Chapter One

            The sun dropped lower, blending more into the horizon, creating a kaleidoscope of colors both more brilliant and subdued, making the whole sky look more beautiful than anything seen before. The reds and oranges danced as the blues and purples tried to lull them to sleep, both of them dancing a dance that had occurred every night since time began. But tonight, it seemed different. It seemed that all the colors in the sky were darkening not just to signify the end of another day, but to celebrate all of the love and togetherness that had ever been and that ever would be.

            And as he watched the most beautiful sunset he had seen in his life, Harry Mitchell regarded the sleeping woman in his arms with admiration. Watching the light of the sunset dance on the features of her face, he couldn't help wondering how this woman had utterly and totally stolen his heart. In all his years, he had never encountered someone who could make him feel so vulnerable. But as she lay curled up on his swinging bench outside his house, with her head on his chest, he knew he was loved.

            In the short time he had been in the city of Nass, Ireland, he had not expected to get close to anyone, let alone women. He was a trained black-ops operative working under deep cover for the NSA for the last four years. Since he graduated from the marine academy and gone into Special Forces, he had known nothing else but subterfuge. Here, he was to monitor certain electronic and phone communications coming to and from any Ireland government installations. And the relative quiet of Naas gave him an opportunity for privacy in what he did.

            Secretly monitoring all the communications of certain Dublin institutions was proving to be quite an interesting task, as Harry had to travel the 33 kilometers to Dublin quite often to see how things were going with the government. But doing so always held some risk. If he was found out by anyone, he could be put in jail for a very long time. Or, and this was far more likely, he could be killed for his actions against this country's government. And if the Irish government eventually found out who he really was and whom he was actually working for, they would not be too happy to find that one of their allies had been spying on them.

            Tomorrow was another day, and he had to take another one of his trips to Dublin again. Every trip was getting harder, as the government lackeys were getting smarter. There had been a few close calls last time, and he had to forestall his next trip for a month. Tomorrow was the day he would be going back to check on everything, and also make sure his taps were still in place and computer codes were still up-to-date. Every year he would check everything, a tradition formed out of his academy days, where he used his skills to tap nearly every phone in his complex for his entire tenure. Back at the academy, nobody knew about his subterfuge until he told his professors when he graduated.

            He always worried when this time of year came around. Every year, his stealth skills were put to the test, and although he had never failed, it seemed to get harder each year. He shuddered to think of what would happen to him if he did fail.

            As his thoughts took him to the dark recesses of his mind, he mentally shook his head. He would not think about that tonight. He once again looked down at the woman sleeping peacefully on his bench. One hand coiled around her waist and the other stroking her scarlet hair, he could not help but think of what a beauty she was. How her chest rose and fell with her breathing, how her face looked with the light of the sunset reflected off it, and how warm she was. He thought of the many times he made her smile, and how her face positively glowed with brilliance unmatched by any sunset.

            As he started to drift off to sleep, he had another thought. The most beautiful thing in the world was not the sky tonight. The most beautiful thing in the world was lying in his arms.

Chapter Two

  That night had been wonderful. More than wonderful, even. Perfect.  His night with Kate Avery had started with a nice, quiet dinner at Manor Inn. After sharing a delectable meal, they had decided to head out to the coast to go wading in the water. They ran out into the water and ended up getting totally soaked. So they both decided to go to Harry's house to dry off.

            It was summer, and it was getting darker much later. By the time they'd gotten to his house, the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon. After he changed into some dryer clothes, and she changed into an old pair of sweatpants and big sweatshirt of his, they both sat on the swinging bench on his porch. They were both the cuddling type, and were content to just sit there and snuggle. Kate was really tired, though, and fell asleep within minutes. Harry had let her sleep.

  After the sun had totally set, and the sky was dark, he woke her up and drove her home. He woke up the next day with a spring in his step and a smile on his face.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  The morning was turning out to be quite an uneventful one. After Harry travelled to Dublin, he had decided to stop by a local coffee shop and check his email. Not a very abnormal thing to do. That is, unless your "email" was actually the government's electronic communiques and contained quadruple-encrypted data coming from a remote server within the Irish government's most secured intranet networks. 

