Her eyes snapped open as the plane banked left. She'd fallen asleep as they had taken off. Well, she mused, she might as well sleep for a while, she had a ten hour journey ahead. But first. She had one important job to do.
As the plane reached its desired altitude and leveled out she reached for her bag and pulled out a folder. It was manila with lettering stenciled across the cover. TOP SECRET. Joe had given her clearance before he left, unsure what may come to light from Shawn and Gideon. She also extracted a notebook. Innocuous at first glance it was anything but. She flicked it open and reached inside her bag for a pen, smiling as her hand wrapped around one of Joe's presidential pens. She uncapped it and settled down to update her spybook.
When she was finished recording all that Shawn had told her on the secure line they had established before she left South Africa she reached for the folder, opened the cover and read Gideon's report.
It filled in some blanks, created others. Some of the terms she didn't fully understand. Had to read some of the detailed information twice, three times on occasion. Money trails and shell companies, shipping manifests and stock lists. It was a jumble of information until it was analyzed properly.
She tapped the pan against her lip. They'd made huge progress over the past few days but still had so many questions. So many gaps, so many unknowns. She checked her watch, calculated the time difference. She reached for her phone and txted Gideon, requested that they arrange to meet at her destination. Felt she was giving him enough time.
She scrolled through news headlines as she waited for his reply. The NATO meeting and the big upcoming speech were stealing all the headlines today. She could just imagine how intently Joe was concentrating on everything today. He'd be over prepared for the NATO meeting. He knew this stuff of the top of his head but still insisted on an insane amount of prep. So too for the speech. It was going to be a huge moment. Another statement on the global stage ...
The message alert caught her eye and she tapped on it. Typed out a thank you to Gideon and one more question to Shawn and then put the phone away again.
She sighed and turned the cover back and replaced the file carefully in her briefcase. Lovingly she ran her hand along the soft leather, remembering the Saturday at home in Delaware when Joe had gifted it to her to celebrate her promotion to spymaster as he called her teasingly now, that and mega-professor, reflecting her new tutor role.
She packed the files away and pressed her thumb to the tag instantly locking the briefcase. With her spy information secure she rested her head back and closed her eyes and fell asleep to dream of a reunion with her husband. Finally, finally, she was going to see him.
In Warsaw Joe was antsy. He hadn't managed to speak to Jill yet today, just an odd message here and there, missed calls piling up, voice messages in place of a proper conversation. He'd been in meetings all morning, and had bi-lats, pull asides and updates from Kyiv, updates from his own team, queries and messages and reporters all wanting time but the one person he wanted seemed elusive. He wanted to speak to her before she took off for Angola.
He'd just finished a working lunch with the other leaders. Now he was in the lobby, surrounded by his team all babbling questions, statements, queries. 'Sir you need to prepare for your speech later'. 'Sir, we've amended the text to reflect your recent journey'. 'Sir, you need to hear about the world's reaction' voices called from the cacophony surrounding him. He nodded absentmindedly, then stopped, frowned. His ear had caught something else.
Someone else.
A laugh.
He felt his breath come quickly.
