Summoned Again?

Stacy walked all the way down the hallway and opened the observation room that was their meeting room. She dragged in the fake nurse and dropped her in the middle of the floor. She sat down on a chair and crossed her legs, as a woman should when wearing a skirt, and she waited for someone to speak. The other four people in the room only stared at her and no one said anything.

“Craig, check everyone's cell phones for any activity since the last time we were all in the room with the man we've kidnapped and tortured.” Stacy said and that got a reaction out of them.

“He threatened to kill us all.” One of the agents said.

“Only after we destroyed his life.” Stacy said. “By the way, I'm only getting Craig to look so I don't have to ask you directly why you called in for a clean-up.”

The man closed his mouth and didn't respond.

“Oh, for god's sake.” The fake detective said. “How could you be that stupid?”

“She succeeded in injecting him.” Stacy said and the man relaxed.

“Then there's nothing to worry about.” The agent said. “We can all go home and relax. None of this ever happened and...”

“He didn't die, you fool.” Stacy said, her face angry. “Although, he pretended very well.”

“I didn't stay and ask, not after he showed me the cameras that recorded everything!” Stacy exclaimed.

No one said anything, because they didn't know what to say.

“Her ID is fake and she still got into the building.” Stacy said and looked right at the agent that spoke. “Craig, pull up the security footage for the lobby. Let's see if one of our team members walked in an assassin to make all of our lives a living hell.”

“She's not an assassin.” The agent said with a sigh.

“I'm pretty sure that when you infiltrate a federal building and kill a man being held in federal custody, that's an assassination.” Stacy said. “Or do you have a different interpretation of what 'assassinate' means?”

“Let me guess, she was just doing you a favor, right?” The fake detective asked and he didn't respond. “Didn't you think things were bad enough before?”

“He can't be allowed to leave. All of our lives are in danger.” The agent said.

“If they weren't before, they definitely are now.” The tech guy said. “Yep, it was you. I have the security footage and the phone text.” He chuckled when he saw it. “You even used the secured encryption codes we gave you for the temporary cellphone.” He turned around and looked at the agent. “You really didn't even bother trying to sneak around. That's pretty funny.”

“I didn't think I had to.” The agent said. “I was ordered to take care of it.”

“By who? An idiot?” Stacy asked. “I sincerely doubt it would be the president, because if he did, then you didn't tell him everything.”

The agent closed his mouth and turned his head slightly away.

“You better call him back and tell him EXACTLY what's going on.” Stacy said and the agent started to move towards the door. “No, right here.” She said and everyone turned to look at him. “If it really is the president that ordered it, then you have made a huge mistake and biased him against the man that gave him and his family those pendants.”

“They didn't do anything.” The secret service agent said.

“If I recall correctly, he officiated an eighteen hour conference in Europe about a week after he started wearing it, without taking any breaks.” Stacy said. “I'd say that it did a lot, wouldn't you?”

“There's no discernible proof that...”

“What? He had a clear mind without having to sleep for almost two days?” Stacy asked and he didn't respond. “He had to travel to get there, remember? He held meetings on the plane and briefed everyone on what was going to happen, and stayed awake the entire time because he was too busy to sleep.”

“What are you saying?” The fake detective asked.

“You don't think it was odd that a set of mysterious pendants showed up two months before the event, had to go through tight screening and testing, and then were approved with only a week left?” Stacy asked. “Isn't that a bit too much of a coincidence?”

“Not really. Everything that's sent to the president goes through the same process.”

“You're missing the point. Someone knew that it took that long and sent those as gifts to the president to use, just in time.” Stacy said. “He even wore them on the news, for god's sake.”

“I think you're reading too much into this.” The agent said.

“If I am, then you are reading much too little.” Stacy countered. “Haven't any of you thought about what else that man can do?” She looked at their faces and saw doubt there. “If he is showing us this fantastic ability, something that Craig says bends the laws of physics into a pretzel, what do you think he isn't showing us?”

“I warned you that we weren't qualified for this.” The other secret service agent said.

“I don't think anyone on this planet is qualified to handle this.” Stacy said and she saw the two secret service agents exchange knowing looks. “What do we do with this thing?” She asked and lightly kicked the unconscious woman's foot.

“I'll take care of her.” The agent said and came over to her.

“Stop.” Stacy said and he kept coming. “STOP!” She yelled and the man stopped walking with an angry face. “You are not doing anything except making that phone call.”

“I am not jeopardizing this mission by...”

“You've already done that.” Stacy said and waved at the woman on the floor. “The proof is right here.”

“I made a call...”

“The wrong one, apparently.” Stacy said. “Your partner agrees with me, too.”

“What?” He turned and looked to see the other agent dialing his cell phone. “You can't! They'll never believe it!” He exclaimed and tried to run at his partner.

The fake detective stuck out her foot and tripped him. It was almost comical the way he flailed his arms and hit the floor and then slid a short ways.

“We'll all be declared insane and locked up!” The frantic agent said and the fake detective sat on him. A second later, he was cuffed behind his back and stared up at his partner with a pleading face. “Please! You can't do this! We have to get rid of the threat!”

Stacy barked a laugh at the sight. “You know, I think I've felt a little insane ever since I met the suspect and started having this completely surreal experience.”

“I don't know why it's only you having it.” The fake detective said. “Is it because I'm married? Brenda's married too, isn't she?”

“BRENDA!” Stacy yelled. “The assassin said she was locked in a supply closet!”

