by Mike Ryan
After reading the file for close to half an hour, Lawson looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed it was past the meeting start time. She wondered what the hold-up was. Maybe they were prepping Davenport for her taking over control, she thought. Whatever the reason, she was getting pretty anxious to get it over with so she could start working on the assignment. A few minutes later, Director Roberts came back into the office.
“Davenport is in the conference room waiting for us. Are you ready?” Roberts asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Lawson quickly shuffled the papers back inside the folder and scooped it up off the desk and scurried out of the office, closely following the director. Along the way to the conference room, she asked a few more questions, wondering about Davenport’s personality.
“What kind of person is he?” Lawson asked.
“Well, a little hard headed, probably overeager, but also someone who wants to do a good job. Not overbearing, not soft, usually even tempered.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Roberts looked back at her and smiled. “You’ve worked for worse.”
“Good point.”
“Besides, this is your operation. You don’t need to take bullshit from anyone. If there’s any crap that needs to be dished, I want you to be the one throwing it.”
“Understood.”
Roberts opened the door to the conference room and walked in, Lawson still closely following him. Already seated in the room were Executive Director Manning, Davenport, and Director Caldwell. Only Manning was aware of what was about to go down. Davenport and Caldwell were not in the loop as to the director’s plans and were not given any inclination of what this meeting was about. Roberts made a quick, unfriendly type of greeting and walked around to his seat.
“Shelly,” Roberts said, directing her to a chair.
Lawson sat next to Manning, as she was told. Across from her were who she assumed to be Davenport. She had seen Caldwell’s picture before from other materials distributed within Specter. Since he was in charge of foreign operations, he technically had control of all secret black ops projects and was supposed to be aware of what they all were doing, though he didn’t oversee the day to day operations of any of them. The day to day duties of Centurion were left up to Davenport. With a legal pad in front of him, Roberts briefly looked at his notes before commencing.
“I’m not gonna beat around the bush here,” Roberts said. “The reason for this meeting is there’s going to be a little bit of a shakeup, a little change as to the direction of Centurion. Jeff and I have talked at length about this over the past couple of weeks and we both feel, due to the lack of progress in either finding John Smith, or the killer of 17, we need to go in a different direction. From this very moment, Michelle Lawson will take over in those duties. She will have absolute power in those two cases, which may or may not be linked, and will be given complete access to Centurion offices, files, computers, etc. Sam will still have command over all other Centurion business and can focus on those other duties more thoroughly without being distracted with these other things on his plate.”
“Sir, it really wasn’t much of a distraction,” Davenport said.
“Nevertheless, this is the decision we’ve made, and you’ll support Ms. Lawson in whatever she needs, wants, requests, and so forth.”
“Absolutely.”
Lawson took turns between looking at Roberts and Davenport, who was obviously not pleased at being replaced in these matters. She imagined she’d probably feel the same way if someone was brought in above her to work on something she wasn’t having much luck in.
“Dean, I don’t know how well you know Shelly, but do you have any objections you’d like to raise on this?” Roberts asked.
Caldwell quickly shook his head. “No. No objections. I’m well aware of Shelly’s reputation since Project Specter fell under my umbrella. I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her until now, but I’m well aware of her work.”
“May I ask what exactly are her qualifications for this?” Davenport said, still a little peeved about being bypassed. “How does this Project Specter compare?”
“Project Specter was the precursor to Centurion,” Roberts said. “Some of what we learned from it became the basis of what Centurion was founded upon. What worked well became part of it, what didn’t fell by the wayside. She’s handled some of the toughest agents you can imagine.”
Davenport scrunched his eyebrows together as he tried to understand what the director was telling him. “Are you saying she’s just a handler?”
“Not just a handler, Mr. Davenport. She’s been the handler of some of the most lethal and dangerous agents this agency has ever seen. Not to mention that she also already has experience in these types of matters. She’s already been part of a team that tracked down former members of the CIA who went rogue and into hiding. Her team flushed those men out and brought them to justice.”
“It was a group effort,” Lawson said, almost sounding embarrassed about being thought of so highly. “Wasn’t just me.”
Roberts looked at her and smiled before turning his attention back to the Centurion leader. “So you see, Mr. Davenport, she’s not just a handler. She has experience in these matters. And quite frankly, her agent handling days I’d say are behind her. Not that this has any importance to you, but she’s moving up and could be being groomed for a leadership position in another black ops project which is in the works. She’s here because she deserves it and because she’s earned it.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Besides that, her work is exemplary. She has an outstanding attention to detail, works hard, and is very competent in her work. Something lacking at times in other individuals or agencies that won’t be named at the moment,” Roberts said, hinting at his obvious displeasure.
