As always, I apologize for the delay.
Paszek had already begun to grow tired of the Atlanta Coalescence building. He had been there three times in the last six months, not to mention twice in as many days. And each time seemed to be worse than the last.
The place was usually pretty quiet, inside and out, but with the bomb threat looming, it was quite the opposite. Officers and agents in varying amounts of armor stood outside every side of the building, pointing details out and talking through their communicators. Further away, about two dozen people in lab coats, and a few other employees, stood behind a steel barrier guarded by another officer.
Paszek and Kane quickly exited their van after it stopped at the edge of the parking lot, and the driver took a few moments later.
A somewhat-darkly skinned man wearing a suit jacket with a black Kevlar vest overtop pressed a button on his earpiece and started walking towards the pair.
"Captain Paszek, Officer Kane, glad you're here."
"And you are?" spoke Paszek.
"Jamie Curran. Assistant to the Director. You spoke with the Director earlier, Officer?"
"Yes. I heard you already disarmed one of the bombs."
"Well, actually, that's old news. We got all four of them now."
"Just like that?" said Paszek.
Curran lightly chuckled. "It's amazing what our scanners can do these days. Bomb squad found all four within ten minutes, and had all of the connections severed in another ten. He's using the same thermite explosives everyone else is these days. Simple stuff, really."
"Well, uh…alright then. So, what do you need us for?"
"You two know more about this masked man than the rest of us. I need you to look around, ask around…do whatever it is you can do to figure out, well, anything about him. Who he is, where he is, what he'll do next…"
"Is there any kind of timetable?" asked Kane.
"Yes and no. Until he makes another public statement, there's no way of knowing when he'll do something like this again. But we want to know sooner rather than later."
He pulled a small phone out of his pocket.
"Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Curran started talking to whoever the hell was on the other end of the line and walked away.
Kane looked towards the CIA-flanked building.
"I'm heading inside. Going to take a look at these bombs. You do whatever you want."
Her not-quite-passive aggressive tone was not lost on Paszek. He sighed to himself.
With Kane now walking closer to the Coalescence building, Paszek's eyes were caught by the crowd – the large crowd of lab coats and jumpsuits that were corralled behind the steel barricades. Were those the employees? Maybe Dr. Berg could clear something up.
"Were all of these people in the building at the time of the evacuation?"
The sunglasses-clad agent shook his head.
"Nope. Some of them…mostly the docs, got here just after. Must have been on their way."
"Can I talk to them?"
"Depends."
Paszek paused. "…on what?"
The agent didn't hesitate at all. "How high's your clearance?"
Without saying anything, Paszek pulled out the ID badge that Teele had given him on his first day back.
PASZEK, IGNACIO
CAPTAIN
SECURITY LEVEL 7
The agent quickly nodded and moved to the side to let Paszek into the mob of employees.
They seemed to be clumped in groups, to an extent; the lab coats all mostly stayed in one corner, a few patients were near them…some others wearing average business attire, secretaries and assistants, Paszek presumed, stood towards the middle of the crowd. Near the opposite corner were the jumpsuits, probably cleaners and maintenance workers.
Paszek decided he'd work from the top down. Being the first person he could actually recognize, he approached Dr. Berg first.
"…Well, I have to say, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon, Captain…" Berg wasn't as much genuinely relieved as he was modestly thankful for Paszek's presence.
"I don't have a lot of time. Where were you when the CIA evacuated the building?"
"About 15 miles down the road. What's th-"
"So you came to work even after hearing about the threat?"
"Threat?! Is that why they evacuated us?"
"Bomb threat. We have reason to-"
"How could this poss-"
"I said I don't have lots of time."
That seemed to shut Berg up.
"Would any of the other doctors be here this early in the morning?"
Berg nodded his head. "Yes…yes…Dr. Montenegro and Dr. Salim both had appointments starting at 6:30."
Paszek froze.
"Salim?"
Berg arched an eyebrow.
"You have a man working here named Dr. Salim?"
"Er…yes? Why does-"
This was wrong. This was very wrong. Everything about this was wrong. How the hell could the CIA go have make that awful of an oversight? Paszek hurriedly turned around and walked a few feet towards the more condensed crowd of doctors. He lightly shoved a few other who were in his way to make haste there.
"…you…can…h…this…don't…don't…it's not…the…ss-"
Fucking Corvus. Fucking DNI triggers. Maybe he was trying to say something useful. Maybe. But all that was coming out was jumbled syllables and static. It was like trying to listen to a radio station three states over.
Wait just a second. Paszek had done it again. He. Him His. This was Corvus he was thinking about. Corvus. An artificial intelligence. A computer glitch. A very, very long series of 1's and 0's, for God's sake! Why was he treating it like a person? Why did Hall insist on it? Why was it feeling more and more natural to do it? Was he infecting his mind once again? Was Hall imprinting on him? Too many questions to even attempt to articulate, much less answer.