  He worked with an experienced ease as he ran through the different steps of the process. He would split the data into many parts of varying size, then send each piece to his secure computer back at home, each piece being bounced off of three separate satellites. Then his computer would take each piece of the data puzzle and automatically send them through two different cell data networks, where they would be downloaded and saved to the memory card in his cell phone. Each piece would then be transmitted by his cell phone to a different operative around the globe. Then those operatives would then retransmit their pieces from either their cell phones or computers to NSA headquarters in Washington, DC. It was a process that was long, but effective in concealing the data stream, its contents, and where it was being sent. 

  When they arrived in DC, every piece of the puzzle would be put back together again and be decrypted and read by whomever read the stuff. It usually took about a day or so for just one "email" to be sent to DC. But when those messages contained invaluable information like troop movements, patrol routes, and other things of a strategic nature, it was worth every second.

  He closed the email program on the cafe computer and quickly erased all evidence that he had ever used it, and picked up his coffee and walked off to the Capitol. 

  Since a big part of his training was getting an education on computers that was on par with MIT, his cover as a network administrator and computer technician was not hard to portray. That's basically what he was, only in a different capacity than people knew.

  Having started his infiltration by advertising himself as one of the most knowledgeable technicians and engineers in Ireland, he was often called to the Capitol to help with maintenance of the enormous servers that were housed ten stories below it. They had called him a week ago, making such an appointment for today. Normally, when he was called there, he would just do his job and not pay attention to the software and hardware modifications he had made to the equipment. But every once in awhile, he would have to check the bugs, the hacks, the hidden applications, and other things he put in place. And since he hadn't done it in a while, it was time to check them again.

  As he thought of his game plan in his head, he noticed that he was at his destination. He got out his ID and showed it to the guard in front of the elevator. After confirming his security clearance, the guard stepped aside and pushed the down button on the elevator, swiped his card in the slot next to it, and punched in his code. The doors to the elevator opened and the guard waved Harry in. He stepped in and the elevator roared to life. It didn't take long to get to his floor, and before he knew it, the familiar "ding" indicated that they had reached their destination. He took a deep breath.

  The doors opened.

Chapter Three

Harry was immediately greeted by Brian Calhoun, the technician in charge of general upkeep on the Capitol's servers. "Harry, my boy! How goes it these days?" Brian was a large burly man in his mid-fifties with arms of steel, and as he put his arms around Harry in a big bear hug, Harry could barely breathe. "So," he continued, "how's my favorite tech wizard? Life treating you fine?"

            "Well, I've still got my head, still breathing, still with the most amazing woman in the world. I'd say I'm doing great!" Harry had a smile on his face as he talked with Brian about Kate and his night. They talked about how both their families were doing, both Harry's fictional one and Brian's real one.

            They always talked when Harry came in to help out, and from their many conversations, they had become close friends. Last year, Harry took Kate to a barbecue that Brian threw every year for the capitol workers and other government workers. After seeing how happy he was with Kate, Brian always liked to know if they were still together, and how things were going between them. He was always doing that, asking how things were going. But he was one of those rare people that actually wanted to hear truthfully how things were going, and would listen for hours if things weren't going well. He would know if someone wasn't telling him the truth, and would ask what was really going on. He was one of those people that really cared, and that made him and Harry really close, because they shared everything. Well, everything that Harry was allowed to share.

            "So when are you kids gonna' get married already?" Brian blurted out.

            "Well..." his voice trailed off.

            "Well, what?"

            "Well, don't tell her, but I'm thinking of asking her this Christmas Eve." Brian's eyebrows went up and he had a goofy grin on his face. "And don't you dare tell any of her friends either. They can be blabbermouths sometimes."

            He rolled his eyes at that. "Don't I know it!"

            They talked some small talk for a while, and then they started their work. Brian described the problems his personnel were having with a string of viruses that were going around. As they walked around the facility, Harry took note of everything -- the position of the workstation, the color of the keyboard and if it was a new one, the position of the servers and cables, the line of sight of the security cameras. He needed every little bit of info to do his real job of planting his devices and installing software later tonight.

