Not What You Think - 9. Chapter 9

I finished putting the rest of my gear away in Lang’s armory after we secured the captured enemy. Lang, despite being paranoid, didn’t have a built-in cell to house a prisoner, so we made due with a small conference room and a liberal amount of restraints. Gordon would know his man was missing by now, but hopefully it would take longer to verify that he was captured and not just dead in the woods somewhere.

I slammed the last locker shut and sighed heavily. The coming ‘discussion’ would not be an easy one. My entire team had willfully violated my orders, changed the operational plans without telling me, and brought a person into our operation that wasn’t even close to being healed enough for what we were expecting to encounter. While I knew deep down Jason had probably saved my life, all of our lives for that matter, there was still no excuse for completely undermining my authority and going behind my back.

As I walked down the hallway to the Ops Room I forced myself to relax my muscles and calm my nerves. Going in there with the intention of making heads roll would get me nowhere fast. I took one last deep breath and stepped into the room. All three heads turned in my direction and watched as I took a seat.

“What happened?” I asked.

No one answered and they all looked at each other to take the lead. Finally, Mitch spoke up first.

“I made the call to bring Jason in.”

“It wasn’t your call to make.”

“We needed the help. Jason wasn’t going to sit this out and you weren’t going to agree to him coming with. It was the only thing I could think of to make this work for everyone.”

I sat in silence for a moment as I digested his revelation. Mitch was a strong operator, easily one of the top in the field. He was used to making calls like this, and if my emotions weren’t clouding my judgment, I would agree that it was the right call. Still, it wasn’t his call to make.

I turned to Krissy. “Did you know about this?”

She hesitated and looked at Mitch before responding. “No. They spoke in private while I made a phone call. It wasn’t until we were on the ground that Mitch told me. Right after we split up he flagged me down and said we had sniper support. He didn’t say it was Jason, but I made the assumption. I couldn’t tell you without breaking radio silence.”

“At least someone in this group is fucking honest,” I mumbled. I looked at Jason next, “Are you all right?”

“Of course I am,” he responded with a roll of his eyes. “You know a simple thank you for saving your ass wouldn’t kill you.”

My blood pressure spiked and I clenched my fists. Before I could respond, Mitch interjected, “That’s enough. We all made mistakes today. We need to work together on this.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one that was kept in the dark by his whole team. You should have fucking told me.”

“And what would you have done?” Mitch raised his voice. “Let the mission move forward? Cancel it? Try and make him stay here? All it would have done was distract you even more. You had a job to do, and I needed you to focus on it so we would all come out of there alive.”

“MY JOB!?” I shouted. “You’re damn right I had a job to do. My job was to lead this team, and you compromised that! Do I go to where you work and start slapping dicks out of your mouth? You do your fucking job and let me do mine!”

The room fell silent after that. I was still on edge, Mitch sat in shock after my outburst, and Jason had a small smirk on his face. Krissy was the first to crack and burst out in laughter with Jason not far behind. Mitch and I glared at each other until we both smiled and joined in on the laughing.

When we finally calmed down enough to regain some composure, I spoke again. “Let’s put this to rest. I don’t approve of, or appreciate, what you guys did, but it worked out in the end. You all know I’m the type of person that agrees when the ends justify the means, but next time keep me in the loop. If you don’t agree with my decisions, voice your concerns, but don’t go behind my back again.”

I looked at each of them as I said this and didn’t move on until everyone nodded their agreement. Part of me didn’t want to let them off this easy - not when the operation could have easily gone sideways and ended up with all of us killed, but the bigger part understood that I was also in the wrong for letting my emotions cloud my judgement by not even considering to bring Jason along. At the end of the day, however, we needed to move on and find our mole before anything else happened, and I desperately needed their help to do that.

“Good. Now how the hell did they know we were coming?” I asked.

“Maybe they didn’t,” Krissy said. “Maybe our intel was off and that was their normal routine.”

