Hello. I had a little bit of trouble writing this chapter because I was trying to shore everything up properly to move into the next chapter. Not to worry if some of your favorite characters weren't in the chapter; they'll be there in the finale, to be certain.
Other than that, still looking for a job, yes. It's frustrating, but you just have to keep plugging away. Hopefully something will come through.
Once this story is done, I'll start organizing my next Forrest & Slade story. It features a few characters that you may not see often in the fanfic realm, but I thought it would make for a funny story. Then I'll have a new NextGen story following that.
Enjoy, and please leave reviews!
New Scotland Yard, Victoria, London
October 11, 2033
8:00 AM GMT
Carina Miller signed the registry at the front desk and was escorted to the fourteenth floor, where her daughter was being held. The late-night visit she received a few days ago from her daughter, accompanied by Chuck and Sarah, was a shock to the system. She was horrified to learn Samantha lost her best friend and was framed for the crime. She was also upset Samantha tried to keep it from her, but she quickly forgave her daughter. She couldn't get mad at her for acting exactly like she did at her age. Some lessons are easy to learn; others weren't. Samantha managed to avoid the amount of drinking, partying, and sleeping around she did at her age, but that stubborn lone-wolf streak was a different story.
Samantha walked down the hallway in a gray jumpsuit, escorted by two police officers. Carina closed the distance between them in a hurry.
"Sweetie," Carina cried out, hugging her daughter tightly. The two police officers immediately pried off of Samantha. "Sorry," Carina replied to the officers, who pointed to a table the two could sit at.
"Could you give us some privacy, please?" Samantha asked the officers, who retreated a few feet away, the maximum distance they were permitted.
Carina grabbed her daughter's hands across the table. "How are you doing? I am so worried about you!"
Samantha gave her a weird look. "Mom, worst acting job…ever," she said quietly.
"Well, now that I have this turned on, I can stop acting like the typical mother."
Samantha felt the object in her mother's hand. "What is this?"
"This will overlay a different conversation onto the surveillance cameras. Chuck gave it to me. He figures the hacker who is in on this will keep an eye on you by looking at the surveillance here. As far as the surveillance knows, I'm just a mother who's freaking out."
"Tell Chuck I said thanks," Samantha replied with a smile. "How are the rest of them doing?"
"That's the other reason why I'm here. The plan is working. Jimmy has everybody running scared at MI-5. Casey and Gertrude are keeping their eyes open for anything. We hope that'll speed up the process. Someone may even try to contact you today."
"You really think so?"
"Chuck is working with Gerald to find out what's going on. He should be in the SIS as we speak. We hope that puts the pressure on, and whoever did this contacts you and we find out what's going on. You have to make sure whatever they say ends up on the surveillance."
"But wouldn't they be smart enough to do what you just did? Bring something in to fool the recording?"
Carina smiled. "Fortunately, Chuckie's a lot more devious than he was the first time I met him all those years ago. The device I just gave you can also locate and block the signal from any device someone brings in. It will broadcast a wavelength that matches the surveillance system and boost the signal to override anything that can be brought in. Best of all, they'll never know. They'll think they got away with it."
Samantha grinned. "I never realized all of you rubbed off on him like that."
Carina shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, I think he rubbed off on all of us more. Sarah was as wild as I used to be when she started as an agent. Worse than me, in fact. But Chuck got to her. Chuck got to all of us, really. Casey, Forrest, Jimmy, me…" Carina paused and looked at her daughter for a moment. "Just like a certain offspring of his got to you."
"Oh, come on, Mom. He's just a friend."
Carina shook her head and laughed. "Uh-uh. Don't bother, hon. It's written all over your face. You really like him. And what's wrong with that?"
"Mom, I…" Samantha was silent for a moment, the grin from earlier long gone. "I can't do that to him. He decided to go to college. He doesn't want to be part of this life."
"What, you think Sarah found Chuck through some dating service? He didn't want to be a spy, either, Sam. But life never goes the way you want it to go. You think Casey wanted to spend his life babysitting Chuck? Wouldn't Alex have loved for 9/11 to have never happened or Jimmy to not be a government experiment gone wrong? But those things happen. Fate works however it wants to and that can't be stopped. But if you're lucky, sometimes you get dealt a good hand. And when you do, you have to play it with every last bit of heart and energy you have inside of you."
Carina put her hand on Samantha's arm. "Love isn't easy. It never was and it never will be. Especially for any of us. But all of us made it work. And if you and John feel that strongly about each other, you can make it work, too."
