Note: Here is the final part of the story. Thank you for being so patient, when I started this story I had a rough idea where I was going and some parts took a little longer than others. This is my first fan fiction in over 8 years, I'm still a little rusty, but this helped shake the rust off. Thanks to everyone for their reviews and story alerts. I was excited to see over 20 story alerts on my first swing at this.
In all it's "glory." I hope you enjoy...
"You're the busy little beaver over there." Annie told Jai as they were sitting across their desks in the bullpen.
"Just wrapping up the file on Redondo." Jai didn't look up.
"That was a great job down there."
"The usual; a little luck, a little skill and a little help from Auggie."
"I'm thinking skill." Annie replied, for once Jai might need a little boost in his self-confidence.
Jai finally looked up at his friend, she was smiling at him. "Thanks Annie."
"Why are you doing this Arthur?" Liza was sitting in at her desk trying to organize her notes.
"Because, I trust you to do the right thing." He replied on the other end of the phone.
"Since when do you trust a reporter?"
She was right, since when did he trust a reporter. Now would be a good time to start. "Ball's in your court Liza." Arthur said hanging up the phone.
Liza stared at the phone listening to the dial tone for a moment. She had just gotten an exclusive on possibly the biggest story to come out in a long time. It could be the biggest story of her career.
Annie looked up from her desk and spotted Arthur walking into Joan's office and close the door. It was happening, it was really happening. She glanced at Jai, not wanting to trade places with him.
"Steve's is having a press conference at 4 p.m. today." Arthur told his wife while sitting on the small sofa in her office.
"They're going to do it?"
"Treason, yes. And he had me give Liza Hearn a heads up."
"So we have about, what, two hours before it hits?"
Arthur glanced at the clock on the wall. "About that."
"We should warn Jai." She said looking out into the bullpen at the son of the man who was going to be charged with possibly the worst crime against the government.
"Do it." Arthur said, standing up to wait for Jai.
Joan got up from her desk and opened the door. "Jai, can we see you?"
Annie made a beeline for Auggie's office as soon as Jai walked into Joan's office.
"They called Jai in." She said quietly while leaning on the edge of his desk.
"How did it look?" Auggie asked, turning away from his keyboard.
"Serious. I feel so sorry for Jai, the world as he knew it just came to a halt."
"You can sit down Jai." Arthur motioned to the sofa and Jai sat cautiously on the edge of the cushions.
"We need to tell you what's going to happen next." Joan joined Jai on the sofa while Arthur sat in one of the chairs across from her desk. "Steve Baylor and the President met this morning. They've decided to charge your father with treason."
Jai thought his world was done spinning, but he felt like it was spiraling out of control. But he looked at Joan and then Arthur. "OK…." Was all he could get to come out of his mouth.
"Steve and I talked about you today as well." Arthur began. "What your father has done has no bearing on your place in the agency. You are an asset to the agency, we both agree on that."
Jai took it all in, in the middle of a conversation with the Director of National Intelligence about treason charges against his father, Arthur Campbell had made a point to discuss his future. "Thank you." Two words came out this time, he was improving.
"This information is going to go vertical pretty fast this afternoon." Joan explained. "Liza Hearn has it and she's running a story in the afternoon edition. Steve is holding a press conference at 4 pm today."
"If I were you, I'd lay low for the rest of the day." Arthur said, "The press is going to try to get information out of you."
"But I don't know anything. Only what you've told me."
"That's all you need to know." Arthur stood up and looked out the window. "Jai, I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to be pretty rough for a while. But you will get through it, we all will."
"I appreciate the heads up." Jai stood up and Joan squeezed his hand. " I think I will take your advice and lay low."
Liza's news editor was leaning over her shoulder as her fingers hit the keys on the laptop. She could feel his breath on her ear as he read the story that was unfolding in front of him.
"Is this right?" He asked. "You've got it verified?"
"Verified and straight from Arthur Campbell."
"I thought you didn't agree with his tactics."
"Let's say my original source had other motives." Liza said hitting print on the computer program. "Here you go. Hot off the presses."
"This is great stuff. You'd better get over to TNN for the interview."
"Hey guys." Jai poked his head into Auggie's office "Can I take you up on the hiding out offer now? Allen's?"
"Absolutely." Annie replied. "We can leave now, can't we Auggie." She said pushing Auggie's shoulder.
Julie Donovan accepted the package from the messenger, she was secretly happy that the damn package had finally arrived. Now she could do her work without her boss asking if it was here every five minutes. She went to his door and knocked three times. Three knocks meant that she had something that Arthur wanted.
"Come in Julie." He responded as she opened the door. "Finally." He took the package from her and went to his desk where Joan was waiting.
