The Red Herring

Chapter 5

Later, at the hospital, John joined Beth and Jim in the emergency waiting room. Beth spoke, "So Irina Azarov is in Maryland?"

Tommy walked through the doors into the waiting room. "Yeah. I had to see my brother. She's his wife. When I saw the picture, I thought it was her but I wasn't sure," lied Tommy.

"What name is she going by?" Jim asked.

"Renn Avery," Tommy said. "But I shot her."

"You shot her?!" cried Beth.

"She shot me!" replied Tommy.

"This might be a plus," she continued. "She'd need to go to a hospital. Unless, of course, you killed her."

Tommy sighed. "No such luck. Rob said she was alive. I'm not sure if he'd take her to a hospital. He's a surgeon. Plus, he knows I know about her being a sleeper agent which creates even more problems. I thought Robbie would see it my way. Or at least be mad that she's been lying to him. But he freaked out when I shot her. Oh, here." He pulled the passports from his pocket. "These are hers."

Beth flipped through them. "Quite the traveler. I'll get these to Mike and have him run them. Let's see if she's been flagged for anything. Wait. If you have her passports, she can't leave the country."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she has a U.S. passport. They've been married for thirty years. She's a citizen," Robbie told her.

"Well," said Beth as she thought. "We can still run them. And flag her current passport. Technically, your brother is harboring a spy so we can flag his, too."

Tommy looked at the ground in thought. John said, "What's wrong?"

"I just hate that it's come to this. He's my brother. Renn can rot in prison but I don't want anything to happen to my brother... Unless he knew. If he knew she was a sleeper agent and didn't say anything, he gets what he deserves. That's not how we do things in our family."

"So you're ok, though?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, it was a small caliber. They just pulled out the bullet and stitched me up," Tommy said.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it. I get really pissed when one of my friends gets shot," Jim replied.

"Imagine how we felt years ago when you kept getting blown up," said John.

Tommy said, "Or when Dmitry Kovalev shot you the day after you got out of the hospital for being blown up."

"Yeah," added Beth.

"Oh, don't you start. Imagine how I felt when Hassan shot you," Jim said.

"I was wearing a vest," she reminded him.

"Or when Rykov stabbed you and threw you into the ocean," he continued. "And imagine waiting for three years to find out you were alive."

"I am so sorry I brought this up," said John. "Tom, if you're good, let's head back and try to figure out our game plan."

The group left and headed back to the CIA compound. Mike met them to discuss the current findings. They headed for the conference room. When they walked past John's secretary she said, "Sir, there's a man who is here to see you. He's in the conference room."

John thanked her and they headed into the room. "Dmitry!" Jim said as he caught sight of the visitor.

Dmitry Kovalev stood and walked over to Jim. They hugged and Dmitry turned and hugged Beth. She cringed. Jim may have buried the hatchet with his half-brother but Beth hadn't. Many years before, she'd posed as his girlfriend as part of undercover assignment with Interpol meant to nab him in a blood diamond ring. Several years after that, Dmitry had held her hostage at his home in Paris.

"After you called, I decided to go through my mother's things," Dmitry said. "I came across this envelope."

John took the envelope from him. "J.B.," he said.

"James Blackmon," Dmitry replied. "Our father. Open it."

John complied. He pulled out pages from a small notepad. He glanced at them, frowned, and handed them to Jim.

Jim glanced over the pages. "She was after him the whole time? I thought he was after her."

"According to those papers, all the sleeper agents in this area were after Dovetail agents. At least I think that's what it means," Dmitry added.

Jim handed a page to Beth. She read over it and gasped. "My mother was a sleeper agent?! Was she after my dad?"

"She never mentioned being from the Soviet Union?" John asked.

"No. She always said she was from Nebraska. She said she moved to this area to study journalism when she met my dad. They got married, had me, and lived a relatively normal life."

John scoffed. "I don't see how doing this job can lead to a normal life."

Beth shook her head. "Dad was pretty good at keeping work and home separate. I didn't even know he was an agent until I joined."

John pulled some photographs out of the envelope. He spread them out on the conference table. Jim nudged Beth and pointed at a photo. It was of her mother laughing with Dmitry's mother.

"I am absolutely floored," she said. "It's like my entire childhood is a lie. First, with my dad being a CIA agent and now with my mom being a Soviet sleeper agent. "

Jim pulled her into his arms. "But you've got me."

"Well, you haven't always been totally honest either," she said.

John raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't surprise me."

"When have I not been honest with you?" Jim asked.

Beth took a deep breath. "You never told me you were married to Lena. Let's see, you never told me about Devin either. You lied to me about Operation Hawk. In fact, you lied to me about Hawk repeatedly. You told me I'd been made. You didn't tell me it was still active. You didn't tell me Hassan was still after me."

"Sorry I asked," replied Jim.

"Hey, I really need to get to work," Mike said. "What do you need from me?"

Beth pulled Irina Azarov's passports out of her pocket. "Run these. Also, I need you to flag her current passport. I don't know if it's under Renn Avery or Irina but you should be able to figure it out. Oh, and flag Robert Avery too. They live in Maryland."

"Done," he said and hurried out of the room.

"The guys that grabbed us spoke Russian. Maybe we should go through the envelope and see if there are references to other agents that haven't been apprehended," suggested Beth.

"Good idea," said John. "Keep me posted. And Tommy, if you hear anything from your brother, I need to know about it." He exited the conference room through a secret door that led to his office.

"Let's get to work," Jim said. They emptied the contents of the envelope. Beth spoke limited Russian but she took the papers. Jim took the photos but spent more time talking to Dmitry than anything.

Tommy looked over Beth's shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "But she keeps referencing someone named Paulina. My mom went by Paula. This must be her. Jim, let me see those photos."

He handed them over without looking at her. She grabbed the one of her mother. She flipped it over. It was labeled "me and Paulina."

Beth sighed and went back to the papers. Tommy was bored. He eventually grabbed the photos and carefully looked over them. He came to a photograph of nine people. He studied it carefully. Finally, he nudged Beth and pointed. She gasped at what she saw.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked.

Shaking, she handed over the photo. Jim looked at before saying, "My mom?"

"Looks like it," Beth agreed. "And she has our kids."