Karma walked the files over to the phone and dialed Freeman. When he picked up, Karma said, "Bravo kilo one niner."
"Freeman here, what you got Karma?"
"I have everything. So much good stuff. Are you ready for this?"
"Hit me Karma, I am ready for some good news."
Karma sat there and read off the names of all the agents in the KGB. Call signs, real first and last names, home addresses, years in service, etc. It took him several minutes to read off all the information. While he was reading it all off Jynx got up from the bed and grabbed Karma's wallet. She mouthed "food" then quietly left the hotel. Karma put down the KGB files and picked up the Exstrusis Agents files. He went back on the phone and continued to give Freeman all the names and information.
Freeman's mood had completely changed. He was extremely happy to hear all the data they lifted from the facility. But his voice filled with doubt as he said, "Karma you better not be messing with me. Do you really have all this information in front of you?"
Karma answered him, "I wouldn't lie about all of this. We can run over to the airport and fax it all to you if you like. We haven't even gotten to the last folder yet."
Freeman said, "Yes, I want you to fax it all. But read me the last folder first."
Karma grabbed the last folder and opened it up. Then he said, "I have never heard of these agents. Agent Jericho, real name is Michael Kaiser. Born July 6th, 1949. I have never heard of this guy. Do we have any records of him at HQ?"
Freeman took a moment to look up the man's name. Then he came back and said, "Nothing, we have nothing on that guy."
Karma replied, "Yeah this one is strange. Unlike all the other files, this one is written in both Eastern Slavic and French."
Freeman pushed forward as he said, "We will look him up later. Keep the ball rolling. Read the next one."
Karma read the next one on the list, "Agent Waits, real name Kendra Moreno, Born Oct 3rd, 1953."
Freeman took a moment and looked her up. Once again he said, "We have nothing on her either. What are these Agents?"
Karma shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe they are a different agency. This one is written in Eastern Slavic and English. The first one was French, the second was in English. I will look over them to figure them out."
"Yeah, well don't sit on that information. Get your ass over to the airport and fax all of it back to HQ. That's an order, not a recommendation. Get it to us quick, fast and in a hurry. We will break it down and figure it all out."
Karma smiled and replied, "Copy that Freeman. Once we are done faxing it all to you can we RTB? Or do we need to stay in Chernivtsi?"
"After you send it I will personally call in the plane tickets for you." Freeman promised, "Just send the info so we can double check it."
"Copy that Freeman, see you soon." Karma hung up the phone and looked over the remaining folders. Why would Marx have detailed files on foreign agents?
After a few minutes, Jynx returned with food. She found a place that was selling Chicken Kiev. She put Karma's wallet back in his pocket and gave him a Kiev. Then she asked, "What did Freeman say?"
"He is very happy." Karma confirmed, "He also wants us to fax over everything ASAP."
Jynx bit into her food then asked, "Okay, so what are we waiting on? Let's fax this stuff and call it a day. Then we can sit back and watch the Exstrusis Agency tear itself apart."
Karma ate his Chicken Kiev while looking over the unknown files. Then he asked, "Tell me something. Pretend you are an evil Soviet mastermind with dozens of pages of information on your desk. Why would you keep most of them in Eastern Slavic, some in French, some in English, and some in whatever language this is?"
Jynx took another bite and thought about it. Then she blurted out, "Maybe she can speak all those different languages? Or maybe she wasn't the only one reading them."
Jynx and Karma thought about the files for a bit then it struck him. Karma repeated, "What if she wasn't the only one reading them? What if she was selling this information? It would make sense that she kept the files in their native language." Karma picked up the file and said, "Agent Jericho, real name is Micheal Kaiser. Born July 6th, 1949. I have never heard of this guy. Of course we wouldn't know him. We don't have a file on him because he works for the French government. He is not our enemy."
Jynx had to ask, "So why keep files on a Frenchman locked away in your desk? I mean, if he is just a random guy, it seems kind of dumb."
