Story 20 - Part 2 - Agency Origin

“The director could not have approved this,” Agent James hissed.

“Oh, he didn’t,” Regg said with a shrug.

He was enjoying the role reversal immensely. Agent Michaels was the one driving the car, while Agent James was monitoring their blindfolded captive. The agency had had the man for almost a week and they still had not gotten any information from him. Agent James actually knew that Kazei had approved them taking the man to the Freelance Agency, but Brad had gotten the role of good cop while Regg got to be the rule breaker.

Regg had to admit that Agent James was doing a great job. Agent Michaels kept making vague comments about the specialists that they were taking the man to see for interrogation. Brad kept worrying about them getting in trouble for what might happen. After all, Regg was making the comment that they would have to be careful because the specialists might get bored and actually kill the convict.

They reached the parking garage and Regg pulled into his usual spot. Owens and Jordan were waiting calmly by Jordan’s plaid wonder-mobile. When Regg got out, they came over and pointed out to a section of the garage that they had curtained off. They could not do it in the lobby because that new family had just finished moving in and Wilanna was giving them a grand tour. Regg had yet to officially meet the new people, but he did wondering how they would react to government interrogation going on in the parking garage. They would probably be surprised to find out that this was practically how the freelancers started out.

“So,” Owens growled as he pulled the blindfold off the terrorist after he had been secured to a chair. “What information do we want to get from this scrawny chicken?”

“Does it really matter?” Jordan asked as he nonchalantly cracked open nuts with his mechanical hand.

Regg lounged back on a metal chair while Brad looked appropriately bug-eyed and the variety of weaponry that Owens and Jordan had. Agents James had never been through this before and the look on his face as Owens and Jordan discussed interrogation techniques was pretty priceless. Regg sincerely hoped that there would not be an exploding orange this time. He had felt sticky for days after that incident.

The man did not react, no protests or flinching. He only glared at his captors, daring them to try something. Exploding fruit was not going to do much with this man. Regg stood up and stretched. He reminded Owens and Jordan that they had free reign to do whatever they wanted.

“Come,” Regg said, beckoning to Agent James. “Let’s go get some drinks. We’ll be back when we’re not hung over.”

“Is it all right to leave him with these guys?” Agent James hissed. “If they kill him we’ll be the ones held responsible.”

“Oh, trust me,” Agent Michaels assured. “I haven’t gotten in trouble when that happens, yet.”

“Not hung over?” Brad asked in a normal tone once they made it to the parking garage stairwell. “We’re not allowed to drink. Agency policy.”

“He doesn’t know that,” Regg shrugged. “But this one is going to be difficult. They can’t interrogate him like last time.”

“What’s the case?” Carmine asked as he and Tech met them at the top of the stairwell.

Regg explained the hardened criminal’s reactions and the fact that he was pretty sure it was going to take longer than an hour to get anything from that man. Tech and Carmine had a brief signing conversation that Regg could not interpret. He could recognize some signs, but when the two signed quickly it was difficult to catch everything.

“Give us a while to study him and for Tech to do his wonder hacking,” Carmine explained. “Not everyone is intimidated by force.”

“By my guest,” Regg told him.

“By the way,” Carmine added. “Wilanna has some great food in the lobby for the whole ‘meet the neighbors’ thing.”

“Does meeting the neighbors involve terrorist tied up in the basement?” Brad asked.