Compromised Read online

  Table of Contents

  About Compromised

  Praise for Mark Posey’s Thrillers

  Credible Threat, Episode Three: Compromised

  About the Author

  Other books by Mark Posey

  Copyright Information

  About Compromised

  One family’s life is changed beyond anything they could ever imagine.

  A major foreign power has been funneling key intelligence personnel into the United States for nearly a year, hiding them as embassy and consulate staffers, students, and plain immigrants. In response, the FBI activates its Domestic Sleeper program.

  Scattered across the country as architects, cab drivers, and other innocuous roles, failsafe agents in the Domestic Sleeper program are unaware of their status as dormant FBI agents until they’re triggered by a post-hypnotic codeword. Their programming drives them to a pre-arranged checkpoint to receive the instructions necessary to combat a Credible Threat.

  In this episode: Home from the hospital, Marie’s imagination kicks into overdrive, especially after learning no one knows where Aaron is. When he limps home with a black eye, she confronts him.

  Credible Threat: Compromised is the next episode in the Credible Threat thriller serial from Mark Posey.

  Other episodes in the Credible Threat series:

  Episode One: Brush Contact

  Episode Two: Alias

  Episode Three: Compromised

  Episode Four: Sleeper

  Episode Five: Safehouse Alpha

  Episode Six: Dissemination

  Episode Seven: Tradecraft

  Episode Eight: Burned

  Episode Nine: Safehouse Beta

  Episode Ten: Blowback

  Episode Eleven: Naked

  Episode Twelve: Blown

  Episode Thirteen: Exfiltration

  A Thriller Serial Episode

  Praise for Mark Posey’s Thrillers

  What a fun roller-coaster of a story!

  It continues to amaze me how this writer can give us so much in a short story

  Oh, you want THIS short story!

  Credible Threat, Episode Three:

  Compromised

  Aaron stood in the doorway of the hospital room, his hands held out placatingly. “Before you tear me a new one, just remember that I love you lots and, believe me, I can explain everything.”

  Marie stared at him. Last night, despite the nurse dosing her, her sleep had been littered with vivid dreams. Scenarios featuring the contents of the backpack plagued her, while she and Aaron ran from unseen enemies. Each dream becoming more and more outlandish.

  At one point, she and Aaron stood in a shooting gallery, taking potshots at photographs. Each one they’d hit would morph into the body of the person in the photo, blood dripping from the bullet holes.

  In another, they simply ran from an unseen enemy, Aaron shooting behind them as they ran. In the dream, her heart had pounded with terror, unknown enemies concealed in the darkness behind them.

  This morning, in the light of day, she knew there must be a rational explanation. It would turn out to be something innocuous, nowhere near as serious and worrying as it appeared.

  But, the rationality of that belief warred with the terror that remained from her dreams and coalesced into one, nearly overwhelming question:

  Do I really want to know?

  “Marie?”

  She was yanked back to the here-and-now when Aaron laid a hand on her arm.

  She very nearly cringed away from his touch. Instead, she dropped her gaze self-consciously to Emma, who had just finished nursing, and shifted to put her in her bassinette.

  Marie settled heavily against the mattress and closed her eyes. “Sorry.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It wasn’t a very restful night.”

  “These hospital mattresses are the shits, aren’t they? Once Emma’s finished nursing, what say we get you home and into your bed? I’m sure you’ll be much more comfortable there.”

  Marie’s smile felt strained as she tried to put a good face on it. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  Aaron rubbed his hands together enthusiastically. “Okay, you get dressed, I’ll pull the van around and be right back to get the two of you.” He turned and tugged the door open.

  “Aaron?” she said before he could slip out into the hallway.

  He turned in the open doorway and waited expectantly.

  “Love you,” she said, her smile a bit less forced.

  He grinned. “Love you, too, babe. See you in a minute.” And he was off to get the van.

  Emma squawked in the bassinette and burst into a high-pitched wail.

