The Adults in the Room

by Jeffrey Mechling

  But something in Tim’s gut told him that the young woman was still on her way to Langley. Hell, she was probably almost there by now, and the cops would be coming. Tim grabbed Pam’s bag and headed out the door. He decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

  He made it to the lobby in less than a minute, then slowly opened the door and looked both ways. It was all clear, so he walked to the front door and looked out at the parking lot. Nothing there either.

  When he walked around the building looking for Pam’s car, though, he noticed a loading dock where a van was parked. “Joe Smith’s Plumbing and Heating” was written on the side. Kind of an odd name, Tim thought as he placed his hand on his Glock.

  Tim never heard or saw Toby. He just seemed to come out of nowhere, but he had Tim on the ground before he knew what was happening.

  “Hey, pal. I thought you were around here somewhere,” Toby said as he grabbed one of Tim’s arms, then the other. Tim felt the handcuffs closing on his wrists, and Toby made sure they were tight.

  He picked Tim up by the handcuff chain and turned him around so that Tim was facing him, then reached into Tim’s jacket. “What do we have here?” he asked as he pulled out Tim’s Glock 19 9mm. “This is the second one of these I’ve found this afternoon.”

  Taking Tim by the collar in one hand, Toby began to push him toward the plumbing van. He opened the side door and threw Tim in—or, at least, it felt like being thrown. Tim landed on his knees and then his chest. He rolled to his side and could see a body lying beside him. It was Pam, but she appeared to be unconscious.

  “What did you do to my wife, you asshole?” Tim said, but the wind was knocked out of him and he had a hard time getting the words out.

  “I fucking hit her, Timmy, right below her nose, which is something I have wanted to do since I met her. You should thank me. I can tell you’re the type of guy that lets women push you around.” Toby slammed the side door, walked around the van, and got into the driver’s seat.

  There was a thick cage separating Tim and Pam from the driver of the van. “I also gave her a hypo of some drug Sebastian gave to me for you,” Toby added with a grin, “but your old lady was making a lot of noise, so I decided to use it on her instead. It put her right to sleep.”

  Tim was able to roll a little closer to Pam so he could examine her. Her upper lip was swollen, and there appeared to be bruising forming on each side of her nose. There was also a trickle of blood coming from one of Pam’s nostrils, but nothing too serious—at least, Tim didn’t think so.

  “Where’s the injection site?” Tim asked.

  Toby was staring at the door next to the loading dock like he was expecting something to happen and was not paying attention to Tim. “Huh?” Toby asked.

  “Where did you stick the hypo, Toby?”

  “Oh, that.” Toby was still not paying Tim or Pam any attention. “I stuck it in her ass. She was very surprised.”

  Tim could only imagine how surprised Pam had been.

  Tim heard the passenger side door open. Mary Ann Layback got in. “All done,” she said to Toby cheerfully.

  Toby started the van and began to drive. “Let’s see the gun, Mary Ann,” he demanded.

  “Oh, don’t I get to keep it?” Mary Ann replied in her little girl voice.

  “No, Sebastian is still not 100% sure about you, and besides, this is the gun we want the cops to find.”

  Mary Ann handed over the pistol to him.

  Toby drove the van to the edge of the parking lot, where there was a line of trees and a drainage ditch. Tim could not tell exactly what kind of pistol Mary Ann handed over to Toby, but he could see that there was a silencer screwed to the end of the barrel. Toby placed the barrel of the weapon to his nose to confirm that it had been recently fired.

  “How many bullets did you use?” he asked.

  “Just two, like you told me to,” Mary Ann replied.

  Toby appeared to want more details. “And where did you put the bullets?”

  “I shot the woman in the back of the head and the fat man in the temple.” Mary Ann placed her fingers on her head to show Toby exactly where she’d shot the victims.

  Toby stopped the van, opened the door, and tossed the pistol into the wooded area. “The cops should be able to find that easy enough,” he said as he drove on.

