The Adults in the Room

by Jeffrey Mechling

Tim got to his feet, walked to the sink, and filled a water glass for Pam. “The safe room in the safe house, a little redundant, don’t you think?” Tim said, laughing at his own joke. Well at least it was not the secret room in the safe room of the safe house. Now that would really be confusing. Tim was really cracking himself up, he thought. His mind then turned to Mary Ann. Sebastian had most likely intended for Toby to shoot the two doctors, but Mary Ann, knowing this, probably talked Toby into letting her do it. Mary Ann then probably shot the couch a couple of times to prove to Toby that she’d actually completed the hit. Only a good person would take that kind of chance, so Tim’s faith in Mary Ann was now restored. Hell, if she had been able to keep the gun, they would probably all be out of danger. Now, she was probably getting her ass kicked by Toby or worse. Sebastian and Toby would definitely kill her if they determined she was working undercover. Mary Ann might be able to convince Toby that she just felt sorry for the two doctors and could not go through with murdering them. She could also try and convince her ex that she was afraid to tell him she’d chickened out. Tim was sure that this was not the first time Toby had been suspicious of Mary Ann’s motives, but she still might be able to trick him again.

  On the other hand, she would not be able to fool Sebastian. Sebastian had certainly checked Mary Ann out to make sure she was who she said she was. That told Tim that Mary Ann must be in very deep cover, since it was expensive to give someone a complete backstory that could withstand scrutiny from a CIA agent. Possibly Mary Ann was originally planned to investigate Toby, but when Sebastian showed up, she was instructed to follow and see where it all led.

  Pam made some more noise, which indicated to Tim that she would soon be waking up. If he was going to try interviewing the subject “under the influence” (as it was known in the interrogation business), then he’d better start soon. He pulled up one of the chairs in the safe room to the edge of the lower berth of the bunkbed. He took a paper towel and dabbed it in his glass of water, then wiped Pam’s forehead.

  “How are you feeling, honey?” Tim asked softly.

  “Oh, okay,” Pam replied as she laid her head in her hands and started to fall back asleep.

  “Hey, honey, do you know...” Tim stopped on the word “know” on purpose. He wanted Pam to think about the word “know.” Tim had no scientific knowledge if this particular method worked or did not work, but it was the one he had used before to some success.

  “Pam,” Tim said again softly.

  “Hi, Timmy,” Pam replied.

  “Hey, Pam? Why did you restore my memory?”

  “Because.”

  “Because why, Pam?”

  “Your PIN number, Tim.”

  “What about my PIN number, Pam?”

  “The one that you won’t give to me.”

  “I would give you anything, Pam.”

  “But you won’t give me your PIN number, Tim.”

  “What PIN number, Pam?”

  “The one for the...”

  “The one for what, Pam?”

  “The cryptocurrency, Tim.”

  “What PIN, what cryptocurrency, Pam?”

  “My account, your account and, and...”

  “Whose account, Pam?

  “Fucking Sebastian. I want to sleep.” And Pam did fall back to sleep.

  Tim wanted to go to sleep as well. He knew that he could have continued the back and forth with Pam and may have even been able to retrieve some additional kernels of information about the cryptocurrency account that he was apparently part of, but he thought that he had come away with at least one answer. He, Sebastian, and Pam apparently had an account that involved Bitcoins, and the thought of that made him sick to his stomach.

  In Tim’s opinion, dealing with any kind of cyber or cyptocurrency was asking for trouble; but since 2010, it had gained a strong foothold in a number of markets, many of which were illegal. Cybercurrency was decentralized and unregulated, which always made it attractive to individuals holding large amounts of money. The Aldrich Ames scandal that rocked the Agency in 1994 forced CIA management to take an inward look at itself and its employees. No longer were employee lifestyles considered off limits. If management felt that you were living beyond your means, they called you in and asked you about it; but with cybercurrency, no one could tell how much money you had in the bank.

  “Tim? What the hell is going on?” Pam was finally waking up from the sodium pentothal.

