Director," Marcus blurted out, "Are you going to believe this nonsense?"

Kiera observed Marcus trying to put on an air of nonchalance, but there was definitely a look of worry in his eyes.

'What are you hiding Marcus?' Kiera thought.

"Is there anything more?" Director Thompson asked interrupting her thoughts.

"Ah yes Director," Kiera answered collecting her thoughts, "This agent could have killed me, but they intended to drug me. I believe the Fox was close to something and they wanted to send him a message."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kiera saw Marcus relax his body and smirk.

'I thought I was on the right track, but maybe I'm missing something.' Kiera thought.

"You are right about someone sending a message." Director Thompson said, "The person who is behind this threat goes by the name of Victor."

"Victor?" Kiera repeated the name in confusion. Kiera then noticed that the Director did not ask any more questions about the sim card or the agent.

"Yes," The Director answered, "Victor is the one who made the threat."

"So the real question is why I get attacked by three LNF agents. Kiera asked, "Is there something they want from me or..." Kiera could not come up with an answer.

"We don't believe your cover has been blown, but we do think that they know you are close to the Fox and they want to either keep him in line." Sandra said, "Or his close to something. Which would solidify your theory?"

"Hold on here," Marcus interrupted, "Doesn't it seem a bit odd that Kiera just happened to walk into that alley and get roughed up a bit."

"Oh yes Marcus," Kiera answered him back sarcastically, "I really enjoy getting a concussion, bruised ribs, punched and a knife held to my throat." She then turned to the Director. "The hospital has my injuries on file. In addition, my CIA records show that I am psychologically stable and try to steer away from confrontation."

"Hmm," Director Thompson pondered, "Sandra did you recover the other footage."

"Yes Director," Sandra stood up, pulled a flash drive from her pocket, and winked at Kiera. Kiera tried to keep a straight face, but taken back by Sandra's expression, stared at her. Sandra then walked over to the docked laptop and logged in. Plugging in the flash drive, she scrolled through some files until she found the right file. Clicking on the file, Kiera saw it was a video file. The video expanded and started.

The video on screen was in low light and recorded near sunset. Kiera looked at the date and time stamp. The time stamp read Sunday at 5:00pm. Kiera could not think why that dates and time was significant, but it did mean something. Kiera's eyes when wide at the sight of a tall bald me limping down the street with another man.

"Do you recognize the two suspects?" Director Thompson questioned Kiera.

"I recognize the bald man, but I'm not..." Kiera stopped for a moment as the two men rounded the corner and then the other man's face came into view, "Those are the two who assaulted me."

"Sandra," The Director said with a nod.

Sandra stopped the footage and spoke, "The bald man is Otto and the mustached man is Kurt," Sandra explained, "Both are thugs for the LNF. They are tasked with roughing up people and getting them to talk."

"Looks like they were on the other end of roughed up." The Director said looking at Kiera not expecting an answer from her.

"What is the point of showing this video?" Marcus said in frustration.

"Sir, May I continue the footage?" Sandra said to the Director.

"Please do," The Director replied leaning back in his chair. It was difficult to read the Director. He knew how to guard his emotions.

Sandra clicked the play button on the screen. The two agents walked for a bit down the street. As they rounded the deserted street, they stopped suddenly by an alleyway. Kiera saw the bald man had a shocked look as he tapped the other man on the shoulder. They walked into the alley the screen changed to another shot coming from inside the alley. The footage showed a person with his back to the camera. The person took careful aims to keep his identity a secret. The person wore slightly baggy clothes to obscure the body frame. The person wore gloves and a hoodie with the hood up.

'Is that apprehension or fear on their faces?' Kiera thought, but it was hard to read their expression because of the grainy video. The other person with his back to the camera looked relaxed. Kiera could make this out by the slight sloping of the person' shoulders.

As the video played out, they watched the men talk. Kiera observed the gestures each person was making. The two men showed signs of agitation. The mustache man shook his head and pointed to his on face angrily. This told Kiera that he was denying something, but wanted to show what happened to him. The bald tattooed man was quiet and looked like he was shifting from foot to foot. He was nervous about something, but what. The unknown person stood there relaxed listening to each agent. Finally he pointed out of the alley and the two agents showed signs of relaxing.