  Pam made a slight groan like she might be waking up, which resulted in Mary Ann turning around and seeing Pam and Tim for the first time. “Oh hey, Tim,” she said. “Is that your wife? Is she asleep or something?”

  “I think you need to ask Toby about that, Mary Ann,” Tim replied. The fact that both Tim and Pam were handcuffed hand and foot in the back of the van seemed to go right over Mary Ann’s head.

  “Toby, what did you fucking do?” Mary Ann asked in the tone of a mother scolding a child.

  “She wouldn’t shut the fuck up, and I couldn’t find anything to stick in her fucking mouth, so I used the hypo,” Toby tried to explain.

  Mary Ann rolled her eyes. “Sebastian wanted that for Tim later on, numb nuts. By the way, what’s in the bag?”

  Toby had apparently grabbed Pam’s bag with all of the tape, rope, and handcuffs, and Mary Ann was now rooting through it. “Jesus, Tim,” she said with a laugh. “What kind of party were you two having with those doctors?”

  “I’ll tell you one thing, though,” Mary Ann continued with a smile. “You two didn’t do a real good job tying those two doctors up. They were both about loose when I came in the room. Maybe I can show you how it should be done when we get back to your house.”

  Tim knew that there was no way the two doctors could have been close to escaping their bonds. Pam did too good of a job. It occurred to Tim that perhaps Mary Ann did not really murder the doctors, and this was all an act. He certainly hoped so.

  “So, where did you find Mr. and Mrs. Hall, Toby?” Mary Ann asked.

  “Well, she was on the other side of the building speaking with some girl,” Toby said. “But she got in a car and drove away.”

  “And who was this girl?” Mary Ann now asked Tim.

  “Someone who came pounding on the door looking for Dr. Lockwood. Pam answered the door while I was holding a gun on the doctors. Pam must have taken her downstairs to get rid of her,” Tim explained.

  “What do you think, Toby?” Mary Ann asked.

  “Who knows,” Toby grunted. “She’s gone, and there’s nothing we can do about it now. But I wouldn’t mention it to Sebastian,” Toby told her.

  “Sebastian is going to be mad enough when he finds out you used that hypodermic needle on Blondie down there,” Mary Ann said, referring to Pam.

  “Fuck him if he can’t take a joke,” Toby replied to Mary Ann.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, honey,” Mary Ann said to Toby.

  Tim was unable to tell where they were at the present time since he couldn’t see out the windows, but he imagined that they were on US Route 15, heading back to the safe house. Since Pam was effectively knocked out, Tim decided to try and make some conversation.

  “So, Mary Ann,” Tim began, “I take it you never checked into the Red Roof Inn.”

  “Oh, Tim,” Mary Ann said almost lovingly, “you should have known that the three of us were sitting in your condo waiting for you to call. Sebastian had figured out that your wife had turned against him, so there was no use in anyone going over to the safe house. I was just waiting for you to call, but then Sebastian needed us to find you and your wife plus the two doctors. We did try their home, but only the maid was there.”

  “So, did you off her, too?” Tim asked.

  “Tim, what kind of people do you think Toby and I are?” Mary Ann said defensively. “We do not kill indiscriminately.”

  “Unless we’re paid to,” Toby added with a strange sort of laugh.

  Mary Ann glared at Toby for a second, then continued. “No, the maid is tied up in the garage. I suppose someone will find her eventually. Maybe the cops, after they find the t
wo murdered homeowners.”

  “Do you two have any clue why Sebastian has you doing this?” Tim asked.

  “As far as we know, it’s just CIA work,” Mary Ann replied.

  “No, it’s not CIA work,” Tim countered. “The CIA does not operate within the borders of the United States. That is what the FBI, the NSA, and the ATF are for.”

