Putting The Gun Down

Chapter 3: Operation Ryan Fletcher

11:00 am

Despite his hatred for his demotion, Ryan Fletcher worked diligently organizing and reviewing Cold War files. After all he was an analyst, and he never stopped connecting the dots. It didn't matter if they belonged to Division or to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

As he was flipping through some old papers, he hadn't noticed the young woman walk through the doors. "Uhhh," Elizabeth stuttered walking to the first desk at the front of the room. Sitting there was an older gentleman that looked very much like he wished he hadn't been bothered. "Excuse me," she said pushing her false glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "I-I'm looking for Ryan Fletcher." Ryan's head snapped up the minute he heard his name.

The older man pointed a finger at Ryan, whose desk was in the center of the third row of small office cubicles. Elizabeth had only ever seen him once before and it had only been from far away. She had also seen pictures, but there was always a difference for her between an image and the real thing. He was clean shaven with his dark brown hair parted to the side. His cold blue eyes matched his contemplative expression. He really is a thinker, she thought, and from what she could tell he never stopped. The way she saw him ruffling through his papers just seconds before and the way he stared at her in that moment helped her see that this was a man who never stopped asking questions.

She smiled at him as she walked towards his desk. In doing so she pretended not to notice where she was going and walked right into someone else's desk. The character she and Amanda had created was an awkward, shy, but also charming young journalist that was maybe just a little bit clumsy. She had knocked a large amount of papers off the desk. The young woman who sat behind it took a deep sigh of frustration. "I'm so sorry," Elizabeth apologized greatly while picking up the papers and giving them back to the woman. "Sorry," she apologized again before turning around.

"Excuse me," Elizabeth said, finally reaching Ryan. "Mr. Fletcher?" He nodded. "I'm Elizabeth Slater. I'm here to interview you for-"

"I'm sorry I'm not taking interviews at this time," he replied before she could finish. He stood up, grabbed a few files, and headed toward the copier at the other side of the room. She fallowed him.

"But, I've had this appointment with you for over a month," she explained. "Please if I don't come back with something my editor is going to have a cow."

He thought for a moment before he agreed. "Alright," he sighed with a little uncertainty. "But I'm in the middle of something right now. I can break for lunch in an hour." He grabbed a post it note from the top of the copier and scribbled down a few words. "Here's an address to a coffee shop near by. We can meet there."

"Thank you," Elizabeth shook his hand appreciatively. "You have no idea how much my boss is going to appreciate this."

12:20 pm

She sat tapping her fingers impatiently against her cardboard coffee cup. Elizabeth wasn't sure why she had been so nervous. Sure, she wasn't exactly used to Under Cover missions, but it wasn't like she had never done one before. Fletcher was twenty minutes later than she had expected him to be. As he walked into the coffee shop, she couldn't help but notice he was constantly looking over his shoulder. She made a note in her mind to remember that he knew he was being watched.

"Sorry," Ryan sighed taking a seat across from her at the table. "I would have been here earlier, but I got held up with something."

"It's okay," she said pulling out her notepad, pen, and recorder. "Do you want to order something before we get started?"

"I'm fine actually," he said rather uncomfortably. "Can we just get this over with?" Clearly, Ryan was annoyed about something, but what, Elizabeth wasn't sure.

"Yeah, sure," she replied flipping through her notepad. "So tell me, when you were in Chile, what did you-" she cut herself off pretending to get nervous and to have lost all of her questions. "I mean how did you-? Can you elaborate on-? What exactly did you find-? Was there any-?"

"Woah," he said raising up his hands a little in defense. "Slow down. Take your time."

Elizabeth took in a deep and overly dramatic breath. "Right." She opened her mouth to ask another question, but changed her mind and burst out, "I have a confession to make." She smiled guiltily at the man. "I don't really have any interest in your trip to Chile."

"What?"

"No offense, but conspiracy theories aren't really my thing," she replied. Ryan stared at her completely puzzled. "In fact I'm not much of a political writer either. Science Journalism has always been my first love."

"Then why-?"

"I've been trying to get editors all over town to read my article's, but it seems none of them really care about the Australopithecus sediba I wrote-"

"I'm sorry the What?" he asked not comprehending at all with what Elizabeth had just said.

"It was a 1.9 million year old skeleton that was discovered in South Africa," she explained quickly so she could get back to the subject at hand. "Anyway, most of the editors wouldn't even glance at the articles that I sent in. They all said the same thing. 'You want a job? Look into something we might actually be interested in.' So when I heard about you on the news I immediately knew that you were where a story was."

Ryan could see the anticipation written all over her face and hated to have to disappoint her, but he had no choice. "Look," he sighed. "I'm sorry, but if you were hoping to get some sort of inside scoop, I'm afraid I can't give it to you. All my answers are going to be just as vague as they are in every other interview."

Ryan watched Elizabeth's face fall. "So then why did you agree to meet me here?" she asked acting as though she had been saddened by the news.

"I don't know," Ryan said honestly. "You seemed like you really needed it." Ahhh, Elizabeth thought. He's a sympathizer. "And I'm still here if you want to ask me some questions. I'll do my best to answer them with as much detail as I can."

"No," she shook her head. "You don't have to. It's just a waist of your time."

"Come on, there has to be something you want to ask me?" he said. Ryan gently pulled the notepad away from Elizabeth. As he looked through it he couldn't help but notice the notepad was blank. "You know this is empty right?'

"Yeah," she groaned a little in embarrassment. "I grabbed the wrong one this morning.

Ryan chuckled a little, "It's okay." Elizabeth couldn't help but notice when his eyebrows started to squint and his eyes began staring up at the ceiling. He was thinking again. "Tell you what. Why don't I ask you a few questions about yourself? Maybe that will help you remember what you wanted to ask me."

