Chapter Seven
Birkhoff rolled his chair to another monitor across the room. He punched a couple buttons to pull up a search to make sure it was still running correctly. When he was satisfied it was running fine, he minimized it, and then rolled back across to the other system. It had been busy as the temporary head tech. It had been a week since Simon had disappeared and Birkhoff had spent almost 24 hours a day working on the computer systems and hacking into new places so Division would have access if they needed it. Each day he taught a class, the recruits listening to him, but the lack of respect clear in their eyes. In Simon's office he had secured a supply of energy drinks and liquorish to keep him going as he spent his time redoing his systems.
On his main system, Birkhoff punched up the tracker search. Every day about this time he did a search for Simon's tracker. In the week he had been made the active head tech there had been no sign of Simon's tracker. He was not surprised when yet again nothing came up. With an eye roll, Birkhoff closed the search. It was completely foreign to him how Simon could just disappear with the way Division protected itself and kept track of all its assets. Part of him felt that something strange was going on but the rest of him knew instinctually not to question it- questioning it would not b goo for him.
Meanwhile Percy sat in his office, leaned back in his leather chair, watching the young recruit working in Simon's office. He had to admit he was pleasantly surprised by the young man's work ethic. In a week the young man had barely slept, living off the energy drinks they had provided him and his enthusiasm for making their programs better. It seemed that his goal was to get the systems up before he would rest. The loyalty question seemed quite clear also- the kind had not questioned a thing. As long as he had the equipment to do what was needed, he worked and asked no questions- exactly what Percy wanted.
He looked up as his door opened, Amanda slipping into the room. "You wanted me?" she asked with a smile as she sauntered in.
"Yes." Percy looked away from his computer and back at Amanda. "I wanted to see what you thought of Birkhoff's progress."
Amanda thought for a minute, and then replied, "I think he is doing well. He has taken the responsibility in stride. He's doing what he is supposed to and not asking questions. Even though the other recruits are not giving him any respect, he is managing it and getting them through their lessons."
Percy leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him on the desk. He was glad to hear that Amanda agreed with his assessment. "Do you think we should move forward with the plan?" he asked her.
"Well, I think that is your decision, but I would think it is a formality at this point."
"Great." Percy was glad to hear her agreement.
"Are you going to have Roan cancel Simon?"
Percy could tell by Amanda's tone of voice that she was excited for this to happen. She had taken Simon's betrayal almost as seriously as Percy had himself. "No." Percy sat back in his chair then stood up. "I want to talk to him first."
Nodding in understanding, Amanda stood to walk out with Percy. "I'll let you know when it's done and you can let Birkhoff know the good news."
"I'll look forward to it." She answered.
Walking down the hallway, Percy then took an elevator towards the fifth sublevel where he was in holding. He punched in his security code, then opened the door and walked in. The room was dark, only a few lights hung from the ceiling. I was chilly and damp- no heating in this room- no reason to waste it on prisoners. Roan stood in ready stance next to Simon. Simon was tied to the chair by both his wrists and ankles. He was gagged, but it was hard to see because Simon's head hung down, shaggy brown hair hanging down over his eyes. His face, arms and legs were bruised from the beatings Roan had been subjecting him to- his punishment.
So far no one had said a word to Simon, although Percy knew Simon was a smart man and could figure out why he was there and being punished. Either way, Percy knew he wanted to get in the first words. He gave Roan a hand signal and Roan stepped in front of Simon, giving him a hard slap. Simon looked up and locked eyes with Percy. "My, my Simon, quite a mess you've gotten yourself into." Percy started, Simon protesting by pulling at his restraints, but he couldn't move.
Percy reached over and aggressively pulled the gag from Simon's mouth. Simon looked up at Percy, contempt in his eyes, finally spitting out, "Screw you Percy."
A laugh was all he got in reply. "You think you can betray Division without us finding out? Obviously you aren't as smart as we thought you were."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Simon insisted, looking away from Percy.
With anger, Percy leaned down in Simon's face. His smile had quickly reversed to a taut frown. "Don't lie to me Simon. You've already done more than enough of that." Percy stood up and walked a few paces, then turned back around to face Simon. "We know all about you and Laura."
Instantly a look of panic crossed Simon's face. It was clear he had never calculated the possibility that Division would find out about his girlfriend and their plans. Percy knew Simon should have known better. It wasn't exactly a hidden fact that Division agents no longer had any secrets. The minute you joined Division you had not more secrets, Division knew everything about you and you owed everything to them. It was beyond Percy how such an intelligent hacker could be so dumb. All the more reason to kill him- and the unfortunate girl. "Did you get what I asked for?" Percy asked Roan.
Roan handed a ring over to Percy and Percy held it up in front of Simon's face. The despair on Simon's face made it clear that he knew exactly what the ring meant. As Percy had learned through Roan that nothing could make Laura, his girlfriend, take off the ring. By showing Simon the ring, it could only mean one thing- that Laura had been killed. "No." he whispered in shock.
"She went peacefully." Roan added to the insult.
"Screw you Percy!" Simon spat once again. "I've faithfully served you for years. I have one thing for myself and you end it!"
"Division is your life! We rescued you and gave you a second chance. You were nothing until we saved you. This is how you thank us? By plotting to leave? Tsk, tsk." Percy clicked his tongue for emphasis.
Simon wasn't listening. The minute he saw Laura's ring, he knew they had discovered his plot and he was as good as dead. He figured at least he would go out on top. "Is that why you brought the wiz kid in here?" Simon shouted, "So I could train my replacement before you kill me?"
With a shake of his head, Percy replied, "Your betrayal is what is disturbing. Yes, I had Amanda find Birkhoff to replace you, but only after we discovered the betrayal. Sure we had you train him- you're the only one that could! We wouldn't have had to do it if you hadn't decided to leave, to betray us. Your actions caused the situation."
Snorting in contempt, Simon replied, "You found him? I put the kid there for you!"
Back in Simon's office, Birkhoff was still working on the programs for Division. One of the things that he had quickly found out from Simon was the process of finding recruits since it was the head tech's job. He had pulled up the program to see if there were any new prisoners fit the Division criteria. Pulling up the program, he glanced through some of the files from before his time at Division to see previous recruits as a case study of what he would need to do.
He quickly discovered that prisoners were entered into the prison system, and then Division searched that database for the kind of crimes that would fit their needs- murder, fraud, those kinds of things. From there, they would reach the list that they had and review all of the options to see who fit the next criteria- a small group of people or no group if the recruit was really good, that would ask questions if the person disappeared. Lastly they would determine if their attitude would allow them to work with Division and their goals, or if they would be too confrontational to listen to their training or that would try to escape the first chance that they got. Each stage was closely documented so Birkhoff had lots of examples to look at.
When he came across his file, Birkhoff smirked, and opened it up. He wanted to see how he had matched up. The first level was very obvious- Division wanted him for his hacking skills. He found one thing strange in his file- the notes had been added by Amanda instead of Simon- his file was the only one where the notes weren't done by Simon. He brushed it off, maybe because Simon was head tech someone else drafted the tech experts, and went on to the next part of his file. The notes said that Birkhoff had no family, few friends, which made him a good candidate. The last category was easy, Amanda had determined that Birkhoff would be a reasonable choice to bring into Division; they didn't predict or foresee him trying to leave. With a smirk he went to close the file, he noticed a note that Simon had attached to the file. Opening it up, Birkhoff could not believe what he had read.
