CHAPTER 6
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:24
Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; Qur’an 4.34
Tad took a cab from Toby’s condo to her sister Catherine’s Foggy Bottom apartment where she showered and dressed in one of Catherine’s Chico outfits- a pale blue skirt, white satin blouse and navy jacket. With all that had happened so quickly, she found it difficult to focus on her first official day with the special taskforce. Her mind wandered rapidly from thoughts of her five years as an undercover agent in the Middle East (a difficult, but amazing experience) to the unpleasant meeting with Drake on Sunday (what a jerk) to her evening with Toby (fantastic).
While in the Middle East, Davenport had worked as a college professor, but she was in actuality an employee of the CIA who used her cover to meet and become good friends with influential foreign nationals and to monitor the degree of radical Islamic fundamentalism among college students. It had been an exciting job but also a very difficult one. For a liberated western female, living in a Muslim country was a constant challenge. Not only did she have to dress in much more modest- and less fashionable- clothes than she was accustomed to, she also had to refrain from drinking alcohol or being seen alone in the company of men. (She had seen far too many women who had been ostracized or even physically abused for being accused of having sexual encounters outside of marriage.) Additionally, she had to be very careful what, how and to whom she communicated, fearing that the host government or Muslim extremists might be monitoring all of her voice, written and data transmissions.
Being with Toby again last night reminded her how much she had missed him. They had become extremely close very soon after meeting six years ago, but during the past five years she had seen him only briefly on one trip home and two trips to the Scottish Highlands. Although Sullivan had a few more grey hairs than before, Tad thought that he still looked younger than his 40 years. At 6 feet tall and 165 pounds, he had the physique of a dancer or cyclist and a slight resemblance to the actor Richard Gere in his younger days- although Tad made sure that Toby knew he wasn’t nearly as good-looking as Gere. There were many times that Tad wanted to marry or make some kind of commitment to Toby. There were also times when she wanted to wait until she figured out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. And there were still other times when she didn’t want anything to do with marriage- particularly as it was coming to be defined by modern America’s Christian society.
As far as dealing with Drake and the taskforce were concerned, she didn’t know what to think- or do. While she had been overseas, the climate in the United States regarding women in the workplace had obviously changed dramatically. With the Christian Democratic Republicans in power, more and more businesses were blatantly giving priority to hiring men, and more and more women were choosing to stay home in order to home school their children or just be stay-at-home moms. It seemed that society had been transformed back to the 1950’s- or even the 1850’s.
Tad’s philosophy about all of this was that women who wanted to stay at home should certainly have that right- but so should men. And government should not attempt to coerce, encourage or bribe women into choosing home over a career. That was none of government’s damn business as far as she was concerned.
When she finished dressing and applying some of her sister’s makeup- a luxury she had not experienced in five years- Davenport checked herself in the mirror to make sure that her sister’s clothes fit properly and then caught a Metro blue-line train to her office at Homeland Security to attend a memorial service for Assistant Secretary Charles Rutherford. After the brief, but tearful service, Tad stayed around to talk to some of her new colleagues at the department and to pick up her miniature personal communications device (PCD). She also met with Charlene (Charley) McGill, who was instrumental in bringing her to Homeland Security and in having her assigned to the special taskforce investigating the bombings.
“It is sure good to see you, Tad,” McGill said as she led Davenport into her office. “You look great. That’s a fantastic outfit you have on.”
“It’s my sister’s,” Tad responded. “I was afraid it might be too tight. I think I gained some weight while I was gone.”
“I don’t think you’ve gained a pound,” said Charley. “I can’t believe you’ve been gone for five years.”
“It is hard to believe,” Tad responded, as she sat down in a leather wingback chair, “although in some ways it seems even longer than that. I’m really glad you thought of me for this assignment.”
“I can’t think of anyone who is as well qualified for it,” Charley said. “Homeland Security doesn’t have a lot of folks with your education and background, so who better to be one of our members of the special taskforce?”
