Even Lovers Drown CH 17

After his visit with Jake, Fitz had actually managed to get a decent night sleep for a change. It was fortunate that he had, because the news that Cyrus brought him changed everything.

The morning had gone relatively easy - as easy as it could be for the president at least. There was always some pressing matter that had to be attended to, as well as touching bases with one or more of the department heads that kept the White House machine oiled and running smoothly. And of course, there was the hostage situation hanging over his head.

He’d had an idea concerning them and had asked one of the former diplomats to meet with him to discuss some possible avenues they might have overlooked.

Jocelyn Davis-Martin, Special Diplomatic Advisor to the national Security Council was seated in one of the chairs facing his desk. She was a lovely woman probably no more than two of three years younger than himself, with skin the hue of deep rich brown and a close cropped cap of silver curls.

They’d been brainstorming several ideas, but hadn’t found a solid path to pursue.

While they were still exchanging ideas, Cyrus’s presence was announced.

Fitz nodded to allow him entry; his chief of staff wouldn’t interrupt a scheduled meeting unless it was important.

“My apologies,” he said to the woman sitting opposite him at his desk.

“Not a problem.” she answered with a lovely smile.

Cyrus stepped into the room. His eyes went from Fitz to the woman and he nodded his head in his own apology. “I hate to interrupt you this way, sir, but there’s been a complication.”

“Concerning?” Fitz eyed the folder Cyrus was holding in his hand.

        Neither he nor Cyrus had addressed the coolness that had sprung up between them. Unholy alliance it might at the moment, but to ensure that the country continued to run smoothly, both of them had been accommodating the other without any true confrontation.

On Fitz’s side, it was just easier to not deal with it and numb himself to the other man’s betrayal with scotch. On Cyrus’ side, Fitz found that he just didn’t care.

“It concerns the hostages.” Cyrus said.

The woman made a motion as if to stand. “Since we were almost done, perhaps I should leave, Mr. President?”

“Wait.” Fitz motioned for her to keep her seat. “We were already talking about the possibility of you using your former connections to see if a dialogue can be reached. You might as well be brought up to date on everything we have.”

Jocelyn nodded and settled back into her chair. She didn’t see the look that Cyrus gave her. Or perhaps she chose to ignore it.

Fitz did the same; he turned his gaze back to Cyrus and motioned for him to continue.

Cyrus looked slightly unhappy about it, but did as he was told.

He consulted the information in the folder. “It’s recently been been brought to my attention that of the six hostages taken, three of them were indeed CIA operatives.”

Ignoring Fitz’s sudden look of disbelief, Cyrus went on to detail what he knew - which was the provinces in which they had worked and some of the native contacts they’d made and utilized. In many cases, information had been traded keeping the rebels updated as to actions being taken against them by their own governments as well as intel that benefited them both.

“What?” Fitz’ full attention snapped onto Cyrus as he leaned forward. “This is what their rebels had accused them of - this is what I denied - and they were right?” Outrage filled his voice.

Cyrus rushed to explain. “They had been embedded from the earliest years of the previous administration’s. I’d - we’d - been getting their mission reports under their covert names. I knew they’d been embedded within humanitarian concerns, but the way it works so, the less people who know of them, the better. The CIA had the information - but since we had no reason to ask, it was assumed that there was no reason to tell.

Fitz turned his gaze onto Jocelyn.  She shook her head. “That information was mostly above my pay grade.” she said. “Did I know that there were some operatives embedded within the aid organizations - yes. Was I told specifically who they were - no. What Cyrus is saying is correct. It was deemed to be a need-to-know scenario - and it was made clear to me that I didn’t necessarily need to know.”

Cyrus  sighed heavily. Despite the fact that he hadn’t known, he still felt guilty. It was his job to keep the president up to date on all matters concerning national security and he felt he’d failed. Not for the first time, he’d failed him.

Fitz could see all of that clearly on his face. It didn’t change his opinion on Cyrus since he’d learned about Defiance, but at the same time, Fitz was wise enough not to blame the man for matters beyond his control. He waved a hand  in a gesture meant to absolve Cyrus of any failure he might be feeling due to the current crisis.

Was it his imagination, or did Cyrus relax fractionally?

“It was only when one of their failsafe check-in time dates hadn’t been contacted that the alarm was triggered - and that’s when this new information came to light.” Cyrus explained.

