A/N:Hi everyone, thank you so much to those who continue to read and review! I hope you all had a marvelous holiday and enjoy this chapter!
Brenda Leigh Johnson sat in a cold, barely lit room. There was a long table with three chairs, two on one side and one on the other. She was seated on the side with two chairs, next to her partner Cole Daniels.
On the opposite side sat Michelle Williamson, secretary to the Head of Clandestine Services, a Mr. Buckley Evans.
She was also a prime suspect in a mole hunt, a case that Brenda was eager to solve.
They had been sitting in the room for over half an hour, but no one had spoken. Cole had decided to give Brenda the lead on this one. After all, interrogation was her forte, not his.
And he had seen her do it before, and she was good. She was damn good.
Brenda casually flipped through the file that sat on the table, occasionally licking her finger to turn the page, all the while giving off a frustrated look.
Michelle Williamson sat there nervously, twiddling her thumbs while she waited for an explanation from either Brenda or Cole.
After about thirty minutes of mindlessly flipping through the file in front of her, Brenda lifted her head, her gaze reaching that of Michelle Williamson.
" Ms. Williamson, do you know why you're here?" asked Brenda, smiling at the young woman in front of her.
Michelle had a frightened look on her face, utterly confused at the predicament that she was currently in.
" No, I can't say that I do. Is it because I didn't cover for Mr. Evans when his wife called?" Michelle asked frantically. " Because I really didn't know that he was going to meet that other woman, after all I'm just a secretary."
Brenda glanced over at Cole, attempting to suppress the snicker that was forming on her face.
"No Michelle, it has nothing to do with your boss's um, scandalous activities." said Brenda with a smile on her face.
Brenda reached into the file, pulling out a photograph of Gordon Perry.
"Do you know this man Michelle?" Brenda set the photograph in front of Michelle, tapping the corner of it as she laid it down.
Michelle stared at it for a few moments, shaking her head at Brenda.
Cole was growing frustrated with how slowly things were going in the room, and interjected before Brenda could respond.
" Ms. Williamson, it's in your best interest to tell us the truth." Cole leaned forward in his chair, inching his face closer to Michelle's.
Brenda glared at Cole, angry with him for interrupting her. He had been given specific instructions to just sit there and not say a word.
She swore he did these things just to irritate her.
" He's right Michelle." said Brenda gently, her eyes shifting to Cole. "Take another look, are you sure you don't know this man?"
Michelle took the photo into her hand, closely examining it for a few moments. She wrinkled her forehead as she scrutinized the photo, but shook her head once again.
"I'm sorry, I don't recognize him." said Michelle, placing the photograph on the table
Brenda collected the photograph and placed it back into the file. " Are you sure? Because I have the teensy but feeling that you're hiding something from me." Brenda reached back into the file and pulled out another photograph.
This time, it was a photo of Perry standing at the front door of Michelle's house. "And I really hate being lied to." said Brenda as she slammed the photograph onto the table.
" Why don't you take another look? Tell me Michelle, what do you see in this photograph?" asked Brenda, leaning closer to Michelle's face.
"I…I see a man standing at a front door." said Michelle simply. "Look, I don't know exactly what you want from me, like I said before I don't know who this man is."
"Oh but you do, you most certainly do." Brenda smiled at Michelle, pulling out a single piece of paper. " See this here? Cole here did a little investigating, and he found your phone records."
Michelle folded her arms across her chest, becoming even more defensive with every word that was said to her.
"It says here that you called Mr. Perry, the man in the photograph whom you claim to have never seen before, thirteen times in the last two weeks. Seems to me that the two of you are buddies. What do you think Cole?" asked Brenda, setting the paper down in front of Michelle.
"I think that sounds about right." Cole placed his hands on the table, folding them as he answered the question.
Michelle looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with either one of the two people who sat across from her.
" I'm going to ask you again Michelle. Do you know this man in the photograph?" Brenda pushed the photo towards Michelle once more, forcing her to answer the question.
" Look, it's not really what it looks like." whispered Michelle as she took the photograph into her hands.
" I'm sure it isn't." said Brenda with a smile. "But that's your house isn't it? That's your front doorstep where Mr. Perry is standing, isn't it?"
Michelle nodded slowly, her hands shaking underneath the table.
" Now what I can't seem to figure out is what on earth someone with Mr. Perry's, shall we say, status, was doing at your house. After all, you're just a secretary. Isn't that right Michelle?" said Brenda sweetly. "Maybe you can help me out with that part."
Cole leaned forward, trying to intimidate her without actually saying a word. He was actually impressed with Brenda when it came to interrogation. She had this ability to make it seem like she was on the suspect's side by simply changing the tone of her voice. He had heard that she was good; he knew that she was good. He just wasn't expecting her to be this good.
" Gordan and I, we've been seeing each other for the past couple weeks. We didn't want to say anything, it being against company policy and everything. I thought we were being careful. Apparently not." said Michelle, glancing down at the photograph.