Wrong mindset. Wrong mindset.
Salim. Salim. Salim? Who the fuck was this guy? He kept pushing.
Two doctors, one male and one female, talked to each other alone in a corner. Paszek made eye contact.
"Are either of you Dr. Salim?" he asked, using his trademark gruff voice.
The tall, Arabic-looking man answered. "Yes, that is me…is something wrong?"
Paszek quickly flashed his ID badge before grabbing the man's forearm and dragging him a few steps away.
"I'm with the CIA. I'm going to have to ask a few questions."
The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"
"What is your full name?"
"Hiram Salim."
Paszek did not slow the pace of his questioning. "How long have you lived in the United States?"
"The last 17 years."
"And before that?"
"Pardon?"
"Where did you live, before the US?"
"Egypt, North of Cairo."
"Wait right here."
Paszek walked away from a dumbfounded Salim and back to the guard in front of the crowd.
"You see that Arab doctor right there?" Paszek pointed to Salim, who stood craning his head, dumbfounded.
The guard nodded.
"He's a prime suspect. Have him booked. I'm going to go talk to some more people."
As Paszek started to wade back into the crowd, the guard placed a hand on the front of his shoulder.
"You're so sure he's in on it after talking to him for 30 seconds?"
Paszek did not give a response and continued to move through the crowd.
One of the agents at the front door had given Kane a bulletproof vest to wear. A precaution, they called it.
Kane was familiar enough with bomb scenarios. She liked to call those kinds of things "pro-cautions." As in, pro-longing the amount of time you'd stay alive. Now, she did appreciate the vest; why wouldn't she? But it seemed more an act of courtesy or policy than one of actual concern.
She knew she was expendable. Even someone as intelligent as Kane could be easily replaced. Hell, the CIA was planning on transferring her to budget analysis duty. That was how insignificant she was. So, in a way, this whole ordeal with Savior had a way of elevating her status within the organization. They had specifically called for her, and Paszek, understandably, to perform the primary investigation. For however long this thing took, no longer than a week, she hoped, she wouldn't be expendable. And that advantage, she inferred, could perhaps allow her certain…privileges...maybe more database access? She practically knew nothing about Teele, and that was to say nothing of this Curran guy, who seemed to have pull with him too. Maybe she was being overly-optimistic.
The other relevant thing Kane knew at the time was that something was greatly amiss regarding this bomb plot.
Savior could orchestrate the abduction and murder of a high-ranking ZSF general, either break in to an NRC prison, or find a way to get some leverage with them, enough so that he could execute their prisoners at his own will. But he couldn't plant some bombs without them being caught in a half hour? That was absurd.
Walking through the first floor of the Coalescence building, what most immediately caught her eye was how absolutely nothing caught her eye. The floor was pristine. The glass unfettered. The doors in perfect working order. The complex was exactly the way you would expect it to look after 15 minutes of work. No forced entry, and no alarms tripped.
Again, either Savior had managed to break into this facility spotlessly, or he acquired the means to get in without having to. The first wasn't impossible…she had seen weirder. But it certainly was highly improbable, to say the least.
The second possibility, however, was of more interest to her. The idea that he had somehow gained access to the building without physical force. It certainly seemed to complement the fact that he never showed his face. She had always assumed that he was just a nobody – someone from some micro-nation with no relevance. But what if it was just the opposite? What if he was someone far more important? Important enough to not have to gain access, but to have it given to him?
Kane's thoughts were interrupted.
"This is where we found the first device."
She looked up from the floor she had been staring at for the latter half of her walk through the building and saw another vest-clad agent with her head turned towards the object in question.
As far as bombs went, it looked pretty standard. Two thick, chrome cylinders, both held in place by cubical frame and a flurry of multi-colored wires. Suspiciously missing, though, is a timer or detonator.
"You said you've disarmed them?"
"Yes, ma'am, that's correct."
"Cut it open."
"The bomb casing, ma'am?"
"Yeah. The casing. Get it cut open."
The younger woman arched an eyebrow. "Alright…fine, let me call someone in."
Hiram Salim was in the back of a CIA van about two minutes after Paszek gave the order. Paszek had spent some more time talking to the other doctors, but none of them seemed to know anything of interest.
What was interesting, though, was that one Alicia Montenegro was not present at the time of the evacuation, as Berg had suggested. As it turned out, her patient had called to cancel his appointment, so she showed up at her normal time 7:15, as opposed to sometime before 6:30, like Paszek had previously believed. And it wasn't just her word to go off – multiple employees from multiple sectors could back it up.
