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Sean continued. “When I couldn’t find him in the report, I went looking in the Swedish military databases – and there’s no record of a Lars Henriksson for the last 25 years.”
“…what?!”
“I checked the NATO databases as well. Nothing.”
“How is that possible?!”
“It’s not. Or it shouldn’t be. It’s like somebody erased him completely from the record. No pictures, no fingerprints, no record… nothing. It’s like he never existed.”
I sat there, stunned. “But…”
Sean leaned forward. “You need to go to Background with this.”
He meant the department responsible for checking up on agents’ significant others.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“I wanted to tell you first.” Sean shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “In case Background had to…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to; I knew what came next.
In case Background had to bring Lars in for questioning… and then he mysteriously ‘disappeared,’ never to be heard from again.
I nodded numbly. “Right…”
“But we have to let them know,” Sean said urgently.
I winced. “Can you at least hold off for a few days?”
Sean frowned. “Rachel, if there’s a fire here – and there’s a fuck-ton of smoke, so it’s looking like there’s a goddamn fire – you can’t tip him off. If he gets spooked and runs, you’re looking at a Section 36.”
Section 36 was the part of the penal code that dealt with high treason.
Like informing an agent of a foreign power that he was under investigation, giving him time to flee the country.
I felt absolutely sick, but I knew my duty.
“…go ahead and file the report.”
Sean raised his eyebrows. “You’re sure?”
“First you tell me I’m committing treason if I say anything to him,” I snapped, “and now you want to talk me out of it?”
Sean held up his hands like Please don’t hurt me. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it when we get back to the office.”
I nodded in silence.
“Out of curiosity, why’d you ask me to wait a few days?” Sean asked. “Why not just a couple of hours so you could talk to him?”
“Because,” I said miserably, “he had to go out of town… and I can’t contact him while he’s gone.”
Sean stared at me. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”
I knew exactly how bad that sounded.
Sean’s eyes bugged out. “Rachel – ”