  “How are you feeling, Pam?” Tim wanted to know.

  “My head is pounding. What the hell happened?”

  “You apparently ran into the fist of Toby Wheeler,” Tim remarked. “But let me take a look at you.”

  Pam was still on the bunkbed, so Tim leaned over and checked her pupils. Pam did have a fat upper lip. “Do you remember what happened?” he asked.

  “Yes. After I saw Joanna off, I was walking back to the building when someone grabbed me from behind. I did fight back the best I could, but something sharp was shoved in my butt. That’s the last thing I remember.”

  Pam looked around. “So, we’re in my safe room? Are we locked in?”

  “Yes, it appears so,” Tim responded.

  “Did you try the door?”

  Tim got up, walked to the door, and pushed hard. The door did not open.

  “Am I missing something here, Pam? Is there another way out of here?”

  Pam just looked at Tim, knowing that it was possible that Sebastian was listening to their conversation.

  She obviously decided to change the subject. “So how long have I been asleep?”

  Tim looked at his watch. It was after 8 p.m. “About four hours now.”

  “Wow. So, fill me in. What’s happened?”

  “Well, first of all, it now appears that the President is successfully being treated for whatever he was poisoned with. Seems like some young woman drove to CIA Headquarters and claimed her parents were being held hostage...”

  “Okay, Tim,” Pam interrupted. “I think we’re going to have to assume that Sebastian is listening to everything we say. Why was I out for so long, and did that son of a bitch Toby hit me?”

  “He did—and he also apparently shot you up with some truth serum. Truth serum which was meant for me.”

  “Truth serum?” Pam repeated.

  “Sodium pentothal, to be exact. And although you and I both know how iffy the stuff is, I thought I might as well ask you something while you were under.”

  “Like what, Tim?” Pam smiled. “Did you want to know if I really have orgasms with you?”

  “No,” Tim responded, “but that would have been a good question. No, what I asked you was why you and Sebastian really brought me back in, and you basically told me because of my PIN number.”

  Pam just stared at her husband with no expression. “Is that all I said? A PIN number?”

  “Well, a PIN number related to Bitcoins or some other kind of cyber currency, and you know what, Pam? I think you’ve finally told me the truth. I think that you and Sebastian have a significant Bitcoin account, and for some reason or another I have the PIN number to it.”

  “We all have PIN numbers, Tim. Just like we all set up the Bitcoin account. Me, Sebastian, and you. We set up the account using a PIN number that each one of us had a piece of. That way, we could not double-cross one another.”

  “But you did, Pam. You double-crossed me.”

  Pam placed her head in her hands and began to laugh. She then picked her head up and looked squarely at Tim.

  “You are just fucking incredible, Tim Hall. You double-crossed us. It was you who said you didn’t give a shit about all of the money. It was you who told Sebastian and me that you wanted out. It was you who just wanted to fade away. It was you who decided to live anonymously in Baltimore, and it was you who told us how to do it. All we wanted in return was your share of the Bitcoins, and you gave us your part of the PIN number. It even worked when we tested it, but it doesn’t work anymore because you changed it.”

&
nbsp; “And how the fuck was I supposed to have changed a PIN number that I have no clue about in the first place, Pam?” Tim said defensively.

  “We were told that you probably set something up in the blockchain program that changes your PIN each time you enter it, but that’s just a guess. All we know is that it’s in your head somewhere. We’ve certainly looked everywhere else for it.”

  “Pam is correct, Tim. We have done everything.” It was Sebastian’s voice coming out of a speaker in the ceiling. Pam was right that Sebastian had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

  “So, you and Pam are in this together?” Tim asked while looking up at the ceiling.

  “Well, not exactly. Pam and I have each other’s PINs, but whoever gets yours will control the Bitcoin account, which I might add is now well into the eight figures.”

  “And in the last two years, you haven’t been able to figure my PIN number out?” Tim wanted to know.