This piece of information's relevance was compounded by the fact that Salim, who was treating the same patient, did show up around 6 in the morning, making him the first and only doctor in the building.
None of the interns were of concern. They hadn't gotten there yet. Not before Salim. Same went for the nurses.
The only other people inside the building besides the lone doctor were a total of 4 custodians. Paszek had them brought in, too.
5 suspects. There was no way to know for sure if it was just one guilty one. Or even two. Or if any of them were guilty at all. More importantly…were any of these people Savior? Or were they just working with him? With the figure touting his personal connection to Paszek, his immediate assumption was to agree with the second possibility, but it was always difficult to tell just sincere Savior was being. Hell, implying that he had any sincerity in the first place. Savior said that the bombs would be set off late in the day…would that mean that there was a timer? Or that someone could detonate the bomb remotely?
Paszek supposed that it probably didn't matter, at least not if Curran was correct in that all four bombs had already been deactivated, or that Savior had even told the truth in saying that only four bombs had been planted. Savior had given Paszek the answer but hadn't told him the question. Or maybe it was the other way around.
Regardless, there were five people to do background checks on, and five people to interrogate.
Witness Incident Report: Coalescence Atlanta Branch Incident: Atlanta, GA, January 6th, 2071: Chief Intelligence Officer Caitlin Hernandez
Pablo Orjuela had worked maintenance in the Coalescence building for just over 7 years. He rarely missed work. An average year would see him take about half of his normal vacation days. He has long been divorced, and has three children, all in their twenties.
Mr. Orjuela would not be considered an ideal candidate to be a terrorist. Captain Ignacio Paszek and Assistant to the Director Jamie Curran, who both interviewed Mr. Orjuela separately, jointly believe that Mr. Orjuela has no connection to the incident.
Madison Kent had worked maintenance in the Coalescence building for 13 months. He never enjoyed his job, or speaking to anyone when he didn't have to, but he performed well enough to be promoted – twice. He and his boyfriend, who works as a software engineer, lived in a modest apartment downtown. He had been arrested once previously – a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a climate change protest in Jacksonville.
Mr. Kent would not be considered an ideal candidate to be a terrorist. Captain Ignacio Paszek and Assistant to the Director Jamie Curran, who both interviewed Mr. Kent separately, jointly believe that Mr. Kent has no connection to the incident.
Alice Rubio, better known to her friends as "Al", had worked maintenance in the Coalescence building since it's construction in 2058. A citizen of both the United States and Guatemala, she used her brother's position in a heroin smuggling sting to gain amnesty. She has had no incidents with law enforcement, and is noted as being very well-liked by everyone in the workplace.
Miss Rubio would not be considered an ideal candidate to be a terrorist. Captain Ignacio Paszek and Assistant to the Director Jamie Curran, who both interviewed Miss Rubio separately, jointly believe that Miss Rubio has no connection to the incident.
"When was the last time you saw Yousef Salim?"
"Online, just a few months ago, in those NRC propaganda videos. Does that count?"
A particularly stern glare from Paszek.
Hiram exhaled. "6, maybe 7 years ago. During the interview process for Coalescence. He came over from Zurich to put in his word for me."
"Do you think you would have still gotten this job, if it weren't for him?"
"Who's to say?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think they would have hired me if I didn't have the qualifications. That much I know."
"Think you would have gotten the accelerated citizenship? The CIA clearance?"
"I'm not stupid. I know that my uncle is a powerful man. And that declares my innocence right there – why would I threaten a company that he and I play such an integral role in?"
"Yousef is dead. After the Egyptian Army recovered him, he was killed in a raid by the NRC, just outside of Cairo."
Hiram wiped his brow with his hand.
"Wow…well…I guess it was going to happen sooner or later."
"You don't seem too sad about that."
"You do not tell me how to grieve!"
He paused.
"Besides…with what little news was coming out of the region, we had expected the worst. At the very least, his suffering is over, I suppose."
"Do you know why he was captured by the NRC?"
He glanced off to the side. "No. We figured he just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Paszek squinted. "Are you familiar with the 54 Immortals?"
"Those savages? Wha-What are you trying to say?"
"They have plenty of reason to hate Coalescence, and your uncle. Have you been in contact with anyone?"
"No! I still don't even know what it is exactly that you are accusing me of, but I will not stand for this! I have done nothing wrong!"
Paszek shook his head and walked out. Hiram was acting exactly like every other civilian he'd ever interrogated – too confused to extract anything out of. That being said, he seemed to be telling the truth, and also seemed to know very little about the details of Salim's research…something he'd be better off not knowing.
Curran was waiting for him. He had been listening in the whole conversation behind the one-way glass – standard fare for interrogations.
