Langley, Virginia

Director Hamilton rose from her desk in her office, where she had been sitting, and headed out of her office on the seventh floor. She made her way over to the private elevator. She rode it down to the underground parkade and stepped out as she headed over to her Ford Taurus. Holiday emerged from the shadows in the parkade and walked over to her. Although they both worked in the shadowy world of intelligence, Holiday was an enigma to her. All that she knew was that at one time he had been an operative for the CIA.

"President Roberts wants to see both of us," she told Holiday as she slid into the driver's side of her vehicle.

Holiday did the same, climbing to the passenger seat as he opened the door and asked. Both of us? It must be something vital."

They drove out of the underground parkade of the CIA and headed into Washington, DC, and threaded through the busy, congested traffic at this hour, she says. "Her national security advisor didn't say. She pressed "Red." Red called me earlier on my burner. The Wagner men scrubbed Jennings; all she told him was Shadow Directive and that she got a call from Alexander."

Holiday thought before he spoke again that he was Eric's and Maizie's handler, so why did he call the Director of the CIA? He rubbed his chin, choosing his next words carefully. I know that you read my redacted file and that I worked under deep cover out of the United States embassy in Moscow.

She nodded at him. "Yes, I read your redacted file and I know that You were a Cultural attaché in the embassy in Moscow."

"But what you don't know is that at a cocktail party at the embassy, I met a young American operative named Avery Jennings, who was assigned to the United States embassy in Ukraine and was operating under deep cover as a trade minister for the Ukrainian Trade Delegation. After the party, we met in private, and he told me about his plan for the Shadow Directive."

"You're telling me that you knew Maizie's father back when you were an operative," she inquired.

"Yes, and no, I did. I was running and handling an ex-KGB and GRU black operator named Roald Popov at the time. You have to understand that the Cold War was almost over and the Kremlin had started its wiretapping operation into the United States embassy in Moscow and Ukraine--"

Holiday glanced at the window, feeling a sense of forbidden coming. He was a shadow operator who operated in the shadows of gray and black. He thought back to when he had met Miguel at Dupont Circle to find out his clearance was denied on the Thunderstorm file. The world of espionage was murky, where people like him, Miguel, and the young American operated knowing they were disavowed or executed. In a way, yes, he did play a role in helping Avery put together the Shadow Directive and get his daughter out of Ukraine.

"You still didn't answer my question: What do the Kremlin wiretapping operations into our embassies have to do with Maizie's father?" she exclaimed.

They turned down the street, heading down Pennsylvania Avenue. Holiday raised his brow and spoke. "Everything you can call leverage. At the cocktail party that night, I could tell in his eyes that he was worried about someone dear to him. I had no idea that it was his daughter until he mentioned her to me when we met with my handler at our safe house in Moscow."

"Are you telling me that the Russians wanted to recruit Maize to use against her father?" she inquired.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you, Madame Director," Holiday remarked.

"What about Alexander?" she asked.

"He's an old family friend of Avery's, and I think Avery's an asset, he told her.

She couldn't picture Maizie as a sparrow for the Russian Intelligence Service, which surely discred her father as the station chief in Ukraine, but she had a feeling that her father wouldn't let that happen to her, and maybe Holiday had played a role in that too. What he had always told her before he did one of his black ops was, "Don't fear those who operate in the shadows."

They arrived at the White House, and security opened the gate for them to drive through as they did. After that, they parked in a parking space, stepped out of the car, closed the door, and made their way up the sidewalk, passing by trees and green lawns to the side entrance of the Oval Office, where two armed secret agents stood outside alert. 

The secret service agent motioned for them to go in, and as they did, national security opened the door for them. They entered, seeing President Roberts sitting behind the Resolute desk as she glanced up at them and said, "Madame Director and Holiday Thank you for coming."

"Madame President, May I ask what this is about?" Director Hamilton asked.

President Robert rose from the Resolute desk where she was sitting and said, "We're going to take the war to Russia. This is black on black. I want to remove President Putin from power."

Holiday knew right away what she meant by removing the Russian President—an unsanctioned assassination—which was his area of expertise and what he did. Night Drop had been created for this kind of black-ops wet job that needed to be done discreetly, plus he had the perfect assassin for it: Eric the Red. While the CIA was prohibited from engaging in assassinations by the Executive Order, Night Drop was part of the black box program inside the CIA. 

Holiday glanced over at Director Hamilton before he spoke. "Our best chance of eliminating President Putin would be after he leaves the Bolshoi. Taking into account that he will have counter-snipers on the roof there,

"We know that President Putin has six armed bodyguards and that they are ex-Russian OMON operators," Director Hamilton told President Roberts as she paced back and forth, and then she continued that there is no Guinea law protecting Eric if he gets caught by the FSB. He will be tried as a mercenary and maybe killed since he doesn't officially exist."

"I assure you, Red, you will never be caught by the FSB and tried as a mercenary," Holiday snapped.

President Roberts slammed her fist down on the table and said it in a demanding tone. "Enough, and yes, I'm all aware of that, but if we don't do this, it will be the endgame for Ukraine and probably for the West too."

"Eric called earlier; he wants answers to why Maizie was almost scrubbed by the Wagner men and the Shadow Directive, " Director Hamilton told President Roberts.

President Roberts strode around to her chair behind the Resolute and sat before she spoke. "I think it's time that you gave Eric and Mazie the answers they need. What about Avery?"

"Our latest intelligence suggests that he was snatched walking outside his embassy by a team of Russian operatives," Holiday stated.

"I want our station chief back and those Russian operatives put to the ground," the president exclaimed in an authorized tone.

"I have one of my operatives in St. Petersburg right now, right on it, Madame President," Director Hamilton told the President.

"Madame President, we're going to need an extraction point for red and military aircraft waiting for him there," Holiday asked as he went over every detail and angle in his mind.

President Roberts glanced at Director Hamilton, who nodded in agreement with the President and said "That can be arranged and will be done. I'll have my best operative waiting for Eric. You just make sure that the Russian President is removed from power."

"Madame Director and Madame President, I assure you that the Russian President will be eliminated because Red never misses his targets," Holiday informed them.

They walked out of the Oval Office and emerged out the side door of the White House as they headed over to her vehicle. They grabbed the door as they slid in, closed the door behind them, and drove out of the parking lot as the security guard opened the gate. Holiday had seen Red at his best and worst when he had taken out the targets from an extreme distance. He wasn't worried one bit about Eric, but he understood why, after all, Director Hamilton was the director of the CIA.