Chapter Eight
"What do you mean?" Percy glared at the tech, not wanting to hear about anymore lies.
"I put him there. I was going to make sure you were covered when I left." Simon looked up at Percy.
"How thoughtful." Percy sneered in reply.
"The kid didn't make a mistake- I went in after him and made the mistake so he would get caught. Since there was no one out there- which apparently you knew." Simon answered.
Birkhoff was in shock from what he had read. He was upset over a mistake that he hadn't actually made. This man that he had been trusting to train him was the sole reason he was in Division rather than at home being Shadow Walker.
The minute he read this, it reconfirmed his guess that Simon's disappearance may have been a set up. Sure it was only a theory that Simon was putting him there so he could leave, but the evidence only pointed to that being what had disappeared.
"Doesn't matter now." Simon laughed, "He's stuck in Division now."
"Now that wasn't very nice. Making the kid take your place." Percy took Simon to task.
"I was only thinking of Division." Simon replied.
Percy leaned down in Simon's face. "Were you only thinking of Division when you decided to leave?"
Standing back up, Percy hand-signaled Roan. Almost immediately Roan slit Simon's neck with his knife. "I'm going to go let Amanda know to tell the kid the space is his."
The knock on the door startled Birkhoff, who jumped in his seat. "Yeah!" he called.
Clicking heels instantly alerted Birkhoff to Amanda's presence before he ever turned around. "Hey Birkhoff." Amanda greeted him.
Turning around in his computer chair, Birkhoff put a fake-smile on his face and greeted her. "Hi Amanda. What can I do for you?"
Amanda greeted him back. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you."
Arching his eyebrows, Birkhoff was not exactly sure what might be coming. "What is it?"
"Unfortunately," Amanda walked across the room, pacing. "We just found Simon. His neck was slit."
Even though he was mad at Simon, he had to choke down the bile that raised in his throat. "What?" he managed to ask.
"Simon is dead." Amanda said it point blank this time. "The good news is that it means you are now permanently our head tech."
Birkhoff took a deep breath. He wasn't really sure that he wanted the job, but he also knew he didn't really have the option either. "I guess that's good news." Birkhoff replied. "Except for Simon."
"It was rather, unfortunate." Amanda replied. "But there's nothing we can do about it besides move on."
Still suspicious, Birkhoff wanted to know what had killed Simon- even though he thought it might be Division that had done it. "Do you know who did it? Might they target us?"
Amanda wasn't shaken. "Simon was out on a mission about a month ago and from recent analysis, it looks like they found out who he was. The first time he went to his apartment, they grabbed him."
Birkhoff wasn't sure if he bought it, but with their line of business it did make sense. Either way, he couldn't let Amanda know his suspicions. "So now what?" Birkhoff asked.
"Well," Amanda smiled again, "You can get settled." She pulled something from her pocket and handed it to him. "Here is a credit card. Once we get you set up to leave Division you will be able to use the card to decorate this room and your apartment, unless it's over $20,000, then Operations has to approve it."
"My apartment?" Birkhoff asked, confused.
"Yes." She laughed. "Whenever a recruit becomes an agent, they get their own apartment and cover life. You, as head tech, will technically be an agent, so you will get all the perks. There are just a few things we will have to take care of first- like putting in an agent tracker, but then you will have your own apartment."
That was the best news that Birkhoff had heard since coming to Division "Awesome." Birkhoff finally had something to smile about.
"Here is your information for your first mission as head tech and your cover package." Amanda handed him a couple of folders. In the mission one, there was a picture of a military officer and information about him. Glancing at the files, he asked, "Who is this?"
"We have him earmarked to be our newest recruit. You just need to arrange Percy's travel and make sure that the officials don't move him until Percy gets there."
Birkhoff nodded. "Okay." He sat down at the computer to start to work.
The eager young blond came quickly into the room, locking eyes with Percy and Roan. "You called for me?" he greeted them.
"Owen." Percy greeted him. "My favorite cleaner. We have a little bit of a mess for you to clean here."
Surveying the scene quickly, Owen replied, "No problem."
