Chapter 12:
For probably the first time in his life, Alex had a shopping list.
Black Hoodie
Black Pants
Black Gloves
Black Sunglasses
Black Baseball Hat
Band-Aids (large)
Neosporin
Coffee
Energy Bar
Advil
The first thing Alex went and got was the coffee. He needed the caffeine in order to stay awake. The jet lag was really killing him.
Half of an hour later, Alex was wearing his new clothes and was not falling asleep on his feet. Time to put the operation into action.
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"Here we are, Agent Daniels," Lewinsky stated as he opened the door and stepped out. As Ben stepped out into the harsh sunlight, he almost laughed at the name of the building. Centurion International Advertising. CIA.
"Way to not give away the location of your HQ," Ben commented.
"Hey, you'd be surprised at how many people would never think of that," George interrupted.
During the last few minutes of the drive, George had gotten a phone call saying to not worry about coming out to look for the unknown MI6 agent, but to report to HQ and be there as back-up in case someone spotted the agent.
"This way, Daniels," Lewinsky called out, going through the front doors of the building. Ben quickly followed. He was surprised at the way that Lewinsky just waved a greeting at the receptionist and was allowed to pass. Things were obviously done a lot more different here than at the Royal and General.
After entering an elevator and going up 4 flights, Lewinsky knocked on a random door. The name listed on it was 'Joe Byrne'.
"Come in," called a voice from inside.
Ben recalled that this man was the head of the CIA, and realized even more differences between MI6 and CIA. Their head director actually sounded human.
Lewinsky opened the door to a room painted tan. It wasn't the most colorful color there was, but it certainly beat the dull gray of Blunt's office. A man about in his early forties was sitting behind a desk that wasn't messy, but had a few stacks of papers and folders on it. The curtains were drawn back and allowed some natural light in through the window.
The man from the desk looked up and smiled at Ben. 'Blunt and Byrne were definitely polar opposites,' Ben decided.
"Have a seat, Agent Daniels. You too, Lewinsky. By the way, thank you for seeing a British agent without freaking and doing something drastic," Byrne stated with a sly smile.
"In my defense, there was an important political woman about to do an anti-British speech at the time," Lewinsky stated, not noticing the sly smile becoming bigger as he took bait. "Daniels. What would you do if one of your important politicians was about to make an anti-American speech and you were in the group assigned to protect her. Then, you get a tip that somebody's going to assassinate her. While keeping an eye on your informer, you see a CIA agent walk into the area that the informer is in. Five minutes later, the place blows up. Then you see this same CIA agent walking away, trying to blend into the crowds. Wouldn't you pick the agent up and ask him a few questions?"
Ben thought about it and concluded, "Probably. But seeing how just one person thinks that there might be an assassination attempt, I would probably just have a chat with the agent, see what he said, and then check up on the story to see if it's true. Why? What did you end up doing?"
Lewinsky looked down at the floor as Mr. Byrne stated, "See? But don't kill yourself over it. It was one little mistake, and you already got reprimanded. And I can see that you actually listened to what I was telling you."
Comprehension dawned on Ben's face, "Was this what George was talking about when he introduced you?"
Lewinsky looked up, "Yea. He was in the group that day and still will not let me live it down."
"Anyways, why don't we get off of this depressing subject and onto something else? Like, your partner for example, Agent Daniels," Byrne interrupted.
Ben cut his gaze towards the man, "What about him?"
Mr. Byrne studied the MI6 agent in front of him. Over the past few minutes, he had watched Ben relax. His shoulders had become less tense, and he had almost been at ease. Now, Ben was tense once more, and something was radiating through his posture. It seemed to be letting off an almost protective sense of being, but in a brotherly/fatherly way. 'What's the relationship between the two of them?' Mr. Byrne wondered.
"Well, I thought we could start with his name," Joe Byrne asked cautiously.
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you that. Why don't you wait for him to show up and tell you himself?" Ben replied.
"Why can't you tell me?" Byrne asked, slightly confused.
"My partner told me not to. He is, after all, my superior."
Not wanting the MI6 agent in front of him clam up completely, Byrne tactfully changed the subject.
"You said he can explain when he gets here. Do you think he's going to be caught by one of the agents out looking for him?"
Ben chuckled, "Of course not. He may be young, but he's far from inexperienced. I would say that right about now, no one has seen him since the first few minutes outside of the airport, am I right? Well, except for maybe…Was it Harrison?... Whatever the guy found in the park's name was. No, he'll come here all on his own. One minute he'll just appear out of thin air like he always does. He has a way of always being in control of the situation. He'll be here before this time tomorrow. If he's not, then there's no point in continuing to look for him. In that case, all you'll find is a dead body."
Byrne and Lewinsky took a minute to digest this information.
"You speak as though you know him very well; as if you've worked together a lot in the past. But you haven't had a partner on a mission since, well, Alex Rider was killed," Byrne said, all the while seeing how the MI6 agent would react.
He was not disappointed. Ben flinched and went rigidly tense, his face totally closed off. "I think you should wait for him to show up and then you'll get your answers." The voice that said this was almost mechanical.
Byrne and Lewinsky shared a glance.
There was something strange going on here, and he was determined to find out what it was.