Free Plausible Denial by F. W. Rustmann Jr.

thought of
their last night together in that bed while inhaling the scent of her familiar
soap and shampoo. He had thought about calling her after he dropped off Culler,
but knew it was too late and she would already be in bed.
    MacMurphy
knew it was about time to settle down with one woman and start raising a
family, but his career in the Agency had always precluded that. He recalled one
of his instructors down at The Farm telling a group of students that if CIA
case officers devoted too much time to their careers, their family life would
suffer, and if they devoted too much time to their families, their careers
would suffer, and if they tried to do both, both family and career would
suffer.
    For
now he satisfied himself with cyclical affairs with local women and with
colleagues in the CIA and State Department. He was an attractive, exciting and
charming man with an exceptionally strong libido, who never had trouble finding
attractive and exciting women to join him in bed. He moved easily from one
woman to another, and frequently back again, as he moved from post to post within
the CIA.
    The
closest he had ever come to marrying and settling down was with Wei-wei Ryan.
They had been together, off and on, for more than ten years. MacMurphy first
met Wei-wei when he was assigned as a case officer to Udorn Base in Northeast
Thailand, and she was a branch secretary at the CIA’s station in Bangkok.
    Their
romance progressed through subsequent overseas posts in Paris, Tokyo and back
again to Paris with Wei-wei attempting to follow him wherever he was posted.
But the Agency finally put its foot down when Mac was posted to Hong Kong as
chief of station and Wei-wei tried to follow him. Rules were rules, and the
Agency was not about to permit the wife or girlfriend of any COS to work with
him in the same station. That would give “the appearance of impropriety,” in
Agency lingo.
    When
Wei-wei couldn’t follow Mac to Hong Kong, she requested to be assigned back to
Paris where she had lived as a child and became fluent in the French language.
Her request was granted and she landed the much coveted job of secretary to the
COS.
    When
Mac showed up in Paris on temporary duty a year later to run the operation
against the Chinese embassy, their relationship was rekindled. But when the
operation went bad and Wei-wei Ryan became the victim of Lim’s rage, and Mac
was forced into early retirement, Mac moved to Ft. Lauderdale alone
    Mac
should have protected her. He was wracked with guilt over the mess he had
caused. He should have kept her out of the operation. He should have married
her. She would still be alive now and would be with him now in Florida. But for
some reason he did neither. He had always put career and duty ahead of his
personal life, and so, more out of habit than anything else, he moved on once
again.
    Soon
the events of the last few days, beginning with Rothmann’s visit which cut his
vacation short in Suze-la-Rousse, took over his thoughts.
    He
was excited about being back in the game with Culler Santos at his side, but
worried about the ethical aspects of what he and Culler were planning to do.
Mostly he worried about what Maggie Moore would think. She had the reputation
of being a straight-shooter in the Agency, and had kept many a young case
officer from making egregious errors in operational judgment. Being torn
between Edwin Rothmann and Maggie Moore was not a good place to be.
        
     
    Chapter Nineteen
     
        
 
    M acMurphy
awakened early. He had slept fitfully during the night, his mind churning with
ideas, possibilities, different approaches, arguments. He drove to the airport,
turned in his rental car, and retrieved his BMW from the parking lot. He called
Santos and they agreed to meet for breakfast before heading to the office. Mac
wanted to go over the events of the previous day one more time before briefing
Maggie.
    “She’s
not going to go for it, Culler. I can’t lie to her, and I don’t