  “We have certainly attempted to figure out your PIN, but each time we enter a false PIN, the system resets. We now have to wait two weeks before each new attempt to enter the correct PIN number, and if we enter one more incorrect PIN, it will be three weeks before we can try again. But time is running out.”

  “What Sebastian means, Tim,” Pam began to explain, “is that now is the time to exchange the Bitcoins for real money because there is information that the entire cybercurrency market is about to crash.”

  “Bitcoin is real money,” Sebastian interjected.

  “Yes, Sebastian, we know,” Pam said in a condescending tone. Pam then whispered to Tim, “Sebastian is a real big fan of computer money.”

  “Yes, it does sound like that,” Tim replied. “But what information tells you that the cyber currency market is about to crash?”

  “Oh, Sebastian is up the ass of every economist working at Langley. They tell him that the entire industry will be regulated by 2025, which is actually beginning to happen right now. That’s what got us busted in China, or did you conveniently forget about that too, Tim?”

  Tim had now heard so many variations of the “what happened in China” story that he’d stopped paying attention. “You did shoot Lilly Lin, correct?” he asked Pam.

  “Yes, I shot and killed Ms. Lin, who by the way was an undercover agent for the Ministry of State Security,” Pam said, sounding exasperated.

  “Speaking of undercover agents...” It was Sebastian again on the speaker in the ceiling “Apparently, my own Ms. Layback is one as well.”

  “Told you so, you asshole,” Pam said. “Who is she working for?”

  “Toby is beating that out of her as we speak, but I do have to commend her: she’s holding her own.”

  Tim knew it was Sebastian’s move, but at least he now had a bargaining chip: the PIN number. And he was almost certain that he knew what it was.

  “So, Sebastian, Pam and I are just dying to know what you plan on doing with us,” Tim said sarcastically.

  “That’s up to you, Tim. If you can provide your part of the PIN number, then I may be able to see my way clear to let you return to your little corner of the world in Baltimore. Otherwise, we’re still seeking those responsible for the attempted assassination of our President.”

  Tim of course knew that Sebastian had no intention of letting him and Pam go free, but he was interested in seeing if he would make the offer.

  Pam, as expected, was completely against bargaining with Sebastian, and she let Tim know it. “If you give up your PIN number, Tim, I will kill you myself,” she whispered.

  Tim held up a hand to assure Pam that he had control of the situation. “And what about Mary Ann? Would you be willing to let her leave as well?”

  “Not a chance, Tim,” Sebastian replied. “Now, I suggest that you and Pam get a good night’s sleep. You have a big day ahead of you in the morning.” Tim and Pam heard the intercom turn off.

  “So, what do you think, Tim?” Pam wanted to know.

  “I think that Sebastian will still try to get me to tell him my part of the PIN number, but we are dead either way. What do you think, Pam?”

  “I’m afraid that you’re right. He will try and make a deal, but we’re dead one way or the other. I think that Sebastian is ready to cut his losses, even if that means giving up all the Bitcoin money. He can’t spend it if he ends up in a Super Max.”

  Most people who were convicted of espionage were sentenced to life in solitary confinement at a super-maximum-security prison, known as a Super Max. Many prisoners compared this experience to being buried alive.

  “You know Sebastian has no choice but to kill your girlfriend,” Pam added.

  “Yeah, I know that, Pam. As a matter of fact, Sebastian will probably kill Toby as well—but Toby is too fucking stupid to figure that out.”

  “He will probably have Toby kill her and then dump the body in Baltimore. Then he will kill Toby or have someone kill Toby. Keeping his hands clean.”

  “Can we let that happen?” Tim asked.

  Pam motioned Tim to come over to the lower berth of the bunkbed, where she was now seated. Tim sat, and Pam turned to him. “We still have to be quiet, Tim, Sebastian could still be listening,” she whispered.

  Pam looked up at the ceiling as she said this, but her attention was focused on something other than the speaker. “Do you see that smoke detector with the blinking green light, Tim? That just might be our ticket out of here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When that alarm goes off, the door to the safe room automatically unlocks. I designed it that way in case I was trapped in here and someone decided to set the house on fire. It also brings the local cops and firefighters.”

