(A/N: Thanks for sticking around thusfar, hope you're enjoying, don't forget to rate and review after reading.)
Part 4
The Birds and the Moles
The buzzing of the alarm clock forcefully penetrated Elena's veil of sleep, and she shot a hand out from under the covers and switched it off. The blue numbers on the clock read five thirty. After resting on the pillow for a few more minutes she pushed herself out of bed, got dressed and went down to the kitchen. To her surprise, the rest of the team was already there, finishing breakfast. James indicated a chair without looking up. Elena sat down and he folded up the newspaper he had been reading.
"We have a new assignment."
Elena grabbed an imported fruit from the center of the table and started to eat it methodically.
"Doing what?"
"I got a call from Haverson, just after you went to bed. They found another mole, this one's pretty high up. A First Lieutenant, in charge of a weapons factory on the other side of town. Apparently some shipping manifests didn't match up, and they did some digging. Turns out he's been selling a portion of his quota to Insurrectionists."
"How sure are they?"
"You know the ONI, they're more methodical than diabolical, I have no doubt they've done their homework."
"So what does Haverson want us to do?"
"Kill 'em."
Elena stopped chewing.
"What?"
"You don't have any problems with that do you?"
The academy had prepared her for just such an occasion, when she would be asked to commit murder in the name of greater peace and security. She knew the order had probably come down from the Director himself, but she still hesitated.
"No, no problems."
"Good. I'll explain the particulars on the way over."
Mrs. Tate bent over and plucked another weed from the soil. They were really atrocious things, they grew like wild fire and strangled her beautiful Magnolias that she had spent so long growing, no easy feat in this atmosphere.
But it was something to do, and at her advanced age, small things took on new meaning. Besides the pollution and backwater nature, it was actually a pretty nice place to live. It was nice and quiet, and since she lived out here on the edge of the city, some days the smog would peel back and the sun would shine down on her garden.
Slowly she straightened up and walked over to the front step where she had a glass of lemonade waiting. She sipped it and looked over the suburban street. It was quiet an affluent neighborhood, and there were a lot of officers, both executive and military living here. Her eyes gravitated to a white van that was moving rather rapidly down the street. It slid up next to the curb, braked suddenly and the door slid open.
A tall thin man and a young woman with black hair exited and strode towards the house three doors down from her. She stepped farther out towards the street to get a better view. The man knocked twice on the door and the young woman stepped to the side, out of view.
Mrs. Tate realized she knew the house. It belonged to a man named Mr. Stevens, a young army officer of some sort, although she had never found out his first name or actual job, having only met him once during a garden party. A woman who was probably his wife answered the door, and despite her failing hearing, Mrs. Tate could hear all that was said.
"Hello?"
The tall man adopted a cheery smile
"Hi there, is Lieutenant Stevens in?"
"Yes, he's around back, may I ask who you are?"
"I'm Andrew Miller, a friend from work, I was wondering If I could talk to him?"
"Oh, well, alright, I'll go and get him then."
Mrs. Stevens closed the door and the man's smile melted away and he turned his back on the doorway. It was almost frightening. Mrs. Tate felt that something was deeply wrong here, although she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There was silence for a few moments and then the door re-opened. Mr. Stevens stepped out and started to approach the tall man.
"Hey Miller! I wondered when you were going to come round, did you get stuck in traffic?"
The tall man turned around and the smile faded from Mr. Stevens face.
"Hey, you're not Mi-"
In an instant the black haired young woman moved forward and pushed something long and silver into Mr. Steven's neck. He wobbled on his feet and went limp, the two bracing his fall. With each putting a hand under his armpits they dragged him back to the van. The sliding door opened once more and another pair of arms pulled him in. The two people stepped into the van and slammed the door closed. Tires screeched and the vehicle accelerated away.
"Fuck, he's already coming around. Elena, how much did you put in that syringe?"
"10cc's"
"That should be about right, maybe he's just resistant."
"It's not going to make much of a difference in a few minutes."
"You have a point."
The man was already starting to fidget against his handcuffs as Captain Hale helped her drag the man down the hall. They turned into a small square room with concrete walls, completely barren of anything save for a large sheet of plastic spread out on the floor. Elena dumped the man onto this and he immediately struggled to his knees. James stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"The court will now come to order, the Honorable Captain James Hale presiding!"