One of the officers gently cleared her throat and pointed at the clock when Carina and Samantha looked in her direction. They nodded in agreement and stood up.
"Let me know if you need anything," Carina said, holding her daughter's hands. "We'll do everything we can to help you."
"I love you, Mom," Samantha replied. Even though she played it up for the surveillance, the sentiment was nonetheless still there.
Samantha was taken back to her cell as Carina was led through the security doors to the elevators.
MI-5 Headquarters, London
October 11, 2033
10:15 AM GMT
Jimmy watched as Tyler Cook entered the small office he used to conduct his interrogations of SIS staff. Right away, he knew something was up. The prior thirty people he interviewed came into the interrogation one of two ways: nervous as hell about their own job or mad as hell they were even being interrogated. But something felt off with the way Tyler walked in. Given what Chuck found with Gerald Cooper late yesterday evening, Jimmy's focus shifted towards the IT people, and Tyler was one of the people who could have altered the files.
"Mr. Cook?"
"Yes, Mr. Murdock. I was told to see you at this time?"
"Please have a seat. I've already had a look through your personnel file. And honestly, I think you can be a lot more useful doing something besides answering a lot of my questions."
"How's that?"
Jimmy projected his IntComm on the far wall. "I was doing some research into the computer systems last night, and I found a few discrepancies here and there. I've noticed the backup logs not in sync with the timestamps from the computers."
Tyler studied the two sets of logs. "These aren't that unusual, Mr. Murdock. Sometimes there are processing delays because the backups run on a different system. If the lag was of any significance, the computer would alert us."
"Could be, but I'm playing a hunch. My theory is the people who did this used these time lags to slip directives into the computer systems to make it look like these murders were committed under orders from the administration. What I need you do to do is pull the logs for the mainframe systems and the backup computers for the last twelve weeks. I'm going to go over these with a fine-toothed comb. If somebody hid something in there, you can be damn sure I'll find it."
"Um, sure. Not a problem."
"Can you have it to me by the end of the day?"
"It'll be tight, but I'll get it done for you, Mr. Murdock."
"Excellent. Don't let me waste any more of your time. Thank you for coming in."
Tyler stood and left the office. Once he was safely gone, Jimmy switched his IntComm to make a call.
"Case, were you able to get the internal camera feeds from MI-5? Excellent. I'm forwarding you a file on a Tyler Cook. He works with the IT group. You and Gertrude keep an eye on him. Chuck told me only three people's work schedules coincided with the discrepancies Gerald found and he was one of them. I'll monitor the computers from here, and the Chancellor already authorized me to receive all mobile phone records from BT. At least now I only have one person to track down."
Jimmy disconnected from Casey. He exited the office and looked for Chuck.
New Scotland Yard, Victoria, London
October 11, 2033
11:00 AM GMT
Samantha was once again led from her cell to the common area just outside of the cells. She was told her barrister and his assistant had arrived to discuss her defense strategy. She was a bit surprised this was happening so quickly, but clearly Casey's plan was having the intended effect. She knew the next few minutes were crucial to the team's success. She had to convince whomever was coming to see her that she wanted to join their team and was willing prove her worth.
Unlike the meeting with her mother this morning, she was led to a small room with a table and four chairs surrounding it. Although no cameras were visible, as these rooms were supposed to grant attorney-client privilege, she was certain every word said in the room would be recorded. Hopefully, whoever was coming to see her would assume that, too.
"Miss Collins?" the older gentleman said as he walked up to her, holding out his hand, which she shook while trying to keep herself from shaking. "I am Bradley Whitaker, your legal counsel. This is my assistant, Kara Milvoy."
"Hello," Samantha replied quietly to the young woman. She tried not to stare at her, but something in the back of Samantha's mind started to wonder about this person.
The three went into the room and closed the door behind them. Bradley immediately opened his briefcase and flipped a switch on a small box inside of it.
"Good," Arthur Pollard said as he took a seat next to Natasha Herbert. "Now we can talk in peace without the Met listening in on us."
"What do you mean?" Samantha asked as she shook her arm gently underneath the table, and the device her mother gave her earlier this morning fell into her hand. She activated it and slipped it into the waistband of her jumpsuit.
"You were targeted, Miss Collins. The government has betrayed you."
"What?"
Natasha passed her a folder. "We don't know his plan, but we do know Chancellor Nolan authorized the hits on those three agents, and four others have disappeared. Either they're dead or they're working for him."