"That's it?"
"I doubt I can get much more from him. Do whatever you want with him."
"I have my work cut out for me. That DNI make your people skills rusty, too?"
Paszek realized that Kane was right about one thing; they had definitely never met Curran before. He would've remembered if he was this much of an asshole.
It wasn't just that off-color comment, either. Curran was ruthless in his interrogations. And not in a violent way, like Hendricks was. He was the kind of ruthless that men in suits were – passive aggressive and conniving. He would threaten you with every kind of pain there was, outside of physical pain of course. Deportation, auditing, foreign arrest warrants…nothing was off the table for him to blackmail with. Reprehensible? Sure. Effective? Sadly.
Paszek rolled his eyes and walked over to the other end of the trailer. The other interrogation room on the opposite side housed one Stephen Johnson.
The fact that Curran had spent as little time with Johnson as Paszek had with Hiram meant something – namely that Curran was too lazy to actually read what information they had on Johnson.
There were thousands of people in the US with the name Stephen Johnson. The person in that room, however, was certainly not one of them. There were records, sure, but they were laughably sparse. A birth certificate, a driver's license, and tax papers from the last two years was just about all the CIA had on file from him, despite the fact that he worked at a CIA-operated facility. Maybe that's how he passed their background checks so easily, there was nothing shady to spot because there was nothing.
If Curran had danced around the issue in his chat with Mr. Johnson, or whatever his name really was, then Paszek would be sure to face it head on.
The two technicians had quite easily removed the two cylinders from the casing, although Kane could tell they were clearly uneasy about the process of doing so.
Winslow, the agent accompanying Kane, was equally nervous about the situation.
"I mean…you explained it pretty well, but…what exactly are you expecting to learn here?"
"Hopefully, something we don't know already."
Winslow exhaled. Kane could tell she was a bit frustrated, but she seemed to have at least a marginal amount of faith in what she was doing. Or at least, more so than the two technicians.
"Can you slice open the casing, right at the top?"
The technician on her left scrunched his face.
"Lady, that's insane. There's potentially active thermite in there!"
"And your tools are sensitive enough to handle explosive casings, mister."
"You so sure? Do it yourself!"
Dropping his bag of tools, the outspoken asset left in a huff, with his partner following quickly, but reluctantly.
"Oh, uh…I'm sorry about them…I'll make sure that they get what's coming to them."
Kane didn't hesitate in moving forward to examine the tools the men had left behind.
"Hernandez should be able to do that just fine. I'm going to need your help here with this."
"I'm not equipped to handle bombs like this, officer."
"Well, you're going to have to be."
Winslow walked and crouched down next to Kane, who handed her a wrench and a small device that resembled a laser pointer.
Kane grabbed one of the two cylinders with and placed in in front of herself, and Winslow followed suit with the other.
"Unscrew the three bits at the top first. Once you do that…" Kane finished taking off the screws. "You should be able to remove the top."
Winslow took a little longer to complete the same task but did it nonetheless.
Now with three industrial-sized screws and a thin sheet of the metal on the floor, Kane picked up the other tool – Winslow placed her wrench down and examined the same device.
"Here, I'm going to do this first. Just watch."
Kane tapped a few times on the device's screen, entering a handful of codes and measurements before turning a small dial that stuck slightly out to the side. She placed the head of the pointer on the now-exposed cylinder, took a deep breath, and pressed the red button on top.
The short but potent burst of light caused both women to flinch just a bit. Kane placed the tool on the ground again and examined the results – slowly peeling off the now-frayed metal.
Her eyes widened.
"What is it?"
"It's…there's nothing in here. There's just…filler. Cardboard…plastic…foam…no shrapnel…not even any…wait a second."
Kane looked at the inner side of the peeled-off casing. It had a subtle orange hue. She wiped her index finger against the edge of it and brought it up to her nose.
"Thermite…but…not much. This explosion wouldn't go further than a few feet…maybe a yard…"
"There's still three bombs to look at. Maybe they're different?" asked Winslow. She shook her head not long after uttering the sentence.
"Hold on a minute."
"Look, man, I don't think you really get it."
Stephen Johnson, or whatever his name really was, was frustrating to deal with.
"You have a birth certificate, but the hospital listed can't verify it. You apparently got your driver's license just three years ago. And your tax papers? My associate says that they don't even begin to line up with the current codes."
Stephen wiped his brow and placed his hands down on the table.
"Okay? I'm sorry about that, I guess."
"What's your real name?"
"Stephen Johnson is my real name. Check the records. It's all there. What do you want from me? You want ID? Fingerprints?"
Paszek mentally cursed. He had checked the fingerprints. They were all in order. But it still seemed wrong.
