UNTITLED PART V
The sun streaming through the windows was what woke her, long before her alarm went off. She stretched comfortably after a long, deep sleep, and suddenly remembered that Mulder had been with her the night before. Had it all been a dream? She couldn’t quite believe that. The feel of him had been too real. And she remembered drifting off to sleep in his arms. But still...she had been exhausted. She shoved back the covers, sat up, and promptly realized that she wasn’t wearing anything. Her pajamas were crumpled up in a small heap on the floor. He had been here, or else she had had a very vivid dream. She preferred the former to the latter, so that’s what she decided to dwell on as she headed to the shower.
She finished getting ready and left for work. As she drove into D.C., she remembered that she and Jared had to report to Skinner and give him their update on the case. She practically flew up to their office and nearly slammed into Jared, who was opening the door for her when he saw her coming.
“Good morning. Are you ready to go see Skinner?” she asked.
Jared chuckled softly. “Good morning to you. We have to wait for about an hour. For now, let’s go look through the rest of the files and see if we can find any more potential leads. Just in case these aren’t our men. I already scheduled our interviews with some people at the White House.”
She sat down at her desk and immediately opened up one of the files. “Okay, since we have to wait anyway.”
They spent the hour searching, but nothing seemed so blatantly out of the ordinary as Breaker and Wallace. When it was time for them to go, Scully smoothed her hair and Jared straightened his tie. They walked down the hall together and waited for the elevator, armed with copies of the files.
They arrived at Skinner’s office, and Kimberley, his secretary, ushered them in. Jared held the door for Scully, and followed her inside. They took their seats in front of the AD’s desk.
“Agents, I hear that you may have found a break in the case. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, sir,” they replied in unison. Skinner looked up, a bit surprised. Then he smiled. Jared handed over the file copies, and Skinner began flipping through them. “So, tell me what you have so far.”
Jared looked at Scully and nodded, a silent way of telling her she could start. “Well, sir, we decided to get an early start on the case and to see what we could find that looked a bit out of the ordinary. These two men, Wallace and Breaker, are the two that stood out. While we were waiting for our meeting with you, we looked through most of the other files, and everything seems okay with them.”
Skinner nodded, and Scully continued.
“When we came across these two, Agent Crighton called the company that they had previously worked for, and we obtained some information on them that gave us some insight into their personalities, as well as their behaviors.”
Jared picked up here. “I called up the company, and spoke with their night manager. I was told that these men are roommates, which is why they have the same address, and also that they had been fired from their jobs. The main reason for this was that they had been illegally selling phone numbers to Internet companies, among others. However, the company was not at liberty to provide details of their expulsion to any future or potential employers due to union rules and regulations. They merely told the White House that Wallace and Breaker had been let go due to internal conflicts. What he told me is that these men were not well liked, and often bragged about how they had a secret business to bug phones and spy on people through computers, not to mention hacking...things of that nature. There was never any hard evidence of this, but because of the rumors and the mere fact that they were not well liked, people were itching to get rid of them. When their activities were found out, they were fired. No criminal charges were brought up because the two men left without a fuss, and they were never big on major trouble making. These seem to be the most likely suspects for a leak in a government office.”
Scully broke in. “We have several interviews lined up today with current co-workers at the White House as well as with Breaker and Wallace. If we don’t get any breaks there, our next stop is their previous place of employment.”
“Excellent work, agents. I expect your full report on the interviews by tomorrow at noon. However, if there is any need for an extension, please don’t hesitate to request it. You’re already ahead of schedule.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” The Agents stood up and took their leave. Just as Scully reached the door, Skinner called out to her.
“Scully, a word?”
“Yes, sir. Jared, I’ll catch up with you.”
“Okay. I’ll go double check those interviews.”
Scully walked back into the office and closed the door behind her.
“I haven’t had a chance to see how everything is working out yet. Although this is a premature guess, it appears that you and Agent Crighton work very well together.”
“Yes, we do. He is a very smart person, and I find it amazing that our first case is going so well.”
“Do you think you’ll stay paired up?”
“I think so. But, Skinner, I can’t help wondering why he hasn’t been involved with Mulder’s work. He is so capable, and I feel that he would be an asset.”
“Scully, that young man has no disillusions about his government as yet. I had very few until Mulder confronted me with his knowledge. When the time is right, IF the time is right, then perhaps you can involve him.”
“Sir, I already feel as if I have known him for a very long time, and I believe we are already starting to trust one another. It’s going to be hard going if I am to continually betray his trust.”
“Scully, at the risk of sounding harsh, you knew what to expect when you became involved with this. Everything will work out.”
