Clara took another sip of coffee then nodded. “We’d lived in the US for most of my life, but of course, all of mom’s family were here in Spain so we would come over often. I’d spend six weeks here every summer, plus winter and spring break. When I left school, I took a year off and spent it here living with mygrandmother and I got a job working in an art gallery. That was when I developed a passion for art history, particularly Spanish Baroque.”
A gentle smile flittered across her lips.
“I loved it here, but I guess I still always thought of myself as American and growing up with a judge for a father, I’d always had a passion for criminal justice. I decided that I wanted to work for the FBI so when I went back to the US, I went to college and studied Criminal justice and political science.”
There was a fierce pride in her eyes, and Seb knew his own expression mirrored hers.
“I felt like I was on the right track, and I was just about to apply for the FBI when Mom got sick with cancer. Dad was busy a lot with work and the senate is not something you can just take a lot of time off from, he had responsibilities…”
When a distant expression washed over her face, Seb reached out and put a comforting hand over Clara’s on the countertop. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “What happened?”
“We all talked about it and Mom decided that she would come home to Spain where she had the support of her family. Naturally, I couldn’t let her come on her own when she was sick like that—she needed me, so I came with her. It seemed like the most natural step for me to go to work at an art gallery again. I guess you could say that I rediscovered my passion for art history, so I went back to university here and got a degree in it. Dad came over as much as his job would allow, but they never lived together again, at least, not full time, never for more than a week or two at a time. Mom went through chemo and radiation, and she went into remission for a while. We were so happy and relieved.”
Seb had a feeling that the story didn’t end there, so he waited silently, giving her space to find the words.
“We talked about moving back to the states, but then her cancer came back, and it was aggressive. She passed away six months later.”
His coffee long forgotten, Seb heaved a sigh. “I’m so sorry, Clara. That must have been so hard on you.”
She nodded. “It was. I struggled to come to terms with losing her and in a way, I blamed dad. Not for her death, of course, because there was nothing that he could have done about that, but I blamed him for not being there for her, for choosing his job over his family. Things got strained between us after that. We barely spoke. Then, probably when I was at my lowest point, I got recruited by CNI.”
Seb’s eyes widened slightly. “Spanish intelligence.”
“Yep. I was twenty-six at the time. I had two degrees, one in criminal justice with a minor in political science, and one in art history. I had a father who was in the United States Senate, and I spoke two languages, so as far as they were concerned, I was the perfect candidate. The problem,” Clara continued, “was that I was so lost in my grief, and so desperate to get away from the place that was filled with nothing but sad memories of Mom, that I didn’t do my research properly.”
Seb felt his blood run cold at her words.
“I’d always wanted to get into federal law enforcement, but intelligence had never occurred to me. I didn’t know a lot about it, but it was a big distraction from the grief, so I signed up. I was told I would be working for a branch of the agency called CN-6. It didn’t occur to me until much later how suspicious certain things were. I mean, I’d never heard of CN-6 for one thing, and while I was being trained, I never once went to CNI headquarters in Madrid. That didn’t seem very important at the time, but of course it was. I didn’t realize until I’d already been working for them for a year, that they weren’t CNI at all, they were a criminalorganization with links to terrorism. In fact, I wasn’t made aware of the fact until I was recruited by the CIA.”
“Jesus,” Seb whispered.
Clara nodded. “The CIA threatened me with prosecution, unless…I started to work for them as a double agent to help bring CN-6 down.”
“But that’s blackmail,” Seb sputtered.
Clara shrugged. “I guess you could look at it that way, but I saw it as a way to atone for the sin of working for the very terrorist organizations I thought I was fighting to eradicate.”
“But it wasn’t your fault!” Seb said. “You were taken advantage of—they used your grief against you. They lied to you. Theydeceivedyou.”
“Perhaps,” Clara said. “But what it comes down to is the fact that I was incredibly naïve, I didn’t question things, and I’d been brought up to question everything.”
“So, you’ve been working for the CIA ever since,” Seb stated.
Clara nodded. “For the past three years. Every mission I get for CN-6, I take to my CIA handler, and they give me a counter mission.”
“That’s incredibly dangerous!” Seb said, his eyes widening, even as his muscles twitched with the need to protect her. “You’ve been living on a knife’s edge all this time…”
“It hasn’t been easy,” Clara said. “So many times, I’ve wished for a way out then a few months ago, my CIA superiors called me in for a meeting and said they would relinquish my double agent duties if I completed one last mission for them—to bring down the organization of an international terrorist called Vicente Ortega.”
“Relinquish your duties?” Seb queried.
“They said I would finally be free to leave CN-6 which would essentially mean I’d have to disappear, and that for ‘services to my country,’ my probationary period would end, and I wouldbe free to return to the states and work full time out of the Washington field office, or any other office of my choosing—no more double agent status.”
“Is that what you want?” Seb asked.
Clara hesitated for a moment then shook her head. “No, it’s not. If I’m being honest, I’ve had enough of intelligence to last a lifetime. I’d like to go back to the states and do what I had originally planned—work in federal law enforcement, for the FBI.”
Seb once again reached out and took hold of his mate’s hand. “So, let’s make that happen,” he said.