“No, something, or someone, tipped them off.” Mitch said.

“I hate to say it, but could it have been one of my dad’s security detail?” Jason asked. “Some of them may have overheard what you all were planning. I know you tried to keep it quiet and only talk about the operation while behind closed doors, but are you sure no one overheard snippets? If so, it wouldn’t take much for one of them to alert Gordon if they’re on his payroll.”

I sighed again. “That’s my main concern. Lang said his men wouldn’t betray him, especially to Gordon, but I can’t be certain. He had his men on lockdown while we planned the mission though. No calls or texts in or out until we got back.”

“One of them could have used a burner phone,” Mitch suggested with a shrug. “A quick call and then destroy the phone. It would suggest why they didn’t know Jason was there. Maybe he was brought in after they made the call and couldn’t tell them about the change and sniper support.”

I looked at Jason and he shrugged. Krissy’s eyes were wide as she looked at the doors. She was probably concerned the mole was close and could potentially eliminate us all in the room as we discussed this. I thought about the possibility and brushed it aside. If the mole was part of Lang’s security, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack us here; they would have no chance at making it out of here alive.

“Well I know where to start asking questions at least,” I said. “The guy down the hall probably won’t know much, but maybe he can fill in some of the gaps. In the meantime, I’ll have Lang go over his security detail again and see if there’s anything we missed. Maybe he can find a way to track or locate the phone used to rat us out. Mitch, will you help me with the interrogation?”

He nodded and stood from the table.

“Jason and Krissy, get some rest. I’ll come get you if we get anything out of him.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but Krissy beat him to it. “No offense, but I’m not going anywhere. I want to know what he says. We’re just as invested in this as you are. It’s all our lives on the line on this one.”

I rolled my eyes and stopped myself from arguing the point. “Fine, don’t sleep. I don’t care. Just stay back while Mitch and I get started and I’ll tag you in if we need it. Both of you.”

They seemed satisfied enough, and we all stood to stretch and get the kinks out of our backs. It was going to be a long night.

Mitch and I didn’t need to discuss our interrogation plan before we started. We had done this enough times to know exactly what the other would do and what our roles were. We glanced at each other and came to an immediate unspoken understanding – I would take lead on the interrogation.

“You ready?” I asked.

“After you.”

All four of us left the Ops Room and made our way down the hall. Mitch and I stopped at the room with our prisoner and nodded to Jason and Krissy as they went to meet up with Lang and give him an update. I took a deep breath before unlocking and entering the room.

Our prisoner was chained to a table that was welded to the floor. There would be no breaking out of restraints today. He would either cooperate and tell me what I wanted to know, or I would torture him. A lot of people say torture doesn’t work – that the person being tortured will say anything to survive. This may be true, but it also means they usually throw little nuggets of truth in with all the bullshit they spew. The trick is to pick out all those little nuggets from the mound of bullshit. Between Mitch and I, we could usually tell what was real information and what made our little Pinocchio grow some wood.

“Let’s start with an easy one,” I said. “What’s your name?”

“Fuck you.”

I sighed. “Come on, man. We’re all professionals here. I know you’re trained in counter-interrogation techniques, and you know I know ways around them. There’s no law here. You tell me what I want to know and this is over. If you don’t… well, then you get to deal with him.”

I pointed at Mitch. Since entering the room Mitch had taken up a position directly across the table from our guest. His hands were laced behind his back and he stared directly into the eyes of the prisoner without moving. Our prisoner glanced at Mitch and then back at me.

“Fuck you.”

I sighed again. “Okay look. I’m not a cop. I’m not the FBI. I don’t work for the government. I have no rules. I’ve killed a lot of people. You’re a sniper, you should understand that. Looking through the crosshairs and knowing you have someone’s life quite literally in your hands. Well right now, your life is in my hands and you have three options. Option One – I torture you, you break, and I throw you out for Gordon to kill you after I get what I want. Option Two – I torture you, you really are good at holding out, I get bored, and I kill you. Option Three – You tell me what I want to know, I give you a contact for a new identity on the other side of the world, and you run. You run so far away that you can’t even think about anything left from your current life. I won’t protect you from Gordon, but I can give you a life away from him, no strings attached. Tell me what I want to know and you’re free and clear. You have my word.”