Karma read the pages attached to Agent Jericho's file. There were 13 pages in total. Background information, personal life, goals, fears, too much information for a psychological evaluation. The gears started to spin again in Karma's head as the pieces all fell into place. Exstrusis Facility. Yellow gas. The test subjects. Then he said, "Because the French man isn't a random guy. He is a sleeper agent. Marx was keeping track of the agents they had converted."
Jynx and Karma looked over the files. In the back of the file was more information on each agent. Jynx started to read the ones written in English, "Feb 9th, 1984, Subject found in Colmar. Feb 11th, 1984, Subject brought to the facility for Psych10 testing. Feb 15th, 1984, Subject survived psychological manipulation. Interrogation provided Subject's personal information. Amanda Gibbs, age 28, from Belington, West Virginia. Feb 16th, 1984, Subject submitted to Control Phase. The subject accepts treatment. Subject: Designated Agent Gold. Trigger set to Saboteur. Subject will destroy the nearest military target on command. Feb 17th, 1984, The subject returned to Colmar and was released."
Karma listened to the whole thing. It was shocking. He looked at Jynx and said, "It only took 8 days? 8 days to turn a normal person into a sleeper agent. They should have a lot more sleeper agents. Unless the Psych10 treatment had a low turnover rate."
Jynx asked, "Turnover rate meaning?"
"Survival rate. All the people we saw in the bunker died breathing gas. If only 1 in 10 people survived the treatment that would explain how few sleepers there are." Karma counted the files. There were only 9 of them. "9 sleeper agents worldwide? That's a horrifying thought."
"9 isn't so bad." Jynx put down the Amanda Gibbs file and picked the next one. Then she said, "We have double those numbers at Mirage."
Karma corrected her, "It's not the numbers that make the difference. They are Sleeper Agents. They don't even know they are working with the enemy. Interrogate them to their dying breath and they will never tell you a word about it. They had programmed a set of instructions to kill the president, or strap a bomb to their chest. There is no un-programing them."
Jynx picked up the next file and asked, "So, when we track down Amanda Gibbs… The only cure is to kill her?"
Karma replied, "What other option is there? We could ship her off to an island somewhere with no way to leave or access weapons or explosives. Then we hope that her programming never activates. Hidden away from family and friends. Forced to live alone for the rest of their lives?"
Jynx wore an unsatisfied face as she said, "Yeah, when you put it that way, it almost sounds worse to try and save them."
Karma picked up a file and started to read it, "Sept 2nd, 1986, Subject found fleeing the Cherinobyl explosion. Sept 3rd, 1986, Subject survived psychological manipulation. Sept 4th, 1986, Interrogation provided Subject's personal information. Bohdan Kovalenko, age 19, from Vyshneve, Ukraine. Sept 5th, 1986, Subject submitted to Control Phase. Subject REJECTED treatment." Karma paused and read a little bit more then he said, "This one could not be controlled."
Jynx asked, "What did they do with him?"
Karma continued, "Sept 7th, 1986, Subject submitted to Brainwashing Treatment. Subject: Accepted treatment. The subject is designated Agent Stinger. Trigger set to Infiltration. On command, the Subject will assassinate government leaders. Sept 8th, 1984, the Subject released near Kyiv." Karma put the folder down. "This guy is nearby. Freeman could send us to collect him. I wonder what he would say if we told him he was a sleeper agent?"
Jynx did not respond. She was reading the next file. Karma could tell something was wrong. Her face was white as a ghost. Karma waved his hand in front of her face. Then she looked at him and said, "Ummm, I am not sure what to make of this one."
Karma shook his head and said, "Just read it."
Jynx cleared her throat and started reading, "Dec 14th, 1984, the Subject was found in a hospital in Norway. Dec 15th, 1984, Subject brought to the facility for Psych10 testing. Dec 16th, 1984, Subject survived psychological manipulation. Interrogation provided the Subject's personal information." Jynx looked at Karma waiting for his reaction. Karma was just as confused as before. Jynx continued, "Interrogation provided the Subject's personal information. Daniel Carpenter, age 28, from Sedona, Arizona. Subject is an agent in a CIA funded organization called Mirage. Dec 17th, 1984, The subject was submitted to the Control Phase. Subject is designated Agent Death. Trigger set to Informant. Subject will call the information center at 3 a.m. to expose enemy movements. Dec 18th, 1984, The subject returned to Norway and was released."
