***
As she drove Dee cast her mind back four years to her time at Quantico. She had just arrived there to begin work when the hulk who was now snoring on the back seat ran up and introduced himself. They were both new Vastrick employees and both were there to attend a variety of courses from Hostage Negotiation to Defensive Driving.
Dee had expected a few hours to herself to acclimatise and get over her long journey when an instructor tapped on the dorm room door, opened it, threw in a tracksuit and said, “Cross country run, ten minutes, assembly point C.”
Dressed in her light grey FBI branded track suit with her visitor’s badge flapping, she set off beside Pete and an American called Steve Post. Steve was wearing a red ID band, whereas Dee and Pete had yellow bands on their wrists. The bands had been fitted when entering through the gate and, like hospital ID’s, they had to be worn until the person left the premises. Yellow denoted a guest trainee, from a US police department, fire department or private company, red denoted FBI. It is little known, or understood, by those who visit Quantico and who train there, that the CIA send numerous operatives to the FBI site for training. The spooks all wear red FBI wristbands and declare themselves to be from the Arlington Field Office. There is no Arlington Field Office for the FBI; in fact, these CIA operatives all hail from Langley, Virginia.
By the time the three trainees collapsed back at the foot of the big Assembly Point C marker, after a run of ten miles, they were firm friends. It was a friendship born out of adversity and it had lasted until today.
Those few weeks had been amongst the hardest, and most enjoyable, of Dee’s life. She learned a good deal about herself. She had not realised that she could take so much punishment and bounce back. She had accomplished more than she ever thought possible. When the Defensive Driving results came in she was in the top three of twenty one. Steve was one place ahead of her. In Hostage Negotiation, she was graded second to Steve. Soon she was determined to beat him at something and, by the time she left Quantico, she ran faster and shot more accurately than the top FBI candidate, Steve Post.
The intense competition came to a head on the last day when they were pitted against each other in unarmed combat, one to one fighting. The idea was the first person to lead by two clear falls, or drops, was the winner. Usually the scores were 5-3, or maybe 7-5. In extreme circumstances it could go to 11-9. The instructor stopped their combat session when they were both dead on their feet and Steve was up 23-22.
That night the entire group of graduates celebrated at Roman’s Pub on Potomac Avenue, after grabbing a bite to eat at Domino’s next door. Filled with pizza and beer, the night became rowdy and Steve and Dee took a cab back to the post, leaving Geordie to drink his American challengers under the table. When they arrived back at the post, Dee and Steve decided on one last drink in his dorm room. Before they finished they fell onto the bed in a passionate embrace, kissing each other hard, and pulling at each other’s clothes until they both passed out almost fully dressed before they could do anything.
Dee awoke with first light. The moment had passed, and she retired to her dorm room without waking Steve. They parted company later that day, a strong bond between them but neither one regretting that they had not consummated their relationship.
***
When Dee started to see road signs indicating upcoming interchanges for New York, she looked at her watch. She had overrun her driving time. As soon as they came to a fuel stop, Dee pulled in and bought two coffees. They used the restrooms and got underway again, with Dee taking her turn on the back seat.
They had changed over twice more when Dee saw the beautiful Washington DC Mormon Temple on her right hand side, illuminated in the dusk. The elevated position and the wafer thin marble gave the temple a surreal effect. It was beautiful during the day but it was awe inspiring at night.
The two travellers booked in at a Marriott hotel just off the highway, and crashed out for a while, knowing that they had only another hour to drive before meeting up with Steve Post at Quantico.
Chapter 51
Vastrick Security Field Office, Quantico, Virginia, Sunday 9am.
The offices were almost deserted when Dee and Pete arrived at the Vastrick corporate offices in Quantico. The offices had a familiar feel; the corporate branding, the prints on the wall and the furnishing were all identical to the London office, but this one was fraction of the size.
The office had been established to support the Vastrick personnel who were training in, or were seconded to, Quantico and other local US law enforcement offices and agencies.
The guard on the front desk was smiling and convivial, he was a large African American who would not be out of place as a linebacker. He led them to the conference room where the only other member of staff on duty was setting up the room for their meeting.
“Hi. My name’s Olly. I’ll be taking care of you today. I’m an investigative assistant and I handle the IT based analysis in the Quantico office.”
Dee introduced herself and Pete. A few years had passed since they had been in this office and Olly had not been around then. In fact, he looked as though he may have been in High School at the time.
***
Dee and Pete had helped themselves to the coffee, and selected one of the Krispy Kreme doughnuts which were sitting invitingly on plates, having been laid on specifically for the meeting. They were just finishing up and attempting to dust off the sugar powder that coated the table and their dark clothing when their guest arrived. Olly showed him in, and left when it was apparent that no introductions were necessary.
Steve Post shook Pete’s hand and reminisced about the last time they had met. Dee noticed the FBI Academy ring on his right hand. Steve turned to Dee. She offered her hand and he walked past it to enclose her in a hug. She returned the hug, all feelings of discomfort forgotten.
“Christine sends her regards, but we should both be at church this morning and so she’s covering for me.”
“Sorry to mess up your weekend, Steve, but this was the only time we had,” Dee apologised.
“Not at all,” Steve smiled, “I would give up more than my weekend to meet up with my Brit friends.”
Steve sat down and refused coffee, settling instead for sparkling water. Dee remembered seeing the Mormon Temple the night before and it stirred a long forgotten memory.
“I forgot, Steve. You joined the Mormon Church about five years ago. You don’t drink tea or coffee, do you?”
“Not any more. Christine and I joined at the same time. I can tell you that giving up smoking, drinking and alcohol were tough, but giving up coffee was almost impossible. We nearly gave up. But now I only yearn for it when I catch the odour of freshly filtered coffee drifting through the office.”
“So much for the hard bitten, hard drinking G Man image,” Geordie joked. “Your lot are even invading my area. Your church is building a strong presence in Newcastle. There must be half a dozen Latter Day Saint chapels there now, all on main roads.”
After a little more banter and Dee’s short monologue about married life with Josh, they moved onto the business of the day.
***
Steve Post had been busy since Dee had called him and asked for his help in researching Gillian Davis, and he had compiled a short report which he handed to her. Dee sat close to Pete and they followed the printed word as Steve explained exactly what he had been able to discover.
“Denton Miles III is a tobacco farming heir. The family goes back almost two hundred years in the same area. The old farm is now mostly highways, developments and smaller farms. Tobacco growing there died out in the thirties when the depression took hold, and the first Denton Miles decided the family should produce food and provide jobs, in preference to simply making money. It was an enlightened attitude that was appreciated by three US administrations who subsequently gave the Miles family regular access to the White House.