Lady Death

him, had no such worries.
They sat facing each other with a folding table of polished wood between them. Plates of snacks provided by the flight crew sat off to the side while they focused on the cards.
The crew contained two pilots and three security personnel. A stern-faced flight attendant saw to their needs with a pistol on her hip. Two paramilitary security officers, also armed with handguns, were there for emergencies. Near the cockpit, in a closet, hung three Colt M4 automatic carbines. Tanya felt very secure with the personnel and hardware aboard.
Prior to leaving the embassy in Stockholm, Raven had accompanied Eva Yoshino, the other CIA rep, on a short shopping trip. They purchased clothes and needed items for Tanya and made a brief stop at Raven’s houseboat for what he needed. He’d collected clothes and his Nighthawk Custom Talon .45 auto pistol. The flight attendant confiscated the gun as they boarded. Tanya asked him how he liked being de-fanged. He wasn’t worried. The pistol waited in the closet with the M4s. He’d know where it was if he needed the weapon.
And Tanya expected there wouldn’t be any trouble now. They were halfway to their destination. Short of a missile strike, the Cessna wasn’t falling out of the sky. And the Islamic Union had no air force. Tanya put the thought out of her mind. Engine failure or another malady might occur, but she knew the possibility was remote.
Tanya slapped her cards down. “Gin!” She laughed.
Raven smiled. “Now I’m sure you’re cheating.”
She sat back and sipped a bottle of water. She glanced at the oval window beside her. Blue sky above, blue ocean below. Not a cloud in sight. The sun shined bright above.
Raven collected the cards and began to reshuffle. “Let’s do it again,” he said.
“In front of all these people?” She grinned.
Raven didn’t avoid her eyes. The ice had thawed between them since his reassurances at the embassy, and he wondered if the CIA crew noticed.
“Down, girl,” he said.
During the chopper ride from the embassy, she’d held his hand tightly.
Her tension finally faded once the Cessna took off. Relief filled her now. She was safe. The CIA had accepted her morsel of information and knew she was for real.
Raven shuffled the cards and Tanya cut.
Up front, a phone rang.
Tanya watched Raven’s eyes flash over her shoulder. The flight attendant said, “Call for you, Mr. Raven.”
Raven set the cards down. “Be right back.”
She watched him rise from the chair.
Raven side-stepped between the chairs on his way to the front. The two paramilitary officers looked line linebackers. Their hard eyes watched him. The flight attendant, her face stoic, handed him the phone. It hung from a wall near the cockpit door.
Raven leaned against the wall as he spoke.
“Raven talking.”
“It’s Clark.”
“Good morning.”
“Or something,” Wilson said, with a laugh. “I’m running on a cat nap and very strong coffee.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Fisher has cold feet.”
“I’m not sure I like where this is going.”
Wilson recounted the meeting he’d had with Fisher and McCarthy. Raven listened without comment.
“Do you think you can get more out of her?” Wilson asked when he finished.
“Like what?”
“We’d love Francesca Sloan’s current location.”
“You want eyes on her.”
“Yes.”
“All right. She’s cleaning my clock in gin, but I’ll ask.”
“Nuts, you’re letting her win.”
“No, seriously, the cards are against me.”
“Sure they are. Get back with me when you can.”
“As soon as possible.”
Raven hung up. He returned to his seat.
Tanya said, “Is everything okay?”
“We’re fine.” Raven began shuffled the cards again. “They’d like to know where Sloan is right now.”
“The picture wasn’t enough?”
“We have a fellow at headquarters who’s skeptical.”
“I don’t want to say more until we have a deal.”
“You don’t have the room to negotiate, Tanya,” Raven said. “You’ll get a deal, but you need to cooperate. If you refuse this, they’ll have an excuse to shove you out onto the street.”
“Then the IU will find me.”
“Yes, they will.”
She took a deep breath and drank another mouthful of water. “When I took the picture, Francesca was departing Pakistan for Syria.”
“What’s in Syria?”
“We have people in Damascus she needs to see. Then she’s going to our base of operations in Sukkariyeh.”
Raven raised an eyebrow. “Could be huge.”
“It is huge. It’s the Union’s nerve center for Syrian operations.”
“How long will she be in Damascus?”
“Three days. We use an apartment for meetings there.” She gave him the building’s address. “The Sukkariyeh conference is the important part of the trip.”
“Why?”
“I’m saving some details for later.”
Raven nodded. Syria was currently a four-letter word with US policy makers. The weapons and money provided to rebels fighting the Assad regime wound up in the hands of al-Qaeda and ISIS instead. The Russians, in their backing of Assad, increased tensions, and the possibility of a clash with the US. The current administration had ended US involvement in the region, and now it was a free-for-all. Various factions, from within and without, vied for control. The Assad government, with Russian help, tried to beat back the tide. The battle had reached a stalemate. Another quagmire from which there was no easy victory.
Raven knew he was skipping over several details, but the problem was typical of any action in the Middle East. It was like walking through thick brush while dealing with a mass of barbed wire. There were so many distracting rabbit trails the original intent of the intervention faded. Even those who had ordered the mission couldn’t explain why the US was there.
And now the White Widow had made Syria her hiding spot. At their nerve center to boot.
The problem now, as Raven saw it, would be getting the government to act. He knew the CIA still maintained a presence in Damascus and the region in general but didn’t know the exact number.
Raven set the cards down again. “Excuse me.” He rose from the chair. “Don’t doctor the cards.” He smiled.
“I have all the luck today,” she said.
He winked and went forward again.
He caught Wilson right away.
“She’s in Syria,” Raven said, and told him what Tanya had explained.
“Excellent,”