Seventeen—Reflection

"He just walked through the front door and turned himself in," Madison said skeptically.

"No," Devlin replied.  He looked at her squarely.  "He turned Pyper-Ferguson in."

"Same difference."  She paused.  "Right?"

"Not necessarily.  We've spent the last hour reviewing his statement.  It looks like he's telling the truth.  He's an innocent."

"An innocent," Madison echoed, her stomach lurching.  "As in, maybe this mission should have never happened?"

He stared at her, the regret obvious in his eyes.  "It would appear that way."

"I need a chair," she muttered.  "I don't think I can take much more of this."

"Come with me."  He placed a hand on her elbow and led her out of the communications center and down the hall.  She took one step inside the room and froze.

"You—you want me to watch?" she hissed.

"He can't see you, Grace," Devlin reasoned.  "On his side it's just a mirror.  You know that."

"Of course I know that," she snapped.  "But—but—you're sure you want me here?"

"Who better to tell if he's lying than you?"  Madison rolled her eyes.  "Come on, Grace, we've been waiting on you."

She hesitantly walked in and sat down.  Through the looking glass she could see Christopher—Burke—seated at a long table, a glass of water in front of him.  He was glancing at his watch and looking anxiously around the room.

"Gracie!" Isabel exclaimed as she and Ashley entered the room.  Madison stood up to greet them, opening her arms to hug them both.

"What is going on here?" Madison murmured.

"That's what we're all trying to figure out," Ashley whispered.  "We'll get this all straightened out, we promise."

The three women released each other.  "We need to wire Iz," Ashley said.  "We're going to have you and her on a comm link.  That way we can communicate with each other during the interrogation."

"Let me get this straight.  You two get to interview 'the cretin?'"  Madison laughed humorlessly.  "This gets stranger by the second."

"No kidding," Isabel agreed.  "Why do you think I'm the one wearing the comm link?  Just think of what Ash would do to the guy."

"Ladies, we need to begin," Devlin reminded them.  The three friends quickly sprang into action.

"Testing, one, two, three," Madison said into the microphone.

Isabel winced.  "It works.  Where's the volume button on this thing?"  Ashley made some adjustments and they tried it again.  "Much better."  She squeezed Madison's hand.  "Everything will be okay," she promised.  The two agents scurried out the door, reappearing moments later in the other room.

Three more agents filed into the interrogation room, obviously making Burke feel as if he was in front of a firing squad.

Everyone took their places at the table, pens poised and recording equipment ready to go.  "Please state your name for the record," one of the agents instructed Burke.

"Who's that?" Madison asked Devlin.

He looked at her strangely.  "Bentley.  Haven't you met him before?"

She shook her head.  "So this is the guy who started it all," she muttered to herself.  "Bastard."

On the other side of the glass Isabel coughed.  "Oops.  Sorry, Iz," Madison apologized.  She remained silent while Burke rattled off the story of his life—a story she knew almost as well as he did.

"My mother died when I was sixteen . . ."

"After graduation I went to MIT . . ."

"Top of my class . . ."

"My senior year at MIT I was recruited by Pyper-Ferguson Industries, a pharmaceutical company . . ."

"Last fall Pyper-Ferguson bought out Kelley Industries.  I was assigned to head up the transition team . . ."

" . . . and that is when I began to suspect my employer."  Burke paused.

"Is something wrong?" Ashley asked harshly.

Madison drew in a breath on the other side of the glass.  "Come on, Burke, it was starting to get good.  Why did you stop now?"

Burke glanced at his watch.  "No, not really.  It's just getting late, and I don't want to worry my wife.  Is there any way I could call her?"

Ashley muffled a noise from the back of her throat; from the way she jerked, Madison was certain she had been kicked under the table.  "Your wife," Ashley said slowly.  "Why don't we talk about her."

"Izzy, make her behave," Madison warned into the comm link.  She knew Isabel couldn't answer her, but after so many years of friendship she could sense her response.  Believe me, I'm trying.