Samantha flipped through the photos and documents in the folder. There were pictures of Tony Furlan, Grace Sullivan, and Carolyn Hurley. There were memos directed at the agents unaccounted for to eliminate them.
"My God," Samantha said quietly.
"We believe those agents, like you, were aware of something going on and were making inquiries, just like you. In this case, Nolan probably figured murdering your friend and framing you killed two birds with one stone."
"That son of a bitch," Samantha growled as she played along. "I'll kill that bastard."
Pollard and Herbert exchanged a quick glance. Got her, they thought at the same time.
"There's not a lot you can do from in here, though," Pollard pointed out to her. "We have to get you out of here before they send you off to some remote facility to rot away for the rest of your life."
"I can break out of here, but I need help to escape completely," Samantha said with a considerable amount of enthusiasm.
"You can?"
"What, you don't think I reached the same conclusion?" Samantha gave each of them a hard stare. "I start investigating what's going on, and my best friend ends up dead with all of the evidence pointing to me? Who else could have set all of that up so perfectly?"
"Do you have a plan?"
Samantha nodded. "One of the officers on the second shift has taken a bit of a fancy to me. I guess they don't get a lot of young, attractive prisoners here. I just invite him into my cell, kill him, and take his access card. Down the hall from my cell is the junction box for the surveillance feeds. I short it out, and I'll be able to escape."
"How do we fit in?" Natasha asked.
"Once the box is disabled, it'll take two minutes for them to reroute the power and reboot the system. The lift is 30 seconds from the junction box if I run in a full sprint, and it takes thirty seconds for the lift to reach the lobby. That means I have only sixty seconds to get away from the building before the cameras come back on. I need your help to do that."
Arthur and Natasha looked at each other and nodded. "What time should we be there?"
Samantha did some calculations in her head. "The second shift starts at 4 PM. He usually comes by my cell at 4:15. Give about a minute or two to get him…comfortable, then kill him, take his card…I'll short the box at 4:19 PM. Pull up Loading Dock #4 at exactly 4:20 PM. Don't pull up any earlier, or you'll risk being seen on the cameras."
Arthur looked up at the clock. "Are all of the clocks in the facility synchronized?" Samantha nodded, and Arthur fixed his watch to match. "OK, 4:20 exactly. Do not disappoint us, Miss Collins. We have big plans for you."
"I promise, I'll be well worth your efforts," Samantha replied with a smile.
"Until tonight, then." Arthur Pollard and Natasha Herbert rose from their seats and exited the small room. A guard came by to collect Samantha.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"I need to break out of here tonight. Is Liam on-duty on the night shift?"
"I'll find out for you. What do you want me to tell him?"
"Have him come by my cell at 4:15. And tell him to be ready to put on a good performance."
"I'll let the warden know."
"Thanks, Gareth."
Samantha returned to her cell. She had to admit even one night here was one night too many for her tastes.
Page Street, Lambeth, London, UK
October 11, 2033
11:00 AM GMT
Tyler Cook made sure he was a good distance away from the Thames House before connecting with Mr. Lightman.
"What is it?" Mr. Lightman answered with considerable irritation.
"Mr. Murdock called me into his office a little while ago. He wants me to produce the logs from all the computer systems."
"Do you think he's onto something?"
"I don't know. It would take him days to go through all of that data."
"Unless he already knows what to look for. Were you able to find a link between Murdock and Samantha Collins?"
"Not directly. But I talked to a friend in the CIA. Collins' boyfriend has been there. Apparently he figured into some very important mission about six months ago, and she thinks Murdock knows him. I don't know. It could still be coincidence."
"We can't take that chance. I'll tell Pollard to head your way after he's done with Collins. Set up the EMP grenade in the computer room. I'll send some people to take care of Murdock. But perhaps we should get ourselves a little insurance."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing you need to worry about. Just make sure Cooper and his friend don't walk out of that computer room."
Tyler heard the beep from the Daemon-issed iComm as Mr. Lightman disconnected. He took a deep breath. He was beginning to wonder if this was worth it.
MI-5 Headquarters, London
October 11, 2033
12:30 PM GMT
Chuck sat back in his chair and craned his neck. Going through the information on all of the computers was becoming quite frustrating. He didn't have to worry about such things at Carmichael Industries anymore; he had a team of programmers even smarter than him to take care of that. He only ever had to look at the final code before sending new software to the alpha testers. Trying to find the implanted files felt more like when he was working on electrical engineering projects back at Stanford: difficult, frustrating, and there was never enough coffee around.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Bartowski," Gerald said with a tired sigh. "I thought I was onto something."