            For the remainder of the day he worked on the workstation, clearing out the more obvious viruses from it. But a couple of viruses were being annoying, as they needed to be deleted from every server machine individually. This was going to be a long night. So he settled in to his routine, remotely deleting files from all of the servers from his seat at the workstation.

            "How ya doing?" He turned around his chair and there was Brian, holding out a cup of coffee for him. He gratefully took the proffered cup and took a sip.

            "Oh, boy," he started. "Sometimes I think the world would be a better place if we stuck to rocks and chisels."

            "That bad, huh?"

            "Ugh. There're these two strains that are just nasty. They're on everything. You'd think that because we're on a closed system, that we wouldn't get any of these." He ran his hands through his hair, fatigued from battling electronic monsters all day. "I gotta tell you, Brian - this might take awhile. You could head on home to Sally and I could finish up here, if you'd like."

            He hesitated. "Well, I guess that would be okay, but when you get done, come on to my house and sleep in the guest bedroom. I don't want you driving all the way back to Naas when you're tired. Okay?"

            He nodded. "Okay."

---

            After Brian left for home, Harry continued to work for the next hour and a half on expelling the two viruses from all the servers. After he finished, he interfaced with his listening devices placed in different parts of the capitol, testing them for audio quality and signal strength. They were all good, so for the next hour, he worked on installing various keystroke recorders, screen capture tools, and other electronic information gathering tools. After updating all the virus software and installing more sophisticated detection algorithms, he secured the workstation and headed out of the capitol to his friend's house.

            He used his key that Brian had given him before, and called Kate. She didn't answer, so he left her a message that he wouldn't be coming over in the morning to cook her breakfast like he usually did, but that he would be by later to see her.

            As he walked into the house and headed for the guest bedroom, he reflected on how easy his task was tonight. He did not even need his gear for breaking in to the facility, as he was already there and by himself. No avoiding security cameras, dodging infrared detectors, or looking out for overzealous security. Maybe his life was beginning to improve. Maybe this was where he really belonged. Maybe, just maybe...

Chapter Four

  Harry woke to a knock at the door. He bolted up to a sitting position, his training served him well as he listened for any sign of danger. Not sensing any, but being wary anyway, he slowly got out of bed and got his beretta out from his coat on the other side of the room and sneaked into the guest room's bathroom and listened. Another knock came a few seconds later and the boisterous voice of Brian Calhoun broke the silence.

  "Harry, ya gotta wake up sometime. Sally's making breakfast for ya!" Harry kept his silence and kept his gun close to him, just in case. A necessity that, unfortunately, came with the territory. But after a few seconds Brian just called back, "Alright, I'll just give your sausage to Emily! Or I might just eat the blasted stuff myself."

  Harry recognized the humor in his voice and smiled. He lowered his gun and hollered back, "You woudn't!" 

  Brian laughed at that, a laugh that was as loud and big as he was. "Wouldn't I? Just get out of bed, ya bum!"

  He smiled again. His friend was so predictable. Comforting, in a way. He always knew how to make him feel comfortable, make him feel at home. He regularly opened his house for him, and brought him along for some family outings. Since most of his real family was either dead or had no knowledge of his whereabouts, he enjoyed the family that he was invited to be a part of. His children were some of the greatest kids a parent could have, and often he wondered how a man like him had gotten so lucky.

  Before Brian had graduated high school, he was a major trouble-maker. He would always be the one getting into fights at school, and his father was not much better. Brian always told him that it was his mother that got them all through it and kept the family together. After graduating high school, he went on to a small technical college in Dublin, and his grades there had skyrocketed. He had found his niche. After getting an engineering degree, he went on to a four-year college on a full ride scholarship and got top honors when he graduated. He met his wife while on a consulting job after college, and courted her for two years before marrying her. It was quite a while before they had two children, Seth and Emily, born a year-and-a-half apart. Now, they were living comfortably in the suburbs of Dublin, him working on one of the best paying jobs in the business.

