“I joined up just as Desert Shield was starting,” I say. “I missed out on the conflict that made the headlines, but made up for it by fighting in countless wars that no one will ever know about.”
“Ah, yes — you’re referring to the large gap in your career history, I assume? What was it? Black ops? I bet those mission files are interesting to read…”
I laugh. “What files?” I say, with a knowing smile.
I hear Josh chuckle quietly behind me. Webber’s face darkens momentarily, but he glances at Chambers and eventually lightens up a bit.
“Agent Wallis, go and get Agent Green. Agent Chambers, round everybody up outside and de-brief them. If Adrian’s theory about Pellaggio’s target is correct, we need to move quickly.”
They both leave the room, leaving Josh and me alone with Webber.
“You think my theory might be wrong?” I ask.
Webber shrugs. “I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense, I just don’t want to run with something if there’s any doubt about it.”
“That’s fair enough. Mind if I stay in while you speak to Agent Green?”
“Depends on whether or not you’re going to behave yourself…”
“Well, that depends on the extent of his betrayal…”
Webber nods slowly but says nothing. There’s a knock on the door and Wallis enters, followed by Agent Green.
He eyes me wearily as Wallis shuts the door behind them and stands guarding it. I walk past him and stand with Josh at the back of the room, looking on intently.
“Take a seat, Agent Green,” says Webber, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of him.
He sits casually.
If he’s guilty, he’s good at hiding it, I’ll give him that.
“What’s up, sir?” he asks.
“Agent Green, I’m going to be frank. We have evidence that suggests you’ve been leaking critical information about this investigation to Daniel Pellaggio and Jimmy Manhattan. Would you care to comment on this?”
Green shakes his head wildly, looking shocked and appalled by the accusation. “Sir, that’s ridiculous!” he says, momentarily glancing back at me. “Who told you that? Him? Sir, he’s held a grudge against me ever since I arrested him the other day. He assaulted me and I went along with the FBI’s decision to overlook that. But I’m not going to sit here and be accused by this—”
Webber holds his hand up to silence him. “Agent Green, will you calm down. To clarify, are you denying these accusations?”
“Of course I am!”
“What if I was to say to you that it wasn’t Adrian who brought this to our attention?”
Green looks over his shoulder at me again and frowns before turning back to Webber. “So, who was it?” he asks.
Webber glances at me and I shrug and nod. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t normally divulge this kind of information in this kind of situation, but we’re running out of time.
“Jimmy Manhattan,” he replies. “He named you specifically.”
From behind, I watch Green’s body language change. He slumps his shoulders slightly and shifts uncomfortably in his chair. Having just found out the guy topping up his pension fund has sold up the river by, Green’s realizing right now that he’s on his own and likely to both lose his job and face jail time.
If it was me, I know what I’d do…
I take a small step forward, anticipating his next move.
In a flash, Green stands, knocking the chair over as he reaches for his sidearm in a blind panic.
I wouldn’t panic, but that’s pretty much what I’d have done.
Before he can draw his gun, I stride toward him and kick the back of his left knee, making him buckle and lose his balance. He forgets his gun, opting to use his hands to steady himself, but I grab his left wrist in my left hand and push his left shoulder with my right, forcing him to the ground. I hold his arm at an awkward angle, putting pressure on his elbow and ensuring he stays where he is.
“Don’t be silly,” I say to him. I look at Webber. “You need to interrogate him formally — find out if there’s anything else he knows.”
Remaining perfectly calm and seated, Webber nods. “Agreed. Agent Wallis, will you please take Agent Green into custody? Adrian, I believe you’ve got work to do?”
I nod and decide against saying anything else to him. Josh grabs the door and holds it open for Wallis as he escorts Green out of the room. Josh follows them and I walk out last, closing the door behind me.
Outside, Chambers is standing in the middle of a large group of agents, explaining the theory about Pellaggio’s grand finale and organizing our response. The room falls silent, and everyone watches as Wallis leads Green through the crowd and off to an interrogation room. Josh and I hang back, standing near the exit.
“Okay, show’s over folks,” says Chambers. “You all know what we’re up against and you all know what you need to do. Get to it.”
There’s a rush of activity as the group disperses and everyone sets about their new tasks. Chambers walks over to join us, just as Robert Clark appears from behind us.
“Have I missed the excitement?” asks Clark.
“Yeah, sorry Bob,” I say.
Chambers looks at us each in turn, and then addresses our small group.
“Listen up. We need to find out how Pellaggio intends to carry out this attack,” she says. “Realistically, I can’t see the parade being postponed. At best, they’ll increase security, but I fear that won’t be enough.”
“I agree,” I say. “Pellaggio’s going to make a big, loud, bold statement with this attack, because he wants the whole world to sit up and take notice so he can then blame the Russians.”
“Will the world’s governments buy that Russia actually did it, though?” asks Josh. “I mean, just because one guy goes on TV and says he did, it doesn’t mean we’ll all instantly believe him, does it?”
“It’s difficult,” replies Chambers. “Worst case scenario and we lose Secretary Schultz tonight — the people are going to want someone to blame. They won’t care what makes sense and what doesn’t. They’ll see someone own up and they’ll cry for blood.”
“The White House will have to respond quickly with a big, decisive move,” adds Clark. “I know how these things work. They’ll need to make sure they look strong, so they’ll lash out at the person the public is begging them to blame.”
“I won’t let that happen,” I say, clenching my jaw muscles in an effort to restrain my anger.
Too many times in the past week, someone or something has come a-knockin’ on my door, asking my Inner Satan to come out and play. And too many times, he was held back or distracted. But as things stand, the path to my door is finally clear. No more games, no more secrets. Directly in front of me is the finish line. The only thing stopping me reaching it is Pellaggio. He has blood on his hands and he’s begging me to come after him.
And I’m going to give him exactly what he wants.
“You’ve got access to satellite imaging here,” I say, more a statement than a question.
“Yeah,” replies Wallis. “Only what we used to look at Pellaggio’s warehouse the other day though — it’s pretty basic.”
“Maybe I can help?” says Clark. “Wallis, if I can get access to your servers, I can get some of my guys to link up and give you access to our satellite network. Josh, I believe you’re familiar with the interface?”
Josh smiles. “I’ve used it before, yeah,” he says, looking at me with a mischievous glint in his eye.
“Good,” I say. “I want to see exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“I’ll leave you boys to your toys,” says Chambers. “I’ll follow up on Gregovski and see what I can find. We’ll meet up in an hour in the conference room down the hall, agreed?”