Brenda and Cole exchanged frustrated glances. They knew they wouldn't get a straightforward answer, but this wasn't exactly what they were looking for.
" You're sleeping with this man?" Brenda pointed to the photograph, laying her finger on top of Gordan's face.
" Yes." said Michelle, a hint of confusion in her voice. "Isn't that what this is all about?" Michelle lifted her hands in the air, referencing the entire set up. "Look, I know we're not supposed to date within The Agency, but I work all the time, and you know, it's really hard to find someone who is willing to put up with all the secrecy, and the-
Brenda interrupted Michelle before she could say anything else. " No no, you don't need to go into detail."
"Yeah, I think we have everything we need." said Cole, assembling the pieces of paper back into the file.
"Am I going to get fired? You're not going to tell Mr. Evans, are you?" asked Michelle. " He doesn't seem to like Gordan very much. In all honesty, I think he's a bit jealous." Whispered Michelle.
"Right, well we're done here. "said Brenda, getting up from her chair. "Cole here will walk you out."
Michelle slowly got up from out of her chair, confused at the turn of events. "That's it? What are you going to do?"
" Well we still have to talk to , now don't we? By the way Michelle, do me a favor and don't tell him about our little chat, okay?" Brenda smiled at Michelle as she exited the barely lit room.
Michelle nodded at Brenda as she left, grateful to be out of the hostile environment and returning back to her daily routine.
Cole returned back to the interrogation room a few minutes later. He sat down in the chair next to Brenda, sighing in frustration with the new development in the case.
It wasn't exactly what any of them were expecting.
" What do you think, should we bring in Perry?" asked Cole
" No, not yet." said Brenda slowly, rubbing the temple of her forehead as she spoke. "I say we wait a week or two, let him come to us."
" Why would he come to us? That doesn't make any sense." said Cole, the frustration in his voice becoming clearer and clearer with each passing moment. " How would he even know we were looking into him?"
"You honestly think she isn't going to say a word to him?" asked Brenda, shaking her head at him. " She's been sleeping with him for months, she probably tells him what she eats for lunch every day. You really don't know women at all, do you?"
" I happen to know plenty of women. I however, am not interested in what they eat for lunch every day." said Cole
" Well that explains a lot." Brenda muttered under her breath, just loud enough so that she knew Cole would hear her.
Cole ignored Brenda's comment, putting his attention back on their current predicament. " Come on, we should brief Evans on the new development."
Brenda pieced the file back together, placing the papers back in the correct order. She stood up, following Cole outside if the dark interrogation room.
The two walked down the hall towards Buckley Evan's office side by side, silently fuming at the other.
"You were pretty good in there." said Cole nonchalantly.
He was always the first one to break the ice. It irritated the living daylights out of Brenda.
Brenda glanced over at him, taken aback by his comment. "Were you expecting something else?" asked Brenda
"I don't know, I guess I just wasn't expecting you to be that good." Cole chuckled at his own response, ready for the insult that was about to be thrown at him.
" Well thank you so much for the flattery." Brenda threw a fake smile at him, tilting her head to the side.
" That's it!" Cole put his hand on her shoulder, one that she immediately swat away.
"What are you talking about?" asked Brenda, stepping even further away from him.
He never got this excited, and it was really starting to concern her.
" It's this thing you do when you're interrogating someone. You make it seem like you're on their side, like they're almost your friends. And then you say some rude comment in a sincere voice, and they have no idea that you're manipulating the hell out of them." Cole smiled brightly at her, impressed with her abilities. " I must say, it's quite impressive."
By this time they had arrived at Buckley's office, and Brenda stopped at the door, her hand placed gently on the handle.
" Well, working with you these past few months have been great practice. So thank you, thank you so much." Brenda smiled right back at him, turning the handle and walking into the office.
Cole stood back for just a moment, a confused look on his face. He just spent the last five minutes complimenting her, and she managed to insult him in a matter of words.
Cole smirked, stepping into the office.
Buckley Evans sat at his desk, his eyes focused on the computer in front of him. Brenda sat directly across from him, her hands folded on her lap. She glanced up at Cole as he walked into the door, smiling at him as he sat down next to her.
"Mr. Daniels, how nice of you to join us." said Evans
"Yes, well I got distracted" Cole turned his head towards Brenda, who simply smiled at him as if she had no idea what he was talking about. " You probably know this already, but we've gained some traction on the Groundhog case." explained Cole
"Groundhog?" Evans asked, with a perplexed look on his face.
Cole chuckled to himself, impressed with his own cleverness. "It's just something I've been calling our mole hunt. You know, groundhogs, they dig in the ground, kind of like moles-
Brenda cut him off before he could embarrass himself even further. "I think what Mr. Daniels means to say is that we've gotten a new lead on the case."
" Excellent. I was beginning to think you two weren't actually getting any work done. So, let's hear it. This new development you've been building up for the past five minutes." Evans folded his arms across his chest, leaning back in his chair while he awaited their response.
