Book 7 of The Lyssa Kordenay Missions!   The hunt is on for Lyssa and company by an officer from a rival agency, but will Lyssa have to turn hunter into hunted to ensure they remain in the shadows? WARNING: The Lyssa Kordenay Missions may be hyper-violent for some readers.

Desert Butterfly

CHAPTER 1

The Director of the NSA slammed the door closed after the two men walked in then sat behind the desk.

"So tell me, which of you two geniuses have anything substantial to contribute to this operation that can only be summed up in one compound word. CLUSTERFUCK," he demanded.

The two men didn't flinch nor did they say anything yet.

"let's surmise," The director continued," You pull a dedicated deep cover nuke specialist out of the cold and send to Europe among hundreds of other known operators and agents of both friendly and hostile nations on a mole hunt. And you, the aforementioned operator; are so obviously not meant for that type of assignment that not only are you blown and looking in the wrong direction, YOU FUCK THE TARGET AND LET HER GET AWAY!!!!"

"We don't understand, who the hell knew I was there,"Chandler asked," I saw nobody that i knew on a personal basis. Everybody there i knew from dossier information and according to you and DOD I don't exist anymore so how was I blown?"

"Contrary to popular belief Captain there are agencies that supercedes this one," The director pointed out," believe it or not there are still agencies that still believe in classifications. Such as; confidential,sensitive, secret, top secret. Whoever it was that knew you were there is in an agency that hides their presence from me and before you ask, yes they can do that. You two idiots need to find a deep fucking hole to hide in because right now Nemesis is going for full review and I mean every swinging richard is compromised, so both of you. stand down and you're on leave til further notice, see my secretary for your assignments."

Taking that as their dismissal they stood and exited the room, in the outer office the director's secretary passed them each an envelope. As they stepped into the elevator chandler asked," So what now?"

"You go where they told you and wait til they say do something else,I'm going hunting. Nobody slams my operations and hides from me," The agent hissed.

"what i don't understand is how they knew me without me knowing them," Chandler complained," that they knew who the target was the whole time. Can't believe i got played like that."

"I didn't know it was a woman either but we'll feel better when I find out who it was that torpedo'ed my OP and they'll wish they'd never gone operational," The agent snarled.

Madison flipped through the tabloid and stopped to look at the pictures of the red carpet premiers in Monte Carlo. She chuckled at how Lyssa had been mean to the photographers by tilting her head down or to the side at the last second. Apparently she wanted more focus on the dress than herself, reading a caption underneath one of the photos explained it. The dresses were loaned by the designer, a favor. Favors for favors.

Dannigan peered over her shouder and commented,"Those kind of publications will rot that wonderful brain of yours Madison, next will be soap operas on your DVR and romance novels in the top drawer of the desk here."

For effect dannigan reached and pulled open the top right drawer to reveal two paperback romance novels making Madison blush and Dannigan chuckle,"Oh no....its too late. This warrants serious action Madison."

She facepalmed in mock embarassment let out a muffled,"Am I beyond salvation? is there no amnesty for this?"

"No, I'm sorry there isn't. You've been a real asset and you'll be missed....action pending: Death by BonBon's," Dannigan stifled a laugh as he set a box of Godiva chocolates in front of her along with an envelope,"Happy birthday Madi...you're done for the day, have some fun."

Dannigan went into his office as Madison opened the envelope and saw a certificate for a two day spa retreat. She practically squealed her thanks as she hurried to go enjoy the gifts. Later on at her townhouse the doorbell rang, Madison answered the door and was presented four packages to sign for. She sat in the middle of the floor and opened one from Paris that turned out to be a elegant jewelry set of her birthstone, the next package opened to be a pair of sleek stiletto heels in black patent from the latest designer The next box had her blushing and giggling as it turned out to be a very sexy set of lingerie with sheer stockings and also a peignoir and robe set in the same color. The final package contained a seductive black cocktail dress that would just barely hide the lingerie set. An envelope in the box with the dress was a card from Lyssa herself along with an autographed photo of the latest heartthrob actor just for her and in the card was several hundred dollars with the instruction that it would cover the cost of a bottle of Bollinger champagne, of a recommended year, and dinner for two at a suggested restaurant. Reservations were confirmed. Madison shrieked with delight and called her best friend for the evening's plans.

