The Protector Read online

  Protector

  The

  Protector

  Dawn M. Snyder

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  Protector

  Copyright © 2012 Dawn Marie Snyder

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1479370274

  ISBN-13: 978-1479370276

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  Protector

  DEDICATION

  To my rock.

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  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  I

  1

  Prologue – The Dream

  An easy life…

  1

  2

  2

  Tel Aviv

  6

  3

  First impressions

  10

  4

  Aston Martin man

  18

  5

  Jet Lag

  25

  6

  Dulles

  33

  7

  Barely breathing

  37

  8

  Inquisition

  44

  9

  Burque

  67

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  Coffee break

  Funerals

  Phoenix

  Rio anyone?

  Silence is torture

  Dinner for two

  Restless sleep

  Reflections and reality

  The Dreams

  Oregon or bust!

  Speeding tickets and heels

  Old flames and withering hearts

  Goodbye, goodnight and let's run away

  Capital problems

  Friends

  Running away

  Don’t worry, I won’t

  The last goodbye

  Diablo stadium

  Numb

  Moving on?

  Sao Miguel

  Epilogue

  85

  91

  125

  159

  152

  181

  189

  191

  226

  231

  238

  245

  256

  271

  276

  281

  296

  300

  307

  314

  319

  330

  332

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This wouldn’t have happened without the support of some very special people. Wes – this was all you and I thank you for telling me to believe in myself. And thank you to my family for believing in me. To one of my favorite APD officers and his wife for answering my annoying questions and to the Marine who corrected me when I needed correcting. My dearest friend Melissa for encouraging me every step of the way – you know you are the BEST!

  Finally, to the teachers and my friends at St. Therese Catholic School in Albuquerque. You ladies have given me not only encouragement and support but have taught me true friendship. Thank you.

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  Prologue – the dream

  It’s always the same dream – I am underwater struggling. I know I am near the surface because waves are crashing above me, and the current is pulling me farther and farther from shore. There is light above and I try desperately to push through to the surface of the water, but as I do the water surrounds me pulling me further down into its dark depths.

  I’m not sure exactly when it all changed, but one night it was different. Suddenly there was so much more, a hand piercing the surface of the water. I kicked my legs desperately to reach the hand and eventually I did. It was warm and the heat radiated through my cold body, comforting me. It was a struggle against the waves and current, just to reach it.

  It was painful; emotionally and physically. My body ached as I wanted desperately to fill my lungs with something whether it was the air that would bring me life, or the water that would bring death. I didn’t care; I wanted something to complete me. As I struggled and tried to reach the surface I could see more than just the light and the hand. I could see the woman reaching through. She had dark hair and the greenest emerald eyes I had ever seen. She looked through the water and even with the crash of the waves I could hear her call my name. Suddenly everything around me was calm, but I still couldn’t find the strength to push myself up. And I could feel my hand slipping from the warm grasp that had been trying desperately to save me.

  Each night the dream grew more complex, finally to the point I was afraid to fall asleep. I was sure, eventually the dream would come to an end, but would that end bring death, maybe peace? It changed once again; I was out of the water lying wet in an empty room divided by iron bars. I still couldn’t fill my lungs, but I could see the woman clearly now on the other side of the bars. She stood there calling my name telling me to fight, to fight and save myself. It was then I realized I wasn’t worth saving – I had fallen to depths that I couldn’t climb out of. I watched as she fell to the ground reaching through the bars trying to grab a hold of me.

  “I’m not worth saving,” I finally managed to whisper before everything turned black. She was suddenly gone but I could hear her sobs as I drifted further into a hell of my own making.

  1 An Easy Life….

  I lived what I thought was a perfect, easy life. I worked odd government jobs making good money. I hurt for nothing and lived a comfortable existence on my own. I was never home for more than a week or two and in the span of ten years had pretty much seen more of the world than anyone I knew. Each assignment was different – different people, places and tasks. I had never considered changing my ways and settling down. It wasn’t an option. To be honest, I truly feared the emptiness I thought settling down would bring. But most of all, I feared dying alone.

  This was an existence I accepted. That is until the day I watched her rushing through Dulles International Airport trying to catch her flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. There was something about her that was so familiar, so intriguing. Even the picture I had been given haunted me. I knew her, but I couldn’t place her anywhere in my life. It seemed I was constantly reminding myself she was only an assignment. She was someone for me to watch and keep safe and that was my task, to protect her, even if she didn’t know I was there. My gut told me otherwise though; it told me this was different and my gut was never wrong.