It was silent as the prisoner thought through his options. He continuously looked between us until his eyes glazed over as he processed his options. When he finally stopped looking around and narrowed his eyes at me, I knew I had my answer. The hard way it would be. I sighed and glanced at Mitch. He gave me a small nod telling me he came to the same conclusion. Things were about to get messy.

Mitch followed me as I turned for the door to leave. I paused with my hand on the doorknob and glanced back at our prisoner. “You have fifteen minutes to change your mind and cooperate with me. If you haven’t had a change of heart by the time we get back, option three will be off the table and I will get the information I want from you anyway. Don’t be a hero, Gordon isn’t worth your loyalty, or your life.”

I closed and locked the door behind us and led Mitch down the hall.

“Are you ready for this?” Mitch asked softly.

“I’m hoping he’ll change his mind still, but if not, I’m willing to do what it takes. We need to figure out where this leak is coming from and stop it. I’m sick of someone taking pot shots at me and not being able to defend myself effectively.”

“I agree; how do you want to start? Go easy and hope he breaks easily?”

I thought for a moment before responding. “No. If he hasn’t changed his mind by the time we get back, he won’t break easy. We need this information as quickly as possible. Get the supplies for us to waterboard him as well as whatever toolkit Lang has available. Preferably something with a power drill in it. I’m going to go catch up with Lang. I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes.”

Mitch nodded and turned to trot down the hall towards the garage while I went in search of Lang. I made it to the patio when I ran into Jason and Krissy.

“Hey, have you seen your dad?” I asked Jason.

“He’s meeting with his head of security trying to pin down the leak. Rumor has it they found something and are close to figuring it out, but they’re playing it safe and not letting anyone in. They asked for privacy while they worked so it’s just a waiting game for us right now. He said they would come get us as soon as they had something concrete.”

I nodded and allowed myself a small smile. Something was finally starting to go our way. “How are you guys holding up?”

“Fucking rainbows and unicorns,” Krissy mumbled.

“I’m fine,” Jason said. “Could we talk for a minute though? I have some things I want to get off my chest.”

I glanced at Krissy, who showed no signs of caring to be part of our ‘talk’.

“Are you sure you want to do this now?”

He looked me in the eyes and nodded. I saw a lot of emotions swimming behind those eyes and I wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn’t seem angry, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t.

“All right. Krissy can you go find Mitch and give him a hand? He’s in the garage grabbing supplies for our friend down there.”

“Sure thing,” she said. “Take your time up here. I’ll come grab you if anything happens.”

I nodded my thanks and followed Jason into the garden until we reached a bench. My heart was pounding as I waited for him to start talking. I was more nervous about this conversation than I was when I walked into the interrogation room earlier. Most likely because I was now the one about to be interrogated. Funny how life always seems to throw curve balls at you when you least expect it.

Jason must have noticed my nervousness because he smiled and gave a soft chuckle. “This isn’t the big talk, Derek. I agreed to save that until this is all over. You can hold on to your spy secrets for a little while longer. I just need to talk for a few minutes. About us.”

I looked at him confused. “Us?”

He smiled sympathetically at my confusion and discomfort. “Yes, us. With everything going on right now, I don’t want something to happen to one of us and leave things the way they are right now.”

“And where exactly are we right now?”

“I’m mad, Derek. Beyond mad. I’m so extremely pissed off at you for everything going on. I know it’s not all your fault, and I know you’ve been trying to protect me, but I don’t know what to believe anymore. There were times in our relationship when I could easily see myself spending the rest of my life with you. I’ve never wanted to get married, never wanted to have kids, never thought I would just settle down and enjoy my life with someone and be happy about it. But that’s where I was before this all started. I wanted us, Derek, and you took that away from me. I don’t know what parts were actually the real you, and what parts were complete lies.”