Elena pushed down on the man's shoulders to keep him from rising to his feet.
"You see, it's funny because we're acting as judge, jury, and execu-"
"The humor was not lost on me sir."
"Well that's good to know, it's not often I get to crack something like that."
James bent over the captive officer, who was still trying to get up, the sedative keeping him from exerting his full strength.
"Hey. HEY! Look at me. You see that door? Solid steel. Three inches, hollow and filled with sand. This room could survive a bomb blast, there is no fucking way you are getting out of here, so just relax, okay?"
The man stopped struggling and hung his head, tears started to stream down his face and Elena could hear muffled sobs coming from underneath the gag. She raised the pistol and motioned James out of the way.
"Easy tiger, I have to read this spiel first, make it official and whatnot."
James stepped to the corner and cleared his throat.
"First Lieutenant Adam J Stevens, you are hereby convicted of the following charges: high treason, conspiracy to commit treason, aiding and abetting a known enemy of the UNSC and her protectorates, and forgery. For these crimes you have been sentenced this day, April 2nd 2520, to be executed by firing squad."
Stevens started to shake, his whole body shivering in great waves as another round of sobs racked him. Elena raised the pistol and set her teeth. She would think back, in later years, to exactly how easy it was, taking this man's life. The trigger pulled back, just like it had for years on the firing line. A loud chack reverberated around the room and the young officer slumped over onto the plastic sheet with a faint gurgle, a neat hole in his neck issuing red. James whistled.
"Nice shot, dead center. Gimmie a hand with the cleanup."
In a bit of a daze, Elena holstered the weapon and helped James roll the sheet up, and tuck in the ends. They took it out of the room and tossed the whole thing into an incinerator positioned strategically inside the garage. James waved a hand in front of her face.
"Hey, you alright?"
Elena nodded.
"I think so."
"You don't get to do shit like that in the Army, that's for sure."
The front door closed with a bang and Pinkerton skidded into the kitchen, eyes alight. James looked up from his mug in surprise.
"Christ, I was beginning to think that you had just booked it. Where the fuck were you, I was calling you for ages!"
"Digging, now shush. I've just finished doing a job that would put a Private Eye to shame, and I'm dying for some oohs and aahs."
It was a rare man that could tell Captain James Hale to "shush" and walk away unscathed. Then again, Pinkerton wasn't run of the mill by any standard. Alex sat down at the table and emptied out a large manila folder. With thumb and forefinger he picked up the top five pieces of paper and shoved them towards James and Elena.
"These are communications transcripts between the dock master and Vice Admiral Tokugawa, and the regional security director. There's a lot of bluster, but essentially he's telling him to keep his mouth shut about a ship that disappeared from the hanger without filling out the proper electronic certificate."
Alex light a cigarette and continued to browse through, occasionally pulling out a piece of paper and pushing it under their nose. He had been a busy boy.
"This is dated about six months ago, a communiqué between Tokugawa and the Admiral of he Prowler Corps, detailing a single ship to his jurisdiction on Quadraxis. Aaand all this here-"
He laid a whole stack in front of them, almost an inch thick
"-is all of my transcripts with the dock master's AI. She was quite an informative gal, I guess you get bored being cooped up with nothing to do but handle cool downs and maintenance all your life. She gave me a complete readout on the missing ship in question, a UNSC Sub-Prowler called the Archaeopteryx. It was the first ship in a new generation of ONI stealth recon vessels, active camouflage, radar ablative coating, all sorts of goodies."
James leafed through the first few pages and then set it aside.
"So you mean to tell me that the Insurrection has just successfully stolen one of the most advanced ships in the navy, and no one is talking about it?"
"Oh they launched their own investigation all right, but they relied too much on the local cops who honestly don't get paid nearly enough to give a fuck. They made some half-hearted attempts at tracking it, but eventually they just wrote it off as a total loss."
"My god... If we reel this in, Section 3 will bend over backwards. Promotions, pay raises, how often is it that you can pull something like this out of the bag? We'll practically be rock stars. Where is it?"
Pinkerton shook his head
"Scranton-Filch Dockyards, hanger 16. It's hidden inside a super-freight container.
James scooped up all the files into the manila folder and closed the flap.
"Alright, I'll go wake up the team."