Epilogue

Susan Janus was the first familiar face Tami Mason had seen in a long while.  She was greeted with a warm hug, warmer than usual in the lobby.

‘You didn’t expect me to survive, did you?’ Tami said, as they broke apart.

‘Honestly no, I’m an excellent agent, but no, and I’m so thankful you did,’ Susan exclaimed as she hugged her again. ‘Cindy is located on the 6th floor, here is your pass for the elevator, the retinal eye scan is all step up and elevator is through that door, turn right and it says service on it.  I will see you later to catch up.’ 

She took the pass and was soon inside the office of the Head of CURVE Operations for FORCE.

Tami knew the woman only by reputation, seeing her was another matter. Figure, face, legs, style and of course lethal skills walked across as Tami smiled and held her hand out.

‘Oh no, Miss Mason, or can I call you Tami. You’ll find all of us are huggers, me especially so with my girls,’ 

Cindy smiled and embraced her. ‘Come and sit down over in the lounge section, more informal.’

Tami watched the elegance of the woman as she moved just as Cindy watched Tami, they were both graceful, slinky and smooth in every motion. Cindy quickly concluded the preliminary reports of Tami Mason were correct and indeed, did not do her justice.

‘I want you to know something right away, its honesty always here and having said that I’m aware of your relationship with Mr. Khan and as such you should be aware of mine.  I’m married to a former spy, he no longer works in the business, that was his choice.’

‘And you?’ Tami asked wondering where this was going and perhaps not liking it.

‘I wanted to quit the field, but after a very long series of talks he insisted I stay and active agent.  I confess that was my preference, but I was more than willing to take a desk job for the sake of our love,’ she explained.

‘You were able to work out the obvious intimacy issues?’ Tami asked, surprised at this revelation.

‘That was the main issue, my main issue, as I was the agent. Quinn, my husband, explained to me he knew that was sometimes part of the job and necessary, but what we had was different altogether and he was right. It took me a while to get that, but we’ve never been happier and believe me that’s saying something,’ she explained, and Tami understood.  ‘But that is me, not you and whatever you decide has to be what’s best for you and all concerned, duty is not the paramount thing here.’

‘Amir and I are very much in love, but we seem to have had the same talk as you and Quinn had. He understands how happy this makes me and he also understands, as insufficient and explanation as it is, that when on a mission, its just sex, not love, so I’m all in,’ Tami answered, and Cindy beamed.

They talked for am little while longer when a head poked inside the door, then the whole body, a wonderful one at that came toward her.

‘So, this is the woman you made me by a shipping container company, a logistics network, countless companies in East Asia and a resort.’

‘You forgot to mention, two perfect rubies, a perpetual functioning goldmine and the disruption of 87% of TRIDENT,’ Tami added getting up as she was swept into the arms of Claire Baxter.

‘You’re everything Susan said you were and more!  What a mission, what a stunning success you and Thuy completed, just incredible!’ Claire said hugging Tami again before they all sat, Claire crossing her legs and Tami instantly realising all she had heard about the woman was true.

‘We’re going to use the resort as a combination training base and actual resort.  It will be testing ground for trainee’s to learn how to mix. use their talents and assets to infiltrate, just as you two did,’ Claire added as she joined them. ‘I assume the talk went well?’ she said glancing at Cindy who nodded back. ‘Good, I want you to know that should your feelings ever change, no questions asked, you can quit, and nothing will be said to try and stop you. The other side of that equation is how FORCE operates.  I don’t know how familiar you are with COIL, I came from COIL, Cindy from DOOM, I have other DOOM and COIL operatives as well as several other agents I’ve picked up from other organisations along the way.  Every one of my agents is part of my family, we are one family, and I mean that.  I will never send anyone on a mission they can’t win, but once on that mission I expect nothing but success and a ruthless streak.  COIL liked to be nice, use stop gap or counterstrike, hit and retreat tactics.  All that did was burn out agents and create general discouragement.  FORCE does not do that, we hit, we hit, we hit and enemy agents do not walk away, they are killed, that is what will win, that is what and you, Thuy and Tina gave us in our last mission. TRIDENT effectiveness in South East Asia is down 87% and still falling as we speak. 

What I need from you, besides the commitment you already gave, is an understanding and a commitment to what I just said, I need you to be ruthless,’ Claire requested.

Tami had expected this, her talk with Susan Janus, her former boss and now number 2 at FORCE had confirmed everything she just heard and wanted to hear.

‘You can count on me ,’ she answered.

‘I’m getting jealous, CURVE Operations keeps picking up stunning agents,’ Claire smiled. ‘Come on I’ll give you the tour, introduce you around and show you the resources we have.  We’ve booked the rest of the day with you Agent Mason,’ Claire smiled and took her by the hand.

^^^

‘Operational effectiveness has fallen to 11%, we anticipate another 4% before we arrest it,’ the Silkworm stated.

‘Seven agents on one mission and how many as a result of what else occurred?’ another asked.

’25,’ came the answer from a Poison Geisha.

‘Anyway you what to slice it, a complete and total failure at every level, agent, strategy, influence, future endeavours, we are back at square one and lucky to be even there,’ the Silkworm said.

‘FORCE is definitely not COIL, the obvious, but at least something to take away.’

‘Baxter-San always operated different from COIL, but they restrained her, now she is free to act and appears she has taken to our ways, rather well it might be said.

‘She’s a cunning and deadly woman and a whole organisation designed around her philosophy has proven itself unfortunately at our expense.  The question becomes what to do now, how to fight against it?’ the Silkworm added.

‘And on a reduced budget,’ the Poison Geisha added.

‘Sometimes, for a while, smaller is better and even more nimble,’ the Silkworm added with a smile.