"The federal government takes tax fraud pretty seriously. But it's not as bad as domestic terrorism."
Paszek paused.
"Who helped you do this?"
"Do what? I've done nothing."
"We know that you planted those bombs in the building!"
"Bombs?! Those…there are bombs in there?!"
"Don't play stupid! No one else had access-"
"Yes! They did! Al and Madison and Mr. O! Even Dr. Salim!"
"And we cleared them. They had alibis. You don't."
Stephen took a few deep breaths and wiped his brow once more. Paszek took a step closer.
"Okay…okay, but you still…you still don't get it. I didn't want this to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
"What are you saying?"
"I didn't know they were bombs! I didn't know!"
"So you did put them in the building?"
"Yeah! Yeah! I did! But I didn't know what they were. He just told me to-"
"He?! Who's he?!"
"The guy with the voice! On the TV! I don't know him. But he made me…he made me do this."
"What's his name? Who is he?!"
"I already told you, I don't know! I didn't know he wanted me to plant bombs! I swear!"
Paszek turned around and walked back towards the wall, clutching his forehead.
"Is…is everyone going to be alright?" Stephen asked, sheepishly.
A message on his interface.
"Stop ignoring me. Urgent."
Paszek exhaled. He had shut off his voice calls from everyone, including Kane, just before starting the interrogations. He didn't want any distractions. And, unfortunately, both the presence and mere thought of Kane had turned into just that for him. He reluctantly activated a vocal call.
"What is it? I've got some-"
"They're not bombs, Paszek!"
"You…what?"
"The four things, we thought they were bombs – they're not."
"Okay…so…what…what does that mean? Are there, just, no bombs?"
"Savior said he planted four bombs. These aren't bombs. So, if we go by his word…"
"There's still bombs out there somewhere. Just…not here?"
"That's the worst-case scenario, yeah."
"Okay…okay…"
A beat of silence.
"You picked a good time to call…I just got something from our last suspect here…one of the janitors. He says he planted the devices, and that he was told that they weren't bombs."
"Did he say why?"
"Working to figure that out. Make sure the CIA sweeps the rest of the building."
"Already done. I'll meet you down-"
Disconnect. Every second was precious. He knew Kane would be mad at him for it. Whatever. He didn't need to think about that anyways. Paszek turned back towards Stephen.
"This man, he contacted you, right? How?"
"How hasn't he? Phone, computer…even showed at up at my house before...but there are bombs in there?!"
"Focus! So, he's threatening you?"
"Yes! What did you think?! I'm not a terrorist! I do what he says, he lets me live, here! That's what the deal was!"
"What else has he asked you to do?"
"Nothing! I swear! I haven't done anything else!"
"CALL ME NOW." Damnit.
"What is it now?!" Paszek raised his voice.
"Well…" Kane reeled back. "Winslow's been in touch with every corner of the place. No bombs. They're not here."
"Winslow? Who's-"
"Another agent. Focus here. Does the suspect know where other bombs might be?"
"Doesn't look like it. He seems out of his element. I'll keep digging, though."
"Wait a second!"
They both paused.
"Okay, don't leave just yet. Remember that Savior said he was targeting government buildings and Coalescence. Maybe mention that in your…discussion with this guy."
"Will do."
"Just-"
Kane was dangerously close to taking the monitor out of her ear and throwing it to the floor. Had she not been in the company of anyone else, she just might have. She wasn't dense – she knew that Paszek knew that she hated it when he hung up like that.
It was a matter of principle – it had seemed to her lately that Paszek wasn't aware of just how much Kane worried for him. That he didn't understand that just because she needed to put their relationship on standby…it didn't mean that she stopped caring. It was the opposite. She cared even more – enough to know that all this stress…Savior, the cryo-weapon, Corvus…it wasn't the kind of situation that made for a healthy, mutual relationship.
Not that it mattered at the moment, anyways. Kane knew he had already crossed over to the cold side of him. He was all business now.
Maybe it was better if she had, too.
"Where else does the CIA operate in Atlanta?"
Winslow aimed her eyes upwards. "Our local HQ. But I don't think that's it…we were already on lockdown this morning. No bombs…and no fake bombs, either."
"Nowhere else in this whole city?"
"Well, of course we have agents in place." She paused. "But that's covert stuff. No one could find out about that."
"I wouldn't be so sure. We don't know just how much this guy is capable of."
"If he wanted to take out one of your agents, why would he place bombs to do it?"
Kane squinted. Winslow had a point. What other leads did they have to go on?
"Where's the nearest Coalescence building, 'sides this one?" asked Winslow.
"Too far. Either Little Rock or Houston. Not close enough to be targets."
"So…." Winslow trailed off. "Where…what…what are we supposed to do now?"