Burke stared at Ashley.  "My wife is not a part of this; it's unnecessary for her to be included in this report.  I just want her to know that I'm not going to be home for awhile."

"Worrying about the little wife.  How positively sweet of you," Ashley said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.  She reluctantly stood and walked over to a phone hanging on the wall.  "What's her number?"

Burke recited her number, and Ashley promptly dialed.  Madison still jerked when her cell phone began to ring.

She grimaced at Devlin.  "Show time," she said grimly.  She picked up her phone and answered it.  "Hello?"

"May I speak to Mrs. Burke, please?" Ashley said sweetly into her ear.

"Ash, you've got to stop acting like a twelve-year-old.  For the love of God—"

"This is Ashley from Pyper-Ferguson.  I'm one of the new secretaries," she gushed.  "Your husband asked me to call you and tell you he's been pulled into a meeting with the higher-ups."

"Stop making this interrogation personal, okay?  Just do your job and see for yourself if he's innocent or guilty."

"He said for you to not wait up for him; he doesn't know what time he'll be home.  Is there anything you'd like me to pass on to him?"

"Behave yourself, Ashley.  I'm serious.  And I know Isabel agrees with me," Madison said.  She could see Isabel nodding slightly in the interrogation room as she brushed her hair over the earpiece.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't catch that.  What did you say?"

She paused, staring past Devlin at Burke's profile.  "Tell him that Madison sends her love and to hurry home soon."  She clicked her phone off and watched as Ashley hung up her phone.  She listened as Ashley relayed the message and noticed that Burke smiled imperceptibly.

Madison sat back in her chair as Burke began his longwinded explanation.  Names of superiors, colleagues, friends whom he suspected.  The hierarchy within Pyper-Ferguson Industries and how the acquisition of Kelley Laboratories impacted that.  The work that Pyper-Ferguson had performed in the last several years, the work that Burke had developed, overseen, approved.

Two hours later the agents interrupted him.  "We will resume in ten minutes," Isabel told Burke.  "Is there anything you need?  Water, perhaps?"

Burke nodded gratefully.

"We'll have someone send it in," she said with a smile.  She stood up and glanced at her watch.  "Ten minutes," she reminded the other agents.  All five stood and exited the room.

Madison and Devlin both stood up.  Devlin walked over to the door and opened it, admitting Ashley, Isabel, and Agent Bentley.

"So what do you think?" Devlin asked them.  The three agents remained silent.

"I think he's innocent," Isabel said when no one else spoke.  "His oral statement so far confirms everything that he wrote earlier; there are no contradictions.  It appears he discovered recently what his employers were doing, but while he didn't report them immediately, I can understand why he hesitated.  He wanted to make sure he had proof, which he has now in abundance."  She cleared her throat.  "I think it was a bold move for him to be collecting information on them, right under their noses, in order to turn them in."

Devlin nodded.  "Bentley?"

Agent Bentley frowned.  "He sounds like he's innocent," he finally said.  "But it doesn't make sense.  How could our intel have been so faulty?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Ashley countered with a shake of her head.

"What about you, Ash?  What do you think?" Madison asked.

She wrinkled her nose.  "Isabel has a point," she conceded.  "Everything has matched up so far.  But I'm not convinced he is who he says he is.  Not to mention," she added, "that he still hasn't revealed what the weapons are."

"So ask him that as soon as you resume the interrogation," Devlin replied.  He turned slightly.  "Okay, Grace.  You've been watching the whole time.  Not only that, but you know this man better than any of us.  Is Christopher Burke lying or telling the truth?"

Madison swallowed.  "He's telling the truth," she said softly.  "All of it.  He's not lying.  I—I can tell."

"Time's up," Ashley said.  She tapped a finger against her watch.  "Let's go."

The agents reassembled in the interrogation room.  Ashley began the questioning this time.

"In your statement, you indicated that it is your belief that a biological weapon has not only been produced by Kelley Laboratories, but also sold to terrorists?"