"Don't worry about it. I know how frustrating this can be. Besides, it hasn't been that long since the big investigation started. If we don't find something, my friends will."
Chuck's gComm rang. He saw Casey's gruff visage on the caller ID. "Maybe Casey has something for us." He connected with Casey. "What's going on?"
"Might have a viable lead for you. Tyler Cook."
"Tyler Cook?" Chuck quickly turned to Cooper. "Do you know anything about him?"
Gerald shrugged his shoulders. "Typically he works the late shift out at Cheltenham. He's here this week, though. That's all I know."
"He's a communications officer at GCHQ, Case."
"Yeah, moron, I already know that. Slade forwarded his file to us and told him to keep an eye on him. He met with Cook this morning and told him to get all of the data you two found on the computers. He went off and made a phone call instead."
"What did he say on the phone?"
"I thought I'd save that for your birthday. It was a scrambled phone. How the hell were we supposed to listen in?"
Chuck quietly growled. "Casey, we've known each other for over two decades. Do you think just once we could converse without you being antagonistic?"
"Verbanski is having BT pull up the phone recordings, but that will take time. Keep an eye out for him."
"Wait, there he is," Gerald interrupted. Chuck looked outside the office to see Tyler walking through the computer center, occasionally giving a furtive glance towards him.
"Casey, he's here right now."
"He is? Keep an eye on him, Bartowski."
"We will…what is going on?"
"What?"
"He just ran out of here in a hurry."
Casey's eyes widened. "Get out of there, Chuck! Get out now!"
Chuck looked at his phone in horror for the briefest of seconds before bolting out of his chair. "We have to go!" he shouted to Gerald. They ran for the door, but the locks were engaged.
"What the?" Gerald said in confusion as he tried to use his keycard to open the locks to no avail. "He locked us in!"
Chuck grabbed Gerald and the two ran for the receptionist's desk. They hid under it as the EMP grenade went off. They were stunned briefly by the shockwave. Suddenly the lights went out and the computers and servers began to spark and smoke. The room became engulfed in flames.
They crawled across the floor to a smaller door with a manual release lever. Chuck tried to open it.
"He broke the door. We're trapped!" Gerald exclaimed in wide-eyed terror. The fire suppression system will pump CO2 into here and we'll suffocate!"
Chuck looked around quickly. "Wait a minute." He ran back to the computer they were working at and quickly opened his briefcase. He took out the IntComm and booted it up while he put on the glasses.
"What is that?" Gerald asked.
"Hopefully out ticket out."
Gerald stared at the IntComm unit as it accepted Chuck's identity. "Why is it still working? Shouldn't the EMP have disabled it?"
"We designed it to resist an electromagnetic pulse. Never thought that stupid Broken Arrow movie would ever come in handy. Seriously, lame plot PLUS John Travolta and Christian Slater? Who's idea was that?"
Chuck quickly looked around the room as Gerald grabbed several tissues out of a box to cover his nose and mouth. Chuck looked up at the ceiling, and the IntComm downloaded a schematic of the building along with a few special skills into his mind.
He grabbed Gerald. "Stay low," Chuck ordered him as they moved quickly. They got to the center of the room as the CO2 tanks activated to put out the fire. Chuck jumped onto a chair, grabbed the supports to the air vent, and catapulted himself into the tiny crawl space. He reached his arm down as far as he could, and Gerald leaped up to grab it. Chuck pulled him into the crawl space, and the two began to make their way across the ceiling. They crawled one hundred meters, making several turns through the duct work, until they found a vent that opened up into the outer stairwell. They dropped through the vent onto the stairwell and quickly exited the building.
"Cheers, man," Gerald said as they caught their breath outside. "You have a lot of talent."
Chuck gave a humble shrug. "So I've been told. But I hang out with some very talented people."
"I have to confess something, though."
"What's that?"
"I kind of liked Broken Arrow. They show it on the Turner Classic Movies channel all the time."
Chuck gave him a weird look. "You liked it?"
"Well, it was better than that old movie where the cop rescues those hostages in a high-rise while he's barefoot and only wearing an undershirt. Why anybody considers that a classic I'll never know."
Chuck rolled his eyes. "You have no idea how lucky you are you didn't say that five minutes ago."