Davenport gave a single nod of his head, getting the clue that he wasn’t the most popular guy in the agency at the moment. They continued talking for close to an hour, going over different strategies, as well as what had already been done so Lawson wouldn’t duplicate any of their efforts. It was a tall order, but by the end of the meeting, everybody was impressed by her ideas and were sure that Lawson was up to the task.
5
Recker walked into the office and immediately headed for the coffee machine. Though he hadn’t yet looked at Jones, he could almost feel the Professor’s icy stare sliding down his back. Recker had already seen the morning newspaper and noticed a story on the inside detailing the murder of Sidney Bowman from the day before. Recker knew Jones was going to give him the third degree any minute. He was waiting for it. But in Recker’s mind, at least the story wasn’t on the front page. Not that it really deflected the heat off him anymore. As soon as the machine filled his cup, Recker grabbed it and turned around, leaning against the table. He looked over at the computer station and saw the daggers of Jones’ eyes piercing a hole through him. It was the meanest, toughest, most aggravating looking face Recker could ever remember Jones having towards his actions.
“If you got something on your mind, might as well just say it,” Recker said, sipping his coffee.
“Is it that you believe you’re untouchable, or is it that you just don’t care?”
“Neither.”
“Oh really?” Jones asked. Recker had never seem him look quite so grumpy. “Knowing the CIA has once again put you on the radar, you’d think you’d act in a much more cautious manner than you do. You’re reckless, like you have no care in the world.”
“I told you, I’m not gonna change the way I behave or how I do business. Killing this guy isn’t going to change whether or not the CIA finds me.”
“Well it certainly won’t hurt their chances. Did you even talk to Bowman at all?”
“Sure I did.”
“I mean, did you really talk to him? Did you try to give him an out? Did you try to do things a different way? Or did you ask him one question then make up your mind it was a lost cause an
d just start blasting away?”
“David, it was a lost cause. People like him are sick. Talking to me isn’t going to suddenly scare him straight. If you honestly believe that it would, you’re living in a fantasy world,” Recker said.
“I just wish you’d exercise some restraint.” Jones sighed. “There’s already a ton of theories floating around online about the culprit.”
“Yeah? Who do they think did it?”
“Well, considering Bowman has no record and no gang affiliations, people are assuming it’s not a personal vendetta. Carjacking and kidnapping seems to be the prevailing opinion so far.”
“Neither of which would point to me.”
“Except he was killed in a way that points to some sort of vigilante justice. There was no attempt to hide the body, or the car, or anything. And who in this city is the leader in vigilante justice?”
“Let me guess...me?”
“I wish I had a prize to offer you for your correct assessment.”
“Only prize I need right now is finding the other creep,” Recker said.
“Speaking of which, what are your intentions with Mr. Laine?”
“You really need to ask? You already know what my intentions are. He’s gonna be joining his friend in the afterlife.”
“I had a feeling that would be your response.”
“Don’t even tell me you’re gonna try to talk me out of it. With Bowman, maybe I get it, no record or anything. Laine, though, is a different story altogether. He’s got a record for this exact thing. He’s not changing his ways, or finding Jesus, or becoming an altar boy, this is who he is. And he needs to be stopped. By any means necessary.”
Jones didn’t fight Recker’s assertion. He knew he couldn’t win anyway, even if he tried. But mostly, it was because in this instance, he thought Recker was right. Bowman was different, at least in his mind. He had no record, no history of violence, Jones thought there was a chance he could have been steered in a different direction with a different tactic. Laine, on the other hand, was a convicted child sex abuser, who’d also had numerous other brushes with the law and had been arrested for several other infractions. Laine was now in his mid-forties and had his first brush with the law at the age of sixteen. Jones didn’t have any false beliefs about him changing his ways at this stage of the game. He knew Laine was most likely just hours away from meeting the same demise as his friend. And he wasn’t going to try to fight Recker on it. The only hope Jones had was that Laine’s death wasn’t quite as media friendly as Bowman’s was. He feared another death as public as the first one would somehow catch the attention of the CIA’s radar. The only plea Jones now had was to beg Recker to keep the event as quiet as possible. At least as quiet as any death could be.
“Isn’t there a way you can make it look like a robbery or something?” Jones said.
“Huh?” Recker asked, surprised at the question.
“I’d just like to keep the heat off for as long as possible. Another violent death will not help in that regard.”
“Does it really matter?”
Jones shrugged. “One never knows.”
“At some point the police are gonna connect the dots and figure out that these two jerks knew each other. They’re eventually gonna find those text messages, same as you did. They’re going to piece together that these two deaths are somehow related.”
“Yes, well, anyway, I did some more digging on our friend and it looks like the reason you couldn’t find him yesterday was because he has a second job.”
“Which is?”
“Bouncer at a night club downtown.”