"Thank you Julie." Joan smiled at Julie, knowing that Arthur wouldn't think to thank her. Julie closed the door as Arthur ripped open the package.
He and Joan looked down at the advance copy of the afternoon edition of the Washington Recorder. Liza Hearn's story was front page above the fold. The headline read: "Retired Senior CIA Officer to be Charged with Treason"
"Now coming to us from our Washington DC studio, we have Liza Hearn of the Washington Recorder with up to the minute details on the news coming out of the Director of National Intelligence Office." The TNN reporter began the introduction to the next story. "Liza, what can you tell us about this surprising news?"
"Well Troy, this story just came together in the last 24 hours." Liza was enjoying her moment in the limelight. "A series of events occurred that brought to light that my source of information at the CIA was actually acting for his own benefit. Henry Wilcox made many attempts to sabotage the work of the current Director of Clandestine Services, Arthur Campbell….."
The report continued on TNN with Liza Hearn as Jai, Auggie and Annie gathered around the television in the bar area of Allen's Tavern.
"Wow…" Annie gasped as she heard the words actually come from the television.
"That could be an understatement." Auggie said as he took another drink of beer.
Jai sat at the bar, looking into his bottle of beer, he wasn't sure if he should look up at the television, if he did it might all be real. "Somehow I always knew he'd flame out like this, I'm just grateful he didn't take anyone else with him."
The bartender realized who was sitting in front of him, he motioned to the television where a picture of Henry Wilcox was displayed with treason written across the bottom of it. "Hey, Jai isn't that your….." Annie and Auggie quickly waved him off.
"So much for hiding out." Jai looked at the television, his world was officially upside down.
"That bitch!" Henry threw the remote control down on the leather ottoman. "After all I did for her she betrayed me like this! If she was playing me the whole time….."
He went to his office and grabbed his wallet out of the drawer of his desk, snatching his briefcase he headed toward the front door. "Arthur had something to do with this, I underestimated that son of a bitch….." Henry opened the door to find three U.S. Marshals standing in front of him.
"Mr. Wilcox." The lead marshal stopped him in his tracks. "The President would like to have a word with you."
Henry looked down his nose at the marshals, struggling in their grasp. "He would now, would he? I want to talk to Steve Baylor." Steve always believed everything he had to say. He would fix this.
"Mr. Baylor is the one who asked us to bring you in." The marshal answered, leading Henry to the waiting car.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Baylor, the Director of National Intelligence has an announcement to make."
Steve Baylor took stood behind the podium, the lights of news cameras and still photography flashes in his eyes. "Late yesterday, a situation regarding a leak within the Central Intelligence Agency was brought to my attention. Several of our agents through diligent work discovered the source of the leak and confirmed it by placing false information in possession of the individual. This individual in turn leaked the information to Liza Hearn of the Washington Recorder. Former Director of Clandestine Services, Henry Wilcox was found to be the source of the leak. On direction of the President of the United States, Mr. Wilcox will be charged with the crime of treason. Mr. Wilcox is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshall Service and the President will work with Congress to assure a speedy trial."
The room of reporters was abuzz with questions. One was louder that the others.
"Will Liza Hearn be charged with treason as well?"
"No, Miss Hearn fully cooperated with the CIA and we do not expect to see any charges forthcoming." Steve responded.
"Can you just turn that thing off?' Jai asked the bartender. The bartender obliged and turned off the television. "And get me another beer."
"This has nothing to do with you Jai." Annie tried to comfort her friend.
"I know…." Jai sighed. "On second thought, I need to get out of here."
"Jai…." Auggie started.
"I'll be OK." Jai told them. " I need to just be alone for a while. I'm gonna take a walk. Thanks for helping me hide out." He gave Annie a quick hug and patted Auggie on the back before walking out into the fading light of the day.
"Does he know our part in this?" Annie asked Auggie after Jai was out the door.
"Nope." Auggie said taking a drink of beer. "And I think we'd better not tell him right now. He's had enough betrayal to last a while."
Joan turned off the television that was playing Steve Baylor's press conference and turned to her husband. "It's over. It's finally over." She said swooping in to give Arthur a hug, a rare sign of affection while at work.
Arthur took his wife into his arms to return the hug and savoring the moment of victory over his rival. It was fleeting. "I hope it is. But when Henry Wilcox is involved, is it ever really over?"
The end
More Notes:
I was going to end this one all wrapped up with a pretty little bow. But after much internal debate, I decided to leave the door open a bit for a follow up story. I think there may be some story left in this one, but I'm not entirely sure. We'll see how fast the little hamster moves in the wheel of my mind.
My goal is to make my stories seem like an episode of the show. I hope at the end you felt like you just enjoyed a great episode and you want to tune in next week to see what will happen.
Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.
-M