"Well, for starters, we no longer think its Perry or Williams." said Cole
Evans paused before answering; unaware of the direction they were going with this. "You think it's someone else?"
"No." said Brenda, stepping into the conversation. "We think it's the both of them."
A defeated look swept across Buckley's face. " So we don't have one mole, we have two."
"Exactly. While we were observing Perry's house, we saw a woman walk up to his front door. It was dark, so we couldn't get a good look at her face, but we ran the plates of the car that she got out of." said Cole, briefly explaining the night's turn of events.
" And it belonged to Michelle Williams." said Buckley, putting the pieces together.
"Right. We also pulled their phone records, and the two have had quite a bit of contact in the past few months. " said Brenda
"So, we brought Michelle in this morning, and I had Brenda interview her." said Cole
Brenda opened her mouth, about to protest Cole's statement. He didn't have her do anything, it was her job.
Cole laid a hand on Brenda's leg, realizing his mistake and silently apologizing.
Brenda politely removed his hand from her leg, taking over the conversation. "She was very revealing, eager to stay out of trouble. Turns out, they've been sleeping together for the past five months."
"Sex while they betray their own country."said Buckley. "The sex must be fantastic. So, we have a very attractive secretary and a high-powered Special Agent on the Removal Team, and they're working together to sell our nation's secrets. Does anyone else see a problem with this?" asked Buckley
" Besides the fact that they're betraying their country?" asked Cole. "No, I don't."
Brenda sat back in her chair pondering the question, angry at herself for not realizing it sooner.
"What does Michelle have to gain by doing this?" asked Brenda. "She is simply a secretary, an office worker, she has no power here. Perry on the other hand."
" Perry has taken out a lot of important people, he has to have enemies out there somewhere." said Cole
" It's a classic case of sexual manipulation." explains Brenda. "He makes her fall in love with him, convinces her that she needs to steal these important documents for the sake of her country, maybe even their relationship. She probably has no idea what he's doing with them."
" She can't be that naïve, can she?" asked Cole
Buckley smiled at the two of them. "You really don't know what it feels like to be in love, do you son?"
Cole ignored their snide comments, instead wanting to focus on the problem at hand.
"So, what do we do know?" asked Cole
"Brenda, you haven't interviewed Perry yet, have you?" asked Buckley
"No sir, we're waiting for him to come to us."
"Good. In the meantime, there is something I want the two of you to do. You're both aware of the ball we're hosting on Friday, correct?" asked Buckley
"Who are we honoring this time?" asked Cole, scoffing at the notion of the CIA throwing a ball for someone.
"Hell if I know." Buckley sifted through papers, trying to find the exact name. When he couldn't locate it, he simply gave up on the idea. "Some key International player. "
"And what exactly does that have to do with us?" Brenda asked, growing frustrated with the constant twist and turns of this assignment.
Maybe it was only half frustration. If she was being honest with herself, she was finding her new assignment rather exciting. Cole was even starting to grow on her.
Just like he said he would. Arrogant son of a bitch.
" Well, I want you two to attend. For obvious reasons of course, we never allow field agents to attend these types of things. Merely the Directors, like myself, and those in figurehead positions. You two will be assigned as security detail. My wife will be "unavailable" to escort me, so I will ask Ms. Williamson to come along as my guest."
Brenda fumed silently at this particular scenario. She absolutely hated parties like this. But the worst part wasn't attending them; no, it was dressing for them.
" But what about Perry, how will he get him in?" asked Cole, clearly not paying attention to Brenda's dissatisfaction.
" I put him on the list for Security a couple hours ago, after you called for a meeting. Figured it wouldn't hurt. "
"Let me get this straight. You want to put two people who are quite possibly selling secrets in the same room as international players, otherwise known as potential buyers of these secrets, all for what? So you can watch a show go down?" Brenda did not like this idea. It was too risky; nothing good could come from it. Moles don't crack in front of a crowd full of people.
They crack when they think they've been caught.
And that simply wasn't going to happen at a "ball".
"No, I'm doing it so we can observe the two of them in the same room, where they can't be together, even though they desperately want to be."
Cole came to the defense of his boss after Brenda's outrage. "He's right Brenda. Putting them in the same room, it's the only way we can keep an eye on them at the same time. It's simple observation. " explained Cole
" Look, we haven't really gotten a clear lead by "simple observation". We need to talk to Perry before anything else." Brenda stood up from her chair, slinging her giant purse over her shoulder. "Why can't we just stick to my original plan and let him come to us?"
"Because , we don't know how long that could take. The ball is in 48 hours. Now unless you can tell me that you are absolutely certain that you can get a confession before that time, I suggest you mentally prepare yourself for Friday night." said Buckley
"Get ready Cinderalla, we're going to the Ball." Cole smiled at her, ignoring her irritated attitude.
Brenda didn't smile back.
Instead, she calmly walked out of Mr. Evan's office, slamming the door shut on her way out.
Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a fabulous New Year's!
-Alison