hopeless
.
"What the hell is going on, Hobbes?" Darien grouched as he dragged his still sleeping body up the stairs in the pre-dawn darkness.
"Nothing good, that's for frickin' sure," Hobbes grouched, not looking too thrilled about the situation either. "Eberts called and told me to get you and get the two of us down here soonest. That's all I know."
"Great, just great. This could be about anything," Darien grumbled rubbing the back of his head. He'd only been asleep for a couple of hours when Bobby had shown up at his door to drag him out of bed. The two of them had wrapped a case late in the afternoon and had gone out for a couple of job well done drinks after, nothing unusual, and nothing exciting. He'd been hoping for a call from Alyx, but had settled for an email instead. She'd been busy, bouncing from place to place for the last several months as she followed one particularly twisted and tangled trail. She'd not been able to elaborate, which he understood. Just one wrong word by him at the wrong time could threaten not just her but her entire team.
"Or nothing. Things have been going well lately, could be the boss just yanking our chains," Hobbes suggested, the idea not as far fetched as one might think. Since Alyx had left, power had shifted dramatically at the Agency. The Official trying to shorten Darien's leash by no longer permitting use of the inhibitor, but, thankfully, Claire had nixed that idea citing the risk of permanently losing their only invisible agent that much sooner if he should develop a tolerance to the Counteragent.
They could hear raised voices in the office as they neared the door and that worried Darien, because the Official only got his dander up when things had gone truly sideways. He and Hobbes glanced at each other before his partner reached for the doorknob and, with some trepidation, opened the door.
The sounds from within cut off instantly, which didn't surprise Darien all that much, the three new suits within did, especially since one of whom was Michael, Alyx's brother.
He knew they were working together on this big IA project but she had not given him any details, just the promise of a warning should the shit be about to hit the fan at the Agency. A warning that had not happened, so either she knew nothing about this visit or things did not look as bad as it appeared.
Then again, based on the flushed angry look on the Official's face, the situation was most certainly not all hearts and flowers. Something serious was going down, serious enough to drag the top two agents in before false dawn had become even a thought in the sky. Eberts stood ramrod straight in his usual spot, while their Boss stormed about in front of the desk, the bluster just that, Darien suspected. Of course, whatever he'd been ranting about cut short when they stepped into the room and his focus swung to them.
"Good of you to finally join us," he snapped, the sarcasm dripping off the words. "We have a situation."
Darien shrugged. "Kinda figured that given the early morning rousting. What's up?" His eyes traveled from his overweight boss around the room, past two agents he did not know and that had probably come with Mike - Agent Corvan he corrected reminded himself, not likely the man was here on a personal visit - to meet the eyes of an exhausted looking Claire standing in the far corner, looking for all the world like one of her lab rats who had found itself trapped in a dead end of a maze, to meet the eyes of the obvious agent in charge of this mysterious situation. Mike gave him a nod then returned his focus to the Official.
"You okay, Keep?" Hobbes asked when he spotted her trying to be unobtrusive and all but hiding from the visiting agents.
"Not particularly, but not injured either," she answered, her glares aimed at both the Official and Mike, which Darien found quite interesting.
"What is going on, Corvan?" Darien kept his tone neutral, not wanting to influence the response in a specific direction.
"He claims we have a mole in the Agency," Eberts stated, the hint of disdain audible in his tone.
"And?" Hobbes commented as he walked over to Claire and encouraged her out of the corner she'd backed into and to a seat at the conference table.
"You don't seem surprised," Corvan said, words aimed at Hobbes, but his focus clearly on Darien, which would have been disconcerting if he hadn't had inside info on the big picture.
Hobbes snorted as he took of a protective stance behind the good Keeper. "We're a spy agency, of course we have moles. Who they report to is the issue."
That got Mike's dour countenance to crack the tiniest of bits. "A valid point." He turned to the Official who had paused his pacing to lean back on his desk. "Wouldn't you agree?"
The Official growled softly. "But you have no proof."
"We have enough to know the information leaked came from this building and are certain the access to said information is restricted. The general information is known, but not the details that have been discovered... elsewhere. So unless you've been sharing your toys..."
The Official shook his head. "No. But there are those outside this agency who have been granted full disclosure." The implication, of course, that they were the leak and simply made it look as if the data came from here.
Mike shook his head. "The information was followed back to here."
Eberts twitched. "Not possible. Too many data streams to wade through for a trace of that type to ever hope to be accurate."
The corners of Mike's lips turned up ever so slightly. "Very possible, with the right... equipment."