“Alright. I trust your judgment.”
“Good. Now go catch up with him, and keep up your hard work. Congratulations again. The higher-ups will be pleased to hear about this.”
She smiled, said goodbye, and headed back up to the office.
Jared was waiting for her when she arrived. He held out her coat as she wrapped herself in it, thanking him as she did so. They locked up the office and decided that they would take Scully’s car.
The drive over to the White House was pleasant. They exchanged small talk, as well as expressing their excitement over furthering their first investigation.
When they arrived, Jared flashed his badge at the secret service agent and gave their names. The Agent waved them through, saying that they had been expected. They parked in visitor parking and were ushered through a door into the huge white mansion. After being scanned with metal detectors and walked through larger ones, they were sent up to talk with the first person on their list - the president’s public relations official.
They arrived on the second floor and were sent straight into Ms. Rita Antone’s office by her secretary. She was waiting for them at her desk, and she gestured to two chairs as they walked in. She was a petite woman with dark hair and large round glasses. Jared introduced them.
“Ms. Antone, I’m Special Agent Jared Crighton, and this is my partner, Special Agent Dana Scully. I contacted you earlier in regards to the security breach.”
At the mention of Scully’s name, the woman’s interest seemed to perk up. “Yes, welcome. Perhaps I’m not the one you should speak with, however. The information that was leaked had to do with a government file that the president had been discussing with a naval officer. The information is not of national security proportions, but the public should not know anything until the right time. My job is to make sure that the public doesn’t hear too much about it, and to make sure that the information doesn’t fall onto the wrong ears.”
“Whom should we be speaking with, then?”
“Alright, then. Ms. Antone, as we can see, you are aware that there has been a leak. Are you aware, however, that the leak is thought to be internal?” Scully asked her directly, cutting all corners, as was her way.
“Yes, I am aware that this is internal. Have you found any leads in the case?”
“We’ve found one very likely lead, but we need as much help and cooperation from everyone as we can get in order to gain evidence against these people.”
“Agent Scully, I can assure you that you will receive as much help and cooperation as is necessary.” The woman looked hard at her, as if sizing her up. It made Scully a little nervous, and very uncomfortable.
“That’s good to know. We believe the leak is coming from two of your phone operators...” Scully launched into everything she and Jared knew so far.
Ms. Antone looked a bit shocked. “This information fits in very well with the scenario. The President and the Naval officer were speaking on the phone, rather than in person when the information was overheard.”
Scully and Jared looked at each other. This was something they needed. Jared spoke up next.
“We have several interviews lined up with most of your phone operators, the suspects included. We’d like to keep that bit of information to ourselves until we have a better sense of this case, and until we gather some information.”
“That’s understandable. I’ll show you the way to the phone center.” Then, as they began walking, “I’m sure you know already that we have 15 operators employed here, including the foreman. He’s the one that all the other operators report to, and he then reports to someone else. The system is much the same as it is in the FBI. Here we are. The foreman’s name is Michael Readington. He’ll be able to pick up from here.”
She then proceeded to show them into Mr. Readington’s office. After she had introduced them, she took her leave and left the agents with Michael.
“Good Afternoon, Agents.”
“Good afternoon,” Jared said. “Thank you again for your cooperation and haste.”
“Well, we want this matter cleared up as soon as possible. We’re relieved to hear that you already have some likely suspects.”
“Yes. In fact, we’ll be interviewing them along with several other operators who are employed here. However, no one is to know that these two are the potential suspects until we gather some hard evidence, hopefully enough to make an arrest.”
“Am I to know who these men or women are?”
Scully glanced at Jared. The look told him to use his own judgment. “Well, since you’ll be a key figure in this investigation, and we are going to be relying on your help, I’m sure it’s alright to let you know. We believe the two suspects to be Harvey Breaker and Glen Wallace.”
“Well, Agents. If I had had to guess, then I would definitely be in agreement with you.”
“Is that so, Mr. Readington? What makes you say that?” asked Scully.
“Well, Agent Scully, when you meet these two men, you’ll see exactly what I mean. They have bad attitudes in general, believing themselves to be superior in everything. One would think that they’d be a little bit careful about what they said around a place like the White House, but no. They brag every once in awhile to whoever will listen about how they used to be expert hackers, and how they know how to bug phones from computers. Things like that. Not enough to make someone believe they were serious, but enough to make a person suspicious. We’ve been looking for a way to get them out of here, and so far can’t come up with anything solid.”
“Mr. Readington, it might interest you to know why they were released from their previous job. It seems that they were despised by their co-workers, and they ended up getting caught doing something very stupid - they were selling phone numbers to Internet companies. This gave the company the opening they needed to get rid of them.”
