--
"No. Absolutely not."
Colby met Don's hard, unyielding stare with an impassive one of his own, even as he heard Assistant Director Philip Wright respond to Don's flat refusal.
"You don't have a choice, Eppes."
The note of sympathy in AD Wright's voice drew a wry twist to Colby's lips. He couldn't really blame Don's adamant opposition, since it was Don and his team who arrested him for treason not all that long ago. It had to be difficult for them to accept that they had to work with him again, especially since he was no longer a part of the FBI.
"What do you mean, he doesn't have a choice?"
David's angry voice cut through Colby's thoughts. He winced at the betrayal that still lingered in David's voice. Regret coursed through his veins as he realized that David would never trust him again.
"These orders come from high up," AD Wright remained calm.
"High up? For him?" Don sounded incredulous.
"Yes." A cold voice spoke from the head of the conference room table.
Colby turned to the speaker with just as much interest as everyone else. He was surprised at the curt annoyance behind the single word. For as long as he'd worked for him, the man he knew only as Steele had never shown a shred of emotion. His gaze narrowed as he eyed Steele thoughtfully. A tall man, he had dark hair that was greying at the temples. The eyes were a wintry gray, cool at the best of times, but as cold with disdain now as Colby had ever seen them. The thin, ascetic face with its sharp angles coupled with the wintry gaze probably had a great deal to do with the name Steele had chosen for himself. That and the fact he was as hard and deadly as his namesake, Colby reflected wryly.
"I refuse to work with someone I can't trust," Don said flatly.
"You have your orders," Steele's implacable gaze never left Don.
"Was he under orders to betray us to the Chinese?" Don demanded to know.
The implacable gaze never wavered, "You don't have the need to know the details. You only need to know that he'll be on your team for this case."
"On my team, but with a different agenda." It was a statement, but the bitterness dripped from every word.
"He has his orders."
Colby shivered involuntarily, wondering yet again, how Steele managed to lace each word with icy menace. But he was calm and still when he met Megan's curious eyes. His gaze flicked to Liz Warner, standing just behind Don, concern written all over her. Probably brought in to replace me, he thought with regret. I really liked working here.
"He'll be checking in with me periodically. I trust his reports won't indicate any obstruction with his orders." Steele got up and left the conference room with AD Wright.
"Well, Colby," Liz said slowly, "I guess we're stuck with you."
"Is Colby Granger even your name?" David asked, the brusque tone hinted at his distrust.
His lips curved into a half smile as he answered as amiably as he could, "It's as good a name as any." He hadn't used his real name in years. He couldn't. That man was long dead.
"Was anything we knew about you even real?" David was angry now. "Or were the last two years a complete lie?"
My friendship was genuine, David, he thought sadly, but answered coolly, "No. And yes." He braced himself as David launched himself at him, only to be held back by Don and the two women.
"We have a job to do," Megan reminded everyone as she tried to bring them back to the task at hand.
"Yuri Mednik, former Russian spy, dead from polonium-210 poisoning," Colby said quietly. "Andrei Dranovsky, former KGB Agent, accused of the deed by the Brits." He was amused when four pairs of eyes focused on him in shock. "But you want Dranovsky for arms sales to the Taliban."
"How the hell do you even know that?" Don demanded.
Colby lifted an eyebrow, "I work for Steele. He knows everything. And sometimes I have the need to know."
"And why does Steele want Dranovsky?" Megan asked, her eyes bright with curiosity. She rolled her eyes at Colby's shrug. "I guess I don't have the need to know," she said in exasperation.
"You guess right," Colby's lips twitched with amusement when Megan laughed. For a moment, it felt like he was part of the team again, but then his gaze fell on David's suspicious face. He sighed to himself. It was going to be a long and difficult case. None of the cases he'd worked on since he'd started working for Steele had been easy, but this one was going to be the worst, because he'd let himself care about the FBI team he'd worked with for two years. He'd never done that before. Sighing again, Colby focused on Don when he started talking.
"Our boys in Afghanistan recovered a stash of Taliban arms when they raided a compound. Unfortunately, those were US made arms. Computer records indicated that they were sent to our troops. There were even records that they were received. But the quartermaster that supposedly received them hasn't been there in several years." Don eyed Colby as he related the details to his team.
"Let me guess. One Dwayne Carter," Colby murmured. He smiled faintly when Don scowled at him.
Liz decided to ignore the byplay, "How does Dranovsky figure into this?"
"Perhaps Colby would be gracious enough to enlighten us." Don barely held the sarcasm in check.
Ignoring the barb, Colby nodded briskly and continued, "Dwayne had been lifting supplies and selling them since the day he joined the army. He eventually moved up to selling arms. Dranovsky figured that out and took advantage of it. They worked out a way for Dwayne to appropriate larger amounts of arms and munitions, and Dranovsky paid him for it. Paid him well, I might add."
Liz stared at him. "Dwayne worked for the Russians too?"
"Not really. At the time, Dranovsky was in business for himself, he wasn't spying for the Russian goverment. But once we discovered Dwayne's nefarious activities, we managed to redirect his attention to selling information instead of arms, and Dranovsky moved on to other contacts. When Dwayne received a piece of information that the Chinese wanted, they lost no time in turning him into one of their double agents."