Jynx put the file down and looked at Karma. Neither one of them said a word. After what felt like an eternity, Karma said, "Nice try. I told you about Norway. Hilarious."
Jynx did not smile. She handed him the file. Karma looked at it. It was all him. His information. He was in Norway at the end of 1984. Was this all just a coincidence? Karma read the file, then read it again, and again. After several minutes he looked at Jynx and said, 'It's not possible."
Jynx replied, "We can prove the file is wrong, right?" The dates don't line up? There has to be something that proves the file is fake… right?"
Karma looked at Jynx then to the file and he said, "I don't remember everything from Norway. I suffered from hypothermia. Ended up in the hospital. I woke up days later." Karma laughed for a second and added, "But I don't make 3 a.m. phone calls…"
Karma's brain flashed back to their conversation yesterday. When Jynx asked him if he kept a lot of secrets?
Karma looked at Jynx and said, "You knew." Karma looked at the phone and back at Jynx, he was starting to stress out. He said, "You asked me about secrets and you mentioned 3 a.m. phone calls…"
"I did." Jynx said almost with a sorrowful tone.
Karma asked, "You are the only person I have been close to for a long time. Have you seen me get up at 3 a.m. to make phone calls?"
Jynx shook her head and said, "I don't like the way this is going. Maybe you are sleepwalking? It's more common than you think."
Karma threw the file onto the bed and asked again, "Have you seen me get up at 3 a.m. to make phone calls? Yes or no?"
"Yes."
"How many times?"
Jynx didn't want to say it, but she did, "A lot. You did it at the Donut safehouse. At HQ once. You did it at the colorful apartment twice." Jynx paused and looked at the phone, then she said, "You did it last night."
Karma looked at the phone. It still had the wiretap attached to it. He got up and walked over to the tape recorder on the floor.
Jynx followed him. She ordered him, "Stop. This isn't going to solve anything! It doesn't prove anything."
Karma did not respond. He pressed rewind on the recorder. The previous conversation was between himself and Freeman. He pressed rewind again. The next conversation was with the Airport security calling about Marx. That was this morning. He pressed rewind again. This was a new conversation. Two men speaking in Eastern Slavic. Karma could tell one of the two voices was his.
Blood rushed to Karma's head. How could this be possible? He looked at Jynx, she was kneeling next to him on the floor. He asked her, "Is this true? Did you make this up?! Please. Tell me this is a joke. You're playing a prank on me. Jynx, tell me if it's a prank!"
Jynx could not speak. Karma could see the pain on her face. It was true. She was just denying it. Karma turned back to the recorder and pressed rewind again. He needed to hear the whole conversation. He rewinded the tape all the way to the beginning. He pressed play. The first recording was of his conversation between Indigo and himself. He made the call to test the wiretap. Jynx put her hand on him and said, "You don't have to do this. It doesn't change anything."
Karma didn't let her words stop him. The next recording started. A piercing sound played. Karma was stunned. He completely stopped moving. Frozen in place. Jynx looked at him, seeing his reaction to the sound Jynx reached over and turned the recording off. This did not affect Karma. He remained stiff as a board.
Jynx put one hand on him. He did not move. Jynx reached up to him and said, "Karma?" He still did not move. She put her hands on his face and said, "Oh my god, you're broken. That sound broke you!" Jynx started to panic then she said, "Lay down…" Karma immediately laid down without blinking. Karma was laying next to the table. Jynx looked bewildered at him. She thought, what is happening right now?
Jynx checked his pulse. His pulse was normal. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. He did not blink. She said, "Karma, blink." Karma blinked once. Jynx said, "Turn your head." Karma turned his head. She wondered how long this would last. Does she need to play the sound again? Then she realized what she had to do. Jynx said, "Karma, wake up."
Karma's frozen state wore off almost immediately. He looked at Jynx and said, "What happened? Why am I on the floor?"