“This is news to me. But if they turn out to be the one’s responsible, it’s all the better for us. No one here will be sad to see them go. Shall we get started?”
“Of course. Jared, who would you like to start with?”
“Well, I guess I’ll start with Breaker. I suggest that you start with someone other than Wallace just for appearances.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Alright, I’ll go hunt someone else up. When we’re finished with round one, I think we should compare notes.”
He smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
Ten minutes later, they had both begun their interviews. Jared’s, Scully thought, was going to be tricky. She was interviewing a woman named Alice Jorgen, and decided to use the foreman’s office to provide a little privacy for the employees with whom she’d be speaking.
“Hello, Alice. I’m Special Agent Dana Scully, with the FBI. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” replied Alice. The woman had a sort of nasal quality to her voice, and something resembling a southern accent. “What about?”
“How well do you know your co-workers?”,br>
“Well, it depends on which co-workers you mean. For instance, I know Ron and Jenn pretty well. We hang out after work sometimes.”
“How about Harvey Breaker and Glen Wallace?”
“Oh, those two...I don’t know them well at all, personally speaking. In fact, they make me a little nervous.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, the way they act. Like, they keep to themselves for the most part, unless they’re trying to show off for some girl or something. One time, Harvey was telling a few people that he was interested in me, and then he started talking to me.”
“What did he talk about?”
“He told me that he could bug anyone’s phone, even the president’s, and that all he needed was a computer with some software that he created. Then he told me that he could do all sorts of things, like hack into computer files, and even videotape people without them realizing it. You know, real crazy stuff designed to make me think he was real smart, a really great guy.”
“And what did you do with all this information?”
“Well, I went straight to Mike, first of all because I didn’t want Harvey talking to me, and second because everything Harvey said sounded a little fishy.”
“Did Harvey ever show you how he did these things?”
“He tried, but I didn’t want to go to his house, especially because he lives with Glen. Oh, yeah...he told me that Glen was involved with all this stuff, too. But one time, he picked up the phone that he keeps at his desk and he held it to my ear. I could hear the president talking...it scared me so much...I never told anybody about that.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone? And did he use a phone from here?”
“No, it was a cell phone. And I never said anything because I was afraid of what could happen, and I didn’t want to stir up any trouble. But, I mean, that was the president. We have the capabilities to break into any line in the House anytime we need to, but we are strictly prohibited from doing so, unless we have permission, like, in the case of an emergency. But Harvey was using a little old cell-phone...not one of our’s.”
“Okay, Alice. Please don’t speak to anyone about what we discussed. If anyone asks you, just say that the FBI is questioning some people who might know something about a case. No need to mention that we talked about your co-workers, okay?”
Alice nodded. “Will you need to speak with me again?”
“We might need you to tell someone else everything you just told me. Will that be okay?”
“Sure.”
“For now, I’d just like for you to fill out a formalized witness statement for me.”
The woman took the statement, and when she had signed and completed it, she handed it back to Scully.
Scully shook the woman’s hand, thanked her, and went to find Jared. He was just completing his own interview with Breaker. Breaker looked angry and ill at ease, something she never liked to see in a potential suspect. It made them dangerous.
Scully pulled Jared aside, throwing a worried glance in Breaker’s direction. “What happened?”
“I have no idea what went wrong, but it wasn’t good. I asked him if he knew anything about the leak in the presidential office, and he got mad. Not just a little mad, either. I really thought he was going to haul off and hit me, and then I guess he realized that no one had accused him of anything and he settled down and answered my questions with ‘no’s and ‘I don’t knows’s. I got nothing out of him, and when he left, he started muttering something about stupid feds prying into the common man’s business.”
“I really don’t like the sound of that, Jared. And with all this, compared with what I got from Alice, we may really have a case building up here.”
“Well, tell me about it. What did she say?”
“Among other incriminating things, that Harvey once picked up his personal cell phone and held it up to her ear...she heard the president’s voice on the phone.”
“Are you kidding? That could be the major break we need.”
“Yes, but we still need solid proof against them. Let’s finish up the rest of these interviews, then we can come up with something.”
“Alright. Do you want to continue with Wallace?”
“Sure. That’ll be fine.”
As the two agents were conducting the rest of their interviews, Rita Antone left alone to take her lunch break. No one took any notice; Rita usually liked to have lunch by herself, outside of the White House. She had just driven through the gates when her cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
A young man’s voice greeted her at the other end of the line. “Ms. Antone. I’ll be expecting you to meet me at Sire’s Deli in ten minutes. Do you have the information that I need?”