  Harry put his gun back in his coat and got dressed, then headed downstairs for breakfast. He could already smell breakfast cooking by the time his eyes spied what his nose was looking for- sausage. One of his favourite foods in the world, and Brian knew it. He always seemed to have some in stock when Harry stayed the night. 

  Seth spotted him first as he wandered into the kitchen. "Mr. Mitchell!" He ran over and they gave each other their secret handshake and then Harry wrapped him up in a big bear hug.

  "Seth, how's it goin' my man?"

  "Awesome! Dad showed me how to redirect web sites!" he said with an impish smile.

  Harry leaned in closer. "I bet your mum didn't like that very much." Seth nodded, quite enthusiastically, in the affirmative. "So, which sites did you do it to?"

  Sally, Brian's wife, chose that moment to interrupt. "Harry, don't encourage him. He's going to become a little juvenile delinquent one day," she said with a mock frown.

  He went over and gave her a hug. "Sally, how are things going? I haven't heard from you guys in a while."

  "Oh, we're doing fine. There's really not much to report." Then she gave her son a proud smile. "Only that Seth got an "A" on his last report card!"

  "What?" he turned to Seth. He nodded with a slightly embarrassed look on his face from the praise. Secret handshake time!

  After a few minutes of helping with the preparation of breakfast, Brian came into the room. "Well, sleepyhead! Finally decided to wake up, huh?"

  "Yeah, I thought the prospect of you downing my sausage would be a pretty messy affair, so I thought I'd save you the mess and eat it myself."

  Brian made a face. "I still don't see how you could like the stuff. Just seems, well, disgusting to me."

  "Ah, but at least when I eat it, it stays where it belongs," and patted his stomach. Ever since he was a kid, Brian hated the taste of sausages, they almost always made him throw up. But that still didn't stop him from threatening to eat it whenever Harry was around.

  They talked for a while about how things were going for each other, and all the small talk that they didn't have time for at the Capitol. In a companionable silence they heard little feet coming down the stairs. No one could mistake the little squeal of "SAUSAGE" on the way down.

  Little Emily, an adorable five-year-old girl, came bounding at full speed into the kitchen, totally missing Harry hiding behind the door. "Sausage?" came another inquiry of delight and they all looked at Harry, giving away his position. She turned around slowly and as she saw Harry, her eyes lit up. "Uncle Harry!"

  She ran over to him and nearly knocked him down with the force of her hug. "Whoa, Emily!" he said, making slight gagging sounds, "I have to breathe, honey." 

  She let go of him and preceded to pelt him with questions. "Uncle Harry, where were you? Have you seen my new doll? I got it last Tuesday! Do you want to play the piano for me? Ooo! Can you take me to the mall today?"

  "Slow down, munchkin!" he said in between laughing. "One thing at a time."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

  Breakfast was a joyous occasion, as it always was when he visited. Only Emily and Harry really liked sausage, so they got the most of it while everyone else had some bacon and more pancakes. Before long, breakfast was over and they were continuing their conversation in the living room. Emily was sitting on Harry's lap as they talked. Seth played the piano for all of them and Harry was really impressed with how good he was getting. Harry had given him lessons early on, as Seth had insisted. Now he was studying music at the local conservatory after school.

  Over the years, Harry had been accepted into the home of these people, and was treated like Brian's own brother. They went on some vacations together, and on some family outings they invited him along. The kids loved him, and the parents had grown to love him like a real relative.

  Harry was there for Emily's first birthday, and she had taken a shine to him even then. She had crawled over to him and tried to climb him like a mountain. When he picked her up and started bouncing her on his lap, she had squealed with joy. He had grown to adore the little girl, and had visited whenever he could. Seth, even though he was only a year and a half older, took a little more convincing. But one day Harry had played a song on the family's old dilapidated piano and Seth was mesmerized. Harry showed him the basics, and he just ate it up. So they became buddies. Harry was even invited to a couple of his "secret club" meetings and was taught the secret handshake.

  The years had been good to Harry, and the family had accepted him.

  Seth finished playing his song, and they all applauded him. Like the total ham he was, he made a show of bowing regally. They all laughed, including him.

