Büyü - Part I

“Agent Tan? Please, get in.”

A black sedan pulled over in the busy street and a woman he hadn’t seen before rolled the tinted window down. She wore a solemn expression on her face and was in her late fifties.

It was twelve o’clock in the witching hour and it was raining cats and dogs. The downpour reflected off the bright LED displays on the towering skyscrapers and tinted the entire capital in vibrant colours.

When a call came through two hours earlier from the headquarters, getting drenched in the frigid weather wasn’t what he had on his mind on a Sunday night. He was on leave and didn’t expect to be called in just three weeks later.

“What’s this about?”

The woman, “Please get in. I’ll tell you everything.”

Kerem looked away briefly. He was trained to follow instructions without questions. But the nature of this whole thing bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Something was off. He didn’t know this woman. Why had the headquarters sent someone he was unfamiliar with?

“Where’s Mia? Does she know—”

“She’s missing. Please, don’t ask any questions and just get in the car. We don’t have much time left.”

Mia Aberman wasn’t the type of person who just went up in smoke and disappeared from the face of the earth.

He worked alongside her for many years and knew that she was one of the most capable agents the Secret Service ever raised. Just what was going on?

The one-hour drive through the country came to an end in front of a barred roadway in the middle of nowhere with a sign that read ‘WARNING. MILITARY INSTALLATION. OFF LIMITS TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL’.

Two guards escorted them inside the facility after scanning the woman’s hand. Only when they were behind four walls did the woman explain why he was brought here on his break.

There were two other people in the room with them. One of them wore a military uniform while the other looked like another agent.

Kerem took a seat at the table in the centre of the room, while the woman carried on to the back where a screen popped up.

“Two of our agents have gone missing since the beginning of code 202. Mia Aberman, a first-rank agent from the Department of Defence, and Faruk Demirtaş, a floater placed in Turkey. Agent Aberman has been in contact with Demirtaş until the 21st of August. They went off the radar the same day.”

“Who’s Faruk Demirtaş? Why was Mia in contact with him?” Kerem asked.

“We received a cryptic message two weeks ago from Anatolia, Turkey. The sender, which we believe to be Demirtaş, notified our spies deployed to Ankara that an undisclosed entity had been found in the Karapınar district.”

“An undisclosed entity?”

The military officer, “We lost contact with Demirtaş before he could give any details. But from our previous conversations with Agent Aberman, we believe this to be an extraterrestrial life form.”

Kerem averted his gaze, trying to process what he was hearing.

He was familiar with the Karapınar district. His parents immigrated from Konya when he was three years old.

While his knowledge of the country itself was limited to what his parents told him growing up, he knew that Karapınar Çölü was the only dessert in present-day Turkey. Not a lot of people knew that, though – not even the locals.

“Do we know what happened to them?” he said.

The other agent, “We thought you’d help us find out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re the only agent with a double nationality. The Turkish don’t have you on their radar, neither do our spies in Ankara and Istanbul.”

“You want me to be a cut-out?”

The woman, “More like a double agent.”

Kerem smirked. “Is that supposed to be a pun? Double nationality, double agent?” The smile on his face faded. “In any case, forget it. I’m not getting involved.”

The military officer, “This is not a request, Agent Tan.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“We’re only asking for your cooperation,” the agent said. “We don’t want to use force…”

“But you will if I don’t do as you say? Is that it?”

The woman, “Agent Tan, please sit down and let’s talk this over. Thank you.” She took a pause. “If we had other alternatives, we’d gladly leave you alone. But something about this whole thing is not sitting well with us. As you are aware, Agent Aberman is one of our most high-ranking agents. It is in our interest to locate her and bring her back to her family.”

“You didn’t tell Mark yet?”

“He believes her to be in Afghanistan right now… Please. If not for our sake, then for those two kids’ sake. Help us bring her back home.”

“What… what exactly do you want me to do?”

“Your flight is scheduled to depart at three am. One of our floaters will help you into your temporary lodge. Do not bring your smartphone or any other electronic devices. We’ll provide you with an analogue phone and a fake ID. Memories your name, occupation, and reason for stay as soon as possible.”

“Three am? That’s—”

“You have exactly one and a half hours on you,” she interrupted. “What do you say? You gotta give me a reply, Agent Tan. We don’t have much time left. Please.”

“All right. I’ll…” He knew he would regret this later on. “I’ll do it.”