  Toby and Mary Ann both laughed at Tim’s statement, and Tim almost laughed at it himself. Yes, officially the Agency was not supposed to operate in the US, but there were numerous exceptions to that rule. If there was some kind of “Agency work” that needed to be performed within the borders of the United States, it was not like anyone at Langley threw up their hands and declared that they were powerless to act. They simply just sent some contractors out to handle the job and called it an internal security matter. Plus, it was not unusual to find people like Toby and Mary Ann to do this kind of work. There was a famous Agency myth that involved the Bobby Kennedy assassination and a private detective agency which Tim had recently read about in the Washington Post.

  That said, Sebastian was really operating outside of the law, and Tim was sure that Sebastian had already arranged for Toby and Mary Ann’s demise. Tim figured it was no harm to try again.

  “Laugh all you want, you two, but I’m telling you the truth. After Pam and I have been murdered, you will go home to Las Vegas. You may even get there; but within a month, both of you will be dead. Maybe together or one at a time, but it will happen.”

  Tim’s statement stopped both Toby and Mary Ann from laughing, and Tim felt that he may as well keep working on them.

  “I can even tell you what is going to happen tonight,” he added. “First of all, Sebastian is going to be real pissed off that you used the propanol on Pam instead of me. That drug is the same as truth serum, and yes, truth serum really does exist. Since I have been taking propanol for a couple of years now, it would work like a hypnotic. Sebastian was going to see if he could get me to murder Pam and then kill myself so they can blame everything on me.”

  “Blame what on you, Tim?” Mary Ann asked.

  Tim suddenly understood that Mary Ann was anxious to know everything, whereas Toby just didn’t seem to give a shit. Tim was now convinced that Mary Ann was playing on both sides of the fence, but for whom? Tim had known for a while now that Mary Ann played her dumb act a little too well—or, as he liked to put it, “She’s too smart to be so fucking dumb.”

  It would be great if Mary Ann could come to his and Pam rescue at some point before Sebastian and Toby killed them, but that might be a little too much to expect at present. At any rate, Tim was still convinced that Toby was dumber than a bag of hammers.

  “Mary Ann,” Toby said in a whiny voice, “this guy is just fucking with us.”

  “Yes, he’s right, Mary Ann. I was only a covert agent for over thirty years and supervised a number of operations, but what do I know?”

  Tim had been hoping to divide Toby and Mary Ann’s loyalties to Sebastian, but he was now pretty sure that Mary Ann had a different agenda. In any event, the fact that Toby had given Pam the propanol had most likely bought them some time. Plus, if Joanna had made it through and the President was now being properly treated, then Sebastian and his plan to place the adults back in the room would be falling apart. In fact, Sebastian may have already left the safe house—and, for that matter, the country—leaving Toby and Mary Ann holding the bag.

  Assuming that assassinating the President and bringing back a bunch of old Republicans had been the plan all along. But what if that was not the plan? What if it was something else, something entirely different?

  Tim closed his eyes and began to think. Dr. Lockwood had said that Pam had wanted him back for a reason and that she insisted on it. It would be silly to bring him back just so he could participate in some assassination, since there were hundreds of jokers who could design poisons. No, there had to be something else, something that only Tim knew, and it had to do with whatever happened in China.

  Sebastian and Pam wanted me out of the picture, Tim thought, but now they need me back in. They need me back in because only I know something that they need to know... But what do I know?

  Tim rocked to one side as the plumbing van negotiated the safe house driveway. Tim could feel the van round the circular driveway and then stop at the front door of the house. Toby and Mary Ann, who had been quiet for the last five minutes of the ride, got out and walked to the front of the house. Tim listened carefully, trying to hear Toby speak with Sebastian.

  Tim heard Sebastian say, “You idiot, Toby,” and then, “Toby, you are a fucking idiot!”

  The voices grew louder as they approached the van and slid open the side door. Sebastian shone a flashlight directly at Pam and saw that she had a bruised upper lip.

  “What have you done to her?” Sebastian demanded.

  “I just had to rough her up a bit, boss—”

  “Just shut the fuck up, Toby,” Sebastian said, cutting him off.

  He stood in front of the van door, apparently thinking about what to do next. Tim had never seen Sebastian this angry before. All that Tim could figure was that Sebastian must have also needed Pam for something and the fact that she was “dead to the world” did not help matters at all.