“I'll check.” The tech guy said and ran through the footage. “It looks like he helped with that, too.” He stood up and went for the door. “I'll go get her out.”

“Thanks, Craig.” Stacy said and looked at the other agent. “You need to tell your supervisor...”

“He's listening.” The agent said and spoke several keywords and phrases that didn't make sense to anyone, since he was using code. After a few minutes, he nodded. “Yes, sir. I know, sir.” He paused and looked at the others. “Yes, sir. We'll wait for your call.”

“You've killed us all.” The agent on the floor said, his head turned away from everyone.

Stacy waited for Craig to come back with Brenda, who was fine, and she asked the question she wanted to ask. “What did your supervisor say?”

“This is the first he's heard about any of this.” The agent said and a chilling silence filled the room as he put his phone away. “He didn't even know we apprehended the suspect.”

“You set us up.” Stacy said to the agent on the floor.

“Complete deniability.” The agent said without lifting his head. “I told you. I was given orders to deal with it.”

“From who?” His partner asked. “It wasn't from the normal chain of command.”

The agent on the floor didn't respond.

“Now what?” Craig the tech guy asked.

“Is that you're favorite phrase or something?” The fake detective asked.

“It is now.” Craig said.

“I should tend to that woman.” Brenda the nurse said and motioned to the handcuffed woman on the floor.

“She tried to kill Damon with an injection.” Stacy said said and Brenda gasped.

“No, she... why...”

Everyone pointed to the agent on the floor.

“Then I think I'm a little busy right now.” Brenda said and sat down. “It's one thing to rough him up to get him to talk, it's another to murder him in cold blood to erase your mistakes.”

“It's not a mistake.” The agent said. “He's an imminent threat to this nation.”

“He was only supposed to be a suspect wanted for questioning!” Stacy said loudly as she uncrossed her legs to lean towards the agent on the floor.

“He was. Now that we know what he can do, he needs to be disposed of.” The agent said.

“That's going a bit too far.” His partner said.

“No, it's not far enough.” The agent said. “Even if he can only take small things, what's to stop him from walking into any bank and just taking everything?”

“I would have said the higher moral ground, considering he hasn't done that, despite being inside a federal bank... with his own coins that he handed over without complaint... and didn't take them back. They were counted again, just to be sure and then they were shipped out.” Stacy said. “God, how could you think he would do it now, unless...” She stopped talking and squinted her eyes. “You aren't holding the gold coins from his safety security box in trust, are you? They're already gone and smelted down into bars, aren't they?”

“Yes.” His partner said. “Almost as soon as they were all tested to prove they were real, they were incorporated into the treasury.”

“To use Damon's words, you are fucking idiots.” Stacy sighed. “I can't believe that he was right. You've been doing this to him just to get his gold.”

“We have been doing this.” The agent on the floor corrected her. “You. Me. Them. All of us.”

“No wonder people hate it when our agencies cooperate and don't keep each other in check.” The fake detective said. “Look how much we can screw up in only a couple of days.”

“We've been working this case a lot longer than that.” Stacy said and looked at Craig. “I agree. Now what do we do?”

“We wait for my phone call.” The other agent said. “My supervisor's going to the man himself.”

“This is not going to end well. I just know it.” Craig the tech guy said.

The phone rang and the agent answered it. He stood there and listened for several minutes and they all waited with anxiousness. He didn't say anything and then hung up the phone.

“We're busted.” The agent said.

“Fuck!” Stacy said, cursing for the very first time in her life.

“Wipe everything.” The agent said to the tech guy. “Clean house. Nothing left.”

“Slash and burn?” Craig asked and he nodded. “You got it. Hard wiping hard drives.” He said and typed up several passcodes and commands, then everyone heard physical whirring as the hard drive and memory of the computers he was working on ate themselves. The computers shut off a minute later and he took out the cell phone from his desk. “I really liked this phone.” He said and smashed it on the corner of the desk.

“Let's go, people.” The agent said and picked up his partner.

“Let me out of the cuffs. I can help.” His partner said.

“You have other problems right now.” His partner said and punched him in the gut to knock the wind out of him. The man choked and sputtered as his partner lifted him into a fireman's carry. “The boss doesn't approve of loose cannons that compromise security systems.” He said and grabbed the fake nurse by the collar and dragged her out of the room.

The others in the room just stared as the agent that had brought them all to this point, was carried out of the room and disappeared.

“Well, you heard the man.” The fake detective said. “Clean sweep.”

“But... Damon...” Stacy said.

“When we wipe everything clean, you can poke your head into his room and tell him he can go.”

“But... but...”

“He can release the footage all he wants and it won't make any difference.” The fake detective said. “They'll never find the one who tried to kill him.”

“It's us I'm worried about.” Craig the tech guy said. “He knows our names and where we live.”

“Just set up police protection from a stalker.” The fake detective said. “As soon as he shows up, he'll be arrested and that's that. He can't go around you anymore.”

“That's not a bad idea.” Craig said and yanked the wires from the computer. “I'll get the van loaded and set it up for us when I get back to my place.”

“Leave me out of it.” Stacy said and they looked at her. “I won't have him arrested again. Not again.”

“You just want him to come to you.” The fake detective said.

“Yes... and no.” Stacy said. “Do you know how angry he's going to be that we can't undo everything, now that the operation's a bust?”

“It doesn't matter now.” The fake detective said. “Let's get everything cleaned.”

Stacy gave her a sad look, nodded, and she helped them erase every trace that anyone had ever been in the building.

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