Jynx was happy to see him back to his normal self. Then she said, "The recorder played a sound. A weird squelching sound. Then you went into a trance. You wouldn't even blink without me telling you to."
Karma sat up and checked his watch. "How long was I out?"
"30 seconds maybe." Jynx stood up and held out her hand to help him up. Then she said, "It was a little scary." Karma took her hand but he wasn't done yet. He reached down and picked up the recorder. He wanted to hear the message. He pressed play.
The Eastern Slavic voice said, "Name and location?"
Karma responded, "Agent Death. In Ukraine."
"What is your current mission?"
"Looking for Exstrusis Facility."
"Who is your target?"
"Exstrusis Agent Marx."
"Who else is involved in your mission?"
"Jynx, Leo, and Agent Indigo."
The voice on the other end was writing down all the information. Then he said, "Good work, Comrade. Return to sleep, forget this conversation ever happened."
The call ended.
The whole conversation was only a few seconds long. But it said a lot. Karma sat there looking at the recorder. The weight of the situation was just now hitting him. This wasn't a dream. It was his voice. He made that phone call. He couldn't deny it anymore.
After a minute, Jynx said, "The sound at the beginning puts you into some kind of input mode. I could tell you what to do. That must be the purpose of the sound. It triggers your brain to take orders."
"My trigger?!" Karma shouted. In a fit of rage he stood up and threw the recorder against the wall. Then he shouted, "I am not Agent Death! I am NOT a sleeper agent! I can't be!" The tears started to flow. Karma could not stop himself. He was at the end of his rope. "Do you know what this means?" Karma stood back and looked at his hands. Then he asked Jynx, "Do you know what this means to me?! I am the best spy everyone looks up to too! I have survived all these years because I am the best! Right?"
Jynx walked toward him to comfort him but Karma stepped away from her. "Stay away from me!" Karma backed up. He was hyperventilating. He sat down and leaned against the wall.
Jynx sat down too. She didn't know how to help him. It's not like they covered this in CIA training schools. There was nothing she could have done to prepare for this situation. How do you deal with your partner being a sleeper agent? Jynx thought of a reasonable answer. Then she said, "How about we do one last test?"
Karma looked at her with defeated eyes, and then he said, "Test? What test?"
"We set everything up again. Audio recorder, video recorder, everything. Then we wait. If you make another call tonight then it is true. If you don't make a call then this is all someone playing a joke on us. Deal?"
Karma thought about it then he nodded. Then he said, "Okay. We will make sure. 100% sure." He stood up and walked over to Jynx. He hugged her. If she had been Indigo, or anyone else, Karma would have been shot on the spot. Jynx was different. She knew everyone had their flaws. Even Karma. She still treated him the same.
Jynx wiped the tears out of her eyes, then she said, "Okay, stop this crazy talk. We need to fax the files to Freeman right?" Karma nodded. Jynx collected the files and put them in one big pile. Then she grabbed Karma's file. She looked at Karma then looked around the room for a spot. With one hand she slid it over and under one of the pillows. Then she said, "Let's just leave this one out for now. Freeman will never know."
With that said, Jynx collected the files in her arms and walked over to the door. Karma followed her, but she stopped him by saying, "I can do it. You stay here."
Karma shook his head and said, "No, we do this together. It's like we always have." Jynx could not argue with his logic.
They went across the street to the airport. Karma asked to use their fax machine. He didn't even have to use his fake badge. From this point on the energy between Karma and Jynx was different. The communication was gone. Karma was trapped in his own head. Jynx could tell he was doubting himself. Jynx knew that Karma would be devastated if he was truly a sleeper agent. As usual there was a lot on the line.
Returning to the hotel, Karma sat down at the desk and checked his watch. It was 5:31 p.m. Jynx wanted to sit near him but she walked over and sat on the bed.
Eventually, Jynx said, "You can come over here and sit with me. I won't bite."
Karma shook his head and said, "I am not afraid of you or your bite. Right now, I am worried about myself. How dangerous I might have been."