"I don't really see how that's going to work," she replied. "But okay."

"What's your name?"

"I told you earlier it's-"

"What's your name?" Ryan insisted.

"Elizabeth Slater," she said warmly. "What's your name?"

"Ryan Fletcher. How old are you?"

What is this an interrogation? She thought. I'm the one who's supposed to be getting answers from him. "I just turned 23. Where are you from?"

"Pennsylvania," he replied. He raised his chin a little and smirked. "Tell me Elizabeth, what was your favorite movie as a kid?"

"I wasn't aloud to watch movies or TV when I was younger."

"Really?" he said with a layer shock in his voice. "Why was that?"

Elizabeth smirked back at him. "Nope, it's my turn." She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "Do you have any siblings?"

Clearly Elizabeth had touched a nerve because Ryan's playful grin had moved slowly to a sorrowful frown. "I had an older brother. He died an Afghanistan."

"I'm sorry," she replied feeling the tone in the room shift. "I shouldn't have asked. That was too personal.

"It's okay," he said softly. "We all have baggage that we carry with us right?"

Buddy-Boy you have no idea. "Is that my question, or do you want to ask another one?" Ryan didn't respond. "I was adopted. My biological parents were from Germany. They got into some trouble with a gang and when they found out my mother was pregnant, they fled to the States. About two months after I was born they were deported. They wanted to keep me safe and since I was born in the U.S…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"They put you up for adoption," Ryan finished.

"Yeah," she sighed. "From what I've been told they were probably killed the minute they landed in Germany."

There was a long period of silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. The two just sat there with a quiet understanding of what the other had been though. Elizabeth knew what it was like to lose a family member, hell she lost both of her adoptive parents, even if one of them wasn't dead. Ryan knew what it was like be an outsider even in one's own family. Not even his parents supported his "Ghost Unit" theory.

Elizabeth was startled when the sound of her phone went off. She wasn't expecting anyone to call. Elizabeth picked it up checking to see what text message she had received. Like most Division numbers, it was private. The message read:

This is your bailout if you need it. –Sey

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Birkhoff's text. In truth she would have loved to sit and talk to Ryan for the rest of the day, but she knew he had work to do and she also needed to find a way to attach a tracker to him. Just as she was about to say something to Ryan her phone rang again.

P.S. You're welcome.

Elizabeth just texted him back with:

Yeah, whatever

Ryan saw the frown on her face and asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she said putting her phone back in her purse. "But, I have to go. I feel awful that I brought you all the way down here to speak with me and we didn't even talk about Chile."

"It's alright," he said kindly. "Why don't I give you my number," he said taking her notepad again along with her pen. "If you come up with any questions, feel free to call."

"Thank you," she replied as he scribbled down his ten digits. "Why don't I buy you a coffee to make up for it?"

"That's really not necessary," he said handing her back her things.

"It's the least I could do." And before he could protest she went straight up to the barista and ordered Ryan a medium cup of coffee. After the drink had been made, Elizabeth picked it up and managed to slip a tiny Microdot into his cup.

"Thanks."Elizabeth purposefully made sure her fingers touched his as she passed him the hot piece of cardboard. "Seriously," Ryan looked in her eyes. "Call me."

She nodded feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. "Bye," she waved awkwardly, grabbed her purse and jacket, and left the coffee shop.

5:30 pm

Elizabeth stood behind the apartment building with her phone in hand waiting for Ryan to show up. Checking his tracker, she noticed he was right around the corner. Elizabeth had purposefully made sure they would run into each other going into the building.

When Ryan came into her sight of view she started walking towards the entrance. "Elizabeth?" he said.

She smirked before turning around and acted as though she was just as surprised as he was. "Ryan?"

"You don't live here do you?" he asked sounding almost a little suspicious of her.

"I moved in last week," she replied. "What a small world right?"

"Yeah, I guess. What floor are you on?"

"Four," she said. She noticed the two large brief cases he was carrying. "Do you need any help with those? They look pretty heavy."

"No thanks." Elizabeth could tell he was feeling awkward about the situation.

"Well, since you're here, I don't suppose you could help me with something?" she said pushing her purse strap further up her shoulder. "I bought a new nightstand and it's already in my apartment, but I need to move it. I'm not strong enough to handle it on my own. Do you think you could give me a hand?"

"Uhhh," he hesitated. "Sure, why not." Everything was going according to plan.

Elizabeth led Ryan up to her apartment. Sitting in the living room area was a brand new cherry wood nightstand. Elizabeth also took notice of a small blue box wrapped in white ribbon with a note attached to it on the coffee table. I'll worry about that later, she thought.

It didn't take Ryan more than five minutes to carry the nightstand from the living room to her bedroom. "Thanks, I really appreciate it," she said after he placed the nightstand next to her bed.

"It was no trouble," he shrugged.

"I don't suppose you'd like to hang out for a bit?" she suggested. "Being new to this area I don't really know a lot of people." Being the nice guy Ryan was, he agreed, but not without a slight bit of uncertainty first. "Great! Why don't you go out there and order a pizza. I'm just gonna change into some sweats."

Ryan left her bedroom and she shut the sliding doors behind him. Going through her Division approved wardrobe, Elizabeth found the pair of grey sweatpants and the large T-Shirt that read, "Books turn Muggles into Wizards". She undid her belt, slipped off her skirt, and took off her shirt replacing them on her body with the new clothes she had picked out. She walked over to the mirror sitting on top of her dresser and tied her short hair into pigtails.

Elizabeth slid the doors to her bedroom open and then closed them behind her. "Ryan, did you order the-"she stopped.

Ryan was standing in the middle of her living room pointing a gun directly at Elizabeth's chest.

"Don't move."