Lyssa stepped out of the jet and walked to the private terminal of Grand Cayman. The customs agent slipped a stamped slip of paper into her passport without a question as she gave him a dazzling smile then collected her bags and flagged a taxi from line at the main terminal. Within minutes the taxi pulled up in front of a house mostly concealed by landscaping and let her out. Lyssa dropped three of her bags in the bedroom but carried one to the garage. She started a low slung sports car and drove back into town. Lyssa turned down a side street to a corner building with no signs. It took only a moment to park across the street and walk across passing a couple on the walkway as she made her way inside.

"Welcome back Ms. Kordenay, how may we help you today," a man wearing a vested suit minus jacket stepped over and gestured to an office.

"Thank you Dominic," Lyssa smiled then sat as he closed the door.

When he had taken his seat behind the desk Lyssa began," Deposit today Dominic and a few payments," then set the bag on his desk.

Dominic signaled and an assistant stepped in and took the bag he nodded at then came back a few minutes later with a slip of paper and left.

"Four point seven million Euros Ms. Kordenay minus fees of five percent,"Dominic reported," what would you like done?"

"The private terminal fee, housing accounts and mail service paid then even distribution across my numbered accounts and also transfer the contents of this account into mine," she answered and then passed him a small card.

Dominic took the card and began the tasks, taking ten minutes to complete then printed up a statement which he handed to Lyssa. She stood up and thanked him then left.

CHAPTER 2

Dannigan didn't know whether to laugh or swear. Somebody was putting out feelers about Monte Carlo and the answers were to be back-channeled directly to a junior grade agent. The same one that pulled Nemesis operator Billy Chandler out of the cold. The guy had some nerve....all balls and no brains. Dannigan would give him a few more hours then deal with it. Give the jackass a shovel and he'll dig his own grave. He pulled up the list of phone numbers and emails for Lyssa. The Carribean number was active so he sent a text message: stay put for a few days, possible ripple in the pond.

A response was immediate: quit throwing rocks. Dannigan had to laugh then. Nothing changed, unless it was a crisis things could wait until she was done tanning or whatever. He may have to send Lyssa after the agent but he'd rather deal with the problem himself. He thought about of that for a moment then started checking flight plans and found two hops. Norfolk to Key West and Key West to Puerto Rico via Cayman Islands. It took a few minutes to print up the proper documents then grab his bag and lock up the office. He had 20 minutes to catch the hop. No problem.

NSA agent Jeff Tyler stared at the sheaf of papers and grew even more confused. Every agent and military operator of the U.S. and allies in Monaco were accounted for the entire time and none had any connection to Nemesis. In fact nobody there had any professional or social connection to Chandler at all. CIA, DEA and NSA communiques out of Monaco were all routine.

Until the discovery of the five Chinese agents and the DARPA file clerk...all dead from unknown sources. The agents were all shot, but no ballistic data. The clerk from an unknown toxin, after having sex with a Nemesis operator. Chandler would never recover from that but Tyler didn't care, He could still pull a rabbit from the hat. All he needed to do was verify the agent/operative from Monte Carlo. He could then bully or blackmail that agency into bringing him on-board for a nice pay upgrade. Chandler was on his own. Jeff had brought in the Nemesis operator because they were untraceable. Or so he had thought. Didn't matter, Chandler was a soldier. A disposable tool just like everybody else including the agency that blew his OP. His chance to show he could be a top agent had been sunk like the Titanic, but he wasn't done yet. Somebody knew something and he'd find out who and what and use it to launch himself into the high ranks of the spymasters. All he needed was a thread to pull on.

Lyssa relaxed in the lounge chair listening to the soft footfalls approaching across the sand,"Welcome to grand cayman Major."

"very funny Kordenay, How'd you know it was me," Dannigan asked.

"You didn't ring the bell," she replied finally turning to look at him.

"Lyssa this is rather involved...." Dannigan left the sentence hanging.