This was not Kane's specialty. She was well aware. Getting inside the head of Savior wasn't something she was well equipped to do.
Lightbulb. She didn't even have to do that. She just needed to analyze the data they already had.
Four bombs. People at danger…news broadcast transcript...
"Labcoats, law enforcement officers, and government agents…"
Coalescence research labs? Accounted for. Police stations? No word from them. Too small-scale for this guy. CIA ops? Winslow had stamped those flames out.
How far was too far to look? Savior didn't give out any coordinates. The only reference point was the TV broadcast range…which she had no way of knowing if he had even taken into account at all…
Maybe she could…
Would that be okay for her to?
In a situation like this…
She swiped over on her tablet to Paszek's profile. She still had access to his direct communications. The audio was there from last night…would she be doing something wrong here? Paszek had given her the short-form of the conversation that morning…allegedly.
Well, this would hardly the worst thing she'd done up until this point.
"I don't know, okay! He might ask me to do something again, might not. Probably not, now that I've talked to you…"
"There are more bombs out there. Do you know where they could have been planted?"
Stephen shook his head. "C'mon, haven't I…haven't I made this clear enough? I don't know shit. I was told to plant the bombs, or I'm dead. That's it."
"Is anyone else at Coalescence working for this man?"
"Not that I know of. I feel like he would tell me if they were, right?"
Paszek bit his lip. Stephen had a point.
From what knowledge he had gathered, and from what he had been assigned with the DNI, Paszek was fairly certain that this man was telling the truth. His responses might have raised more questions than answers, but he could at least hold a modest amount of trust in them.
Of course, that was implying that everything he knew about interrogation was accurate...that Coalescence and the CIA had fed him the right info. Who's to say that they didn't have a way of changing it? Would they be okay with him using this knowledge to interrogate one their own, even if he was just a janitor?
He glanced at the cryo-weapon. It was just sitting there. He had just used it the one time. Maybe Stephen wasn't telling the truth. Maybe he should test that out. Maybe…
Stop it. Stop it. No. No. No. No. Fuck. How…how did that just cross his mind? Was he about to freeze a man's fingers off because he thought he might be lying, sort of kind of maybe, a little bit? Dial it back.
Well, actually…he wasn't exactly a saint. He did plant things that he thought were bombs, and that would undoubtedly have killed some people. He didn't even try to contact the authorities. And it clearly had been going on for a while. Could one be content with blackmail like that?
He been threatened with death over the phone…but what did that mean? Anyone could do that. Has he had to deal with it up close? Has he felt that real and visceral pain involved with it? Maybe if he knew what it was really like…
No! Fuck no! This was not right. This was not the right shit to be thinking. This was not the right shit to be doing.
He went for the door, leaving Stephen alone in the room. Curran was waiting outside.
"Get anything out of Salim?"
"About the bombs? Nope. I did make him admit to cheating with his secretary, though."
Paszek shook his head. He really was an asshole.
"You want another round with the janitor?"
"Couldn't hurt. Hopefully we can dig deep into how this guy picked him to do his dirty work…and why."
Paszek nodded and left the room just as Curran entered the interrogation area. He quickly walked through the remaining half of the van and exited it from the center.
Kane was waiting from him about ten feet from the exit, arms crossed.
"You knew about the bombs yesterday?!"
"What?"
"Savior told you about the bombs last night, and you didn't think that was important to tell me, or anyone else?"
Paszek exhaled. "I…there was…"
"What reason could you possibly have to keep this from me?!"
"We had just argued, and you were already asleep, and…"
"And that matters when lives are at risk?! We can't afford to lose-"
"Alright, I get it!" Paszek huffed. "It was stupid! I was stupid! Can we move on, now?"
"We-" she paused. "Sure. Fine."
Paszek awkwardly looked to the side.
"Does the suspect know where the bombs are planted?"
"No." replied Paszek. "He says that Savior blackmailed him into planting the bombs. That's all I could get."
"You think he's hiding something?"
"Maybe. But I've done what I can. If Curran can't get it out of him, I doubt anyone else here could."
"There are some more government buildings around. Agents are down at the DEA branch, the Georgian embassy…even the post offices. Not taking any chances."
"Good. That covers almost everything he mentioned, except…"
"Coalescence, yeah." said Kane.
"Would he try targeting former employees? Ones on their day off? Applicants?" Kane could tell that Paszek was as desperate as she was.
"No. Not today, at least. He wouldn't hijack a news station just for that. Did you try calling him again?"
"Yeah. Didn't answer."
"Okay…try putting yourself in his shoes, Paszek. You're an anarchist. You hate Coalescence. You hate the government. You want to blow something up that will piss off the latter two while simultaneously enforcing your ideology. You want the streets to run wild. Where do plant the bomb? What will happen because of it?"