  “I can see you’re going to be a demanding little girl, aren’t you?” Marie noticed the odor coming from Emma’s diaper. “Let mommy get dressed and we’ll get you fixed up. Then, daddy’s going to come and take us home.”

  Hopefully, without any wild detours. That little voice in the back of her head was relentless.

  •

  MARIE WAS SITTING AT THE kitchen table nursing Emma when Tyler and Alexis came home from school.

  “Aw, mom! Nobody wants to see that!” Tyler scrunched his face up in protest.

  “You better get used to it, mister. Miss Emma is a very hungry girl.”

  Alexis, on the other hand, was unaffected. “When’s dinner going to be ready?”

  The two of them tossed their backpacks on the bench by the back door, charged through the kitchen, snatched up munchies and scrambled up the stairs to their rooms.

  Marie glowered at the back door, mentally daring Aaron to come home now.

  When the phone rang, it was quickly followed by Tyler yelling from upstairs, “I got it!”

  A moment later, he called downstairs, “Mom, it’s Dad’s boss!”

  Marie trudged with Emma over to the landline phone on the wall and yanked the receiver down. She smiled into the phone as she said, “Hi, Mike. What’s up?”

  “Where the hell is Aaron?”

  “Isn’t he there?”

  “Haven’t seen him since Friday.”

  “He’s been a little busy.”

  “What about today?”

  Marie paused.

  Yes, what about today?

  “He had a bunch of stuff to do getting me and the baby settled. I’m sure he’ll be in first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “He better be.”

  “Always a pleasure, Mike.” She hung up before he could respond.

  She stood by the phone while Emma continued to nurse and thought back to this morning. What had he said? The drive home from the hospital and getting her and Emma upstairs and settled in was mostly a blur. “I hate to say this but...I have to go to the office,” he’d said.

  Could Mike have been out when Aaron stopped in there?

  Marie looked down at Emma as she stopped nursing. A moment later, Emma clenched up.

  Marie grinned. “We’re going to have to change that diaper in a minute, aren’t we, Emma? Then it’s going to be night-night time, isn’t it? Yes, you’re such a good girl.” She strode over to the bassinette they’d put in the far corner of the kitchen and fished out what she needed to change Emma’s diaper.

  The little voice in the back of her mind was at it, again. If he didn’t go to the office today, where the hell did he go?

  •

  Two hours later, while Emma was sleeping in the bassinette in the corner of the kitchen, Marie and the kids opened pizza boxes and set them on the table.

  “When’s Dad going to be home?” Alexis tore a piece of pizza out of the box. “Should we keep it warm for him?”

  Marie ripped her own piece out of the box. “Your father’s a big boy. He knows how to use the microwave.”

  As she took her first bite of pizza, the glare of a pair of headlights washed through the windows of the kitchen.

  Marie shifted her gaze to the side windows off the living room and saw the Astro pull into the driveway.

  She took another bite as she listened for the driver’s door to close. A few moments later, Aaron limped in the door.

  Limped?

  Alexis rushed over to him. “What happened, Daddy?”

  Aaron’s back was to her, as he hung up his coat. He shuffled around and stepped forward into the light.

  Alexis gasped. “Mom, Dad’s hurt!”

  Marie stiffened in her seat. “What do you mean, hurt?”

  Aaron put his arm around Alexis’ shoulders and guided her back toward the kitchen table. His limp was very pronounced. As he got closer, Marie could see his left eye was nearly swollen shut.

  “Oh, my god!” She shot to her feet.

  Aaron looked sheepish. “I twisted my ankle, lost my balance and tried to stop myself from falling by slamming my face against the side of the van.”

  “Nice shiner, Dad,” Tyler teased between bites of pizza.

  Marie held his gaze.

  “It looks worse than it is,” Aaron added.

  Marie took a deep breath and let it out, her gaze never leaving his.

  Aaron cleared his throat. “How was Emma’s first day at home?”

  Marie sighed. “She slept for a lot of it. Nursed for the rest of it.”