"Right.....ok," Lyssa stood up.

She wrapped a towel around herself to cover up the fact she had been tanning nude then gestured him to follow inside. Lyssa picked up a robe and slipped it on in place of the towel. She stepped behind the bar to pour a glass of ice water, offering the same to Dannigan who nodded as he opened his case and brought out a file.

That really got her attention, first he had come here unannounced and secondly not an electronic file.

Dannigan passed a photo and began,"Chandler, William. formerly of special forces now a Nemesis operator, currently on hiatus due to being possibly compromised and missing his mark in a big way....he was looking for the DARPA mole as you were but missed out and instead of apprehending or eliminating the target..he slept with her and allowed escape."

"Oh jesus, he's done,"Lyssa commented,"he'll never get out of the dog house over this."

"yeah, if he's lucky he'll get reassigned to iceland or antarctica for ten years or so,"Dannigan agreed then passed another photo.

"Who's weasel," Lyssa asked snarkily.

"He belongs to the NSA. The genius that pulled Chandler in to try for the mole, without any authorization,"Dannigan continued," Tyler...Jeffery C. grew up Richmond Virginia. Semi-old money, went to Harvard. Mediocre grades for an aspiring agent, which means outstanding for a rich kid, but there was something off. Extensive investigation into his academia was suspended by the CIA, the initial recruitment...."

"NSA went further yes," Lyssa asked.

"Yeah,"Dannigan answered," a three month deep look revealed that he was romancing grades out of two professors personally. Bribing two more and blackmailing another."

"Naturally those jackasses were impressed," Lyssa rolled her eyes.

"Everything in his background said the same thing..." He said," network from the ground up. It wasn't that he didn't have the intelligence nor the knowledge to earn the grades. He preferred get those same grades those other means. So yeah; they were impressed and brought him in after graduation."

"Figures," Lyssa passed the photo back,"so what's the story?"

"He's trying to find us, three guesses why," Dannigan answered.

"To use us or neutralize us if not both," Lyssa surmised.

"Pretty much. Even though he's been put on unpaid leave; he thinks he's off the grid enough to search for us. All he did was draw my attention faster but he's gonna have to be dealt with Lyssa," Dannigan finished.

Lyssa looked outside as the sun had begun to set for a few minutes then turned and said," First on the right. Dinner reservation is in an hour and a half. Jacket and tie required. There should have something to fit in there."

She went down the hall and closed the door behind her. That struck Dannigan with curiosity. Lyssa had dinner reservations and bringing him along wasn't a problem. Dannigan wondered what role he may have to play tonight in explanation of his presence.

CHAPTER 3

The President looked at the NSA director in confusion,"What do you mean you've got a loose cannon James?"

"One of our handlers; Tyler handles existing networks temporarily between station chief changes. He has been aspiring to move up and to that end when he heard about the theft of that new helicopter turbine design. He went John Wayne and pulled in a Nemesis operator. Together they both blew it...bigtime." the director explained.

"Nemesis? refresh my memory and then clarify on 'blew it bigtime'," the President said still perplexed.

The director did, gaining an 'Oh my god' and several other expletives of varying profoundness.

Finally with his face in his hands the President asked,"Tell me there is something good to hear today."

"The plans were retrieved, the mole eliminated, buyers identified as north korean and nobody knows who did it....not even me," the Director surmised.

"Our mystery agency again," the president ventured.

The director shrugged,"Probably but that's not the problem. The problem is my eager beaver idiot is trying to find out who they are. Best guess is: he's going to find them and either serve them up to us on a platter. Or Tyler will try to exploit them to make an advancement."

The President dropped his head to the desk. Everyone else cleared the room. once the door closed the president pressed a button that ceased all surveillance.

He asked directly," will a lethal finding need to be issued on your man?"

"Actually Sir I think we shouldn't," the director posed," If that agency is as good as they have been, they know all about what he's doing. They'll take action."

"Ok and this helps things how," the President asked.

"They make a trail for him to follow and he will. Right into the lion's den. They'll take him out and then we'll know who they are by following him," the director explained.

"you know your simple plan can backfire, they've been invisible all this time,"The president reminded.

