Blind Ambition by Just.Us.Friendz (reading women TXT) 📖

desperate for firearms and come to terms with them on payment and method of delivery. It wasn't necessary for Ben to dirty his hands with the actual handling of arms, but he was asked to keep an eye open for agents of American or other agencies who frowned on the arms trade. Payments were generous and deposited to an encrypted Swiss account. He selected the name Jason Dourne for these accounts. He has quite liked Matt Damon's spy films.

Ben saw no reason not to supplement his salaries. Guns would reach the rebels and insurgents whether he aided in the sales or not. Some were even struggling to better things in their homelands. Things went well for while, and Ben managed to juggle all his assignments and still meet Elfe here and there for a few days of relaxation and gambling. But he saw gradually less of her; Kraus had other assignments that kept her busy. Then in mid-2006 things changed.

Ben was on assignment for the CIA, embedded as an advisor to a group of Iraqi native police when, late one night, he got a call on the private satellite phone Kraus used to contact him. This time it wasn't Kraus who answered his drowsy, "Yeah?"

Elfe's small, honeyed voice said, "Liebling? Is dis mein darling Benny?"

His response was quick and eager in the hot desert night. "Elfe, I've missed you; it's been too long. Where are you?"

"Ach, mine schatz, I'm in Monte Carlo. It is so beautiful here. Kraus says you must come. There is some boring business meeting, but I vant to see you again. We will go to the casino and drink champagne and play roulette and be together. I've missed you too, liebling. Please to come soon."

It would mean ditching his assignment and trying to hop a flight out of the country, but maybe he could manage a day or two in Monte Carlo and be back before he was missed. He explained to the sergeant in charge of his native police unit that his father was very ill, and he had to go and see him one last time. To expressions of sympathy, he threw some clothes in a travel pack and hitched a ride to Kirkuk.

Monte Carlo was wonderful. Elfe met him at the airport in a limo and took him directly to a luxury suite in a fashionable hotel that featured glorious air conditioning, a view of the ocean and a bath tub big enough to swim in. While he bathed, Elfe ordered a sumptuous meal and had vendors bring in a selection of the latest resort wear for his selection. It all went on Klaus' tab.

They spent the night at Le Grand Casino wandering from table to table, Elfe's arm intertwined with his, her butterfly kisses inflaming his desire. He won some, but lost a lot more. Not that he really cared. The money was only a way to keep score and to keep Elfe intrigued. It was almost dawn when they tumbled into bed.

Kraus shook him awake after only a few hours sleep with the news that the meeting was at noon, and he needed to be present. Elfe was gone. When Ben entered the private dining room where the meeting was held, he found Klaus already present along with two men of Middle Eastern appearance. They wore two thousand dollar custom made business suits, shoes of the finest Italian leather, and had the icy stare of cut-throat killers. Something in the bottom of his stomach turned over.

As it developed they only wanted a small piece of information from Ben – the location of two American missile installations in Iraq capable of launching rockets into Iran should the need arise. They would be more than happy to pay generously for the information in gold Krugerrands. To help persuade him, they happened to have a file filled with photos of his meetings with arms dealers and even one of an information exchange with his Mossad contact. There were records of huge gambling losses as well, certified by the casinos concerned.

Ben asked for 24 hours to think it over, and was granted the time.

He changed into trunks and a beach robe, took a towel and walked away from the crowded beaches of the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel to a lonely stretch used mostly by Monaco's fishermen.

Ben knew he had reached a turning point in his life. If he provided the information they required he would be completely rogue – an outcast from every service, a highly trained agent who worked for the highest bidder. Any particular service might not know for a while, but eventually even the dimmest handler would realize what was happening. He would become fair game for any elimination team that came across him.

He could turn himself in to the CIA, although it might be tricky staying alive until they extracted him, but he would be finished as an agent. He would have only some half-pay pension to live on while he remained in safe hiding. If he gave them the information they wanted he could bank the pay in new accounts and go for the highest paying assignments he could find. It was risky, but if his luck held for a few more years, he could put away enough to retire and live quietly but well in Switzerland or perhaps somewhere in South America.

It meant too that he could go on seeing Elfe. When he had money to spend, she could meet him at a casino. He would love to introduce her to some of the American ones in places like Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

He was on his way back to the hotel, still not fully decided, when a man of average looks and height fell into step beside him. When Ben stopped and turned to face him, the man murmured his Mossad contact code words. He informed Ben that his Iraqi police unit had been wiped out to a man by terrorists in his absence and that Mossad had become aware of his gambling habits. He was completely and finally disavowed as an agent of Israeli intelligence. He was burned! The only reason they did not reveal him to the Americans was their concern for the safety of his fellow agents who were still working in place.