“Jason…”

“Don’t.” He cut me off sharply. “Just let me finish. I’m upset, and I’m hurt. You have no idea the pain you’ve caused me. Not just physically, but in my head, and in my heart. It doesn’t matter what your intentions were. What matters are the consequences of your actions. Consequences that affect not just you, but everyone around you. You started a chain of events that will alter our entire lives going forward, and you can’t take that back.”

He paused for a moment letting his words sink in.

“But-” he started again. “I want you to know that I don’t hate you. As much as I want to write you out of my life for good, I can’t. I still love you, and part of me always will. I don’t know that I can ever get beyond the lies and start to trust you like I used to, but I don’t hate you, Derek. For better or worse, you are part of my life right now. And God forbid, if one, or both of us, dies within the next few days, I just want you to know that.”

Tears rolled down my face as he finished. His face was full of emotion – a mixture of anger and sadness, but one of love as well. I reached out to hug him when I heard someone clear their throat behind us. Startled, I wiped my eyes and turned to see Lang standing there with a file in his hand.

“Sorry to interrupt, but this can’t wait,” he said. “We found the leak. And it’s not good.”

Mitch walked up behind him and joined the group. He briefly glanced between Jason and I, a look of sympathy flashing across his face before turning back to Lang. “Who is it?”

“It’s Krissy,” he said, handing the file over to me.

I snatched the folder from his hands. “It can’t be.”

Mitch grimaced. “Are we absolutely sure about this? How do we know?”

“We recovered a phone from the trash,” Lang said. “It was destroyed, but we were able to pull the call logs from it. The numbers trace to another disposable burner cell, but the timing of the calls fit with when the information was most likely leaked.”

“How do we know it’s hers?” Jason asked.

“Fingerprints,” I said as I closed the file and passed it to Mitch. “Hers were the only set of prints on the phone. If we really wanted to, we could probably get a DNA match from the saliva on the microphone, but that would take too long.”

“That doesn’t prove she did it,” Mitch said. “There could be an explanation for the phone and the calls. Hell, she put her own ass on the line right beside us multiple times. If she was the mole, why would she risk her life like that?”

I looked at him. “Did she though?” If she was the leak, she would have had assurances that she wouldn’t be harmed if she could find a way to bring me in or get me killed. It all starts to fit together now. She’s been playing me from the start. She sold me out to Gordon the second I walked in her door and asked her for help. All of her missed shots at the people assaulting us, Gordon figuring out where I was going every time I left her, and all of her disappearances when we’re planning something. She’s been feeding him my location this entire time. That’s how they always found me. They didn’t need to track me; Krissy did it for them.”

“But why didn’t she just kill you herself?” Jason asked. “She’s had plenty of opportunity to take you out. Why go through the hassle of all of this? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Because she didn’t think she would get caught. If Gordon takes me out, all the evidence leads back to him. If she were to pull the trigger, word would get around and she would burn herself and lot of her contacts. We know a lot of the same people, and none of them would take too kindly to her conspiring with Gordon to kill me.”

Mitch nodded. “She knew if she got caught, I would kill her. She went for plausible deniability hoping Gordon could pull it off before her cover was blown. Son of a bitch, she’s good.”

“Where is she now?” Lang asked.

Mitch and I looked at each other, faces going pale.

“Oh shit. She went to keep an eye on the prisoner while I came to tell you everything was ready,” Mitch said.

Lang quickly pulled a radio from his belt and started issuing orders to his security team. “We have a Code Bravo, switch to secondary frequencies and initiate emergency protocol Echo-Five-Tango. Lock it down. The entire estate. Nothing in or out without my approval.”

All three men turned to look at me, waiting for my own set of orders.

“Let’s go find ourselves a traitor,” I said.