The director nodded,"that's why I'm going to run the op myself and do things directly. no coordinated tasking."

"Bring me answers James," the President leveled,"or your resignation."

The director nodded then left.

Dannigan sat at the candlelit table with Lyssa very surprised. No date, no meeting, no plan. She had standing table reservation every night with the best view; both aesthetically and tactically. He was impressed with her, a move he would flaunt if he'd pulled it off in Washington. An intimidation tactic out of the cold war MI-6 book that if didn't intimidate; it certainly impressed the receiving party. Dannigan was the receiving party and was certainly impressed and said as much, causing Lyssa to chuckle.

As she finished her dessert of white and milk chocolate covered strawberries injected with champagne she asked Dannigan,"So what do we do about the pain in our ass?"

Dannigan laughed,"well we could ignore it or deal with it. The problem is how do we deal with it with everybody and their brother watching?"

"We make them watch somewhere else that's soooooo very interesting," Lyssa drawled.

"Where's a good place to headquarter a super-secret, mega hush-hush spookville," He snickered.

"Moab Utah,"Lyssa said idly," meanwhile the rat will follow the smell of cheese to Death Valley. However, we gotta worry about something...another NSA yahoo trying to pull out of your book and tasking things directly, his eyes and ears only."

"Oh, I'm actually hoping one does,"Dannigan smiled.

That took Lyssa by surprise. Dannigan signaled for the check to which the waiter came over and whispered that there was no charge. Lyssa chuckled and stood then walked out ahead of Dannigan.

Tyler had been searching for days when he finally found the proverbial bread crumb. A receipt of a microburst transmission. A facility designated Phantom Group 4 was the end point. More pointed digging revealed Phantom Group 4 was tasked with deep cover operators in the European theater; some including former Nemesis Operators. He'd found them! In the Moab desert, but what was this one ticket? The delivery of a flash drive to a grid point deep in Death Valley. The location in Moab had routine patrols by helicopter and fighterjets with no tail numbers. The point in Death Valley was a restricted no-fly. That was it....Death Valley. Make it look like there was nothing there and that's the place to hide. He compiled everything onto a disc and sent it to a holding company then grabbed his laptop and pistol. Now to hop a flight to Bakersfield then borrow a helicopter. These jokers would be his. He'd just make sure they thought he was going to Moab.

The NSA director laughed. Tyler had done all the hard work and now he'd bird dog, and when they took him out, the NSA would have them. Tyler would disappear into the Moab...a desert training exercise. Lost to a flash flood or better yet; a cave in while seeking shelter during the cold night. Yes, that sounded plausible. Took shelter in a cave and the fire for warmth weakened the above stone; causing a cave in. A quick call to Hollaman Air Force base brought a U-2 up for tasking. Then the re-tasking of a KH-12 and KH-14 satellites one with and one without infra-red capability. Finally a Globalhawk. Every square inch of Moab would be covered. He'd almost bit the hook about Death Valley but there were no power transmission lines to that location but the Moab location had lines pass within half a mile. That's where they were.

CHAPTER 4

Lyssa lay totally still inside the small fissure of a butte, watching through a spotter scope facing the canyon wall with a cave opening twenty meters in width and fifteen in height. She'd taken the position thirty-six hours prior and would remain for another fourty-eight. Agent Tyler should be on site within the next three to five hours unless he simply barreled in blindly, which wouldn't surprise her. More what she worried was him trying to be sneaky and find her sniper nest looking for one of his own. This was the delicate time now, she was accustomed to the area and more importantly it accustomed to her. No creatures to bolt away suddenly from her hiding place. The birds avoided the cave now deliberately and no coyote or mountain lion could climb up. Only the spiders and scorpions were a threat to her now. It was a waiting game and she had come prepared.

She had various long range motion sensors, seismic sensors, two remote controlled battery powered lights, a small hand held radar emitter, thermal scopes and the Barrett .416 sniper rifle with armor piercing rounds. Mostly it was her. Her ability to endure the harshness that would or would not mean success. Just as the sun was setting a soft beep interrupted her thoughts. A motion sensor in a cave close by had been tripped. A heat sensor in the same cave went off followed by an ammonia sensor. Tyler had arrived and went exactly where she knew he would. Now he would wait for nightfall to cover the remaining quarter mile to the large cave entrance. Lyssa drank some water then rested her eyes, it was almost time.