  Her name was Alison Lawrence and she was on her way to a symposium In Tel Aviv. This was her first time on her own attending one of these, as her boss Tom usually attended them while she remained behind to hold down the fort. He was the man I was usually sent to protect as it was his job to hand over technology to friendly countries as our government saw fit. Only problem, most of the technology he gave was stuff that was forbidden by international treaty. It was one thing for a government to make the rules, another thing entirely for them to follow those rules. This in itself made my job all the more interesting.

  As we reached the departing gate, I kept my head down and did what I did best, blend in with everyone else. Alison chose a seat close to the terminal window and watched all the activity outside on the tarmac. She paid little attention to all the people and happenings around her. I sat a few ro
ws away facing her, but far enough away to go unnoticed. My partner on the assignment was Seth, an obnoxious loud red head, who was sitting a few seats away from her talking nonstop to another passenger. Seth had the same job I did, as a matter of fact, we were a team. Seth, however, did his job a little differently than I. Where I chose to blend in with the crowd and watch from a distance, Seth loved to be noticed and made sure whoever we were watching knew of his presence.

  As I watched her, I noticed her hair and the soft curls that hung around her shoulders. She wore dark grey dress pants and a white blouse that hugged her curves. She was relatively short, 5’ 4 or 5, but she walked through the airport as if she were a giant. She had turned a few heads as she made her way through the terminal. She seemed older than the age listed in the file - only twenty six. But her age had no relative bearing on anything. I was there to protect her, not to admire her and wonder about her. But, ironically, I couldn’t pull myself away from her.

  The movement of a family caught her attention as she turned away from the window toward them. Her eyes were glowing as she watched the children hang tightly on to their mother’s clothes. She moved her hair away from her face and behind her ears and her eyebrows furrowed as she realized that the plane we were about to board pulled into the awaiting gate. To the casual observer she was confident, but to the trained eye, I could tell she was nervous about the trip. Anyone in their right mind, heading to the Middle East had to be nervous. If you weren’t then you were someone like me, waiting for the next shoe to drop or bomb to go off.

  I wanted desperately to get up from my seat and introduce myself to her. I could easily envision pushing the strands of soft brown hair out of her face and behind her ear. I wanted to touch her, hold her and get to know this woman I was supposed to be protecting. It was a feeling that left me questioning who I was and what I was doing. The feeling was so intense; I reached for my cell phone wondering if I should pull myself from the task at hand. She didn’t realize it but she pulled me in, in every way imaginable.

  Time passed by way too quickly and before I realized it she was boarding the flight with Seth not far behind her. Much like in the terminal, I sat far enough away from her, and Seth sat as close to her as he could, thanks to numerous compliments he had fed the ticket agent. I almost felt sorry for Alison, because any flight with Seth was a long flight. And I wasn’t surprised when, true to form, he annoyed the hell out of her the entire time. From where I sat diagonally in front of her, I could occasionally glance back and read the look on her face. By the time we reached Tel Aviv, she was practically running off the plane toward customs and the waiting soldiers, weapons in hand. Seth and I followed not far behind and as she made a break for the ladies room. We waited form a distance, watching the people around us.

  “How’d I do,” Seth asked a huge grin on his face.

  “Stellar.” I didn’t want to say anymore and encourage the behavior. I actually felt sorry for all the passengers that had sat near the man.

  “Stellar? Come on, that’s it?” His face was full of disappointment but I knew for a fact, he knew better than to take my word for it.

  “Record breaking Seth. I don’t think anyone has ever wanted to hurt you as much as she did. Matter of fact, I think the crew almost had the air marshals on standby.”

  A huge grin appeared on his face as he reveled in his success.

  “You better hope you don’t have to deal with her later on. It might not be pretty.” As I finished my sentence she walked out of the ladies room and headed toward baggage claim. “I’ll follow to the hotel. Meet me there in an hour or so.”

  Seth nodded in agreement. “Sure thing.”

  I could only shake my head as I walked away from my friend. He was as good as anyone in our line of work and he enjoyed it. Alison was a few paces ahead of me and from my vantage point I noticed one more thing about her I liked. She had a nice butt.