  “What stops Sebastian from overriding the system?” Tim began to examine the smoke detector as he asked this.

  “As far as I know, I’m the only one who has the code to do that.” Pam paused. “But nothing is going to stop Sebastian and Toby from coming down here and shooting us. It takes the locals anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to arrive, so they would have time to finish us off and make an escape. Sebastian may even be able to make it look like a murder-suicide. Those seem to happen all the time.”

  Pam was right. Murder-suicides did seem to be common out here in the suburbs. There were at least two or three per year, and the authorities just seemed to accept this. Pam and Tim would be murdered, Mary Ann would be murdered and dumped in Baltimore, and then Sebastian would have Toby killed and everything would be cleaned up.

  “Tim,” Pam began again, “I’m really sorry that all of this has happened. Sebastian and I should have stuck to the deal and just let you live out your life in Baltimore like you planned.”

  This was something that Tim had to think about. According to Pam and Sebastian, everything that had happened in the last few years was the result of a plan he’d devised. Or was this yet another fucking lie?

  “So, Pam, you’re telling me that my living in Baltimore was all part of a plan?” he asked incredulously.

  “After Lilly Lin was killed, you had some crisis of conscience, and you wanted out,” Pam explained. “You no longer cared about the money in the Bitcoin account and were willing to give it all to Sebastian and me, just as long as we left you alone. And we would have, if you hadn’t double-crossed us by somehow changing the PIN number.”

  “But you said that number worked. You said you two tested it. Are you sure you just didn’t fuck it up?”

  “No, we did not fuck it up.” Pam gave Tim an “Are you kidding?” kind of look. After all, Pam did not make mistakes.

  “Well, I don’t think I double-crossed you. That is something I would not do,” Tim replied.

  “That is exactly something you would do, Tim. You probably felt that what we did was wrong.” Pam paused for a second and then continued. “You just decided that no one deserved the money, and I bet you thought you were so clever in changing the PIN; but you’re just another fucking sanctimonious asshole, and you know what? I’m not sorry for destroying
the little world you made for yourself.”

  Pam was really mad now, and Tim was glad that she did not currently have a firearm, since she might just kill him for the hell of it. He needed to get Pam to calm down.

  “Pam, if I did do that, I’m sorry. And look, I know what the PIN is, and I will give it to you once we’re out of here. You can have all the money, and I’ll just head back to Baltimore.”

  Pam turned and kissed Tim on the ear. She then whispered, “Give me the PIN number now.”

  “No, Pam. I will give it to you once we are out of here and somewhat safe. As far as I know, this is all some kind of setup by you and Sebastian.”

  “Oh Tim, you’re just being paranoid. If you want to wait until we are out of here, then we can wait. I only wanted to know the PIN number now because one of us may well be killed in the morning.”

  Tim doubted that Pam and Sebastian were still in cahoots with one another, but he may as well keep the PIN number to himself for the time being. It really was the only bargaining chip he held.

  “So, tell me, what’s the escape plan?” Tim asked in a whisper.

  “You have to climb up on the top bunk and reach over to that smoke detector. There should be some lighters in one of the drawers, so we’ll set something on fire. Once the alarm goes off, the door should unlock—but the trick is that we have to get to the gun safe, open it, and grab something. Maybe one of the shotguns. Someone will come running down the steps, and we are going to have to hold them off for at least two minutes. If they stay any longer, then they’re going to have to deal with the fire and sheriff’s departments. The sheriff’s department knows that this is a safe house and will send some kind of SWAT team, who will arrest everyone until they can figure out who the bad guys are.”

  “What if everyone’s a bad guy?” Tim asked, which resulted in Pam slapping his arm.

  “Please be serious, Tim,” Pam admonished, but added, “We are not going to be hanging around to explain why we were being held prisoner. We’re going after Sebastian and Toby to finish this thing once and for all. They are not going to just get away, Tim. We have to finish it,” she repeated emphatically.