They turned quickly as if in a hurry to get out of the alley. Kiera gasped in shock as the unknown person pulled out a handgun from his jacket. The person pointed at each agent and pulled the trigger. Each agent dropped as the gun pointed at his head. The person calmly put away the gun. He walked towards the bald man and knelt next to the body. Reaching into the dead man's pocket, the person produced a small dark rectangle.

"Oh my god," Kiera gasped again, "That is the burner phone I found in the alley of the Foxhole."

"A burner phone," The Director asked, "It this where the sim card came from."

"Yes Sir," Kiera acknowledged, "I believe it holds important information."

Kiera watched the video as the person opened the back of the phone. If the person was surprised, they did not show any sign. The person shrugged and tossed the phone.

'They knew the sim card was not in the phone.' Kiera thought watching the person stand.

The unknown person walked out of the alley and another camera picked up from outside. The person seemed to know about the camera and kept their face covered. Kiera tried to look in at the windows of the storefronts, but the person was good at covering themselves. They even walked in a way as if trying to cover their gender. Kiera could not tell if the person was male or female. Suddenly a*****e caught Kiera's eye.

"Stop the video." Kiera blurted out before she could stop herself.

Sandra stopped the video and everyone looked at Kiera.

"Back it up half a second." Kiera stood up and walked over to the screen. Sandra used the scroll bar to back up the video footage. Then Kiera felt herself go pale when she saw it. It was a sign for a Thai restaurant.

'Could it be the same restaurant?' Kiera thought rubbing her temples trying to think about their dinner from a week ago.

"What did you see Doctor Reid?" Director Thompson asked.

'What do I say?' Kiera thought. She looked at the Director trying to keep herself calm. She then noticed that the Director had seen the same thing she had.

"Doctor I'm asking you a question." Director Thompson ordered.

"I thought saw the person's face in that window, but it was just a reflection from the sun." Kiera lied hopping that she voice did not give her away.

"There is no way." Sandra said, "We have been over the footage for hours."

"I thought I saw something, but I can tell you one thing." Kiera added, "This person is a male."

"Come on," Marcus shouted, "How the hell can you tell that?"

"The way he walks." Kiera noted, "He has a powerful step."

'Because I have seen Ryan walk that same way.' Kiera thought, 'But it could be someone imitating his step.'

"Are you positive?" Sandra said confused.

"I'm 90% positive." Kiera said estimating, "It is still hard to determine. They are a professional."

"Ok this settles it," The Director announced, "Sandra will take over for you Marcus as lead on this case." Then he turned to Kiera. Kiera saw that Marcus was not expecting this at all and could not say anything, "You will proceed to Rome with Fox. I want to know whom he is making contact with and what his role is with the LNF. If he makes contact with this Victor person, I want to know." The Director of the CIA stood up and straightened his suit as if to say this meeting was over. "I cannot stress the importance of this. The G7 summit is at the end of this month and we need to Intel people."

"Sir," Marcus spoke as he stood quickly, "What about me?"

"I need you in Rome as well with a team ready to go. Once Kiera gets us concrete Intel about Victor and the LNF, you will move in." Kiera noticed Marcus relax as if he felt better about the situation, but she did notice he was hiding something.

The Director left the conference room and Marcus followed him.

"Sandra I need to catch up with Marcus." Kiera said standing up and leaving the conference room not waiting on a response from Sandra.

"Marcus," Kiera called out to Marcus who was down at the end of the hallway, "I need a word with you."

The Director and Marcus turned to look at her. The Director nodded towards Kiera and walked off.

"What the hell is your problem?" Kiera exploded through gritted teeth when Marcus walked up to her.

"I wanted to be sure you were on the right team." Marcus responded calmly, but Kiera noticed a slight twitch in his neck.

"Tell me what is really going on?" Kiera demanded crossing her arms, "You are hiding..." Kiera stopped suddenly knowing that he was going to lie.

'I have to throw him off guard.' Kiera thought quickly.

"You're jealous of Ryan." Kiera said and watched him carefully.

"That is absurd." Marcus scoffed, but saw that his body and face where tense, not from her comment, but from something else.

"Marcus we had a one night stand," said Kiera slowly, "That's all."

"It could have been more." Marcus said, but there was more behind that statement.

'What does he mean by more?' Kiera thought.

"I'm sorry Marcus, but..." She let the sentence hang in the air and then she saw it. Marcus's lips twitched upward I the corner of his mouth.

'He is hiding something, but what is it?' Kiera thought frustrated.

"Whatever," Marcus shrugged and walked off leaving Kiera in confusion.