Shepherd's Restaurant, Lambeth, London, UK
October 11, 2033
1:00 PM GMT
Jimmy Slade enjoyed the brisk walk outside of Thames House as he took a break from his investigating to get something to eat. In all fairness, Casey, Gertrude, and Chuck were the ones who were doing the real investigating right now. He was just around to scare the bad guys into making a mistake. It had only been just over a day since his fire-and-brimstone speech to the SIS about finding who was behind this conspiracy, so he wasn't expecting something to happen all that quickly. Still, it would have been nice to find out what was going on and help Samantha out of her situation.
He stood at the corner of the intersection and waited for the light to turn green. He looked around at the throngs of people quickly walking towards the restaurants for lunch or heading back to their offices. In a weird way, it reminded him of his days working as a computer trainer over twenty years ago. He had taught a lot of those classes at client sites in the downtown areas of Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Denver, and a few dozen other cities it would take too long to remember. He always took a walk during the noon break to clear his head, having done painstaking research to find the best bargains in meals in each town. With all of the travel he did, each town began to look the same to him. But now, having had some distance from that, he was having a sentimental flashback that brought a tiny smile to his face.
In fact, he was so lost in thought, he never saw the car that ran through the stoplight and was heading straight towards him.
He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of a horn and some assorted screams from pedestrians nearby. He then felt himself hit the ground as he was tackled from behind, the car missing him by only a foot.
He looked up to see Alex on top of him.
"OK, uh, you definitely get to pick where we're having lunch," he said in relief and appreciation to Alex.
"You're lucky," Alex replied with a bit of anger towards him. "Why don't you pay attention to your surroundings!? Just because you're not a spy anymore doesn't mean it won't hurt me if you're killed in an accident!"
Jimmy looked up to see the car that almost ran over him spin around. "I…don't think this was an accident."
Alex took a look as well as the car headed towards them once again. Both of them got up and quickly ran down the street as the car bounded around the corner. They pulled out their guns and fired away at the vehicle. The tires of the vehicle were shot out as another vehicle pulled up as well. They ducked down as shots came from that vehicle. Alex rolled out from behind a dumpster to fire at the second vehicle. She disabled it with her last bullets as Jimmy emptied his clip into the first vehicle. The two of them then took off down the alley way as six men exited the vehicles and gave pursuit. Eventually, they ran out of alley. They kept hidden behind a pair of garbage cans.
"We know you're here," one of the men shouted. "You have nowhere to go."
Jimmy and Alex looked at each other. "Do you have the…" Alex began.
Jimmy gave a tiny smile as he held up the IntComm and put on the glasses. "It doesn't really have the Clark-Kent-turning-to-Superman effect, does it."
"Wait, which Superman? I mean Christopher Reeve would be hard to top, but I never liked that guy who did that one in the early 2000s."
"I agree; that guy was a weenie."
Jimmy slowly stood with his hands up and walked into the middle of the alley. Alex carefully slid the IntComm out from behind the garbage cans and activated it, trying to keep a clear line between it and Jimmy's glasses.
"Both of you come out," the man ordered as the group of six surrounded Jimmy.
"Oh, I don't think she needs to."
"And what makes you say that?"
The man pushed his gun under Jimmy's chin. The IntComm activated and flooded Jimmy's mind with the proper program.
"Six against one is already unfair…for you."
Jimmy's hand shot up and pulled the gun away from his chin as he head-butted the man, knocking him back, while his foot came up to nail the man directly behind him in the face, taking him out. He spun and landed a roundhouse kick to a third man as the last three attacked. He thrust a palm strike at one and swept his leg to send that man to the ground. The last two managed to grab both of Jimmy's arms as the man he head-butted took out a large knife and charged at him.
He was met by a kick to the face.
He stumbled backwards as Alex sent another roundhouse kick to his face. She finished him off with a nasty haymaker as Jimmy jumped off the ground and flipped backwards to break away from the two men holding him. He grabbed both of their heads and rammed them into each other, knocking them out cold.
Jimmy then looked at his wife with a bit of irritation. "I could have gotten out of that."
"What, and I get to sit behind the garbage cans like some damsel in distress?"
"Well, next time, get yourself scanned to use the IntComm! It's not my fault it wasn't configured for you to use."
"You didn't even need it. You've taken out twice as many people without it."
"Yeah, over twenty years ago. I'm not a kid anymore."
Alex gave him the evil eye. "I beg to differ quite STRONGLY."