  Tyler piped up. “Yeah, Dad—Mom was sitting right here with her boob out when we got home.” Tyler scrunched his face up. “Isn’t there some kind of law against scarring your kids for life?”

  Aaron scoffed. “You ain’t seen nothing, yet. Wait until you’re changing her diaper and she pees on you.”

  Tyler held up his
hands in surrender. “Dibs out!”

  Aaron shook his head. “No dibs out on this one. Emma’s going to be a lot of work. We all have to pitch in.”

  As Tyler opened his mouth to protest, Aaron held up a hand. “All of us.”

  Tyler sagged and mumbled under his breath and Aaron turned his gaze to Marie. “So, that’s it? Slept and nursed?”

  Marie shrugged. “She pooped, too.”

  “She didn’t take her first step or say her first word? Nothing like that?”

  “Maybe tomorrow.”

  He forced his gaze over to Alexis. “How’d the science fair go?”

  Alexis brightened up immediately. “Omigod, Daddy, it was amazing!”

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “It’s a grade school science fair. How amazing could it have been?”

  “Tyler!” Marie chided him.

  And just like that, they were back to a normal family dinner. Scarfing down pizza, kids snarking at each other, her and Aaron playing referee. But that little voice in the back of her head got more insistent.

  Once the kids have gone to bed, Aaron’s got some explaining to do.

  •

  IT WAS VERY LATE IN the evening when Marie tucked Emma into bed. Exhausted, she headed downstairs to Aaron’s office to say goodnight.

  Aaron was sitting at his desk playing Solitaire on the computer when Marie walked into his makeshift office. “Working hard, I see.” She leaned against the doorframe and grinned.

  He stretched his arms over his head and leaned back in his office chair, yawning and shuddering. “Yeah. I’ve still got a couple minor things to attend to before I can pack it in. Just clearing my palate.”

  “Was Mike happy with how the proposal went?”

  “Don’t know. Haven’t seen him since he made it.”

  She frowned. “But, you told me this morning you had to go to the office.”

  The deer-in-the-headlights look flickered briefly across his face. “Mike wasn’t there. I took care of what I could without him, went to the site to look after a couple of things and we’ll figure out the rest in the morning.”

  Relief flooded through her. She hoped it didn’t show too plainly on her face. “He called this afternoon looking for you. In all the excitement, I forgot to mention it.”

  When she stepped forward to kiss him goodnight, he grabbed the file folder on the desk in front of the keyboard, opened it up and laid it in his lap. She glanced down at it as she stood over him. “Surveyor’s reports? I would have thought the construction would be miles past that by now.”

  He pursed his lips and looked up at her. “McKinley is a picky SOB. I need to double-check a couple of things.”

  She rested her hand on his shoulder and leaned in to kiss him. “Well, have fun with that. I gotta sleep while I have the chance.”

  Aaron sighed. “I’d get up and nurse her if I could. You know that, right?”

  She straightened up from the kiss. “You’re more than welcome to. She may object to the hair around your nipples.”

  Aaron scoffed. “She’ll be fine, as long as I have it parted on the right side.”

  “Good night.” Marie waved tiredly at him as she slipped out the door and shut it behind her.

  •

  AARON SAT STILL AND LISTENED as Marie padded up the stairs. As soon as he heard their bedroom door close, he flipped the file folder in his lap closed, set it on the desk and looked at his lap.

  Blood was seeping through the fabric of his jeans from the bandage underneath. Either the patch-up job hadn’t been as effective as they’d hoped, or the knife had done more damage than they’d thought.

  He’d have to stay up at least until she fell asleep. If he got the blood to stop seeping through the bandage and wore his pajama bottoms to bed, he stood a chance.

  The more he used his leg, the worse it got. He’d have to find a way to use it less in the coming few days.

  His cellphone buzzed on the corner of the desk. He snatched it up, peered at the screen and thumbed the answer button. “Pratchett,” he said, sotto voce.