“This is a game-changer.” Fitz said slowly, his mind spinning to catch all of the nuances this twist brought to the assignment. If it were discovered that they actually had had covert agents within the aid movements, it would do irreparable harm throughout the region - and not only to those serving American interests.

Jocelyn was frowning, locked in thought. “There’s a chance that I could reach out to some of my - less prominent former contacts.” She went on to explain briefly that among some of her other duties, she’d served as an information conduit to those parties who had a desire for a more democratic rule than what was currently in place.

Seeing the president’s approval, a momentarily relieved Cyrus automatically placed himself in the role of devil’s advocate.

“Would that be wise?” he asked. “If it’s discovered that you’re in contact with what the current government no doubt sees as rebel forces, it might escalate the situation. We could lose their legitimate good will.”

Jocelyn thought the matter over, tapping one finger against her full lips.  “I agree that it would have to be handled very delicately, but there’s a possibility that it could be done.”

She turned back to the president. “The only drawback is that it might take a little time. And secrecy. I’d need a loose rein - looser than you might like.” Jocelyn looked meaningfully at Cyrus.

“Time we may or may not have.” Fitz agreed with her. “But the way I see it, we have to explore every option available to us. Three of those people have nothing to do with covert ops, and we have to do everything we can to ensure their safety. I think it’s safe to say that you’ll have as much rein as you need.”

She looked again to Cyrus. He nodded in agreement. “If the president deems it necessary, I have no objections. I’ll see that you’re given as much cooperation as possible.”

Fitz raised an eyebrow at that, then turned his attention back to Jocelyn.

“This is not a part of your regular assignments, Jocelyn - it’s only fair that you realize that there’s a certain amount of risk involved with what you’re planning to do. You don’t have to take this on.”

Her deep brown eyes met his in perfect understanding. “I serve at the pleasure of the president and innocent lives are in the balance. I’ll do what I can.”

Looking into her eyes, Fitz could see that she meant every word of it. “Thank you. I thank you, and even if they may never know of your involvement, your country thanks you.”

He turned to Cyrus. “Have copies of everything we have right now made for Jocelyn.  We need to bring her up to speed on everything.”

“Everything? Sir - is that - necessary?”

“Everything.” Fitz fixed him with a cool gaze. “Do you have an objection?”

“Not really, sir.” Cyrus said. “It’s just the thought of having sensitive material leave the White House grounds...”

“I have sufficient security.” Jocelyn said. “I’ll do as much as I can from within the White House, of course - but I may need to conduct some work away from here. None of us can afford to have any paths I find traced back to here, of course.”

“Should we conduct a security sweep at your home first?” Fitz asked.

Cyrus shook his head. “If her involvement is meant to be kept under wraps, then any extra activity at her house might be noted.”

She smiled suddenly. “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about security.” When both men looked at her with questions on their faces, she went on to explain.

“My daughter is a high-ranked computer technician in security research and development over in Intel at the Pentagon. A simple phone call from mother to daughter won’t be noted as being out of the ordinary at all.”

Cyrus thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll make sure there will be no questions asked, if necessary. She won’t ask questions if I ask her to check into and upgrade my home computer security.” She smiled briefly. “In fact, she’s been nagging me for quite awhile about it.”

The three of them looked at one another and saw that they were in agreement. Cyrus left the room to return to his office to run off the copies for Jocelyn.

As the door closed behind the other man, Fitz left his chair and walked around to the front of the desk. His glance took in the side table with its decanter of liquor, but for once, he ignored it. Instead, he moved to lean against the front of his desk.

“You do realize that there is some danger in this, don’t you? What you’re offering to do is not exactly in your job description.”

Jocelyn Davis-Martin looked up at him. “I realize that, sir. But as I said earlier, I serve at the pleasure of the president.”

She paused, looking for the right words; finding them, she continued. “I had my doubts when you were elected - you were something of an unknown quantity at the time. But since then, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know you, and I’ve come to believe in you.”

Fitz felt a rush of humility mingled with pride go through him. This is why he’d run for president, to bring the country together in every way possible and move forward - and her words made everything real.

He put out his hand to her. When she took it, he shook it warmly. “You have no idea what your words mean to me.”

She smiled up at him. “I think I have some idea, Mr. President - as I said, I’ve come to know you in a way - and know what you are trying to do. I’ll do anything I can to help.”

For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, Fitz felt himself breaking into a genuine smile - one that she returned. It was one of shared determination and goals.

They were still smiling at one another when Mellie walked into the room.