Away 4 (Secrets Of The World Storyline) (Patreon)

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After having gone into hiding after their mission in France, Laylana and the Deep Secret CIA team rendezvoused and flew to Australia where they moved into a repurposed underground satellite relay and communications bunker.

|| "Away 4" is a part of the Secrets Of The World storyline. ||

Laylana awoke, her first morning, in Away 4. The room lights had, over the last 30 minutes, gradually brightened from nearly dark to soft, warm light. Gavin had said back in the old days when the installation had been in service as originally designed, it had been on or off. He and Eva had refit the system with variable LEDs and timers.

Laylana sat up on her bed. The poured concrete walls felt cool against her back. As she let the sleep wax into full consciousness, she wondered if Mason was awake.

She decided to let her thoughts linger on him for a moment, but the team had a mission, and dwelling on personal matters wouldn’t get it done.

Away 4 was nice. For a bunker. Laylana was happy that it was dry—there was nothing damp or musty about it. Though spartan, it had everything necessary.

Each of the dozen bedrooms had a nice bed and a bathroom that reminded Laylana of something she’d seen on small cabin cruisers. It was essentially a minimally sized stand-up shower in which was a barely big enough toilet and a sink about the size of a small saucepan. The shower head was on a hose, and was meant to be used at the sink as well.

It would do the job. Laylana told herself it would be better than having to march down the hall to some shared bathroom.

And, finally awake, it was time to use it.

Showered and dressed—forgoing shoes, though—she made her way to the large common area that served as kitchen, dining, and lounge for the team. Gavin was already there.

“Coffee’s fresh.”

“Thanks.” Laylana poured a mug. “Anyone else up?”

“Natalie… Hey… she told me she let you in on us being married. I promise, it won’t interfere.”

“I had no doubt. I like… the idea.”

She decided not to add any more, turning the conversation to the purpose they were there. “How about a quick look at the comm center?”

“Right this way…” Gavin led her down a short hall. “Storage on the left. Food… arms… ammo…. Tech room on the right.”

He pushed open the door and let Laylana go in first. She walked to the end of the room, then turned back.

“So, are you thinking we just fish up another event like we did in France? Make a raid. Stop some evil. See what comes of that?”Gavin nodded and pointed. “I’m sniffing everything I can get tapped into right now.”Laylana nodded. “When Mason and I were in Hastings, I got a call from Julia Ryan, a woman I know at NSA. Off the record, of course… She traced some money moving… I want to get the whole team to sit down and read everyone in on that. Might be another fish we need to track.”“Follow the money, as they say,” Gavin replied. “How about giving me the Tweet version now?”“She found money moving that seemed connected to our raid in France. And it ended up on the doorstep of Langley. A bank… Northwest Federal Credit Union.”

“Rings a bell,” Gavin replied.

“There are only 11 branches, and they are all… very close to Langley. It was established in 1947 as the CIA Federal Credit Union… See where this is going?”

Gavin shook his head. “Go on…”

“It opened to serve civilian employees of the Central Intelligence Agency but now serves a broader membership. It’s still closely tied to the CIA.”

“And the money from the France operation ended up there?”

Laylana nodded. “Julia said it looked like a very good match. The exact amount to the penny. And given everything else that’s happened…”

Gavin looked at his monitors then back at Laylana. “Looks like there really is a stinky fish in the agency. Our suspicions look like they were right on track."

{{{{ FIN }}}}}

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Please remember that ALL characters in this story are AI models, characters, and the do NOT represent anyone known real people.