"Statues? Historical sites? A bridge?"
No. He's wrong. Kane knew it had to go deeper than that. That was the wrong kind of significance.
"You know deep down that chaos rules. These blots on society…these plagues…they will consume you before you can control them."
That's what the transcript said. That's what Savior had said on the broadcast.
"…these plagues…"
Why? Why did that stick out to her? It was bargain-bin terrorist lingo. Nothing of relevance. Right?
"…they will consume you before you can control them."
What did this mean? What was it, exactly, that would consume them? Vices? The climate? The war? None of them would be affected by a bomb.
What could you blow up near Atlanta, Georgia that would consume the people in plague?
Plague. Disease?
Disease.
"The CDC! They…their HQ is somewhere around here, right?"
"Yes…yeah, that's right." said Paszek. "Decatur, I think. And I'd be willing to bet-"
"That Coalescence has some kind of residency there? Me too."
"So, that's the place, then?"
Within a few minutes, Kane had spoken to Winslow and relayed the information, while Paszek had spoken with Dr. Berg once more to confirm their presence at the CDC. Within a half hour, all of them, plus Curran and a dozen other agents, were on site at the CDC headquarters. An evacuation order was placed on the building and the university campus it was a part of, but the process was not as swift as it was back at Coalescence. There were far more people. Far more targets.
It had taken a larger portion of her concentration than Kane would have cared to admit to stop her from thinking about Paszek's condition. It was also beginning to seem like a more pressing issue, not just for her and Paszek, but for everyone else as well. The CIA clearly put a lot of faith in Paszek in asking him to cover all of these important assignments, and if his mental state was stopping him from succeeding, then there would be far more to lose than one person's sanity.
Kane pondered that perhaps this was the reason that Paszek changed mental gears so fast. Maybe not the reason…more like the motivation. Being clouded with these personal sorts of thoughts was a frustrating situation no matter how it went down. Either you became flustered and angry, or jarred by the snap back into reality. Or both. Lose-lose.
She felt that this particular instance had fallen somewhere in-between those two outcomes.
The sheer volume of circumstantial stress that was resting on Paszek, at the very least, served to somewhat dampen the constant flow of thoughts containing the words: "you", "are", "fucking", and "stupid", usually but not exclusively in that order. Of course, this ride still wasn't much easier. Kane still occupied far too much space in his conscious, as did one other person and one…whatever the fuck he thought it was appropriate to call Corvus.
It's not like any of that was of particular importance. Depending on whether or not they were correct, the next hour and a half would determine the fates of anywhere from a few dozen to hundreds of thousands of people.
How did this keep happening? How was it that the world's greatest threats kept throwing themselves into his line of fire? Cities weren't being toppled anywhere else in the world. Cairo falls…Zurich devastated…and Decatur wiped out by plague…and how? All it took was a handful of ordinary people with DNIs. Why did everyone trust him? What reason did they have? Paszek was just man who happened to be the wrong person in the wrong place with the wrong mind too many fucking times. Sure, he had more-or-less figured things out after a while, but…just…why? He wasn't the only soldier with a DNI not to go insane. Because had absolutely gone insane, by any standard metric. Did anybody even care about that? Where they so blinded by his combat efficiency that they couldn't see the obvious cracks in his mental stability? If he didn't feel so shady about the CIA, he might have just gone out and asked to be released.
He supposed it wouldn't matter too much if he fucked up and died in the next half hour.
"Captain…Officer…I'm going to send each of you with one of our teams. They are four total. If one of them needs either of you, they'll communicate with you and you'll move to their position to help."
Curran hardly waited a few seconds after giving his orders to turn around and high-tail it back to his transport vehicle, which sped off not long after.
He was running away.
Kane checked the time. It was 4:58. 32 minutes until the bombs detonated, according to Savior's broadcast. Groups of approximately 6 bomb squad members stood at each entrance, and, seemingly received some kind of communication, all entered the CDC building in similar fashion.
So much for going in with the team.
Maybe Curran was an idiot and told them the wrong orders, or maybe he was a jerk and changed the orders without telling him, but it didn't particularly matter at the moment because of…well, the imminent explosion of unknown size.
Kane turned to face Winslow, who, by the looks of it, was not confident in the success of this mission.
"Hey, you alright?"
She shook her head.
"Look, whoever is in charge of ground comms here…I want you to find them and take over for them. I want you in front of the screen showing the remote scans, and I want you relaying that to Paszek and I. If someone objects, say the order came from Teele."
"But…what if they-"
"We'll worry about that later. Just get it done."