Dannigan again launched his decoys: a patrol of three F-15's and two F-model Predator drones along with some local dirt players on their four-wheelers and sand rails they thought they were auditioning for a movie; a sequel to the late 80's action film MegaForce. He had to laugh at that. Already there had been overflights by a U-2 and a couple of satellites had taken up a stable locked orbit. There was going to be Hell when appropriations came around. Tyler should be in the canyon by now. Lyssa would signal within twenty-four hours. Then the real fireworks would fly. Dannigan had covered Tyler's tracks for him, the NSA would think he was delayed in Salt Lake City. A neccessary thing this was...a message to other agencies; clearances were there for a reason.

Tyler smiled as he applied the dark streaks across his face and neck. The sun had long since set but the moon hadn't risen completely yet, affording him considerable darkness to move around in. He'd used a pair of shielded high power binoculars and found the cave. After dark, heat dispersed in erratic but steady patterns from it, typical anti signature countermeasure.

Jeff had found the place and now with his sophisticated kit, he would gain access and steal all the data he could to show them who was the spymaster. Gingerly and carefully he worked his way across the canyon floor, disabling the vibratory sensors just below the surface. He was impressed and stayed low to the ground to remain undetected from the low radar field which would detect anything above two feet. Not a bad set up but it had flaws and he was exploiting them. Two hours later he eased into the cave entrance and peered into the darkness. Slowly he stood up. Suddenly lights flared. High intensity lights directed outward, blinding him.

Tyler screamed obscenities as he staggered then silenced, he'd been set up. They knew he was coming and were prepared. He feel a sharp pressure then pain in his chest. A moment later he heard a rifle shot, then another pressure with pain followed by a rifle shot. His vision cleared and he looked down at his vest, the latest tactical armor. Two holes were precisely within a half inch of each other. Blood slowly dripped from them, he looked up and saw a butte in silhouette then a wink of light halfway up it. A pressure again but it was his face this time and pain was immediate. Excruciating pain as the ground rose up fast but it wasn't the ground coming up, it was him falling down.

Jeff Tyler felt the grit of sand working its way into his face. He wanted to cry out from the pain, but all that came out was a gurgle. He tried to take a breath and felt the blood go into his lungs. He was going to drown in his own blood. A coyote howled in the distance. A disturbing sound then no more sound. He couldn't hear his own heart either, which he had a moment ago. Jeff knew he'd never leave the canyon. Never be found. This was the price of a spy gone rogue.

The Director of the NSA sat in front of the President who held a single sheet of paper in his hand. After reading it silently he extended it to him. The Director read slowly then without a word signed it and handed it back and stood. The President said nothing as he watched the man walk out.

The Chief of Staff asked afterwards,"what now....we need a director of the NSA."

"Yeah," answered the President," Hopefully one that can keep his agency in check and not be stupid to challenge other agencies that are obviously higher on the predatory chain."

"I'll make some inquiries Sir," the Chief of Staff said then walked out quietly.

Lyssa held her position on her toes as she slowly turned in place. It had been two weeks since she left Death Valley. Lowering herself down she stepped forward to pirouette then a graceful curtsy. The clapping behind her didn't even make her jump.

Lyssa looked into the mirror and said without smiling, "I should charge admission, Major."

"I've paid ticket price before, when you danced,"Dannigan spoke from the doorway.

"So what brings the bad humor man to my house again," she asked picking up the towel from the ballet bar.

"Back-channeled message: there will be no more informal inquiries made of certain agencies; end message," he said flatly.

"Good," she replied," now get out of here...I need to work on my tan and have a hair appointment later. Tomorrow I leave for Miami."

"Miami," Dannigan asked.

"A favor," Lyssa replied with a smile.

Dannigan turned and left. Seeing her smile as she said the word favor reminded him of a predatory cat about to pounce on something.