Percy smiled. Owen had quickly raised through the ranks of Division ever since Amanda had brought him to them. He never asked questions and he did what he was told, so that made him okay in his book. Turning to Owen, he replied, "When you are finished here, come to my office. We're going to talk about your promotion."
Nodding, Owen put the jug of acid down to get ready. "Thanks." He replied.
Blinking his eyes open, Birkhoff realized that he was in medical. It was the day after he had been told he was head tech and he was having his agent tracker placed in his hip. The skin of his hip was a little sore, but nothing too terrible. "Glad to see you're awake." Amanda's voice had not exactly been what he wanted to wake up to.
"Now what?" Birkhoff carefully sat up, protecting his hip.
"Well, now I take you out to your apartment." Amanda replied.
Birkhoff grabbed his laptop, swinging his legs off the side of the medical chair. HE followed Amanda back to a garage area where several nice cars were parked. She lead him over to a nice sporty red car and unlocking the doors so they could climb in. "Nice car." He commented as he climbed in.
Amanda just laughed. "It's not mine. It's yours."
It was a bit of a drive from the farm fields in the middle of nowhere to the city where Birkhoff's apartment would be. After what seemed like forever to Birkhoff, Amanda pulled over and parked in front of a nice apartment building. As they got out to the car, Amanda told him, "Here are your keys. You must keep your phone on you," she handed him a phone, "At all times, making sure it is charged and on so we can call you back at any time. You will come in every day unless you are told otherwise along with any emergency calls we place to you."
'In other words, don't plan to see your apartment much.' Birkhoff thought to himself.
The apartment was on the top floor- the 10th floor of this building. Amanda stopped at the door marked 512B and waited for Birkhoff to try out his new keys. Unlocking the door, Birkhoff headed in to his new apartment. For a brand new tech he was shocked by how large his apartment was. They had walked into a large foyer that connected at the left to a giant kitchen and dining area and to the front attaching to a two-story living room. A staircase, a spiral one like that, lead to the upstairs where Birkhoff could see at least two bedrooms. The whole place was decorated in metal and dark wood with minimal lighting. It was perfect for the tech God. Amanda watched Birkhoff scan the rooms in amazement, then replied, "You like it, I take it?"
Birkhoff just nodded. "It's very nice."
"Great." Amanda smiled, "Just keep in mind we have never given a new recruit an apartment so soon. We hope you will show us that it is not a bad decision."
"I won't let you down." Birkhoff replied as he continued to survey his amazing apartment. As unsure as he was about this organization, he was impressed by the chance they were taking on him by giving him the head tech job and the apartment and they had gained at least a little bit of his trust.
"You can stay here until you have class tomorrow." Amanda told him. "Just make sure you complete your task with the new recruit."
Holding up his laptop bag, he replied, "I brought my work with me."
"You're learning quickly Birkhoff." Amanda praised him. "I'm going to head back to Division. We'll see you in the morning- by then all of Simon's things will be out of your office. "Good night Birkhoff."
With that Amanda had left and Birkhoff was alone. The introduction of his apartment had been a whirlwind like the rest of his experience with Division. It had been approximately two weeks since he had been arrested and his life had been turned upside down. With this thought, Birkhoff decided to head upstairs to check out the rest of his apartment. Upstairs there was an office, already outfitted with a scaled down version of his Division office equipment. The master was the most stunning part of the apartment. The room was huge, painted a dark blue. There was a door to an outside deck and across from his bed the wall was slanted with a huge set of windows opening it and the ceiling above his California king bed to the clear night sky.
Lying down on the bed, Birkhoff gazed at the night sky, wondering what he had done to deserve to be there. Sure, Simon had gotten him caught by the FBI, but that didn't mean he was completely innocent. He had definitely not done anything to add productively to society. Now he was determined to make it up by working hard for Division and the government to prove to himself he could be something.
Heading over to his closet, Birkhoff was surprised to find he had already been outfitted with a ton of clothes. For now he pulled on a white undershirt and pulled off his pants. After a little bit of work, he fell asleep under the star-filled sky.