“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Tad said to her friend. “Although I loved being in the CIA and wish I could have ended my assignment in a more orderly fashion, I was ready to come home, and since CIA agents can’t spy in the USA, I think I can do more interesting things here with H.S.”
“I hope you find them interesting,” said McGill. “Surely your work at the taskforce should be challenging.”
“I hope so, but I’m a little worried,” Tad answered. “What can you tell me about this guy Drake?”
“Well, I can tell you that two of my friends who used to work for him thought that he showed favoritism toward male agents, particularly after undergoing a religious conversion a few years ago. After becoming an evangelical Christian he even suggested to his wife that she quit her job as an attorney so she could stay at home with their young children.”
Charley paused briefly and then continued. “On the other hand, just to be fair to him, I know a couple of women who really like him because he helped establish a special 20 hour a week, semi-full-time position that allows them to maintain their employee benefits but also be at home when their children get out of school. They say that he is the most family-friendly boss they have ever had.”
“But what about women like me who don’t have families?” Tad asked, not waiting for an answer. “I don’t want to work 20 hours a week, and I don’t want to be treated like a member of ‘the weaker sex.’ Hasn’t anyone ever brought a formal complaint against him?”
“Not that I am aware of,” McGill responded. “You know what the religious climate in this country is like today. There is such a strong Christian network throughout the government that no one wants to be labeled as being anti-Christian or having anti-Christian values. The women I mentioned who were unhappy decided they would rather go to work in the private sector than be permanently branded as extreme feminists. That’s the kiss of death.”
“Damn. I’m overseas for a few years and come back to a country and government crawling with Christian fanatics. How has Homeland Security escaped the infiltration?” Tad quizzed her friend.
“Secretary Rosenthal is the main reason. He has been very careful to hire people who believe strongly in the separation of church and state,” McGill explained. “He has gone out of his way to make sure that this agency is secular from the top down.”
“How has he gotten away with that in this administration?” asked Tad.
“The CDR needs him to keep some of the Jewish vote by maintaining the pretense that the party embraces Judeo-Christian values, not just Christian,” Charlene continued. “And besides, he has done an outstanding job and that has been a feather-in-the cap of the administration. Up until this past week’s attacks, they couldn’t afford to get rid of him.”
“You think his job is in jeopardy, now?” asked Tad.
“I don’t know,” McGill answered. “I’ve heard rumors. I think he has the support of the president, but there are a lot of people in the CDR and in some national security agencies, such as the FBI, who wouldn’t mind if Rosenthal were replaced with someone more of their ilk,” Charley said, almost in a whisper.
“By their ‘ilk,’ do you mean ‘Christian’?”
“You got it,” McGill said as she noticed a man in the hall motioning to her. “Sorry I have to break away, but I’m being called into a meeting about the naming of a replacement for Assistant Secretary Rutherford. What a tragedy that was. And I guess it could have been even worse, because the secretary was scheduled to be at that meeting. Fortunately, he was doing a spot check on commercial airline security procedures in Chicago, and his flight was delayed.”
“Thanks for all of your help, Charley. I’ll be back in touch,” Tad said while thinking how fortunate they all were that Secretary Rosenthal had not been killed.
After leaving her old friend, Tad walked the five blocks to the special taskforce headquarters to begin her new assignment. Never- even in her days as an international undercover agent- had she been so uncertain about what to expect.
“Hello, I’m Special Agent Davenport. Which office is mine?” Tad asked the young woman who was sitting at a desk near the entrance.
“Oh yes, Agent Davenport. I’m Margaret Peabody, Director Drake’s assistant. It is so nice to meet you. I was just looking through your resume`. You have such pretty names, Tiffany and Ashley. Which do you prefer?
“Actually, neither,” Tad answered somewhat abruptly, although she did not mean to be rude.
Somewhat taken aback, Margaret responded, “Oh, I understand that you prefer to use your surname at the office, but I meant which do your friends call you?”