Jimmy exhaled in frustration. "Why did I say yes to marrying you?"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Because you think I'm beautiful and smart, you're in love with me, and after all these years, I still do that one thing in bed that drives you wild."
Jimmy shook his head as he got on his IntComm to send Casey an update.
Hughes Hall, Cambridge, UK
October 11, 2033
3:00 PM GMT
John finished his last class of the day and started walking towards the recreation centre. It was getting a bit chilly outside, but he wanted to get in a run this afternoon to get his mind off of things. It was frustrating to know what was going on but to be unable to do anything about it. He agreed with everyone that it was safer if he pretended he didn't know what was going on, but that didn't make it any easier.
"Excuse me. Could you tell me where Selwyn College is?"
John turned as he saw the young woman approach him with a map of the campus. She was dressed in a hoodie and sweats with a backpack over her shoulder. In other words, she looked like every other student on the campus. Other than the ones who grew up thinking Oxford shirts and wool pants were play clothes.
"Um, sure." The woman handed him the map and he went to take a look. He did exactly as the woman hoped as she reached into her backpack while John concentrated on the map. He wasn't ready for the blast of spray that hit his face. He lost consciousness and fell forward into the waiting arms of the two large men who had walked up to them without him noticing.
New Scotland Yard, Victoria, London
October 11, 2033
4:15 PM GMT
Liam walked down the hallway, keeping an eye on the cells. Most of them were empty, as most offenders never spent more than forty-eight hours at the holding facility here. Either they went to trial and posted bail, or they were transferred to facilities more suitably designed for holding inmates for longer periods of time. He was a bit nervous, but he knew he had to do this. Besides, Samantha seemed like a very nice person, and he was happy to do her a favor.
"Hello there," he said as he arrived at Samantha's cell. He took his keycard and swiped it, unlocking the door. He pulled it open and went inside.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Samantha asked him.
Liam nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."
"OK, let's make this look good for the cameras."
Liam grabbed her and held her up against the wall, kissing her hard. Samantha returned the kiss while she cautiously slipped his keycard from his belt and then took his gun.
"Damn, you're a good kisser," Samantha whispered in his ear. "It's too bad I have a boyfriend."
"That's OK," Liam replied. "So do I."
"Really?"
"Yes. Eric and I got married two months ago."
"Wow. He's a lucky guy. I'll have to get you two a wedding present."
"Thanks."
"OK, here we go."
Samantha pushed back and pretended to pistol-whip Liam, who crumpled to a heap on the floor right on cue. Samantha peeked out into the hallway and ran down to the junction box. She opened the box and smashed the power source with the gun. The cameras were knocked out as she sprinted down the hallway to the lift. Using Liam's keycard, she got the doors to the lift opened, and she headed for the Lobby. She ran down the hallway, diving on the floor and sliding past two guards who "tried" to stop her, and she ran out to the loading dock. A black cab pulled up on the roadway leading to the docks. She leaped down from the platform and the taxi took off.
"Well timed, Miss Collins," Arthur Pollard said as he drove away. "That was very impressive. There are some clothes for you in the bag."
"Thanks. I hope I have lived up to your standards so far."
"We will see. Actually, we already have an assignment for you. We think you'll like it. It allows a certain amount of…retribution."
"What is it?"
"Tomorrow, you will go in and take out Chancellor Nolan. After all, what better way to prove you see things our way but to eliminate the person who tried to pin this entire mess on you."
Samantha tried to keep a good poker face, but it was clear she was already in over her head. "Hey, I just got out of prison and they'll be looking for me. Are you sure you want me to be going after such a big target?"
"Actually, you have three people to kill, thanks to the incompetence of some of our people. You'll also kill the woman who is leading the investigation. The director of the DNI in America, Alex Forrest. And her lapdog, Roger Murdock."
Holy shit, she thought to herself. What the hell is going on? She had to think fast. "Wait a minute. You want me to kill three high-profile people tomorrow without as much as a plan? Is this how you normally run things?"
"We like to make sure our people can work when the pressure is on. However, if you like, we can give you some incentive."
"What do you mean?"
Pollard pulled the cab over and stopped. He took his iComm and placed it on the shelf between the front and back seats of the cab. He then hit a few buttons. A 3-D holographic image appeared.
Samantha was horrified to see John Bartowski blindfolded and handcuffed to a chair in the middle of what looked like a warehouse.
"Your boyfriend, correct?" Pollard said. The shocked expression on Samantha's face answered his question.
"So, Miss Collins. It's them…or him. What is your choice?"