Lady Death

drove back to the bowling center parking lot and dialed Wilson. He had no other choice.
“She got away from me,” Raven told him.
“What?”
“Tanya’s gone, Clark. She left her phone behind too.”
“Wait. Start over. Tell me everything.”
Raven explained their activity and her visit to the restroom.
“She walked away?”
“Vanished is more like it,” Raven said. “I drove in circles looking for her but she’s nowhere near here.”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“I have a feeling it might make perfect sense.”
“How so?”
“Either she’s rejecting your deal and going on her own, or she played us.”
Wilson fell silent. Raven’s hand shook as he held the cell phone.
“You better get back here.”
“I’m on my way.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to explain this.”
“You and me both, pal.”
“Drive around again. One more time. We can’t let this go.”
“I’m going now.”
Raven ended the call and started the Chevy.
When Raven called back with the same news, Wilson directed him to Langley. Christopher Fisher wanted to see him.
A guest pass waited for Raven at the security gate of CIA headquarters. He drove to visitor parking, and Wilson reached him as he locked the car with the remote.
Wilson looked pale.
“You okay?” Raven said.
“No, Sam. We’re in serious trouble.”
Raven followed Wilson into the building, through lobby security, and into an elevator. Wilson pressed a button for their floor. The elevator climbed upward.
Neither spoke.
Raven’s mind raced. He focused on his second theory. She had played them. A phony defection to plant misinformation. The CIA had redirected resources at fake targets. Meanwhile, the Islamic Union furthered their progress on Operation Triangle.
She hadn’t mentioned the name by mistake. Not at all.
How had he not seen through her? Or had he? Had he let his need to protect the vulnerable get in the way of his judgement?
He wasn’t alone in making the call, though. The CIA had believed her too.
But...
Assassins had targeted her.
The White Widow was certainly dead.
Why sacrifice operators for a ruse?
It left him with option one. She was rejecting the CIA’s deal and taking her chances alone. She’d given them everything she had. Staying locked in the Blue Ridge black site wasn’t what she wanted. Did she have a backup plan? A new identity waiting?
The elevator let them off on the seventh floor. Short walk down a quiet hallway. Through a door to Christopher Fisher’s office.
The receptionist waved them to the inner office.
Fisher waited behind his desk. He stood. Seated in front of the desk was Layla McCarthy. She stood too.
“What’s going on, Raven?” Fisher said.
“Hello, Christopher.” He smiled at Layla. “Hello, Layla.”
“Sam,” she said. “I wish we were meeting again under better circumstances.”
“Ditto,” Raven said.
Fisher snapped, “Answer me.”
Wilson pulled two more chairs over to the desk. He and Raven sat. Raven carefully went through his story again. He left out no detail. The others listened carefully. He placed Tanya’s CIA phone and purse on Fisher’s desk as proof she’d left it behind.
When he finished, Fisher and Layla stared at him. Wilson looked at the carpet.
Fisher sighed and tapped his desk blotter. “All right. What are our ideas?”
Raven explained his theories.
Layla added, “It wouldn’t be the first time a defector got cold feet.”
“But each of those times,” Fisher said, “the defector had been lying to us. Raven’s second idea fits too.”
Wilson chimed in. “She left her purse and the phone. She has no ID or money. She’s wearing bowling shoes.”
“She has some sort of plan,” Layla said. “This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. She was waiting for the opportunity.”
“Have you checked out what she told you,” Raven said, “about her background?”
“We’re still investigating her statement,” Fisher said. “Our efforts were focused on the White Widow.”
“We have to assume the black site is now compromised,” Wilson said.
“Did she see any of the other prisoners?” Fisher asked.
“No.” Wilson shook his head. “But she knows the location. She knows the security layout.”
“No way a commando force could get in there,” Layla said.
“Do we want to take the chance?” Wilson said. “Who says they need commandos?”
“What do you suggest, Clark?” Fisher said.
“We move the prisoners to another location until we determine whether there’s a threat to the facility.”
“And if they’re waiting for us to move them?” Layla said. “We only have the one other IU prisoner, Omar Talman. What if they’re planning a rescue? They wouldn’t need to attack the facility if they can blow up a convoy.”
Fisher said, “We can increase the force at the black site. Roving patrols in the forest. They won’t attack. It’s a suicide mission. But we’ll add the personnel anyway.”
Wilson nodded.
Fisher let out another breath. “I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do on the Hill.” He turned to Layla. “We need her background check expedited. I want it done in an hour.”
Layla nodded.
Fisher leveled a finger at Raven. “You’re not going anywhere until we figure this out.”
“I’m here for the duration,” Raven told him. “This is my responsibility as much as anybody’s.”
“Stick with Wilson till I say so,” Fisher said. “I’ll get you a green badge, so you’ll be able to move about the building. I’m going to distribute pictures of Tanya and send out a search party. We’ll cover Arlington like flies. She’ll turn up.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Layla said.
“Then we’ll know she was a fake. Anything else?”
Nobody had anything more to say.
“Let’s get to work.”

18
Omar Talman was running out of time.
The guards talked too much, and the Islamic Union field officer knew how to listen without being noticed. He knew when Tanya arrived, and he heard the buzz about her disappearance. Her vanishing act was his signal. If he didn’t move fast, the plan wouldn’t work, and he’d be stuck at the black site until he died.
His cell wasn’t much bigger than a closet. No bed. Only a toilet and a bare mattress on the floor. They’d given up on him. The interrogations had stopped weeks ago. He gave them nothing, despite the near torture of their techniques. He knew policy forbade them from going too far. He’d won by frustrating them. They’d