"'We'?" Megan murmured, eying Colby thoughtfully. "Just how exactly did 'we' go about doing this?"
He shrugged casually. "I was placed in the same platoon. We became friends. The jeep exploded, and he saved my life. The rest you know."
"I'm beginning to wonder if we know anything about anything," David muttered, staring incredulously at Colby.
"Did you know the jeep would explode?" Megan probed further.
"Of course I knew. I rigged it to," Colby replied easily.
"You could've been killed, you idiot!"
His spirits rose with sudden hope at the rage and fear in David's voice. Perhaps, one day, he could learn to trust me again. Perhaps, one day, we could be friends again. With an effort, Colby kept his tone light, "I told you I rigged it. I knew how long I had."
"What if he hadn't saved your life?" Don raised the question.
"He had to, if he wanted to live. And rats usually want to." Colby shrugged again.
"And what would have happened if you had been wrong and you'd both died?" Megan asked with trepidation.
Colby smoothed his face into a bland mask as he replied, "Then not only would Steele have lost a fairly good agent, he would also have lost a potential asset. But that would have meant I failed to follow orders, and I've never failed to follow orders. I so hate to disappoint Steele."
I'm just another disposable agent to the government. Steele would have just sent someone else in after Dwayne because he was just the kind of person who could be turned into a double agent. And it's proved useful to control a double agent without his knowledge.
He assessed their reaction to his statement, then brought the conversation back to the case before they could probe further into the situation with Dwayne. "I assume you have a plan for going after Dranovsky?"
"I didn't before, but I do now." Don's eyes gleamed. "You're going to go in and spin a story about taking over where Carter left off those years ago."
Colby snickered, "A gold star for you. Well, how about that. The straightlaced agent is devious enough for spywork after all." He met Don's annoyed glare with a derisive twist of his lips. People are often surprised at the depths they're willing to sink to under the right circumstances.
But Don didn't take the bait. He took a moment, apparently to calm himself, "Megan, you go with him."
"Don't trust me? Imagine that." Colby taunted just under his breath. He looked amused when both Don and Megan turned to glare at him.
"Make contact with Dranovsky," Don ordered. "Set up a sale."
"Aye, aye, sir." Colby murmured.
"Here's the last contact information we have," Liz began to say as she looked in the folder in her hands.
"Don't bother. I have it." Colby strolled nonchalantly towards the door and glanced at Megan on the way, "You coming?"
--
"Why did you come back?" Megan asked as they got into his car.
"I didn't." Colby said wryly. I'd love to, but that seems more impossible each time I see all of you.
She gestured impatiently, "Don't split hairs. You know what I mean."
He pulled his sunglasses down his nose to look over them at her. He wasn't surprised that she'd been the most open to him, she'd been far too good a profiler to be taken in entirely. He said slowly, "There's more at stake than arms deals. I can't tell you much more than that. Steele's worried if he's sending me back in, out in the open, so to speak."
"Because he's more likely to have someone undercover infiltrating the organization?" Megan said dryly.
"What makes you think he doesn't?" Colby replied, equally dry.
Megan eyed him sharply, snorting in disgust at his innocent look. "How do you deal with the web of lies in all this spy-counterspy cloak-and-dagger life?"
"I do my best not to think about it," he said quietly. "I do what I have to do and leave the rest to Steele."
"Why? Why do you work for someone like Steele?" Megan demanded.
"Someone like Steele? Profiled him already?" Colby threw her a curious look.
"Someone as morally reprehensible as Steele," Megan said in disgust. "Machiavellian plots with more twists and turns than a mountain road."
"That implies personal gain, Megan. You don't know enough about him to determine that he's morally reprehensible."
Megan gave him another sharp glance. "You couldn't possibly imagine he's doing all this for the greater good."
Colby was silent for a few minutes as he concentrated on cutting across the traffic to get on the interstate.
"My father did his duty with honor, but followed his commander's orders right into death and disgrace," Colby said slowly, the grim set of his jaw told Megan that he was reliving the pain. "I'm my father's son to the core. Foolishly, I trusted my commanding officer to do the right thing. I followed in my father's footsteps to the letter, except I didn't die, even if all records indicate that I'm dead. Luckily for me, Steele happened to be at the right place at the right time, and because of him, I survived." He paused, lost in the memory, then he turned to her. "When Steele offered to clear my father's name, I jumped at it."
Megan held her breath for an instant, almost afraid to hear the rest of the story. What price had he paid?
Colby smiled gently at the expression on her face, "I have to say this for Steele, he keeps his promises, and then some. He cleared my father's name, and he cleared mine. The man I was is dead but his name is clear. The man I am," he paused with a slight frown, "The man I am does his duty and follows orders."
"Steele's orders," Megan said softly. As much as she'd seen as an FBI agent, as much as she'd been through at the Department of Justice, the chill in Colby's eyes scared her.
"Steele's orders," Colby agreed. "The ends justify the means. Regardless of the means, regardless of the collateral damage." He pushed his sunglasses back on and said softly, "But Steele isn't some vigilante, you know. We BIare/I/B a government sanctioned operation."
He lapsed back into silence again.
Megan wasn't sure whether she was more chilled by the things Colby had told her, or by the thought that all of it was sanctioned by the US government.
--