Stunned and horrified at the ruthless destruction of his police unit, he stumbled back to the hotel and agreed to their terms.

Chapter 4 Suspicions Aroused

Another week began much as usual. Annie was set to some translation and analysis duties while Auggie handled an agent sent to learn what he could about the leaders of the Arab Spring movement in Egypt.

Annie had picked up the mail from their box when they came in from work. Kept late by a mission debrief, they stopped on the way home and picked up a stir fry of chicken, cashews and snow peas along with a green salad. Annie sat at the table going through the mail, while Auggie poured them each a glass of wine and got out Sunday's leftover boiled shrimp and red sauce.

The mail was so much easier since Annie moved in. Auggie had a device that scanned print material of most any type and read it aloud, but who wanted to listen through sheaves of advertisements and unwanted insurance offers in order to locate the credit card bill. Annie could do a quick sort, take out her mail and pass along anything of his that looked important. Tonight Auggie had heard her toss a number of items in the trash and then rip open an envelope. She fell silent as she read.

"Augs," Annie said, "this is really sort of strange?"

"What is it?" he asked through a healthy bite of shrimp.

"It's a letter from Marge."

"Who?" He washed the shrimp down with a swallow of wine and listened for the microwave to ping.

"You remember I mentioned Marjorie Whitman, the nurse I met in Guam. We got to be friends, went out a few times, and she still emails or writes me now and then."

"Okay, yeah, the one who pulled special duty on Ben Mercer so much?"

"Don't frown at me, Auggie. I'm with you, remember; not out searching for Ben."

"Yeah, okay, sorry, babe." He smiled warmly to make up for his instinctive jealousy. "So what does Marge have to say that's so strange?

"She was transferred to Madigan in Tacoma, Washington. She met a major there she really likes. They went for a little R & R in Las Vegas."

"Sounds like fun; do they want us to join them?" Auggie took the warmed rice and stir fry out of the microwave and put in on the table.

"No, but she saw Ben Mercer there."

Auggie turned from the refrigerator with the salad in one hand and focused his attention on her. "Now, that is interesting. Does she say what he was doing?"

"Yes, she says that he didn't see her in the crowd, but he was with a beautiful Nordic type blonde, and they lost about $200,000.00 at the roulette table while she watched."

"Two hundred thousand! You can't toss around that kind of money on Agency pay."

"No, but maybe he has other income – like you do?"

"Maybe, and maybe he was on an assignment, but it would be interesting to know."

"There's one more thing."

"And that is …?" One eyebrow slid up like a visual question mark.

"Marge says she asked a croupier about the high roller couple, and he told her they were Jason Dourne and Elfe Kappel. Apparently they're well known in the Vegas casinos."

"My, how very careless of them." Auggie's expression was sober and his words dry. "Annie, Elfe Kappel is beautiful, if you like the very pale and clinging type. She is also well known as an enticing contact for a German arms smuggling outfit. Your boy, Ben, seems to be dabbling in dangerous waters."

"He's not 'my boy' and you know it." Annie's brown eyes flashed. "You've seen this Elfe?

"Long ago and far away, in another life, sweetheart. I was far too small game to interest her."

"What should we do?" Annie asked as she scooped a healthy serving of the hot food onto her plate.

"Nothing official right now, but maybe I'll poke around a little. Anything else of interest?" Auggie picked up a spoon. A spoon was about the only hope a blind man had of capturing any rice and conveying it safely to his mouth.

"There's a letter for you from the Building Association. Seems they want to hold a meeting to discuss raising the Association fees."

"Yeah, I've never yet been to a meeting where they wanted to lower them. Put it on my desk after dinner, will you?"

Until now, Auggie had carefully avoided looking into Ben Mercer's background and affairs. Some sense told him that Annie would care deeply if she found he hadn't played fair, but things had changed in the last few months. Annie seemed to have made her choice; his heightened senses told him that a circle of danger was slowly closing around them, and now he had proof that something odd was definitely going on with Ben Mercer. He decided to look long and deep into anything he could find.

Chapter 5 Heartbreak in Paradise

Ben Mercer, under the cover of teaching English to the children of well-to-do Sri Lankan parents, was on the island to sell guns to the Tamil Tigers and evaluate some of their cadre leaders for possible recruitment by other organizations. The LTTE,