“Neither,” Tad answered again. “I don’t care for Tiffany or Ashley. They just don’t seem to fit me. My friends call me Tad.”
“Oh I see,” Margaret answered. “I’d like to know how they came up with that. I bet it is an interesting story.”
“Not really,” Davenport answered. “It’s just my initials - TAD.”
“Now I get it,” the blonde said in her slight southern drawl. “That is so…unusual.”
“If you say so,” answered Tad, who was becoming a little impatient with all of the fuss about her name. “Can you direct me to my office, please?”
“Oh, of course,” Peabody said as she got up from behind her desk and pointed toward a hallway at the opposite end of the lobby. “It’s the office at the end of that hall on the right. But before you go, here is a copy of the contact information for everyone serving on the taskforce.”
“Thank you,” Tad said as she took her briefcase from the corner of Peabody’s desk. “I’m sure this will be very useful, and I look forward to working with you.”
When Tad entered her office, she noticed that it was considerably smaller than the others she had passed along the way. “I guess this must be a girl’s office. I wonder where I’m supposed to put all of my makeup and accessories,” she thought as she put her briefcase on the small, oak veneer desk and tried out the small black fake leather desk chair. Surveying the rest of the equipment and furnishings, she saw a state-of-the-art voice activated computer and communications module with a 32” screen attached to the wall above the desk and a small occasional chair near the window. “All the comforts of home,” she murmured.
After putting a few personal items in her desk, she activated the communications screen and issued instructions to contact Toby since she wasn’t sure where he was. “Phone 23,” she said.
“Agent Sullivan is not in; transferring to his mobile communications device,” came the reply.
Toby quickly answered and his image appeared on the large screen above Tad’s desk.
“Hi Toby,” Tad said. “I see you’re in a car. Where are you headed?”
“I’m with Trey. We’re on the road to Leesburg. Are you at headquarters?”
“Yes, I’m in my palatial new office,” she responded. “Do you think there is some kind of not-so-hidden message in the office assignments?”
“I doubt it,” Toby answered, “and what difference does it make? You don’t really care about the size of your office, do you?”
“No; I’m just venting,” Davenport replied. “The reason I’m calling, though, is to see if you have gotten any more ideas since earlier this morning on how I can convince Drake not to treat me like a secretary. I really do think that I can do the most good for the taskforce by getting out in the field, possibly by setting up a clandestine meeting with the undercover guy in New Mexico and helping find some way to get more information from the terrorist cell he has infiltrated. Being in the field and getting information is what I did overseas, and I think that would be much more helpful than me sitting in a 10’ x 10’ room waiting to run errands for a bunch of helpless men.”
“Trey, what about it?” Toby asked his partner. “You know Drake as well as anyone. He isn’t really serious about confining women to the office, is he?”
“I don’t know,” Trey responded. “He actually does prefer that women not be put in dangerous situations, because he is very protective of them. However, I think that he is somewhat less protective of women who are unmarried and don’t have children, particularly if they are experienced in field work like Tad.”
“So do you think I should make an appointment to see him and explain how much more I could help if given the opportunity?” asked Tad.
“I don’t know if I would go quite that far just yet,” Rawlings said after a slight pause. “It might be better to give it a day or two and see exactly what he has in mind for you, first.”
“So, I’m just supposed to cooperate and be a happy little gofer?” Tad asked.
“I don’t think being protected should be viewed so negatively,” Trey retorted.
“I didn’t get into this line of work in order to be protected,” Tad answered. “I just want to do the job I trained for. What do you think, Sullivan?”
“Look, Trey knows Drake a whole lot better than I do, so my suggestion is to take his advice at least for now, but I know you are going to do exactly what you want to do regardless of what I say…and I wouldn’t expect any less of you,” Toby answered. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t offer any more advice right now, because we just arrived in Leesburg. I’ll talk to you later.”