  After a while, Harry looked at his watch. 12:47! He was going to be late for lunch! After announcing that he had to go, he went up to his room and got his belongings. He felt the bulge that was his gun in his coat and prayed to God that he wouldn't have to use it while he was still in Ireland. Heading downstairs, he saw two very glum faces staring up at him. Sighing, he said, "Kids, I have to go to lunch with a very important person today." At their looks of confusion as to who could be so important that he would have to leave them, he said quietly, "It's Kate." They smiled at him knowingly and gave him their assent. He hugged them both tightly. "I'll drop by soon."

  After saying his farewells to everyone, he was out the door and in his car. Driving away, he thought of what it would be like to have children of his own.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

  Opening the door to Kate's house using the spare key, he called for her. Not hearing anything after his second hail, he began to get worried. But his worry evaporated when he closed the door to find her standing behind it. Giving her one of his mock suspicious looks, he asked, "Now what were you planning on doing back there, hmm? Attack me?" He was trying to look serious, but he was failing miserably.

  She finally just jumped into his arms and surrounded him with a great big hug. "I missed you this morning."

  "I know. I had to work late at the Capitol last night, and Brian insisted that I sleep at his place." He kissed her lightly. "I'm sorry i wasn't here to make you breakfast."

  "I forgive you. Thanks for calling." She gave him a deep kiss that he gladly returned.

  "No problem," he whispered in her ear.

  He pulled her to the island in the kitchen as he filled her in on how everyone was doing. "I miss little Emily and Seth," she said after he was done talking.

  "I know. They're sweet kids, huh?"

  Kate grinned. "Yeah."

  Harry decided that this might be a good time to bring up what he had been thinking on the way to her house. "Kate, have you ever thought about having kids? Raise a family?"

  Her face lit up. "Yeah. Quite a lot actually." But then she got more serious. "But remember what we both promised." She held up the ring she kept on her left ring finger. "No sex before marriage." Then she grabbed his left hand and held it up as well. His real father's ring shone brightly in the incandescent light. It was also on his ring finger. "None for you either."

----------

  He remembered the day his father had given him that ring and told him, "This ring serves one purpose. By taking it and using it as your purity ring, it is to serve as a reminder that you won't 'do it' until you're married." He had looked him straight in the eye and said, "Do you understand?"

  "Yes, i understand. And I promise to never have sex before marriage. That promise is made to both you and God."

  He was a teenager at the time, and felt strongly that he could keep that promise. Over the years, temptations had come up, but every time he saw the ring on his finger, he remembered and overcame the temptation before it was too late.

----------

  Harry was brought back by the question, "Okay?"

  He smiled and said, "I know, and I wasn't thinking of that."

  She held onto his hand and asked what he meant. He was debating whether to ask her right now or ask her later. He decided that there could be no better time than right now, and so he pressed on.

  "I've been thinking a lot lately on how my life is going, and where I might be in five or ten years. And the only place I would want to be in five or ten years is with you." He knew his next words might well get him in a whole lot of trouble with the United States government and the NSA, but he didn't care. He went down on his knees, her hand still in his, and asked the biggest question in the world.

  "Katherine Avery, will you marry me?" But now came the hard part. "And before you say anything, know that if you say yes, you may be in for a hard time." Now he knew that what he was saying would get him in a lot of trouble. He was going all out. If he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman, he would have to be totally honest about everything. So he gave it all. "There are some things about me that no one knows about, and those things could get us hurt someday."

  But Kate just sat there, on the kitchen stool, crying and smiling. She whispered something that he couldn't quite hear.

  "What?"

  She was crying her eyes out with utter joy. "I said yes. Yes I will marry you, Harry Mitchell!"

  He jumped up and gave her a passionate kiss. When they came apart, he said, "I love you, Kate."

  With tears still in her eyes, she smiled her most radiant smile that was only reserved for him and said, "I love you too, and I want to have kids and raise a family and grow really, really old with you."

  He knew he had a really goofy smile on his face, but he didn't care. He just held her close. He was starting a new life. A new life he would have to fight for. And that fighting would soon come...