Jynx crossed her arms. In doing so she put pressure on her ribs which hurt. She put her arms down and said, "You are not dangerous. Well, you are deadly with a silenced pistol, but I am not scared of you. Nothing has changed. You are the same man today that you were yesterday. The only difference is how you think things have changed."
Karma corrected her, "Yes, if those papers are correct then I am a sleeper agent, a threat to our organization, and a traitor. I have been giving out secrets to our operations for the last 4 years. That is 4 times as long as Sidewinder was selling our information. You saw how well that turned out for him."
Jynx disagreed, "It was against your will."
Karma shouted, "It doesn't make a difference! Don't you get it?! If I am Agent Death then I am number one on Mirage's hit list! I am number one on the entire CIA's hit list! Death is linked to at least 10 failed operations. How many agents have I killed? How much blood is on my hands? Quartermaster, Piper, Major… Virgo? All this time I thought I was just lucky. Dodging bullets. Surviving 10 years without getting killed. But it is entirely possible that they were missing me on purpose."
Jynx nodded and said, "Okay, let's say this is an elaborate set up. As far-fetched as it sounds, let's just say that Agent Death planted the file, broke into the hotel, and planted that tape to throw us off his scent. What do you do then?"
Karma thought about it for a second then he answered, "We prove my innocence. We will record the phone from this side. We use evidence against their evidence to prove the calls were fake."
Jynx agreed, "Okay, let's do that."
Jynx and Karma went out and pulled out the video cameras from the back of the Land Cruiser. They brought them inside the hotels and set them up for record. They set up one in front of the phone. The other had a wide angle shot of the whole room. Jynx grabbed the audio recorder that Karma had thrown and checked it for damage. It still worked. She pulled the tape out and put in a brand-new tape.
Jynx handed the old tape to Karma and said, "What should we do with this one?"
Without saying a word Karma dropped it and with one stomp he crushed it into little pieces. He picked up the pieces and tossed them in the garbage. Then he said, "It's trash. We will make our own evidence."
This made Jynx smile a little. At least he was hopeful. When everything was set up they sat down on the bed and waited. The silence between them was deafening. Karma turned to ask her a question but as he did the phone rang.
Karma got up and answered the phone. When he picked up Freeman said, "Foxtrot lima three six. Karma, is all of this legit?! I mean, seriously I am looking over this… this library of our enemy's deepest secrets. I had to call and ask. I feel like I am dreaming right now."
"It's legit, Freeman." Karma replied, "What are we going to do with it all?"
Freeman laughed. He was beyond happy. He answered, "We are going to RUIN them. All of them. We will share this with Brass. They will leak it to the press. After that, General Petrov will be exposed. Gorbachev's reputation was already in a bad place due to the disaster at Chernobyl. This will be the icing on the cake. We will expose the secrets of the KGB, Exstrusis, everything! Once all their agent names are in the headline NEWS they will turn on each other. All their filthy work over the years will float to the surface. We are going to have a field day with this."
Karma smiled but only because Freeman was happy. Then he said, "Glad to hear it. I would hate to hear that everything we did was for nothing."
Freeman agreed, "Oh it won't be for nothing my friend. If everything goes the way they should, you are going to get that promotion to a real CIA agent. You are going to see the big times. We will make sure you get an officer right next to Major."
Karma replied with a somber tone, "Thanks, man."
Freeman could tell Karma was not as happy as he should have been. He asked, "You okay? You sound like someone just shot your dog. Your little operation just blew everything wide open. You should be happy right now."
"I am, really." Karma thought about it for a second then he said, "I am just sore from getting shot. You know the welts you get from taking a hit with the vest on."
Freeman agreed, "Understandable, you have done your part. Take a few days to heal up. When you get back, we will have the rest taken care of."
Karma replied, "Sounds good, see you in a few." When he was done Karma hung up the phone. He pressed the rewind button in the recorder. There was no reason to keep this phone call. Within a few seconds the tape stopped with a loud click. Everything was set up for tonight. Karma walked over to the bed and sat next to Jynx.
