[ WP ] Something big is happening . It 's time to call in those favors .

He lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. A folder lay gutted on his desk: pages of paper marred with the black marker of redaction; photos of people, buildings, and blue prints - many blurred, some incomplete. 
 
 The thin stick of tobacco burned quicker as he pulled a hungry breath through it. He told himself that the hand that held the cigarette was n't shaking. He was still. It was the world that shook. Yeah. Not him. Never him. 
 
 He was too well trained for fear. 
 
 He crushed the half burned cigarette on a free spot on his desk, he had thrown his ash tray out with his cigarettes thirty years before. He then picked up the phone and cursed the world for how it shook the numbers and made them hard to press. Definitely was n't his hand. No sir. 
 
 He dialed a number - the first of many that he would dial that night. 
 
 * * * 
 
 A lifetime as a covert operative for the government had been good to him. He liked his work, profited well from it, and had even managed to have a family. He was one of the few in his line of work that managed to stay alive long enough to be put behind a desk and allowed to grow old. 
 
 Old and tired. 
 
 His adult life had been spent in the shadows - shadows from which he would protect his country. He had met others in that darkness. Others like him. There were debts owed. Chips to cash in. 
 
 And he had called them. All of them. 
 
 He tore the tops off of two paper sachets at the same time and poured the sugar into his coffee. He did n't like sugar in his coffee. Hated it. But the contacts that were going to meet him, were going to sit at a table in a coffee shop and listen to him beg, knew him as the sweet toothed Harry James. He was too old for this. Too damn old. His eyes scanned the coffee shop again. Old habits die hard. 
 
 A man who had stood by the collection counter, eyes locked on a folded up newspaper, collected his coffee and sat down at the table across from the man known to a select few as Harry. They stared into each others eyes for a moment. Then smiled. 
 
 `` How are you, Harry?'' 
 
 `` Well I called you, Frank.'' Harry said `` And as much as I'd love to reminisce about old times... well, you get the idea.'' 
 
 Frank chuckled. `` Yeah, I get it.'' 
 
 Their eyes met again, but not for long. Both men knew that the names they used were n't real and that the person they knew, had known for thirty years, was just the disguise of some other person. 
 
 They sipped their coffees and sat in silence. There was nothing to say until the others arrived. 
 
 She arrived next. She too had many names and to the pair already at the table she had gone by several. Long ago, Harry had called her lover. 
 
 Thirty years, or maybe a talented plastic surgeon, had been kind to her. A stylish and well fitted Chanel skirt and jacket hinted at a well maintained body, her face was soft and defied her age. Her eyes had only lost a little of their blue intensity. 
 
 `` Hello, boys.'' She said, a hand on Frank's shoulder, whilst her eyes pierced into Harry's. 
 
 ``'Chel!'' Frank said without getting up, he patted the hand she had on his shoulder and smiled up at her `` How's life?'' 
 
 `` Good, Frank. Good.'' She walked around to Harry, he stood and they embraced each other as old friends. When they released one another she kept her hands on his shoulders as she stared into his eyes. `` How have you been, Harry?'' 
 
 `` Not bad, Michelle.'' He said `` I'd be happier if I had n't needed to call you.'' 
 
 She gasped, a hand clasped to her chest, and turned to the still seated Frank `` You mean, you did n't want to catch up? Harry! My feelings.'' 
 
 Frank and Michelle chuckled and Harry shook his head. 
 
 `` Grab yourself a coffee, Michelle, we're waiting on a few more.'' 
 
 A few minutes and several coffees passed. Frank read his paper, Michelle tapped away at a tablet computer, and Harry scribbled in his book of crossword puzzles. They each did these things and did n't do them. Their eyes would check and re-check the entry points and the faces of the other patrons. 
 
 Sun and Patty arrived together. Sun shook everyone's hand and commented on how well they all looked. Patty waved once and did n't make eye contact with Michelle. Thirty years does not clear bad blood. 
 
 `` So, Harry - you've gotten fat, by the way - what's up?'' Patty said once she had a coffee in her hand and a seat beneath her. She had always been blunt, it was her sense of humor. 
 
 `` Something big is happening. I was reviewing some cases and I found some misplaced documents. They led me to-'' 
 
 `` Hold up a sec.'' Sun raised a hand `` They've got *you* doing document work?'' 
 
 The group chuckled. The man they knew as Harry James was not a pencil pusher. He was a field operative, one of the best. Possibly even *the* best at some time in his career. 
 
 `` Of course he's behind a desk.'' Said Patty `` Like I said, he's gotten fat!'' 
 
 They all laughed, even Michelle. A family reunited. 
 
 Harry waited for the laughter to die down. What he wanted to tell them was serious. What he was about to ask of them was insane. Deadly. He was about to ask a group of retired covert operatives from an array of different countries to come out of retirement and to work together. 
 
 To risk their lives. 
 
 All because of a single dossier and a hunch. 
 
 `` Look, guys, I need you to listen.'' 
 
 *** 
 *Edit: Typo*
