Edge of Tomorrow (16 page)

As she thought about the event later, she
decided that more members of the Wrath of Allah must be punished.
She bought herself a very deadly dirk, an abbaya, and a sishwa
(veil). She found that when she put the long, black abbaya over her
clothes and head, and covered her face with the veil, she could
melt into the populace and not be noticed. Just another of the
hundreds of Arab women swarming around the streets. Using what
meager intelligence that she could dig up, she tracked those people
all over the Middle East, and dispatched them with her knife—or a
handgun when she could get one—when she found them. When she found
a target, she would slip out the back of her hotel dressed in her
Arab garb, and when the deed was done, she would go back into the
hotel the same way. She would put the abbaya, veil, and weapon into
her briefcase and leave by the front entrance dressed in her
Western clothes, grab a taxi, and leave the area.

In her endeavors to garner intelligence, she
asked questions everywhere. Eventually, MOSSAD agents noticed this
and started watching her, trying to figure out what she was up to.
Finally, she got herself into a bad situation, but the MOSSAD agent
watching her saved her bacon and helped her escape. The MOSSAD, at
that point, recruited her, saying that they had much better
intelligence and logistics than she did. She agreed, so they sent
her to their Special Ops school where she received training in all
sorts of weapons, hand-to-hand combat, communications, illegal
entry, explosives, false documents, and everything else she needed
to know to become a first-class intelligence agent. Her training
was scheduled so as not to interfere with her teaching schedule at
TAU. The MOSSAD, liking her cover at TAU, arranged for her to get a
full Professorship there, so she extended her leave from
Harvard.

Then her reign of terror heated up. She
carried out many missions for Metsada, with the understanding that
they would keep feeding her intelligence about the Wrath of Allah
group, her main objective. Although she was now an expert in a
variety of weapons, the knife remained her weapon of choice, in
most cases, because knives were more easily acquired than handguns.
Sometimes it was impractical, so she often used silenced pistols
and sniper rifles, but smuggling these into a country was more
difficult. She began, if the timing of the kill permitted, to mark
her victims with a
Z
, as in
Zorro. This spread fear among many terrorists all over the Mideast,
since they did not really understand what it meant, or who was
doing it.

After three years with Metsada, a double
agent gave her up to the Wrath of Allah, so she had to retire and
leave Israel. In a way, she was relieved. She had extracted a great
price for the death of her parents, and continued to have moral
arguments with herself. She headed for Florida, a place where she
had never been before, in hopes of eventually going back to
teaching. She thought that after a while they would stop looking
for her.

“And then,” Syd said, “the incident
at
The Blue Grotto
happened.
I’m sure those two were from the Wrath of Allah. How they found me
so quickly, I have no idea. Maybe you guys can help me with
that.”

She went to the wet bar and fixed herself a
fresh drink. This time she made a tall gin and tonic, light on the
gin. Then she sat down and took a long drink from her glass. Her
throat had become dry from the talking. Her audience had said
nothing during her lecture. They were astounded by her story.

Hatch thought,
I can relate to her lust for revenge! I was the same way
after they killed Kat
.

Finally, Sara said, “Jesus, Syd! What a
package you are! Should I call you Dr. Zorrina now?”

There was still a deathly, nervous silence in
the room. Syd looked at Sara.

“Dr. Zorrina? Ah! I get it! Pretty good,
Sara!” laughed Syd.

They all laughed, and the spell was
broken.

“Yes, your background is quite remarkable,
Syd,” interjected Hatch. “What languages do you speak?”

“I’m familiar with the structure of most
Indo-European languages, and many Afro-Asiatic ones. I’m most
proficient in Hebrew, Yiddish, Farsi, Ashtiani, Rashti, Munji; many
Persian and Arabic dialects. I learned Spanish as a child growing
up in L.A.,” Syd shrugged.

“I am
good
at languages,” Syd added.

“So is Hatch,” Sara offered. “His specialty
is European languages. Between the two of you, you probably cover
the globe.”

Hatch glared at Sara. She shrugged and took a
slug of her drink. Bruno was writing furiously on his pad. He had
been too dumbstruck by her presentation to take many notes while
she was speaking.

