The Blacklist (sequel to The Reluctant Spy)

Another Piece of the Puzzle

Jo would never admit it to anyone, but she had fun helping Nyssa. From rebuilding an old classic car to beating up Russian loan sharks, Nyssa’s life was definitely not boring. She only knew Nyssa very briefly, but she liked her from the start. She helped Jo after that bombing in the marketplace just a week ago. She was still coping with what happened to her with Boscard, having to deal with Adam’s death, and now the bombing. For whatever reason, Nyssa wanted to help. She felt that somehow, Nyssa understood what she was going through. Perhaps, Nyssa went through the same trials, only they were under different circumstances.

Jo only knew Nyssa’s story from Nyssa herself, apart from what Lucas told her. Jo came to a conclusion of her own about her new friend. This was an accomplished, strong woman who survived so much dysfunction within her own family and had to reinvent herself to do it.

Lucas approached Jo that morning after Nyssa left the grid and asked her to keep an eye on their new asset. He told her his suspicions of what trouble Nyssa might make for herself and said that he was worried for her safety. Jo had her own thoughts as to why he would be so concerned about her, but she did not press the issue with him. When she asked Nyssa about it, Jo was met with agitation and a defensive reaction from Nyssa. She concluded that their behavior showed that something was definitely going on between them, but for now, it was personal only for them.

Lucas warned Jo that Nyssa had a tendency to be secretive when she was planning something. The incident at the hotel proved that theory. Lucas told Jo to be on the lookout for any strange behavior and to tell him about it. When Nyssa took that phone call then rushed out the door with a silly excuse, she counted that as strange. Jo was glad that she had to foresight to install a tracking device on Nyssa’s motorcycle in case she left Marilyn’s house alone. As predicted, Nyssa left quickly to meet with her sister.

Jo monitored Nyssa’s movements until the signal stopped moving. She sent the coordinates to Lucas who drove to the area and watched from his car. He parked his car a safe distance and watched Nyssa meet with Lucy in front of the One Aldwych Hotel.

Lucy pointed to an Egyptian man exiting the hotel. Lucas snapped a few photos of the man while he waited for his Mercedes. After he drove away, Lucas watched Nyssa and Lucy get into a heated discussion until Nyssa stormed off. Lucy did the same in the opposite direction.

Once the sisters were out of sight, Lucas pulled out into traffic. He followed the signal from the tracking device to Nyssa’s flat. He parked the car and watched from a distance as she climbed the stairs to her front door. Lucas watched her go inside before he checked in with Harry.

"Harry Pearce."

“I'm outside Nyssa’s flat. She made a rendezvous with her sister outside of One Aldwych Hotel. I think she found the person she was looking for that morning at the Savoy,” said Lucas. “I'm sending Malcolm the photographs for an ID.”

"You were right, Lucas. Whatever Nyssa was doing, she knew that we would be watching. Sending her sister to finish what she started is very clever."

“Do you want me to bring her in?”

"No, not just yet. I say we let this one play out. Once she gets what she's after, than we confront her with it. Don't tell her that we know anything about this."

“Alright!”

"Lucas, stay as close to her as you possibly can. The more she digs into this, the sooner they might try something."

“Understood,” Lucas said in a low tone.

He was suddenly hit with anger. How could she do something so reckless without telling him first? Just when he thought he was finally getting through to her, she went around the team, around him, and pursued her own lead. She withheld possible evidence. This may get her arrested and extradited, even killed.

He watched the flat for another hour well after sunset. He sat in his car alone with his thoughts, contemplating rushing up those stairs and barging into her place to have it out with her. He gripped the steering wheel and closed his eyes, imagining himself breaking the door down, grabbing her by the shoulders, and shaking the truth out of her.

He had his hand on the door handle, rehearsing his speech in his head until something else stopped him. It was Harry's orders telling him not to let her know that he had been following her. Suddenly, his spy instincts kicked in along with his rational thinking. Harry was right. This operation involving the Pakistani consulate may not bring them any closer to uncovering this mysterious faction. Nyssa’s connection may prove to be stronger in getting any kind of intel on this shadow faction. It would be smart to let her follow her lead then get the information from her afterwards.

Lucas closed his eyes and breathed a heavy sigh to help him calm down. He looked up at the flat and saw the lights go out. She was going to bed, and at that moment, another image snaked into his mind, an image prompted from a memory of her only a few nights ago. He chuckled to himself and let his mind relive the memory of their time together that night. He could almost feel the kisses and the caresses of their hands and lips. The memory helped him forget about his anger.

He looked up at the flat again and saw no movement since the lights went out. He decided to leave her alone for tonight. He would see her again tomorrow when they would conduct their big heist.  He watched for another hour until he was sure that it was safe to leave without being seen. He drove to the nearest pub. A tall glass of straight vodka was calling his name.

Nyssa woke up very early the next morning and left her flat once the sun came up. She had a very full day starting with the reconnaissance on the Pakistani consulate. She sent Jack there after Harry gave her the assignment to gather as much information as he could on the security. Of course, he protested and argued about how dangerous the operation was. Like Lucas, he did not like the idea that Harry was sending her in because she was the perfect deniable asset. With her record and ‘criminal activities’, who would question whether or not that she was acting on her own?

Jack was also not happy with these early morning meetings. Since he retired from the army, his mornings were usually spent recovering from his late nights he spent in the pub. Mornings was not on his favorite list.