“See you later, Toby. Twenty-five, terminate,” Tad said, ending the communication. For the next five or 10 minutes, she sat quietly at her desk mulling over her situation. Against all of her strongest instincts, she decided to follow the advice of Toby and Trey and do whatever she was asked to do- but she still wanted to talk to Drake.
“Gee, this is going to be hard,” she thought, as she gave a voice instruction to the communications module to contact Margaret, who quickly appeared on the screen.
“Margaret, is it possible for me to see the associate director sometime soon? It is very important.”
“I’ll be glad to check,” Peabody responded. “And I’m glad you called, because I was just getting ready to contact you. We have a request from one of our agents for someone to do a computerized background check on everyone in a three-county area in Maryland who has a Muslim surname, and the director thought you would be perfect to handle this. In fact, he wants the same type of search done for the entire target area.”
That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, Tad thought, but I’ve got to calm down before I say something really dumb.
“Let me make sure I understand this request,” she answered in a slow, modulated voice. “The director wants me to do a computer search to find any people within the designated geographical area that have a Muslim-sounding surname and then do a background check on them. Is that correct?”
“Yes, I think so,” Margaret responded. “You know, names like Mohammed, Hussein and bin Laden.”
So he thinks that the terrorists are going to be listed in the phone directory or some other public source of information and all we have to do is go through the thousands of Muslim-sounding names, conduct a computerized background check and bingo, we’ll find the terrorists? Tad thought. “And like Mohammed Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” she said, trying to mask her sarcasm as much as possible.
“I think that’s right,” Peabody answered with complete confidence in the infallibility of her boss.
I hate these damn video communications devices, Tad thought as she strained to keep from appearing as incredulous as she actually was at such a ludicrous request.
“Okay, I think I understand, but could you try to expedite that meeting with the director just so I can be certain I know everything he wants. I certainly don’t want to disappoint him,” Donahue said in the most controlled voice she could muster.
“I might could do that,” Margaret said, “but he already has several meetings scheduled today. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.”
“Thanks.” Tad said, just before terminating the communication abruptly and pulling out her miniature PCD.
“Contact 5,” she said into the small device as she attached it over her right ear.
“Is that you, Tad?” she heard the voice of Charlene McGill ask.
“Right you are, Charley. Are you alone in your office?”
“Yea, why? Something the matter?”
“You might say that,” said Tad. “This Drake guy seems to think that I should spend my time doing grunt work for the male agents. He wants me to run a background check on everyone with a Muslim-sounding name in a 15,000 square mile area west and north of D.C. I don’t think anyone ever suggested anything that blatant even when the Patriot Act was in full effect, did they? Do we keep information like that in Homeland Security- or have access to it?”
“None that I’m aware of,” said Charlene. “I’ll be glad to have our data people determine what might be available if you’d like me to.”
“Great,” Tad answered. “See what you can come up with.”
“Consider it done,” Charley answered, “and Tad- I’m sorry that Drake turned out to be such a jerk.”
“Me too. I’ll talk to you later.”
No sooner had Tad turned off her PCD, than her office communications system began to ring. After pressing a button on her desk, the large LCD communications screen came alive with the image of Margaret Peabody.
“Agent Davenport, I’m afraid that the deputy director had to leave for an important meeting and won’t be back until much later this afternoon,” said the faithful assistant. “He asked me to see if there is anything you need to help identify and run background checks on the Muslims in the search area.”
Tad didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream, but contained her emotions.
“No, if it is possible to identify such a group of people and find information about them, I will,” she said, “although quite frankly, I doubt that such information even exists.”
“It must exist or Director Drake wouldn’t ask for it,” responded Margaret in a voice indicating her total devotion to her boss.
Tad instantly saw the hopelessness of her situation and decided it was best not to get into a confrontation with Peabody, who was just doing what she was told. Instead, she said good-bye, logged onto the FBI’s supercomputer and began to sift through every Internet, intranet and local file she could think of that might contain the names of Muslims living in the target area- from members of Mosques to the owners of convenience stores and mid-eastern restaurants. It clearly was going to be a long and tedious search.