"I…I don't think that I can…with all of this-"
"It's-" Kane paused, realizing her voice was a bit harsher than she had intended.
"These guys have been screwing things up all day. You haven't. Okay? You've done good today. Just keep it up for a little while longer. That's all. I just need a half hour more of that from you. Okay?"
Winslow opened her mouth to speak, but opted not to, nodding and quickly jogging off in the opposite direction.
Kane caught the last microsecond of Paszek's eagle eye as she turned back around to face him. He shook his head before she could wonder about it further.
"Your tac-vision can see thermite, right?"
"Yeah. Let me do a quick spot-check." He tapped a forefinger to his head and panned around for a moment.
"I mean, I can't see the whole building…not even close. But there's none here. At least, not enough to register."
Kane turned back around, away from the building, and initiated communications.
"…yes, yes, sir, I understand…but Director Teele assigned me to assist Officer Kane. If she's inside there…well…then I need to keep track of her."
A beat.
"Yes, sir. Of course, sir. I'm fully aware."
"You good over there?"
"Oh!" it sounded like she may have jumped a little. "Yeah. Scanners are up and running. Won't be long before I have a reading."
"Keep me posted."
"Squad C is heading up the stairs to the fourth floor as we speak. Once they-"
That was the worst sound they could've heard at that particular moment.
"There…was that…I…"
Winslow couldn't finish.
"Are they alright?"
Kane interpreted Winslow's radio silence as the answer she feared most.
"T-th-three…"
"Three…three? Three what?"
"Three of them were out of the blast range. One has bad vitals…oh…no…really bad vitals. I think he's…oh God. I don't….oh my God…"
Kane pressed a hand to her forehead.
"What happened in there? Why didn't we see that coming?"
"I-I don't know! The scans…the scans showed nothing there! If there was some kind of explosive…it should've seen it…I don't get it…I…"
"Tell everyone to stay put! I'll be over-"
The stamping of Paszek's boots was barely audible in Kane's peripheral hearing.
"All units remain still! There are unidentified explosive devices in the vicinity!" Paszek shouted as he ran towards the west entrance to the complex.
"No shit! That took out half of the wall behind us!" came from Squad B
"I've got one wounded! He needs extraction!" came from the remnants of Squad C.
"Retrace your steps, Charlie. I'll meet you halfway."
Paszek checked the time as he raced through the corridors. 5 o'clock sharp. What was Savior doing? Setting off bombs a whole half hour before he promised to? Or maybe this was a proximity explosive? He claimed he set 4 bombs…did this one even count? Was this whole thing just a trap?
Fuck it. It didn't matter now. The vest-clad sole survivor of Squad C was dragging his wincing partner down the hallway.
"He's got shrapnel all up in his legs, man! Still conscious, though…I don't how long he's got."
"What about the others?"
The stare from the soldier penetrated far through his thick black mask and straight into Paszek.
"Don't even look! Don't even fucking look in there, man! You don't want to see that. Don't wanna see that at all. I just…fuck, I-"
Paszek exhaled. "I have a medic on standby, will he be able to make it outside?"
He nervously nodded, and Paszek angled himself to the side to allow the two through the hallway. As they passed, Paszek noticed a visible but thankfully thin stream of blood trailing behind the wounded soldier.
Paszek felt a strange sense of uneasiness as he continued down the corridor. Anxious for another bomb to potentially detonate, but with a perhaps-mostly-unfounded instinct that Savior wasn't too keen on blowing him up. Not yet, at least.
More concerning, though, was that black charring had tainted the blinding white walls of Coalescence. This far away from the blast? It didn't make sense. And it was just getting more and more pronounced as he kept walking. Then there was chipping of the paint and the silicone on the walls. Then…oh God…
Blood and debris caked the area the surrounding the doorway, which looked as if a wrecking ball covered in…already bloody spikes hit it? It didn't make sense.
He gagged as he neared the blast zone.
It was weird. Everyone knew what blood smelled like, right? Every so often it would get into your nose or around your mouth, right?
It was unnerving by itself, but was incomparably so when, in fact, the only blood there was not your own.
For one of the only times in his life since he enlisted, Paszek felt incredibly scared to enter a room in which there was no present danger. Or maybe there was a danger – to his mental state, or something of the sort. But that really wasn't the same, was it?
Was he allowed to be scared of this? Of something that already happened? Was it alright for him to not want to go in there?
Not to…not go in there…he knew that would be wrong. But to not want to? Even if he did it anyways?
As usual, he had to brush the thought off faster than he would have liked, as the aftermath of what remained in the blown-out stairwell was now far too close to turn back.
That, folks, was Chapter 10. There will be a Chapter 11, and a 12 and 13 and far beyond that, but you'll probably fare better if you don't hold your breath in-between them.