That tiny pause gave the game away to Darien. There may have been computers involved, but the trace itself had been done a by a human, one who could send her mind into the vastness of the web and move freely within. Alyx had done the trace, and it had led her right back to San Diego and the Agency. "Who is it? You either think it's one of us or none of us, else you wouldn't have us here at this ungodly hour."
Mike tried to look serious, but Darien could tell he was amused by Darien's seemingly careless attitude. "That is a good question. While we can trace a particular computer IP, that does not necessarily implicate the person to whom the computer belongs." He turned his head ever so slightly to focus on Claire who blanched.
Hobbes shifted, rolling his shoulders and coming to his full height. "It ain't the Keep."
Mike shrugged. "I haven't said it is, yet several of the packages were sent directly from her computer in Lab 101."
The Official harrumphed. "Not possible. The system with the information in question is not connected to any outside line."
"We are aware," Mike stated, bland look on his face never wavering. "It is still where the information came from."
"If the trail leads back to there, then it's not a secure as you thought," Darien pointed out, earning a glare from his boss for his trouble. "Sorry, but an ethernet cable isn't the only way in. If it's the Keep system, then it's connected to the main servers, which does have outside connections."
"The Keep system only talks to the main at certain times as backup storage, those files are not accessible as they are locked. Without the password, which is random and changed hourly, not even I can get in," Eberts insisted, sounding too smug for the situation.
"Unless someone altered the programming," Hobbes said in a soft voice. He cocked his head as he eyed Eberts warily. "A virus, trojan, worm program with a just a couple lines of code could give access not only to the locked files on the server, but through it directly to the Keep system." He rubbed the top of his head and sighed in irritation. "Hell, it could be rigged to automatically send info every time that back-up connection opens. Look just like Claire were sending top secret info and she wouldn't even know it."
Mike turned his head ot the agent to his right and nodded. The man quickly left the room, most likely to go check the Agency systems for malware that could pull off a trick like that.
Eberts shook his head. "Not possible, the entire system, including all desktops and the Keep's computers are checked regularly. Any malware would have been detected and removed."
"Even if it had been integrated into the existing software?" Hobbes questioned.
"That would require someone with detailed and intimate knowledge of the system and how it works," Eberts sneered.
"No it wouldn't," Claire argued. "It would simply require someone able to follow directions and access to a system associated with the main. The program could have even been snuck in via a seemingly harmless internet connection."
Eberts looked ready to spit nails at having his expertise argued with. Granted he had been the resident geek here at the Agency... until Alyx had shown up. She had a natural affinity for computers that blew Eberts' skills right out of the water, much to the top lackey's dismay and disgruntlement.
"So, what you are saying, Eberts, is that you are the only one who could have planted the malware? Is that it?" Darien saw the look of utter disdain and anger flit across Eberts' face as he turned to glare at Darien, but it was swiftly swallowed by the man's usual blank stare. Could it be possible? Could Eberts be the mole? Sweet, shy, bookish Eberts? Who had a crush on Alyx from almost day one?
"Of course not," Eberts backpedaled quickly. "Just someone with my level of skill and familiarity with the programming. Miss Silver could have easily done it, for example."
Oooo, nice deflection, Darien thought, seeing it for what it was. "Except the information stolen was hers, right?" They hadn't been told, but it was pretty obvious even to him, that this was all about her. Given she was chasing her husband's employers it only made sense.
"That would be correct," Mike answered, his eyes never leaving Eberts as if his suspicions agreed with Darien's own, no matter how little sense they made.
"Do you know where the information went?" The Official asked, almost as if capitulating. He knew the info had been stolen, had probably been trying to discover who the leak was and had failed, relying on his computer expert to shoulder the majority of the work. However, if said computer expert was the mole... little wonder the culprit had not been caught.
"Yes, and no," Mike answered, which should have irritated the fuck out of the Official, but he only nodded as if discerning the true meaning of that non-answer.
"You'll keep me in the loop?" the Official requested, while Eberts turned beet red, taking the digging into his precious computer system personally.
Mike shook his head. "I can't promise that."
"Yeah, Chief, you could be the one under investigation," Hobbes stated as if it wasn't obvious to everyone in the room.
Darien knew the boss wasn't the leak, no way he'd compromise his precious position or agency for anything, especially not for the QSX project. No, there were those who wanted Alyx... Michele badly, and would do anything to control her. Thankfully she wasn't easy to control. And while the Official wanted her back working for him, he would not go about it this way. No, he'd work the system until she came back on her own, stronger, more skilled and best of all more dangerous. "No, whoever the mole is was here before Alyx arrived and got activated after."
Mike's eyes widened ever so slightly, as if surprised that Darien had figured it out so easily. "That is the same conclusion we have come to."
