know, Peter, Major, the last time you nearly got your ticket punched. You can’t beat the odds every time. Whatever you’re cooking up, don’t. As bad as it was last time, the people were still pretty confused with the Islamic revolution. Now, the Ayatollahs have unified everyone against us. I can’t think of a more certain death trap if you plan to go back in.”
“Josh, I said I’m just doing research and remember, I’m in the Guard now, filling a desk job. I’m just doing a favor for a spook friend.”
Josh didn’t believe him, but he knew better than to continue the dialogue. Peter was the most steadfast person he’d ever known. He also knew that he’d never know if a mission into the heart of Iran succeeded or not. Most likely, anyone involved would be assigned to the CIA and disavowed if anything went wrong. If it did, the people inside Iran would never be seen again and would cease to exist in government records. He could not help feeling that he might lose a friend and never even know it.
“Okay, Peter, what do you need to know?”
General Simmons
After leaving the OC, Peter used an office phone to call Rachael’s boss. He asked General Simmons for a private meeting, away from Rachael, regarding a matter of national security. Peter had met the General, but didn’t know him professionally. Simmons had spent most of his career as an intelligence officer. They agreed to meet in an obscure office on the E-ring, second level. The Pentagon was so enormous and partitioned that there was little risk of Rachael discovering them.
General Simmons graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1974. He was six four and played on the academy basketball team. His good looks earned him the call sign, “Elvis”. Simmons grew up in Hampton, New Hampshire, the son of a lawyer father and nurse mother.
He had more than 4,000 flying hours in a variety of fighter aircraft. He participated as a Wing Commander during the 1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, code-named Operation Deliberate Force, and in 2003 served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq.
His entry into the intelligence community began as an F-16 test pilot during the mid-1990s flying a series of recce pod designs. He flew the first operational electro-optical camera pod missions in the Balkans. He took over the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence, code G2, at the end of the decade. It was not unusual for General Officers to earn their third star in other DoD branches.
After Peter’s phone call, Simmons went alone to their meeting. Peter stood at attention as the General entered the office, where Simmons said, “At ease, Major. Now, can you tell me what this is all about?”
“Yes, Sir. I think you know that I have a relationship with Rachael Aston.”
“Yes, I do. Peter, you’re a fortunate guy. I’m no matchmaker, but you two are a fine pair.”
“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate your responding to my request.”
“That’s okay, Peter. I know you wouldn’t have called if it weren’t important.”
“Yes, sir. Okay, Rachael approached me for advice about extracting a foreign official from inside a foreign country.”
“I can’t comment on that, it would be classified.”
“Yes, sir, I know, but she was asking my advice in an official capacity. You may not know my record. She knows that I have made two extractions there before. She read my file.”
“Okay Peter, I didn’t know, but I do know about your role in Chicago. I accept your credentials. What can I do for you in this case?”
“Sir, I may be the only person with the right experience to run the mission. Timing is too short to spin anyone else up. I need your endorsement to get all the intelligence data and access to people such as Director Lawrence. After that, I’ll need your cover with Rachael.”
Simmons looked at Peter for a few moments before responding, “Look, Major, I can get you what you need, but I can’t do anything about Rachael’s feelings in the matter.”
“I know, sir. She’s gonna be pretty touchy with this. Thanks for your support.”
They talked for a while about the steps to follow, then Simmons left the office a few minutes before Peter. Alone, it was the first time he could contemplate Rachael’s reaction to his involvement. He suddenly wanted nothing to do with it.
On the Team
Later that afternoon, Peter returned to Rachael’s office. After waiting outside while she finished a phone call, he entered saying, “Hi, Ms. Aston, are you set to go home?”
“Almost, I just need to shut things down here. Did you come up with any ideas about the case we discussed at noon?”
“Maybe, but I think you need to follow protocol before we go any further.”
Rachael was a rising star in the Defense Department and was, in some ways, still learning the proper procedure for establishing someone’s need-to-know. “Okay, what’s the right military way to do this?”
