Unlikely Hero

Beaman had been busy since that first frantic call to Hacker. It was practically unprecedented that he had the opportunity to take the lead on an investigation since most of his time was spent heading The Agency's Training department. Not that this was an investigation. Not yet anyway. It would turn into one as soon as Security was able to get in touch with anyone in charge. Eff wondered how long that would take, assuming he'd understood Fred correctly.

The first thing he'd done after sending his pictures to Andy was try to verify the D1 termination order on Frannie. He couldn't find it in the usual notices. That could mean several things. Fred could have misunderstood. He himself could have misunderstood Fred. Fielder's intoxication would have made those very likely possibilities, but the attempted murder -no way it was attempted suicide!- made it more probable that whoever tried to kill him wasn't concerned about speaking freely around him.

He'd have to check the morning updates when they posted at 08:00 to see if the D1 was there. He suspected it wouldn't be, because of the final, and -to anyone who knew Minter's reputation- most likely possibility: Minter had decided to handle it personally. It would show up within a few days, "accidentally misdated" to prevent any interference or questions until after it had been carried out. There were lines Beaman wouldn't cross to cover his own ass, but Minter had no such moral constraints.

The Assistant Director often said things like "If you betray The Agency, you won't have to worry about the bad guys. I'll deal with you myself!" And there had been times when Minter made good on that promise, but it had never involved a D1 before.

The fact that The Agency wasn't already in lockdown suggested that nobody had been able to reach the Assistant Director in the past half hour. This in turn added weight to Efraim's suspicion that Minter was on the way to make good on his "dealing with you myself" threat.

But what the hell had Frannie done to warrant a D1? For that matter, what had Freddie done? He was a harmless old drunk who was just effective enough to be allowed to hold down a desk for the remaining year before being eligible for early retirement. And how did those two pieces fit together?

Efraim realized suddenly that nobody had been able to contact Frannie, either. After transferring her to New York, Minter hadn't promoted anyone to her Section Chief position, preferring to run the D.C. office himself. In his absence, she, as the Northeast Regional Director, would be the next person in the chain of command for something like this since the Director was on an extended sabbatical somewhere in Africa. She'd have had the place locked down immediately and been on her way to D.C. within minutes, walking right into the D1.

Or maybe that was the trap Minter was trying to lure her into? It would certainly be easier than going to find her in New York City. But then how to explain what Fred said about grabbing Amanda Stetson? She was in New York too, but Eff, scandalously preferring the Buffalo Bills to the Washington Redskins, knew Orchard Park was nowhere near the Big Apple. Come on, Andy. Really need you to wake up, man.

At any rate, this all amounted to Efraim Beaman having a little time with no oversight...and maybe, just maybe, a chance to be a hero.

There wasn't much glory in training new candidates, but there was a security clearance that allowed him to access certain things from the comfort of his office, without departmental oversight or having to fill out request forms.

Once again, he violated policy and turned on his phone camera, this time in video mode. He knew his own movements this morning would eventually be examined, so it was partly a matter of self-preservation. He also had hopes of finding something useful to pass on to the former FBI Director in case he was prevented from getting in touch with him later.

One of the training modules involved Internal Security. While the training obviously didn't allow candidates access to secure locations, it did teach them how to monitor video and search in-house recordings. One of the areas they were cleared to access was the part of the Bullpen that was staffed by civilian employees. Fielder's office opened off of that area, and anyone headed there should be partially visible in the upper left corner of the frame.

Beaman started the playback from 7 p.m., figuring nothing relevant would have happened before the end of the workday. There was nothing unusual, just a few stragglers leaving late, and Fred getting coffee a couple times. Probably a mixer for his rotgut vodka.

Just after 10:20, there was a video blackout lasting 4 minutes and 47 seconds. Okay, he didn't have an identification, but it looked like he had a time.

Next, he called up the program that logged in-house calls, again searching from 7 p.m. onward. Nothing to or from Fred's extension until his own call to security. For once, he was glad Fred was a bit of a Luddite and had thus far been able to resist pressure to get a cell phone. That ruled out any personal calls. But wait a second...

Beaman reopened the video footage. Bingo! There it was. Both times that Fred made coffee, he used the wall extension near the snack station. His body mostly blocked the phone, but it was obvious if you were looking for it. The call at 9:18 lasted just 16 seconds. The call at 9:59 lasted exactly 2 minutes. He quickly accessed calls for that extension. The first was outgoing; the second incoming. Both were connected to Minter's work cell phone. Bingo indeed.

He tried calling Andy again. He didn't answer, so he hung up and sent the video to Hacker via text. Now to be a good little drone and work on my incident report until I get in touch with Andy. Or maybe until I figure out my next move. I can't go look for the bullet in Fred's office. Wait! I know!

He brought up the video surveillance program again, but in realtime, and magnified it to focus on the part leading to Fielder's door. If anyone else tried to go into Fred's office, he'd know when, even if he couldn't fully see who.

He was relieved to see Andy's number when his phone rang at 5:32. He was something else entirely to hear "Hi Eff. It's me. We got your message".

Frannie was okay! At least for now. But how the hell did Andy find her so fast, and at this hour?