"Who do they work for?" Claire asked, her job as much on the line as everyone elses. Perhaps more since the supposed leak appeared to originate from her computers.
"That we have yet to ascertain," Mike responded.
Darien had a good guess, but refused to voice it aloud and risk jinxing this endeavor. As if he'd predicted it the agent Mike had sent scurrying off returned, hustled over to his superior and proceeded to whisper in his ear. Mike kept his look bland, but Darien could see the tightening about his eyes. He was not a happy camper. Finally he said in a quiet voice, "Do it." The agent hurried back out of the room, the door shut before Mike turned back to the Official.
"Well?"
"We have identified two moles. They will be picked up within the hour."
"Two? Not possible," the Official stated, certain that he could not have made such errors in judgment.
"We will know for certain once I've had the chance to speak with them." Mike didn't bat an eye, not about to argue with the Official when the truth would be known soon enough. "In the meantime there is another I would like to question."
"Another?" Hobbes sounded incredulous.
"Yeah," Darien agreed. "When did they get to you, Eberts?"
Eberts blinked, a look of honest confusion crossing his features. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he stuttered out.
Darien glanced at Mike who, thankfully, did not look upset that he'd dropped that bombshell into the room, he also didn't disagree. "You are the one who said that changing the code would require someone of your skill."
"That doesn't mean I did it," he argued, sounding defensive. "As the Keeper pointed out, anyone could have with the right direction."
"Of course, he might not have be aware that he modified the programming," a new voice said, a female voice. A very familiar female voice.
Darien spun about to see Alyx appear in a shower of Quicksilver flakes. He could only wonder how long she had been standing there waiting for the perfect moment to make her dramatic entrance. He felt her power wash across him, making him want to bask in the energy, then she winked before straightening her shoulders in preparation for the confrontation to come.
"Agent Silver, good to see you," the Official stated, hiding his surprise well.
Hobbes looked like he wanted to cheer, the grin on his face was so broad, but for all that they were happy to see Alyx, the seriousness of the situation was not lost upon them.
"Charlie, wish I could say it was under better circumstances." Alyx looked grim, her focus on Eberts and no one else, as if waiting for him to make his move. "Sims and Turner will be in custody shortly."
Hobbes gave a low whistle. "Sims I can buy, but Turner? She's in Human Resources, don't have any real contact with the agents."
"But she has access to all the files, including scheduling and reports," Claire pointed out. "Bloody hell, how long has this been going on?"
"Too long," Mike told them. "They have accumulated more than enough data from this agency to step up their efforts."
"Efforts at what?" Hobbes asked, eyeing Eberts warily.
"Ah, another good question," Alyx said striding slowly towards the man. "I suppose that would depend on the the day, the only thing I know for certain is they are convinced they need me for their grand plan to succeed."
"Kid, you ain't making much sense." Hobbes seemed to get that something serious was going down, but couldn't quite grasp that Eberts was part of it. Honestly, it surprised the hell out of Darien, and yet made perfect sense. Who would suspect the obsequious kiss-ass and file clerk that would literally shut up on command. If that command came from the Official, that is.
Could he really be an undercover agent?
Darien couldn't say no, no matter how far fetched it seemed to be. Plus he would assume that Mike and Alyx wouldn't be here, making such accusations without some sort of proof.
"Bobby, that agency her husband belonged to," Claire reminded, sounding as disbelieving as his partner.
"Exactly," Alyx agreed. "They've damn near perfected a sleeper agent program. Some have no idea they're even part of it until too late." She looked over at her brother. "He still feels like Eberts to me, what do you get?"
Mike's eyes narrowed, head tipping slightly to one side as he focused. "The cover is solid. He'll need a push."
Alyx smiled, and even Darien's hair stood on end. Whatever she was about to do, Eberts was not going to enjoy it.
"Agent Silver I cannot-"
The other bookend that had up until now not moved took two steps towards the Official who shut up instantly. "You will not interfere," he said, making it clear it was not a request.
Whatever was happening here, their power outranked the Official's, by a factor of ten.
"So, Eberts," Alyx began only to stop as his entire demeanor changed.
Gone was the lacky, the right hand man who touched nothing dirtier than toner on any given day, who cooked the books more often than actual meals for himself. No, whoever now stood before them had the stance and hard eyed look of a well-trained agent. One who'd just had his cover blown.
Alyx pouted. "Not much of a push at all."
Mike's eyes had narrowed. "Different programming parameters."
"Obviously," Eberts stated, sounding nothing like the man they'd known for a couple years now.
Even the Official looked shocked. "How long?"
"Long before you recruited me, so don't feel bad. Until Alyx arrived there was very little information of use to funnel to my superiors."
