Chapter 2
Despite working late the night before, reading the operation doc and doing web research, April came in early the next day. She felt she had a handle on what needed to happen to fulfill the operation goals and had printed out various documents to distribute at the morning briefing.
As she went to the conference room, she stopped before opening the door, psyching her self up, doing mental relaxation exercises. As she did so, she became aware of someone behind her. She turned and looked up at Dermot, who looked down at her kindly.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"A bit," she replied.
Dermot smiled at her and said, "You are going to do fine, April. One thing, though, before we go in. I've asked Desirea to ride shotgun on this. I have confidence in you, but this is a big deal and you know it's operational procedure. All newbies are closely supervised on their first op."
April's eyes widened. 'Desirea!' she thought. 'Oh crap!'
Dermot read it in her eyes and said, "Don't let her reputation worry you. The ball buster is an act. In reality she's all about people doing their best and her helping them to reach their potential. Good luck, April!"
He moved past her and opened the conference room door and entered. April stayed outside for a few moments more, thinking about what Dermot had just said.
Desirea McGee. The most experienced field agent in the office, apart from Jessica Ingrams herself, and she didn't do field work any more. Desirea had some legendary operations under her belt and she was a figure of awe from the rest of the agents. She was forty-two, looked thirty-two, and was a statuesque Amazonian woman – she was the splitting image of Wonder Woman.
She was also hard-nosed, did not suffer fools gladly, swore like a sailor and told it as she saw it. She had been devious beyond belief when out in the field, but when at the office, she was open as she could be. She was detail-oriented, almost as much as Dermot. She was the anti-blink, never making a statement till she knew everything about a situation. However, once she'd done that, if she thought something sucked, she said so, and sometimes it rubbed some of the agents wrong.
But she could also be persuaded she was wrong, which was a rarity, and she was scrupulously fair. But she was terrifying – the concept of having this woman breathing down her neck for the next four to five months was not a comforting one.
April took a deep breath and opened the conference room and went inside.
She got coffee and a Danish – gourmet, of course – and sat down near the head of the table. Dermot was already sitting and finishing his pastry before he got the meeting started. April looked around the table. Desirea was at the other end, along with Talia from research, Tom from resources and others. Jessica herself stopped in for a moment, nodded at April, helped herself to coffee and walked out again, after exchanging a knowing look with Dermot that April didn't miss.
After he finished his Danish, Dermot wiped his mouth and stood up.
"Right, you rabble," he started, grinning, "we've got a good one here. This is an unusual one. This is preventative, not picking up the pieces like we usually do. Now, you all know our new field agent, April Carlisle, and this is her first op. So everyone pay attention and give her everything you can. You know this shit can go south easily and we need to give her all the support we can. April, you are up."
With that, he sat down and looked at her. There was a moment's silence and then April stood up, cleared her throat, glanced at the documents in front of her and began speaking.
"Ok folks, this is what we have. Targets' names are Paul Silverano and his wife, Jenny Silverano. Both are resident here in Washington. They have three children: Milly, who is four, Tommy, who is six and Paulie, Jr., who is nine. Paul and Jenny are all about their kids – their last vacation was at DisneyWorld. They, on the surface, have a happy marriage. Neither one is messing around, at least not obviously and there appears to be genuine love between them, or at least that's what they show people. Jenny is a bit of a ball buster and can be abrasive, while Paul is laid back but totally in charge and in control.
"Paul is a negotiator over at State. He's been on staff about fifteen years now – he's an indispensible part of their team there – and they are elbow-deep in some negotiations for an under-the-table treaty with China about cyber warfare, and he's regarded as pretty much the only person they will talk to seriously.
"Now, tangentially, the IRS apparently has some new toy they've been experimenting with. It's all very hush-hush and I can't tell you about it, beyond the fact that it does handwriting recognition and is used to match up bank accounts with their real owners, based on signatures. The idea is to track down those hiding their wealth. Like I said, it's all very experimental and we can't talk about it, so read it for yourselves in the briefing document.
"What
is
interesting is the fact that a calibration pass using this new toy turned up an account that the IRS is pretty convinced belongs to Paul Silverano, which has almost four hundred and seventy thousand dollars in it. It's not in his name, but they are convinced it's his. They don't know where the money came from, and are worried that he might be compromised, have sold out or is being blackmailed – this could be a slush fund for payments, and so they did more digging.
"Given the treaty negotiations, State is very concerned about his welfare right now, which is a pity, since Paul is about to get some very bad news, namely that Tommy and Paulie Jr. are not, in fact, his kids. There is a medical office at the building where Paul works – he's not based in the official State Department building, but in a satellite office -, and his kids get seen there if there are any issues, simply because there's almost no wait, and since it's all on the government anyway, it's just easier all round.
"So they have a DNA system in government now; it's for use in identifying bodies in case of terrorist attack. Everyone that goes through that medical office gives a sample, and one of the researchers doing extended information gathering noticed that the DNA profiles for our Paul and two of his kids don't match.
"Now normally the government would look at something like this, tsk a bit and move on. They don't get involved in this kind of domestic issue. However, what they didn't take into account is the fact Paul's uncle has now just been diagnosed with untreated Hepatitis B, and his liver is failing. Of course they are looking for a donor who matches genetically, and guess how they are going to do that?
"The DNA test is going to reveal to Paul that his children are not his and the fear is he's going to fall apart and the treaty with China will do the same. The moment that marital strife entered the picture, all the other agencies that State would normally tap to look into this dropped this like a hot potato, and it landed in our lap. So, our mission here is to 'handle it', whatever that means. We have to ensure that he's able to successfully conclude the treaty negotiations. And preferably not go into a straight jacket afterwards."
There was silence as everyone digested the mission. April took the opportunity to take a quick swig of coffee, and then she continued.
"Now, as to whose kids they actually are, it looks like they are the result of two different trysts by Mrs. Silverano. As luck would have it, the individual fathers' DNA is on record in the same system. Paul and Jenny Silverano are part of a close-knit group of about four other couples, and the fathers of these two children are Michael Corano and Tony Fastino. Both are married themselves, both with children. Apparently this little lot grew up together in New York, in the Bronx, and have stuck together through thick and thin over the years. They all made government their careers and are spread out throughout the Washington political infrastructure. Corano and Fastino all use the same medical facilities that are on offer for government employees that Paul Silverano does, hence them being on file.
"According to the files, there's one other of this little group who is not local, one Brad Tomlinson. He grew up as part of this little gang, but went into the sciences and works at a bioresearch lab out in Palo Alto in California, working on DNA analysis. As a group, they meet every six months in Vegas and Paul gets out to San Francisco when he gets the chance to go fishing with Tomlinson.
"So, we know this little bombshell is coming, and coming fast. We need to get in there and build in some damage control. What documentation we already have is on the table, I did some preliminary research on these guys with stuff I could find on the web and also some very sketchy thinking into what his reaction is likely to be and possible counters. Any questions?"
She looked around the room. Everyone was digesting the information or looking at the papers in front of them.
Desirea said, "Can we head this off at the pass? Make it so he never knows?"
April answered, "I doubt it. While State employs this medical group, they don't own them. They can bring pressure to bear but ultimately it's both a question of medical ethics, and I should point out that this medical group has a high degree of moral integrity. The top guy makes a lot of bones about it. But it's also a question of inevitability. You can't go around shutting down every DNA test that might be applied to these boys. It's going to happen at some point."
Desirea persisted, "Yes, but down the line isn't now. Not when there is a treaty being negotiated."
April nodded but then said, "Yes, that's true, but if it
doesn't
