Licensed to Kill

Chapter 3

"We're here, Agent Dobreva," Juan announced as he pulled up in front of the front doors.

A chill swept through my body when I looked up at the building before me. I remembered walking out through those double doors and into Dallas's arms. That was the one and only time we'd ever chanced anyone seeing us together. He'd been in London at the same time as me, also on business, and we simply couldn't resist seeing each other for a measly two hours between meetings. As far as we knew, no one had ever put two and two together. We'd spent the entire two hours having passionate, window-fogging sex inside his rental car in some random parking garage.

My heart clenched, looking at the doors. I faked a cheery goodbye to Juan and gathered my bag, hopping out of the bulletproof Suburban and taking a deep breath before heading into the building.

I was supposed to meet with a Mr. Lancaster at 12:15. I was five minutes early. The lobby had a three-tier security checkpoint where I was required to present every weapon I was concealing and three forms of government identification, along with the reason for my appearance and the request form sent to Brit by Raymond Alvord. My belongings were scanned and each weapon was logged into the A.R.T. database while I passed through two different types of metal detectors. Once the security team completed their work, I retrieved my visitor badge and made my way up the elevator to the fourth floor where Mr. Lancaster's office was.

"Ah, Agent Dobreva," he said, immediately spotting me when the elevator doors opened. "So glad you could make it."

Mr. Lancaster tapped his watch sarcastically and motioned for me to follow him to his office. I glanced at a clock on the wall along the way and realized the security downstairs had caused me to run eight minutes late. Apparently Mr. Lancaster was very punctual.

Once inside his office, we sat down and I waited for him to explain to me what this visit was all about. He took his time flipping through some paperwork on his desk and clicking through tabs on his computer while I surveyed the room and him in silence.

Lancaster, a man in his late forties to early fifties, sported a neatly styled haircut with not a single strand out of place, and a classic black business suit with a red tie. His hair was greying and his eyes were tired from years of hard work as a special agent. This was the first time I'd met the man, though I'd heard about him before. He'd spent nearly twenty years at the C.I.A. before coming to work for A.R.T. in London. He bore a striking resemblance to George Clooney.

"Agent Dobreva," Mr. Lancaster finally spoke up again, directing his attention to me. "It has come to my attention that you're an expert when it comes to missing persons cases. I have a case I'd like you to look into."

I wouldn't call myself an expert on missing persons, but I'd certainly solved my fair share of disappearances within the United States and Australian governments during recent years. I had a seventy percent success rating when it came to locating the individual in question. I supposed that was higher than my teammates'. Now it made sense why the London office had requested my help.

Mr. Lancaster held out a manila folder to me and I made quick work of reviewing the information inside. The missing person was twenty-eight-year-old Diana Lindsey. She'd been an agent with the A.R.T. London division when she disappeared three months prior while working an unauthorized solo case in Berlin.

"How do we know Lindsey didn't just go rogue?" I asked, glancing up from the file in my hands.

Mr. Lancaster cleared his throat and straightened his tie, pursing his lips and pondering his verbiage before answering. He seemed agitated at my question.

"Agent Dobreva, are you seriously suggesting that an Alpha Recon agent may have abandoned her oath and duties?"

His stare was piercing, but I'd been trained to never be intimidated – or at least never show when I was. I held my ground and stared back with the same determined and slightly angered stare. Lancaster was the first to blink.

"While I hold my oath and duties to the Alpha Reconnaissance Taskforce as highly as you do, Mr. Lancaster, I don't believe that means that every single A.R.T. agent feels the same." I tried to choose my words wisely. "A.R.T. agents aren't much different than F.B.I. or Mossad agents. Sometimes they crack. Some people just weren't cut out to be covert agents. While you and I would never turn our backs on our teams, that doesn't mean that another agent wouldn't. I like to keep an open mind to the possibilities when I'm investigating, especially when it involves a missing agent."

Mr. Lancaster's complexion had reddened and I could tell he wasn't used to a lesser ranking agent borderline back talking him, but if he wanted my help, he was just going to have to deal with my personality. The attitude came with the agent. It was a packaged deal.

"You make a fair point, Agent Dobreva," he finally said after a long silence. "Now, Agent Lindsey disappeared on her way back to Munich from Berlin. We have reason to believe she may be in Tel Aviv."

"Why would she go to Israel?" I frowned.

"In interviewing her fellow agents, we learned that the word around the breakroom is that Agent Lindsey has been having an affair with a Mossad agent in Tel Aviv. No one seems to know her name, however," Mr. Lancaster explained.

I cocked a brow and tapped my fingers on the folder in my lap in frustration. "So you mean to tell me that I've just flown nearly four thousand miles to aid in an investigation where the only information you have is that your missing agent is a lesbian, and that basically she could be anywhere within two different continents right now? I'm sorry, Mr. Lancaster, but you're not really giving me a whole lot to go on here."

The frustration returned to his face and he released an exasperated sigh. "I will have her former partner speak with you. You will have full access to Agent Lindsey's locker, office, housing, and so forth. I am confident that an agent with your reputation will be able to find all the information she needs to pursue this case in the most effective manner possible."

"I'm going to need to know what this unauthorized case was," I said matter-of-factly, pen in hand.

Mr. Lancaster nodded. "You will be provided with all the information you need to conduct your investigation. Should you decide to travel outside of the United Kingdom, A.R.T. will provide a partner and an armed guard to accompany you."

I was relieved that my services hadn't been requested in regards to drugs for a change, but at the same time, I wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity to go on a wild goose chase across England, Germany, and Israel in search of a likely rogue agent who might be in fucking Tanzania for all I knew.

A.R.T. had had agents abandon us before. It was extremely rare, only happening about once every four or five years, but I had yet to hear anything that would lead me to believe an alternative possibility for Agent Lindsey's disappearance. However, once I was able to obtain the information about her solo venture into Berlin, there was a fifty-fifty chance that my assumption could change.

I left Mr. Lancaster's office with the feeling that there were details he was privy to that he had not disclosed to me. I was typically very quick to determine when someone was not telling me the full story, and though I didn't know Mr. Lancaster well, it was apparent that he knew more than he was letting on. This investigation hadn't even begun yet and it was already fishy.