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  2 Tel Aviv

  I could not get off the plane fast enough when we landed in Tel Aviv. It had been a long flight and my legs were stiff from sitting so long. But I honestly could have lived with the stiffness a little while longer if it weren’t the annoying red head who had sat behind me. He was an obnoxious cad about ten years older than I, who thought he was God’s gift to women. Most of the flight was spent listening to him recount his recent escapade in Miami with some model. What annoyed me even more was the fact that each time I got up to use the lavatory, he would stop talking and watch me. It was as if he wanted me to know he was watching me. He made my stomach turn and sent a shudder through me each and every time I glanced at him. The only consolation was the extremely good looking man who sat a few rows in front of me.

  As I walked toward customs, I vowed I would not let him ruin this trip. As selfish as it seemed, this was my trip, my shining moment to prove my worth and expertise.

  “Do what you do best young lady, knock their socks off, academically speaking of course!” Tom had told me when he announced at the last minute he wasn’t going to be attending the symposium. He said those words like a proud father instead of the boss and mentor he was. He had taken a huge chance on hiring me fresh out of graduate school and with little practical work experience. On paper though, I looked good. He often reminded me how important I was to his group, but I always felt the urge to really prove my worth and this was my opportunity. My background was not in the design of satellite processors, but in the handling of its technology by the nations of the world.

  Tom’s only request for the trip was for me to deliver a processor off the production line to a colleague of his from Tel Aviv University. I didn’t find this an odd request as I knew this type of technology swapping happened all the time. It was an academic exercise and with Israel being one of our allies, it seemed like normal protocol. After all I had written about such exchanges in college.

  My days in Tel Aviv flew by and I enjoyed every bit of the fast paced life there. I had met some interesting people at the conference, including a young Israeli academic named Joed. He managed to show me all the interesting sites in Tel Aviv, and he was always full of questions about my work. But no matter where we went or how many people we were with, I could never quite shake the feeling I was being watched. The feeling didn’t go away, especially on my last day in Tel Aviv. I had arranged to meet Tom’s friend Professor Hasan at the Carmel Market. On this particular Friday it was bustling with activity but Professor Hasan had mentioned that there was a quiet outdoor café close to the market where we could meet. Hassan had given me a description of himself and I was set to meet him in the early afternoon before my scheduled flight home. I raced around my room that morning gathering all my belongings for the trip home. I ignored the nagging beep coming from my cell phone figuring it was my friend Stacy trying desperately to contact me for one thing or another. It had been nice to get away from her constant chorus of me, me and me and her obsessive need to know everything I was doing.

  My mind was preoccupied as I walked out of the hotel and into the most amazing man I could remember ever laying eyes on. He was about six foot two with brown hair and eyes the most beautiful golden tone I had ever seen. They were the color that one saw for only a day or so in the fall right before the leaves turned brown. It was the first thing I noticed and only thing I noticed. They captivated me.

  “Sorry,” he said in a thick accent I couldn’t make out and pulled the cap he was wearing down and held the door to the waiting cab for me. It seemed odd, but, then again everything was odd to me here.

  Every hair on my arm stood up and I could feel my heart race frantically in my chest. “Thank you,” I managed to utter as I threw my belongings into the cab.

  The café was busy, as Joed had warned me, and it took me a few minutes to find Professor Hassan.

  “Professor Hassan?”

  The dark middle aged man nodded his head and stood in front of me. He was shorter than I anticipated and the look on his face was odd. He did
not smile, nor did he look up to meet my eyes. “Do you have my package?”

  “Yes,” I reached into my purse and grabbed the processor I had brought half way around the world. As quickly as I could get it out of my purse, he grabbed out of my hands. “Hey!”

  “Thank you. Please give your friends my regards.”

  I stood there stunned, and unnerved. This wasn’t at all how Tom had described his colleague. I could only watch the retreating man in disbelief. He disappeared quickly into the crowd and I sucked in a deep breath as I ignored the cell phone vibrating in my purse.

  ‘Oh well,’ I uttered and began to move back through the crowd. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the annoying red headed man from my flight. Not far away from him stood Joed, or a man that looked a lot like him. Confusion filled me. Joed had mentioned that this was one of the busiest market places in Tel Aviv, but why was it that everywhere I went I caught glimpses of the man. My phone continued to vibrate and out of frustration I reached in and grabbed it. As I looked back up to the spot where I had seen the red head and Joed, they were both gone.

  “What Stacy? This international call is going to cost me a fortune!” I continued to turn around looking for the two men, but the crowd had grown in number and looking for them was a futile effort.

  “Alison. Where the hell have you been? I left message after message for you at your hotel!”

  I sighed in frustration at my friends words. I knew from experience that there was always a lecture to follow when you ignored Stacy. But this time, I didn’t get a lecture. Instead I heard the words I never expected her to say.