While Nyssa was heading to the consulate, she heard a knocking sound coming from the wheelbase of her Indian. She pulled off the street to take a look.

It was an easy fix. A small rock was kicked up from the front tire and became lodged. Nyssa quickly disposed of the rock and was about to resume her ride when something under the fender caught her eye. Nyssa reached under the front fender and pulled out a tracking device. Her first thoughts were of those men who planted the transmitter in her mother’s house. Could this be them, attempting to keep tabs on her every movements, or was this Harry doing the very same thing? If it was the latter, when did his team do this, and how long have they been following her?

Nyssa contemplated destroying the device or placing it on a parked car, so they could follow someone else for a while. But, another idea came to mind.  If it was these people who blacklisted her, she could lure them out using herself as bait. If it was Lucas, then she knew how to keep him busy and out of her business.

As Nyssa rode through the morning traffic, Nyssa thought about how funny it was that she did not feel anger over the tracking device. As hard as she tried, she could not blame his actions, if indeed this was his doing. Neither of them behaved in a way that would build trust with each other. They were both professional spies. It was hard to set aside all the paranoia, the distrust, all of the traits that came with the job. Yet, it was another reason why a serious, intimate relationship with one another would never work.

Nyssa met with Jack at a café just a few blocks from the consulate. Jack sat at a table at the far corner of the room facing the entrance. He looked like hell, like he had yet to see a bed since yesterday afternoon. His hair looked partially combed, and his clothes looked wrinkled. He had a cup of black coffee and a dry piece of toast sitting in front of him. Nyssa took the seat opposite him at the table and ordered a coffee of her own. It took Jack a minute to fight through the fog of his mind and find his voice to talk to her.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” That was his first question.

“When you served in the army, you had to get up earlier than this. Don’t give me that.” She smiled.

“Why do you think I retired?”

“Another question comes to my mind. Why happened to you last night? You look horrible.”

“I spent the night on a mate’s couch because I missed the three month anniversary dinner with Katrina yesterday.”

“So sorry to hear that!” she said trying not to laugh.

“I need a place to stay for the week. My mate’s wife is kicking me out.”

He waited for a response to his unasked question but only received a blank stare from Nyssa.

“Oh, come on now! It’s just a week,” he begged.

“Five days, and you’re out by the weekend,” she said.

Jack held up his hands in surrender and nodded.

“And, you bring a sleeping bag.”

“Got it!” He smiled.

Nyssa took a sip of her coffee before changing the subject.

“What have you got on the security in the Pakistani consulate?” she asked.

“Well, it’s tight. 24-hour security. Military trained. Each consulate worker, even down to the maintenance staff has a key card reader with their photographs imprinted on them. The security uses facial recognition software for every person in that building. Each floor is equipped with cameras and voice recognition monitors. Even the stairways have cameras.”

Nyssa looked over the pictures that Jack provided, checking out each outdoor camera location that he could find. Burglarizing the consulate would not be a good plan.

"It looks like the best thing to do would be to go in during the day. If I can convince them to let me in, the second thing is to get the head of security out of his office," she said. "Consulates are usually filled with standard office employees enjoying an overseas post. However, the head of security is almost always a spy."

"Okay, how are you getting in, and how are you getting him out of his office?" asked Jack dreading that he already knew the answer.

"That's where you come in," Nyssa smiled.

Nyssa and Jack spent the morning hashing out a plan to break into the consulate. It was mid-morning when Nyssa noticed Jack's attention was waning and suggested that they break for a while, so he could get some sleep. She had other things she needed to do anyway to get ready for their big heist that evening.

Lucas was also having a sluggish morning after spending part of the evening at a pub. He was seated at his desk with a strong cup of black coffee going through the guest list at the conference at the Savoy. He thought that maybe there would be a name on that list that seemed familiar. He glanced over at Malcolm who was running a facial recognition program on the photograph of the man at the One Aldwych. He took a breath and resumed his own search, hoping that the picture would produce a lead.

"Lucas, we have a match," said Malcolm from his terminal.

Lucas rose from his desk and walked over to Malcolm.

"Bakari Essam. Former Egyptian intelligence from 1996 to 2009." The picture of the man matched the one attached to the file on Malcolm's monitor.

"He works as a delegate now." Lucas stared at the file, absorbing all the information on the screen. "His name matches the guest list. The dates overlap the time Nyssa spent in the CIA. It would make sense if they crossed paths in the past, but what does he have to do with this?"

"Only Nyssa knows the answer to that one," said Harry from behind Lucas. "Good work, both of you. Lucas, come to my office."

Harry led the way to his office with Lucas following him. Once both men were inside, Harry took his seat at his desk while Lucas closed the door behind him.

"Officially, Lucas, I can't order surveillance on a delegate without any proper reason, but unofficially, we stay in the shadows and watch until she makes contact with him. When do you see her again?" asked Harry.

"Tonight....I'm taking her to dinner," Lucas lied. He decided to keep the heist a secret. There was no point in Harry finding out.

"Good. Stay close and find out what she knows. And, watch your back. The closer we get to them, the more dangerous this becomes."

Lucas nodded his head and left the office. There was nothing left to do until Nyssa got what she needed from this Egyptian delegate. Then, he would get the information from her before the mysterious faction got to them both. It was a race against time, and he hoped that this little cat and mouse game of hers did not cost them more than they could lose.