“Do you have my ‘reimbursement’?”
“What do you think?”
“I’ll see you shortly, then.” She folded her phone up and took a left turn instead of a right one, heading towards the Maryland border.
No one noticed that Ms. Antone never came back to her office that day until much later.
They were finally done with the interviewing. Scully’s talk with Wallace had yielded similar results to Jared’s with Breaker. Except his demeanor radiated total calm, even patience. This man could be the more dangerous one by far. He wasn’t a hothead; he was a cold, calculating individual. Scully disliked him instantly, and saw for the first time that the men they were dealing with weren’t the unintelligent hooligans she had pictured them as. Except when it came to women, obviously. Then they forgot discretion in an attempt to impress. And that could have been their big mistake.
Jared walked out of the room with the last person on their list. This one had been Ron, the man that Alice had spoken about earlier. Apparently, the interview had gone well, because Jared looked pleased, and so did Ron, for that matter. Were Breaker and Wallace really that impossible to work with? It seemed as if that was the case. No one could wait to get rid of them.
Jared shook the man’s hand and waited for Scully to join him. They said their goodbyes and thank you’s to the foreman and walked out, after telling him that they would contact him shortly about their next plan of action.
“Well,” Scully noted as they climbed into the car, “you looked pleased about that one.”
“I am, I am. It seems that Ron was pretty angry when Harvey started hitting on Alice.”
“You got it. It looks like we may have enough evidence to get a search warrant. Reasonable suspicion based on witness statements.”
Scully beamed. “Well, one less thing. But let’s just hope that we can find enough physical evidence to arrest them on suspicion. Who knows what else they may have heard?”
“Let’s go report back to Skinner. We’ve made more than enough progress in this area of the case for one day, and I’d like to get that search out of the way before those two decide to go clean up the place.”
“That sounds good. I have a formalized statement from Alice and her friend Jenn.”
“Great, I have one from Ron, as well as from Mike. We’re all set with this, then.”
He greeted them at the door. “Agents, you may have a small problem on your hands.”
“What is it, sir?” asked Scully. She was immediately concerned. She and Jared took their seats in front of Skinner’s desk as he shut the door behind them.
“It seems as if your two suspects have gotten into a rather heated argument at work, and one of them took off.”
“How long ago was this?” Jared leaned forward in his chair, already as on-edge as Scully was feeling.
“About two minutes before you arrived in my office, Mike Readington called me and asked me to inform you both.”
“What was the argument about?”
“According to Mr. Readington, they were yelling about your visit today. Several incriminating things were overheard.”
Scully glanced at Jared. “Sir, after interviewing the two men, I got the distinct impression that they should be considered dangerous. I believe Agent Crighton felt the same way.”
“Yes, sir. I did. What do you suggest we do?”
“First, I want you both to go to their residence. The local police have already been called in to try and head him off, and Secret Service is holding the other at the White House.”
“Which one left?” Jared asked.
Scully nodded. “That’s exactly what I thought. When Agent Crighton interviewed Breaker, he was the one who lost his temper. Wallace was too calm in my opinion. Sir, I also believe that we might have enough information to make an arrest on suspicion.”
“Agents, I trust your judgment. If you feel that you are able to make an arrest, then do so. I assume you also have enough evidence to conduct a search warrant?”
“Yes sir. I feel that, considering the circumstances, the physical evidence can be sought out after the two are in custody.”
Jared nodded in agreement and the AD continued.
“Good. Then I will speak with you when you return. In the meantime, I’ll send word to the Secret Service that they may detain Wallace and place him under arrest.”
Scully and Jared took off down the hallway and hurried to the car. On the way, they decided that Jared would drive while Scully made calls to the police chief and other investigative officials who were already involved.
They hopped in the car and Jared screeched out of the lot. Just as Scully was about to place her first call, her cell phone rang.
“Scully!”
“Agent Scully, this is Police Chief Johnson. AD Skinner just informed me that you are on your way...”
“Yes, we are. Has the suspect been located yet?”
“According to the officers who are on his tail, he headed for his home, and has barricaded himself inside.”
Shit, Scully thought. “We’re on our way right now...is he armed?”
“That information is not available to us just yet, but go into this assuming that he is. We’ll be there before you arrive.”
“Thank you, Chief Johnson. Is there a number we can reach you at, if necessary?”
The Chief proceeded to give her the number, and then hung up saying that he would see them when they arrived at the suspects’ home.
“Well?” asked Jared.
“Breaker has barricaded himself inside the house. We’re to go in there assuming that he is armed.”
“Alright. Ready for some action?”
She smiled briefly. “As always.”
End, Part V
