Buried By The Highway

The End of The Beginning

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

                                                                                                           ~ Seneca

Central Intelligence Agency
Langley, Virginia, United States
September 7th, 1989

Donald felt his hands trembling before stepping into the small, glass walled, meeting room, feeling himself get hotter from the anxiety. Inside, he found everyone from his group, including Poli, sitting at a long table, each with a thin manila folder. Looking at the far end of the room, Donald watched Dina pour coffee into his mug, his back facing the doorway.

When Dina turned around and saw Donald, he grinned. "You're late, FNG," he said, walking back to the table, mug in hand. "Your dick get caught when you were zipping up on the way out of the bathroom?"

Poli cleared his throat. "Don't be an ass, Mister Dina," he said in a relaxed tone as he was reading the report in the folder. He looked up at Donald, who was still at the doorway, smiled and gestured the youngster to take a seat. "Good morning Donny!" he said cheerfully, again, all smiles and charm, as Donald took a seat at the table next to Geneva. "How's working at the forefront of foreign affairs been treating you?"

Donald shuddered. "A tad stressful," he answered after a sigh. "Sometimes I think I'm reading the intel wrong." He glanced at the woman, who nodded back.

"That's why you got three people who're better than you watching your back," Dina stated.

Tricky Vik grinned as he spun his pencil between his fingers. "Damn right."

Donald said nothing before turning his attention to Poli. "I thought our weekly meetings were on Fridays."

Poli nodded before closing his file. "It would've been, until this came across my desk early this morning." He gestured to the folder in front of Donald. "Why don't you quickly skim over the details before we begin."

Donald did so, opening the file and reading through everything as fast as possible. He found the details a bit unnerving just as he finished.

"Sometime yesterday, in London, British intelligence was tipped off to a possible development from one of their agents in the Soviet Embassy," Poli began.

"If it concerns the Brits," Donald asked, "why are we involved."

"Because the intel involves Germany," Poli explained. "Which is your jurisdiction."

"What confidence does MI6 have in this information," Tricky Vik asked. "What about the agency's?"

"Very high on both fronts," Poli answered. "Their man on the inside got this right out of the top horse's mouth."

"The Rezident?" Dina asked. "Kinda ballsy if you ask me."

"If the agent was planted, it sure is," Tricky Vik remarked.

Poli shrugged. "I doubt the agent is actually British," he commented. "More likely a turned employee."

"Even so," Dina cut in, "just how close is this guy to the big man?"

"Close enough, according to the handler," Poli answered. "Their agent says there is a meeting in East Berlin happening tomorrow, something about 'subverting' Western dominance in Europe."

Dina scoffed. "You'd think you'd chalk this up to the ramblings of another crazy Russkiy," he commented.

"Crazy is right," Poli replied, his tone stern.

"Oh yeah?"

"The man sent his own teenage niece into Chile in '73 as a NOC officer for the KGB."

"What the fuck?!" Dina shot up from his seat. "A teenager?!"

"You're right, Picky Poli," Tricky Vik commented, glancing at Dina, "that is crazy."

"Bat-shit, more like," Dina calmly added, sitting back down.

Geneva nodded.

"How do you know this, sir?" Donald asked Poli.

Poli chuckled. "Let's just say that, when I was stationed in Santiago, I tried conning the poor kid into going home."

Donald nodded as Dina cleared his throat.

"Alright," Dina continued, "so we're dealing with a guy who will do whatever it takes to forward Soviet aggression." He glanced at the others.

"Our assets in Berlin are on stand-by for this one, kids," Poli added. "MI6 is looking at this too."

"Think they'll share anything we don't have?" Donald asked.

Dina laughed. "What, you never heard of 'Five Eyes'?"

Donald looked at him, eyebrow raised. He shook his head.

"Long story short, we got an understanding with the Brits, the Aussies, the Kiwis, and the Canucks," Tricky Vik explained. "Someone smells something, they tell everyone."

Poli stood up, taking his folder under his arm. "Keep an eye on Berlin, folks," he said over his shoulder as he left, "I want to know everything the second you get it."

When Poli was gone, Dina slumped back into his chair, placed his hands behind his head and sighed. "I could sure use a vacation right about now." He then looked at the others.

Tricky Vik nodded. "Damn right."

Geneva silently concurred as well.

Dina looked over to Donald, who seemed distracted by the folder sitting in front of him. "You okay, sport?"

Donald turned to Dina, feeling himself growing hotter. "Yeah," he replied, feeling unsure, "I think so."

"Remember kid," Dina added. "Two rules: we share everything we gathered between us and if we all get the sa-"

"Same conclusion the first time, something is wrong," Donald cut in. "That's the eighth time you mentioned that."

Dina smiled as he sat up straight. "Well, get comfortable," he said. "Chances are we'll be pulling all-nighters, starting now." Dina stood up, coffee cup in hand. "Well, I'm off to start looking into some old geezer who sends child soldiers to do an adult's work," he said, walking out of the room.

Tricky Vik shook his head as he stood up, taking his copy of the folder with him. Geneva followed suit.

At the door way, Geneva stopped and looked over her shoulder, eyeing Donald who was looking blankly at the folder. She approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

Donald looked up at the woman, watching her nudge her head towards the doorway. He sighed before grabbing the folder and following her out. He missed college, he didn't say. Oh well, at least the job got a bit exciting. Now he only hoped not too much.