Hatch continued, “I don’t know what type of
secrecy document you had to sign when you left MOSSAD, Syd, but if
it is possible, any information you can give us on Mideast
terrorist groups could be of use to us. The most important item
right now, however, is to establish how the Wrath of Allah found
you so quickly.

“As a first step, Bruno, take a surveillance
van and check out Syd’s house. If you find any watchers, let me or
Sara know immediately. When you are absolutely sure the place is
clear, go in and check for bugs and cameras. You know the drill.
Sweep it good. Syd, we’ll need your house key, if that’s OK.”

Syd nodded. “It’s in my purse upstairs. Feel
free to rifle my purse when you leave, Bruno.”

Hatch went on. “Syd, does anyone know you’re
here? Any family?”

“Oh, My God!” Syd gasped. “My sister!
She lives in San Francisco. I called her when I got here and told
her that I was no longer in Israel. I gave her my phone number! If
there’s a bug at
her
place,
they could have found me easily. How could I have been so
stupid?”

“But how did they find
her
so easily?” mused Hatch. “Did
you use the name Steppe in Israel?”

“At TAU, yes. I was Professor Steppe. My
sister is a lawyer, Karen Steppe. Although I was known as Anna
Klein in the MOSSAD, her name was in my dossier at MOSSAD, as in
‘Whom to Notify.’ They would be able to find her easily, since they
got my file from that traitor.”

“Then, let’s assume she could be the link.
That means she is in danger, too, Syd. You can’t call her and warn
her. That would tip them off that we are on to them if her phone is
really bugged.”

“I wouldn’t want to call her anyway. What
would I tell her? She doesn’t know what I really was doing for the
last four years. She thought I was teaching. What can I do? She
must be in danger because of me!”

“Calm down, Syd. Let us handle it. Give Bruno
your sister’s address and telephone number,” said Hatch.

Bruno passed her a piece of paper and a pen;
she wrote it all down and passed it back to him.

“OK, Bruno. Call the San Francisco office and
have them check this out. Tell them to pose as City Inspectors
checking for Radon. Routine check. First, have them check for
watchers, just in case. When they get there, have them call me. We
have to decide how to handle the sister if we conclude that she is
in danger,” stated Hatch.

At that point, Bruno left the room to take
care of his multiple assignments.

“Thank you, Hatch!” sighed Syd with
relief. “You really are a resourceful man. You save my life, and
now you are looking after my sister, and keeping her from knowing
what her sister
really
is.
And what a fuck-up I am!”

“Now, now, Syd,” clucked Hatch. “You figured
your were safe once you got out of the Middle East, and landed in
this obscure part of the world. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll
know more in a couple of hours. Sara, why don’t you show Syd the
grounds—the pool, golf course, boat dock, the bay. I have a few
phone calls to make. Let’s meet at the gazebo at the pool at 4:30.
Maybe I will have some news by then.”

He watched the swish of her butt as she
followed Sara out of the room.

• • •

Sara led Syd out the back of the house to
where several golf carts were parked, hooked up to their
battery-charging umbilical cords. She disconnected one and they
climbed aboard and took off on a tour of the vast grounds. Or at
least part of them. Sara did not want to show Syd the “North Forty”
yet. That was where the shooting ranges, training facilities, and
helipad were located. Sara did not know how much Hatch wanted Syd
to know at this time.

As they drove along, Sara pointed out the
various sights they passed.

Syd asked, “Sara, I told you my life story in
there, including the fact that I spent several years being a spy
and killing people. And I told you why. So you know a lot about me,
and I still know nothing about you or Hatch. To begin with, what is
your relationship with Hatch? Are you …?”

“Lovers?” Sara interrupted. Then she laughed.
“In love with him? Of course. So is Mrs. C. So are most women who
know him. Lovers, though? No. I wish. It’s not allowed.
Fraternization, I mean. He’s my boss. No screwing around amongst
the chain of command. We have to get our sexual pleasures outside
of the organization. You’ve already got your eye on him, haven’t
you?”

“Sara! I just met the man! So, tell me about
you,” Syd said, trying to steer the conversation away from the
direction it was going, because she really did have her eye on
him.