  But Sebastian also needed Toby and could ill afford pissing him off—at least not for the time being.

  “Okay, Toby,” he ordered, “take the handcuffs off of Pam and Tim. Then you and Tim carry Pam down to the safe room in the basement.”

  Toby produced a key and quickly unlocked the manacles from the prisoners. Toby then grabbed Pam by the shoulders. “I can carry her myself, boss,” he suggested.

  Sebastian gritted his teeth. “And I said that you and Tim carry Pam down to the safe room. Now please do what I say.”

  Toby began to pull Pam from the van, then looked at Tim. “You grab her feet.”

  Tim got out of the van and waited until Pam’s feet were right on the edge. He then grabbed hold, and the two of them began to walk toward the house.

  “Mary Ann?” Sebastian said. “You wait here and make sure nothing else happens.”

  “Can I have a gun now?” Mary Ann asked.

  “Yes, as soon as Toby and I get back,” Sebastian said as he followed Tim and Toby into the house.

  Pam was heavier than either Toby or Tim expected, and they carefully walked down the steps to the basement past the gun safe and into the safe room. The door to the safe room was already open.

  “Go ahead and put her on the bed,” Sebastian ordered. “We’re just going to have to wait until she comes to. Tim, call me if anything happens.”

  He turned to leave, but then stopped at the door. “Tim? You may be interested to know that the President is responding to treatment.”

  “Really,” Tim replied.

  “Yes, apparently a young woman drove frantically up to the Agency gate off the GW claiming that the President had been poisoned with thallium. She also said that her parents were being held hostage in an office building in Leesburg. When police arrived, they found the parents tied up but otherwise unharmed,” Sebastian looked directly at Toby when he said the word “unharmed.” Toby immediately turned and bounded back up the basement stairs.

  “You see,” Sebastian continued, “I was under the impression that Drs. Justice and Lockwood were dead, but apparently that is not the case.”

  He sighed. “Oh well, sleep tight,” Sebastian told Tim as he closed and locked the door.

  At least the light stays on, Tim thought to himself. He began to laugh because it reminded him of a joke about a refrigerator light staying on even after the door was closed. Tim had this habit of laughing when he found himself in dangerous situations, but not because he was a brave man. To the contrary, Tim felt that he was a true coward. No, Tim Hall laughed in the face of danger because he was scared shitless.

  Chapter 29

  It bothered Tim that he still had not figured out what was really going on. Tw
elve hours ago, Tim was sure that everything was related to a conspiracy to assassinate the President so that a bunch of standard-bearing Republicans could be brought in to replace the present administration. Although there was indeed a plot, he was now convinced he’d been bought back and had his memory restored for some other reason.

  Memory restored? Tim suddenly imagined a lightbulb turning on over his head. The reason Sebastian and Pam had gone to all of this trouble to restore his memory was that he had a piece of vital information that both of them needed to know.

  But what in the hell could it be?

  “What is going on, honey?” Tim heard Pam’s voice, but she was talking in her sleep.

  Pam had now been out for over two hours, and he was beginning to wonder what Toby had injected her with. He had assumed that it was just the propanol that he’d been given now for over two years, but perhaps it was something different. Since the shot was meant for him, that must mean Sebastian was going to make yet another attempt to extract whatever it was that Tim knew but would not tell him. To do that, one would need truth serum, better known as sodium pentothal.

  Sodium pentothal was related to an entire family of drugs that were supposed to lower a subject’s inhibitions or defenses, therefore resulting in a fountain of truth babbling out of the subject’s mouth. The only problem was that it did not really work—not as you wanted it to work, anyway. Yes, it was possible to find out some basic information if you knew how to ask the subject the correct questions in the correct way, but it was not like you just gave a person some sodium pentothal and watched them spill their guts. Assuming that Pam had mistakenly been given the drug, Tim thought that he may as well see if Pam would tell him anything.