Burke shook his head.  "It wasn't sold, exactly."

Bentley's eyes narrowed.  "Explain yourself."

"When Kelley Laboratories became a part of Pyper-Ferguson, one of the first things they did was examine the prescription drugs manufactured by Pyper-Ferguson.  Kelley wanted to improve upon one of Pyper-Ferguson's most popular meds, or so they said."

Madison leaned forward in her seat.  "And if what Sark said is true," she muttered, "someone in the FDA was bought off and it's already out there."

"I believe that they took one med in particular and altered it, including a low-level toxin in it that, when taken on a regular basis, would slowly kill off a substantial part of the population," Burke continued.

"Something taken on a regular basis."  Madison thought out loud.  "Ibuprofen?  No, that's not something you take regularly.  Sinus medication?  Maybe . . . an allergy med?"  Devlin shrugged.

"I was initially tipped off when I heard that Kelley was reexamining the composition of this med because it's already top-of-the-line.  I worked on the original project myself."

"Something Burke worked on."  She mentally reviewed his file as he continued to speak.

"What's that?" Devlin asked her.

"What?"

"That beeping noise," he said.

Madison glanced around.  "Oh!  It's the alarm on my cell phone."  She quickly pulled her phone out of her purse and turned the alarm off.  "I set the alarm for nine o'clock every night—"  She gulped.  "Oh God."

She recalled what the doctor told her in the medical services unit that afternoon a few months earlier.  "When you go over to the pharmacy, make sure that they give you exactly what's written here, not the newest one on the market.  It received FDA approval last month.  It's not really any different from what you're taking, just enough so that when your med can be made as a generic, Pyper-Ferguson can still make even more revenue."

Her eyes widened as she pulled her medicine out of her purse.  She stared at the Pyper-Ferguson labeling as she and Burke said at the same time, "It's the new birth control pill."

*****

"We are still authenticating your statement," Isabel told Burke two hours later.  "But it appears that you have valid intel that can enable the United States government to stop terrorist activity."

Burke appeared visibly relieved.  "So what now?"

"When you leave here you will be under constant surveillance," Isabel began.  "Both for your protection and ours.  Agents will follow you, guard your home, make sure you stay safe tomorrow at work."

"I have to go back to work tomorrow?" he asked incredulously.

"We know it sounds unreasonable," Ashley said in a far kinder voice than before.  "But there are certain key pieces of intel that only you will be able to give us.  Our agents can not simply infiltrate the facility; from our reports and yours, there is a failsafe in place that would destroy everything.  We need you on the inside."

"For how long?"

Ashley shrugged.  "We have no way of knowing.  It could be weeks, it could be months."

Madison laughed sadly from her vantage point.  "Funny.  That's what they told me too."

"I don't know."  Burke hesitated.  "I don't want to put my wife in any danger."

"She will be under constant surveillance as well," Isabel assured him.  "You have our guarantee that nothing will happen to either one of you."

"Can I get that in writing?" Madison muttered.  Devlin glared at her.

"I—I don't have to keep this from her, do I?" he asked nervously.

The agents exchanged a glance.  "That is up to you to decide," Ashley said finally.  "But she is the only person you must even think of telling.  Your life is at stake here."

"I can tell my wife; Maddie is the most trustworthy person I've ever met," he said resolutely.  Isabel and Ashley both winced slightly.  On the other side of the glass, Madison groaned.

Ashley nodded.  "An agent will escort you out of the building and to your home," she told Burke.  "We'll be in touch."  With that, she and the other agents exited the room.

Devlin continued to watch the sole occupant of the interrogation room as he spoke.  "We need to get you home before Burke arrives."  Out of the corner of his eye he could see Madison nod in agreement.  "This certainly changes our operation, Grace.  I'll contact you in the next few days about an altered mission.  Don't worry; we'll get you out of this safe and sound.  And soon."  He gently touched her shoulder, then stood and left her alone.

tbc