“Well, I’m a five-foot-eleven, gorgeous,
statuesque blonde with a good firm body, a 40-D chest that drives
most men mad, and 145 pounds of pure muscle. I’m 39 years old and
holding,” laughed Sara. “But that’s not the answer you wanted.”

Syd had to agree with Sara’s assessment of
herself. Her blonde hair was cut short, but was attractively
styled, and accented her chiseled, classic face. Her eyes were a
clear blue.

“I am used to being the tallest girl in
a crowd. It’s nice being around someone taller than I am.
I
don’t envy your 40-Ds though. I’m
completely happy with my 36-Cs,” laughed Syd in
response.

“Meow! OK, continuing, let me first
say—before filling you in on my uninteresting background—I am
normally a very easy-going person, but if anyone fucks with me or
mine, I am their worst nightmare!” Sara said with feeling. “I may
not be Dr. Z., but I, too, am a very dangerous woman when I have to
be.”

“I kind of sensed that about all of you.
There is a lot going on around here that nobody has told me yet.
For example, are we under surveillance right now? Is this place
loaded with cameras and microphones?”

“No, and yes. During the day, except for the
perimeter, everything is turned off. At night, it is all turned on.
Hatch feels the employees should have privacy while they are on the
job. So, nobody can hear what we are saying, if that is your
concern.”

Sara turned down another road and headed
toward the dock. She parked next to a rustic boat house with life
buoys and boat hooks hanging on it. It was a large dock with two
boats tied up to it. One was a wooden Chris Craft speed boat with
three seating areas. The other was a thirty-two-foot cabin cruiser
with a flying bridge. The bay, which Syd assumed, correctly,
connected somewhere to the Gulf of Mexico, was large. Syd could see
land at a distance off to her left.

“This is gorgeous, Sara! It is quite a place,
what I’ve seen so far. But why here in this part of Florida? I
would think someone of Hatch’s stature—head of a large
company—would be closer to the action. Miami, or the Keys,”
observed Syd.

“He likes privacy. There is a lot of land
here, and it’s very private. We’re not far from the action by
helicopter,” explained Sara.

“If he’s the Chairman of the Board, who is
the CEO of Triple Eye?” asked Syd.

“Until last Friday, Hatch was CEO, too. He
turned the reins over to someone else so he can spend more time on
other things. The new CEO is an old timer, Jane Forbeson, who has
been with him since the beginning.”

“A woman? Good for him! At least he’s not
sexist!”

The two women sat down on a wooden bench and
gazed out at the water.

“Before we head back, and get ready to meet
Hatch at the pool, I’ll give you a quick snapshot of my background.
I got out of high school in 1979 with no idea of what I wanted to
do with my life. During my teenage years, I was pretty much a
loner—had trouble getting dates with boys.”

“You? I would have thought you would be
fighting the boys off!” exclaimed Syd.

“Not back then. I was tall and gangly, small
boobs, braces on my teeth. I got good grades, but the only sport I
tried was volley ball. By the time I graduated, I was starting to
fill out, gaining some weight and growing a chest. I did get
invited to the Senior Prom, but the guy was shorter than I was, so
I really didn’t have a good time. After I graduated, I couldn’t
afford college, and I heard that if you joined the Marines, you
could earn money for college. I talked to a Recruiting Sergeant and
he talked me into it, telling me they would teach me a trade. To
make a long story short, I joined up, qualified for Officer’s
Training after two years, and stayed in over sixteen years. I was a
major when I retired.”

“Wow! I’ll bet you had some exciting
experiences being a Marine officer—and a woman!” exclaimed Syd.
“Why did you retire before your twenty years were up?”

“Nothing as exciting as you, Dr. Z., but some
occasional hairy stuff. I quit early to go to work for Hatch. He
made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” answered Sara.

“An offer to do what?” asked Syd.

“Look, Syd, I’m getting on shaky ground here.
Like I said, we cherish our privacy, and we have severe security
requirements from our clients. For now, suffice it to say that I am
the Manager of Triple Eye’s Florida office. We can check with Hatch
later and find out how much detail he wants you to know,” hedged
Sara.