“You could start by advising your boss that I should be ‘read on’ to the team.”
“Okay, come with me.”
She stood and walked past him, heading for her boss’ office. Knocking on the doorframe, she said, “General Simmons, can we have a minute?”
Simmons invited Rachael and Peter into his office. “So, what’s on your mind, Rachael?”
“Sir, you know that meeting I went to at Langley this morning?”
Simmons nodded his head.
“Well, I asked Peter, Major Shields, if he had any advice. In his active Army career, he went into the country to rescue someone.”
“Well, did he have any advice?”
Peter cut off her response, “Sir, if I may, Ms. Aston told me generally about the case and asked for any advice I could give. I think that I can be of assistance if you will allow me to gather some background information and assist in organizing a mission that will need CENTCOM support.”
Simmons responded, “Before I authorize anything, I’ll need to have some idea of a mission plan and timetable from you.”
Rachael spoke, “General, Major Shields is only advising in this. CIA will need to develop the plan. This is not a military action.” She was showing more emotion that appropriate.
Simmons acknowledged, “Yes, I know, Rachael, but the military often provides volunteer personnel for covert agency work. Heck, half their pilots are secretly assigned from the military.”
“Sir, the Major isn’t suggesting that he should be involved. It’s just his experience we want to use.”
Peter interjected, “Rachael, I don’t think the General is ordering anything yet. Let’s see what develops before we worry about who’s doing what.”
Peter and the General exchanged glances. Rachael knew Peter’s history of volunteering, and felt the discussion was trending in that direction when Simmons spoke again, “Okay, fine then. Major, you are cleared to work on the case, and I would like a preliminary plan by tomorrow morning. We won’t have much time to act.”
With that said, Peter stood and Rachael left ahead of him. They went back to her office where she shut down her computer and gathered her purse, brushing past him as she walked out the door. She walked faster than normal as they went toward his car in the West parking lot, saying nothing. They rode in silence toward Georgetown and when Peter parked near her apartment, she jumped out of his truck and moved ahead to the door, while he hurried to catch her.
Once through the door, he asked, “Rachael, what’s wrong?”
She looked away from him for a moment before saying, “Peter, do you love me?”
Putting his hands on her shoulders, he responded, “Rach, you know I do. Now tell me what’s wrong.”
Turning to face him, she said, “What’s wrong? You know what’s wrong! It’s not the same anymore Peter. When you came into my life, everything changed. You can’t be so selfish to only think of yourself anymore. I know you. I know your history. You want to go to Iran! Don’t you care that I would be devastated to lose you? Doesn’t it matter?”
Clasping her face as tears began to form in her eyes, h
e said, “Look, I’m only an advisor, nobody has asked me to do anything.”
Pulling away, she turned her back to him saying, “Can you promise me that you will not go into Iran?”
When he didn’t answer immediately, she ran up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door. The rest of the night, he stayed on the couch downstairs without sleep. He knew she was right and he knew that he could risk their future if he made the wrong choices in the coming days.
Impasse
The next morning, Rachael’s attitude had not softened. They barely spoke before he dropped her at the east entrance of the Pentagon. Rather than going to the Guard Bureau, Peter parked by the west entrance and went to the Operations Center. His first task of the day was to call Will Lawrence to meet with him. Lawrence was coming to the Pentagon in a few hours anyway and suggested meeting with Peter at ten o’clock. By noon, he had assembled the skeleton of a plan for Simmons and Lawrence to approve. Before he did anything with it, he needed to have a private talk with Rachael.
He called her office phone, “This is Rachael Aston.”
“Hi, it’s me.”
After a short pause, she said, “Hi, Peter.” Her voice was monotone, with no inflection.
“Ah, look, I know you’re upset, but I need to talk to you privately, about us.”
Almost sarcastically, she said, “You want to have lunch again in the vault?”
“No, I want to talk about us. I don’t want this thing hurting our relationship.”
She was quiet for a moment, “Look, Peter. I don’t know what to