The Official appeared to be insulted by that, Darien had to agree, an invisible man wasn't of interest? "I doubt that," he said, glancing over at Alyx just in case he was screwing things up by poking Eberts with verbal sticks. Given the way she was concentrating, his poking and the responses were permitting her to delve deeper into the man's mind and the secrets he held within.
Eberts snorted. "While the QS-9000 project was of definite interest to us, it was also of little consequence, until it led you to... Alyx."
"And she is of great interest to you, is she not?" Michael questioned though the answer was obvious.
"She has exceeded our wildest expectations even with this Agency making every effort to screw it up," Eberts sneered with a sideways glance over at his... former boss. "We'll make certain she's ready when the time comes."
"Ready for what?" Hobbes asked, just as curious as the rest of them as to the answer. They already had one group supposedly readying the world for a great cataclysm that might never happen, who knew what this set of whack jobs were preparing for.
Eberts shook his head and tsked. "You want to know, you have to play the game much better." Then like a switch had been flipped the stranger wearing Eberts' face vanished, leaving the man they thought they had known behind to look about the room with an air of confusion. "Sir?"
The Official turned to Alyx. "You knew?"
"Not until recently, I swear it." She looked most unhappy. "Eberts was my friend. I've been in contact with him regularly since I left here. We did not warn you we were coming for obvious reasons."
Because what the Official knew, Eberts knew, and that would have given him and the other moles a chance to get away.
"They are all yours," the Official told them, though there had been no chance that the trio would not have been taken into custody.
Two agents that had been waiting outside, swung open the door and stepped in, making a beeline for Eberts who still seemed to have no comprehension of what was taking place.
"Sir?"
"You will go with them and cooperate fully, understood?" the Official ordered, his usual stern tone lacking as the full reality of the damage registered.
"Yes, sir," Eberts agreed sounding meek. The two agents did not cuff him, but it was made eminently clear that he would not be going anywhere they did not approve of.
Silence reigned in the room until the three had left and been gone for several minutes. Claire broke it first.
"Eberts? I find that very hard to believe even after what I've just seen."
Alyx sighed heavily. "Neither did I at first, but... Here we are." She turned to the Official. "My apologies for the lack of a heads up, but we couldn't risk them getting away."
The Official shook his head and shuffled back to his desk, settling heavily in his chair with decided creaking. "My computer system?"
"Will be scrubbed before I leave. I can't take back the data they already have, but they will get nothing else from this Agency," Alyx assured him.
"So, it'll go back to business as usual," Hobbes said, though the tone suggested it was a question far more than a statement.
"Mostly," Mike responded. "We will recommend certain security upgrades, but you are not obligated to use them."
"Written by you?" the Official asked of Alyx who nodded. "Who are these people?"
"I wish we knew." Alyx grabbed a chair at the conference table and sat down looking tired. "We've dug deep enough to know they once were a group called Mirage."
"It was decommissioned decades ago, the personnel absorbed into other agencies, but the agent in charge apparently continued his agency objective if far more covertly." Mike paced the length of the room by the windows, perhaps unable to settle the way Alyx had, though Darien had to admit that she looked like she'd rather be pacing, the tension in her shoulders obvious to him.
"Their purpose?" Claire asked, though all of them were wondering the same thing.
"Mirage was a watchdog group, looking for traitors and moles within the system," Hobbes said with a frown, "but..." He shook his head. "I always thought they were the equivalent of a government urban legend."
The Official huffed. "They were real, another cold war relic like this Agency. There's been rumors for... decades that they simply went underground, funding still being funneled to them through dozens of sources, the mandate unchanged, but no one, and I mean no one, was willing to confirm it."
"Justifiably," Mike commented. "They don't leave much behind when they target someone."
"We know they recruit those in existing agencies, using their original mandate as bait - protect from within - but some, like Eberts, end up as deep cover agents, complete with alternate personality programming."
"Like what Heilberg did to you," Hobbes stated, the frown growing even deeper as he contemplated the ramifications of that.
"Exactly," Alyx agreed. "We know Heilberg outsourced for them, however his technique has a high failure rate when activated. Others..." She shook her head. "Even I can't detect the layered personalities. The man we knew as Eberts may have never been a real person, but a cover identity over the spy identity, over the real person. It takes two of us," she nodded at her brother, "to peel back the layers, and even then we have a fifty percent failure rate."
"You can't break the programming?" Claire asked in true curiosity.