  “She just turned the light out,” a woman’s voice said.

  “That’s great, Gloria. Will you be able to tell me when she starts snoring, too?” He kept his voice quiet.

  “How’s the new baby? She’s a real cutey. Although, I could live happy for the rest of my life if I never had to set foot in a maternity ward again.”

  “There are worse assignments to get.”

  “How’s the leg?”

  “Bleeding again. Probably using it too much. Made a stain on my jeans. Once she’s asleep, I’ll have to rebandage it in the bathroom before I go to bed.”

  “Just be careful it doesn’t get infected.”

  “I’m more worried about Marie finding the old bandages.”

  “Drop ‘em out the bathroom window. I’ll get rid of them for you. Drop the jeans, too. Don’t want her finding those, either.”

  “You really are a jack of all trades, aren’t you? Subduing assailants, bandaging knife wounds, disposing of evidence.”

  “Never had a lesson.”

  “I just wish this thing would stop throbbing. These run-of-the-mill painkillers aren’t doing shit.”

  “Can’t take anything stronger. If shit hits the fan, you won’t be sharp enough to deal with it.”

  “Any news?”

  “Not yet. Team Two is trying to trace their movements.”

  “I wish they’d hurry up. I hate all the lying and sneaking around.”

  “She getting suspicious?”

  “She was.”

  “She’s not anymore?”

  Aaron shifted in his chair and hissed as pain blossomed from his thigh. “I seem to have allayed most of that. Although, if this leg doesn’t settle down, she may insist on having a look at my ‘sprained ankle’.”

  “I could whack your ankle with a hammer.” Aaron could hear the grin in her voice. “In the line of duty, of course.”

  “Of course.” Aaron yawned into the phone. “You out there all night?”

  “Drew the short straw, but no worries.”

  He heard scuffling through the phone. “What are you doing?”

  “Just checking something. Hang on.”

  The phone went silent, and he heard a bit more shuffling. Aaron glanced at the blood stain on the left leg of his jeans. It had gotten even bigger.

  “Okay, she’s snoring peacefully.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You got the bedroom bugged?”

  “Directional mic. You should be good to go.”

  “Thanks. Now if I can just make it up the stairs without leaving a trail of blood.”

  “Good luck with that.” She clicked off the line.

  He dropped his head and sighed, exhausted, and hoped he didn’t fall asleep before he got into bed.

  He eased himself out of the chair, keeping as much weight as he could on his right leg. He didn’t want to give it an excuse to bleed more if he could help it. He slipped his Beretta in its holster out of the desk drawer and clipped it to his belt, pulling his shirt down over it.

  He reached under the shade of the banker’s lamp on the desk to switch it off. The office was plunged into darkness. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the minimal moonlight shining through the window.

  As he hobbled to the office door, it occurred to him to check that the motion-activated yard lights were on. Their hundred-watt daylight bulbs would ruin any advantage gained by anyone wearing night-vision goggles. Anyone stepping into his yard wearing them would be momentarily blinded by the brightness.

  He hummed the chorus of “Blinded by the Light” to himself as he went to check on the lights. After checking the switch, he paused by the front door and peered out the window. He had no idea which of the cars parked on the street was Gloria’s.

  As he turned and limped toward the stairs, he could feel the wetness on his left leg as it throbbed. The ache had grown worse. What he wouldn’t give for a shot of morphine right now.

  At the top of the stairs, he was nearly out of breath. He wondered idly how big the bloodstain on his jeans would be when he got into the bathroom and could turn on the light.

  As he moved toward his and Marie’s bedroom, he noticed light coming from under Tyler’s bedroom door. He knocked softly.

  “Tyler?” he called quietly.

  “Yeah, dad?” Tyler answered just as quietly.

  Aaron opened the door and stuck his head in, conscious of keeping his left leg out of sight. Tyler sat in front of his computer, focused on some video game battle that raged on the screen, a controller clenched in his hands.