“Guess I’m going clubbing tonight,” Recker said.
“Maybe you should go home and rest up for a while.”
“You trying to get rid of me?”
“Of course not. But that’s the only case on our agenda right now and there’s not much else for you to do that I can see.”
“I can check into my old CIA friends.”
“I’ve got a handle on it,” Jones said.
“You are trying to get rid of me.”
Jones was about to offer a retort but was interrupted before he could get started by Recker’s phone ringing.
“Your saving grace,” Recker said, waving his phone in the air. He was pleased to see it was Mia calling, since he hadn’t talked to her in a while. “Hey stranger.”
“Hi. I know you’ve been trying to check in with me lately, it’s just, uhh, I’ve been busy with work and things.”
“Ah, no biggie. Everything good?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Works busy, but normal.”
“Good. Off today?”
“Uhh, no. Umm, are you free today by chance?” Mia said.
“Well, looks like I might be. David’s kicking me out of the office so it looks like my calendar’s been cleared. Why? What’s up?”
“Well, I’m about to go to lunch in about half an hour. Can you meet me at the hospital?”
“Yeah, I guess I could.”
“OK. See you in a bit then.”
Recker hung up and just stared straight ahead for a minute, thinking about the conversation he just had. Something seemed off about it. Mia wasn’t talking like her normal self. It seemed like she had something on her mind.
“Leaving, are you?” Jones asked, overhearing the conversation.
Recker shrugged. “Looks that way.”
“Well, have fun.”
“You happen to know what it’s about?”
“What?”
“Mia wants me to meet her at the hospital for lunch.”
“And the problem is?”
“Didn’t say there was a problem. Just seemed like she was talking like a person with something heavy on her mind,” Recker said.
“I guess you’ll know when you get there,” Jones said, sounding unconcerned, though he had an idea what the subject was about.
Though Recker still was slightly concerned about Mia’s tone of voice, at least he didn’t have long to wait and think about it. He immediately left the office and drove down to the hospital. When he got to the cafeteria, he looked around and saw Mia already sitting at a table. It was towards the back in the corner. Recker walked around a few tables on his way and noticed a troubling look on Mia’s face. She hadn’t noticed he was there yet, probably because she was looking down the entire time and didn’t even lift her head up once. She jumped a little when she finally noticed Recker, when he was standing right in front of her.
“Oh, I didn’t even see you come in,” she said.
“I’m not surprised. It didn’t look like you’d see a train barreling at you.”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing,” Recker said. “So, what’s the trouble?”
“Trouble? What makes you think there’s trouble?”
“Well the look on your face for one. Looks like you’re worried about something.”
“Well, it’s not really trouble. Umm, I just need…,” Mia said, scratching the side of her neck as she stuttered and tried to think of the best way to tell him her news.
Recker reached across the table and grabbed her hand in an attempt to settle her nerves. “Mia, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. I just don’t, umm, I don’t know how you’ll take it.”
“Take what? What’s this about?”
“Umm, I’m, uhh, kind of seeing someone.”
Recker took his hand off hers and brought it back in front of him, fiddling around with his fingers as he processed Mia’s news.
“Oh. Well that’s, umm, that’s great,” Recker said, faking a smile.
Mia could tell he was a little stunned by her revelation, but she knew dragging it out any longer would just make it worse.
“So, who’s the lucky guy?” Recker said.
“His name is Josh. He’s a lawyer.”
“A lawyer?”
“Why does everyone say the same thing? What’s wrong with being a lawyer? You know, Dav
id had…,” she said, quickly shutting up when she realized what it was she was revealing.
“David had what?”
Mia nonchalantly shook her head as she figured how she was going to get out of hole she just stepped in. “Nothing.”
“David said the same thing? Is that it?”
Mia closed her eyes and nodded, knowing she couldn’t lie to him. Even if she tried, she knew he was good at digging out the truth from people. There was no point in trying to hide it.
“You told David before me?” Recker asked.
“I just wanted to get his opinion first.”
“Why?”
“Cause I wanted to see what he thought on how well you’d take it. I didn’t want you to be mad or anything,” Mia said.
Recker looked at a few nearby tables and the people sitting at them as he digested the news she just fed him. Mia was pleasantly surprised at how well he was taking it so far. He didn’t seem angry, his face wasn’t turning different shades of red, and his voice didn’t indicate any level of discontent. He actually seemed somewhat indifferent to the news. As Recker thought about Mia dating someone else, one piece of him was a little sad. He wished he could’ve been there for her and provided her with a normal life. But he knew he couldn’t and he never would. Even though he was slightly disappointed, he didn’t want to show it. He didn’t have the right to get mad. Not with how he always tried to keep her at a distance. He cared about her too much. It was for her own good to move on from him.