"Not precisely. Most are programmed to die if pushed too far. Alyx only recently discovered she can shut off the programming completely, but the triggers in the brain vary from person to person so it's tricky at best." Mike rolled his shoulders. "Which we need to get to." He turned to the Official. "Due to the special circumstances we were granted permission to explain some of what we are doing to you, but as of now you, all of you, are under direct orders to disclose nothing to anyone, including your superiors. A cover story for the loss of the agents will be created, copies of which you will receive by tomorrow morning, just follow the script and you'll be fine."
The Official pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Understood. I appreciate the additional information. How long before we can get back to business?"
"Three days. I'll handle the system upgrades personally," Alyx told him, putting in the effort to smile for her former boss, as she got to her feet. "You got off easy, we've had to shut down entire divisions for weeks to clear out the bugs left behind."
"Good enough." The Official sounded disheartened, but it wasn't as if he had the power to change any of this.
As if planned both she and her brother headed for the door without so much as a by your leave. Darien glanced about noting the shellshock on the faces of everyone in the room, except the lone agent that had remained behind, probably to get to work on cleaning up some of the internal mess. No one moved or said anything, which made him wonder if the siblings had done something to discourage them from following. Always one to buck the trends he got to his feet and went after them, well, after Alyx, hoping for a just a few moments alone before this nasty business swept her up in its embrace and kept her too busy for the likes of him.
They were just turning the corner towards the stairwell when he stuck his head out to see which way they had gone, rushing to catch up with them he called out, "Hey, hold up a sec."
Alyx stopped and looked over her shoulder with a smile lighting up her face. "Hey, D," she greeted as he skidded to a halt on the worn smooth linoleum. Probably time to replace his sneakers if the tread were gone enough for him to be sliding in here. She set a hand on Mike's arm. "I'll be down in five."
Mike nodded. "Good to see you, Fawkes."
"You too," Darien said with a nod, then Mike left through the double doors, probably heading down to the parking garage where their far classier than anything the Agency had vehicle waited. "I know this is a work trip, but any chance we can get together?" There was no point in being upset that she had not informed him she would be in town given the circumstances, who knew how far the bugging went. His home phone, hell his cell phone or laptop could have trackers, especially the computer since he'd had Eberts install some of the programs. "Crap."
"I'll check your personal items, everyone's actually, but yours I will do straight away." She sidled closer, set her hands on his hips, and went up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. "I fully intended to say hi before I left, promise, but this work takes priority."
"Not complaining. I am more than happy to see you even if it's only for work." However, he would be even happier to spend some off the clock time with her if they could wrangle it. With a soft sigh he took advantage of the moment and kissed her, making the effort to communicate his unadulterated pleasure at her unexpected presence. He'd missed her a lot, and with their stepping things back to dating first, bed eventually, it had been an interesting few months, with most of those dates via video chat, which is why he'd broken down and bought the computer in the first place.
She pulled away first, not wanting to, but needing to. "I'll stop by later."
"We're talking after midnight later, aren't we?" he questioned with a grin.
"Yeah, if that's okay?"
"Very okay," he assured her. "I'll run those security programs you wrote me and see if I can shorten your work time a smidge."
She chuckled. "Not necessary, but if it'll keep you from pacing while waiting for me to show up, go right ahead." She stole another moment, leaning forward to rest her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms about her, holding on while he could. "Want me to call first?"
"No. If I can't manage to stay awake I'll nap on the sofa and you can wake me up. I can guarantee I won't mind one bit." He rested his chin atop her head, missing this, the closeness, the being able to hold her in his arms, far more than the sex.
*I missed you too,* and with the words came emotions, all tangled up and needy and real, and just what he needed. It was always nice to know you were missed just as much as you had been missing.
He sighed softly and stepped back, hands moving to rest on her shoulders. "You have work to do," he told her, wishing it weren't true, but not upset with her for the need.
She chuckled dryly. "So do you. I'm betting the 'Fish is gonna turn this place upside down over the next few days."
Darien groaned. She was right and he knew it. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a complete shuffle of personnel over the next few weeks, though maybe not. If these guys could hide under seemingly ordinary people like Eberts, then anyone new that he hired could be yet another mole. "Oh, this is so fucked up. What's he gonna do without Eberts?"
"He'll manage and I have a few people I plan to suggest as replacements. People I'm reasonably certain are not part of this Mirage." She smiled up at him. "The Agency has survived far worse than this, trust me on that one."
"I do, you know. Trust you, that is." He wasn't certain he'd ever told her that and now seemed like an appropriate time to do so.
"I know, but I must run. I have some interrogations to start."
"Later?" He questioned as he stepped back, putting that needed distance between them so that she felt able to leave.
"Definitely," she assured him, then turned and went through the double doors to the stairwell.
Darien turned about to head back to his Boss and find out what they would be doing next.