Karma looked at Jynx and said, "Freeman is on cloud nine. He is very happy with the files you grabbed."
Jynx smiled and said, "That is why I grabbed them."
Karma thought about it for a second, then he said, "I was going to ask you a question before the phone rang. I am certainly not calling you a liar, but is it possible that you dreamed of me waking up at 3 a.m. to make phone calls?"
Jynx smiled and nodded, as she said "Maybe. I have funny dreams sometimes." When her smile faded away Karma could see her true feelings. She was lying and attempting to put on a strong face.
Karma had one last thing he needed to prepare. He leaned toward her to pull out his wallet. As he did, Jynx put one arm around him. This was unexpected but nice. Karma said, "I know that you have already witnessed me making phone calls several times. So, in truth, we are setting all this up just to prove it… to me." Jynx started to say something but he stopped her by saying, "I modified this for you." He unfolded the paper and showed it to her.
"Thanks, what is it?"
"This is the paper that I kept in the hidden compartment of my old watch. It has my bank accounts and various other things written on it." Karma said as he handed her the unfolded piece of paper. "It's over $220,000 in three different accounts. And on my death, it is going to be yours."
Jynx gasped and covered her mouth. She shook her head and said, "No, you're not going to die. You can't do this."
"I already did it the other day. Look here." He pointed out the writing at the bottom. Then said, "In case of death, transfer 100% of funds to Liz. I didn't want to write "Jynx". So I had to write "Liz". You never told me if you were Elizabeth or Eliza. I figured Freeman would understand."
Jynx shook her head and said, "You're not going to die!" She turned sideways to face him and said, "Even if you are a sleeper agent I won't let them kill you."
"Everyone dies." Karma said with conviction. "I told Freeman that I would bring down the Exstrusis Program…"
Jynx cut him off yelling, "You're not going to die! Not today. Not on my watch!"
Karma reached up and touched her face. He smiled and said, "You know, you are really pretty when you are angry."
Jynx dropped the piece of paper and grabbed his head. She gave him a lustful look and kissed him hard. Harder than she ever did before. She pushed him down on the bed. Karma did not resist. Jynx climbed on top of him but she accidentally pushed his chest. Karma let out a grunt from the pain. Then he moved her hand and pulled her down on top of him.
Jynx fell down to lay on his chest and said, "Sorry. We both might be too broken for this."
Karma rolled to the side, placing her next to him on the bed. They looked into each other's eyes for a second. Then Karma said, "This is fine with me."
For several minutes, they laid there on the bed together. They were just taking in every second together. Karma finally broke the silence as he said, "I really fell short as far as a trainer goes. It is really ironic if you think about it. I am supposed to be this know-it-all agent. Here we are with the room rigged up with audio and video surveillance to see if I am the bad guy."
Jynx smiled and said, "Nobody is perfect. Look at me, I just wanted an adventure to call my own. Something to outshine my dad and brothers. 8 years later, I am a two-time med school drop out getting shot at on a daily basis. I didn't accomplish anything but debt and failure."
Karma shook his head and said, "You are perfect." Once again there was a long silence, then Karma asked, "Did I hear you say brothers? Like plural?"
"Yeah, I have two older brothers." Jynx smiled as she spoke about them, "One of them joined the Navy like my dad. The other one is a chef at a nice restaurant." Karma started to look nervous for a second. Seeing this, Jynx smiled. Then she asked, "What's the matter?"
Karma replied, "Nothing. They sound like a lot of fun. One is a sailor, the other is good with knives. I can't wait to get my ass handed to me by them."
Jynx laughed, "Oh relax, they are not that bad."
"Maybe to you. But you have that bump on your head and a huge black and blue mark from getting shot. Even if they are just a little protective over their sister…" Karma shook his head, "I foresee them planning my funeral."
Jynx giggled and said, "They are harmless. Mostly."
They sat on the bed and made small talk for a while. For the first time, Jynx fell asleep before he did. Karma stayed up to look at her. How could he have found someone so great just to turn around and lose her so quickly. Soon enough, Karma could not keep his eyes open any longer.