“So what can we do moving forward? Are we going to give him all of our files? We have to give up something or it will look suspicious.”
Trent stopped brushing his teeth to talk. “I don’t know how much more evidence we need before we start interviewing people. We need to do it in a public manner so the press picks it up. We can’t let this guy bury this case. Maybe if the public is outraged enough, the wheels of justice will start to turn.”
Whitney slid out of her black jeans. “That sounds a bit risky. Wait no, that sounds insanely risky. I don’t want them to bury the case either but this might end up derailing it more than getting it back on the right track.”
Trent gargled some mouthwash, spit it out and said, “Ooohh minty. Yes, this is a risky plan, but with great risk comes great reward.”
“Or amazing failure,” Whitney said under her breath.
“What was that now?” Trent asked.
“Nothing. I’m just worried about all the people the President has in place from the justice department to intel agencies to the government itself. Feels like we are running into a brick wall.”
Trent said, “There’s going to be a lot more hurdles to jump in this race than in the Benno Dante Case. Those guys cooperated rather easily, which was very surprising. If we can just get someone to admit to something under questioning, I mean, that’s all we need.”
“I have a feeling you’re right about them not talking. Benno Dante knew he was caught after his guys flipped on him. These crooks are convinced that they are going to get away with this. I bet they think they can just keep quiet and everything will be swept under the rug.”
“I hate to sound cheesy, but let’s pull out that rug from underneath them,” Trent said with a smile as he slipped into bed.
“It’s cool, I like cheesy and you should know this by now. Do you know who you want to pick up for questioning?”
8
Whitney sat at her desk and tried to eavesdrop on Trent’s phone conversation. He hung up and gave her a thumb’s up.
Trent said, “We have our guy. Do you remember Daryl Hopkins?”
“The representative from that first meeting about lifting the embargo?”
Trent nodded. “Exactly. I just found out why he didn’t get a big promotion for being part of the Gergen team. He didn’t pass his security clearance for some questionable dealings in Starvary. This is from years ago, but he tried to set up an arms deal that would benefit a rebel group trying to take over.”
“Do any of these guys have any honor? Do you think Daryl Hopkins will talk?”
“I sure hope so or we’re going to be in a lot of trouble. I think we have to do it. I’ll understand if you don’t want to take part in this,” Trent said.
“No way. I’m going to be right by your side. For better or worse. You can’t embarrass him though, you do know that right?”
Trent said, “We won’t cuff him or anything, but he has to be seen with us and leaving in the same car. I’ve tipped off my friend who works for the Capitol Gazette to make sure it gets out.”
“Then I guess we should go pay this gentleman a visit.”
Trent and Whitney drove across town to Representative Hopkins’ office building. The small square structure was just on the outskirts of the heart of the Capitol. Whitney’s heart started to race as they got out of the car. Trent pulled up his jacket and checked his pistol and Whitney instinctually repeated the procedure.
They walked into the lobby and asked the receptionist if the Representative was in.
The young woman with long blond hair in pigtails said, “He’s in an important meeting right now and can’t be disturbed. You can come back tomorrow if it’s important.”
Trent pulled out his badge and showed it to the woman. “Agent Trent Merrick and Agent Whitney Powers. We’re going to have to see him now. Maybe you can interrupt his meeting, or we can do it if you want.”
The receptionist got on the phone and tried to cover her mouth as she whispered, “Sir, two people from the Bureau of Investigation are here right now. I think you better come out.”
The rosy-faced woman hung up the phone and said, “He will be out in just a moment.”
A slim man with dark skin and slicked-back black hair emerged, sliding his arm into a suit jacket. The middle-aged politician rubbed his lips and looked at his fingers.
He smiled widely and said, “A special visit in my honor. To what do I owe this honor?”
“We have a few questions for you, sir,” Trent told him.
“Perhaps I should call your boss to see how he feels about this,” the Representative hinted.
“Go ahead. He’s the one who sent us to ask you a few questions. It’s more of a courtesy to close a silly report. It should only take about a half hour and it will be softball questions on the record.”
I really hope he doesn’t call our bluff or this will end up in disaster.
“You two do realize that if you are screwing with me, you’ll never work again in this country? Do you understand that?” Daryl Hopkins asked in a serious tone.
“We would never do anything like that, sir. This is more of a convenience for you as we will even give you a ride so we can get this on the record and be done with it. The interview station is only a few minutes away and you’ll be back here by lunchtime,” Trent said.
The Representative reluctantly gave in and followed them out to the work car. A man with a microphone and camera ran up to them.
“What is going on? Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Hopkins, are you being arrested right now?” the man with the microphone asked as he shoved the metal mouthpiece into the Representative’s face.
Daryl just shook his head and jumped into the backseat of Trent and Whitney’s car. They drove over to the office with interview rooms and took the Representative inside. The two agents sat on one side of the small table and Daryl Hopkins sat across from them with a smug smirk on his face.
“Alright, let’s get this bullshit over with,” Daryl suggested.
“Have you ever been to Goldera, Representative?” Trent asked.
“No, why?” Representative Hopkins wanted to know as he shifted around in his seat.
“Just doing our jobs so we can clear you of any wrongdoing. Have you ever met with any people associated with the Golderan government to discuss lifting the embargo?”
His angry-looking face turned a deep shade of purple and he said, “Didn’t I just say that I’ve never been to Goldera? We’re done here. Take me back to my office, now.”
“Just a few more questions need to be recorded, sir. Just to clarify, you never discussed any type of deal about lifting the embargo with Joe Albright and Henley Brokham.”
“I’m calling my lawyer and I’m not answering anything else. You two think you can play me like this. I was stupid to even come down here in the first place but you two just dug yourselves a big grave. I don’t need a ride back in your shit box either, so you can shove that up your ass too. Stupid agents,” the Representative said, shaking his head as he left the room.
“Son of a bitch. We didn’t get him to admit to anything. Now he’s going to call the Chief and this might not turn out well for us,” Trent said.
“There’s no use hiding from it. We better get back to the Bureau and take our medicine. I don’t think this will get that blown out of proportion.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have had the press there. This is definitely going to get reported. I’m not as good at this political stuff. I thought it was a solid plan. You’re right. Time to go see how bad we are going to get spanked,” Trent told her.
They got stuck in traffic on the way back to the Bureau and Whitney felt like she was sitting outside the principal’s office, waiting to be scolded. Trent tried to go down a side street to avoid an accident ahead. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea and they came to another halt in the middle of an alley.
Whitney heard a whizzing sound as something flashed past her face and toward the driver’s side
of the car. She looked over and saw a small dart in Trent’s neck. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell onto the steering wheel.
Whitney was about to scream when she felt a sharp pinch in the side of her neck and her vision became distorted. She felt extremely woozy and everything went black for Whitney Powers.
Several hours later, Whitney opened her eyes only to see darkness. She could feel fabric brushing against her face and a blindfold tied securely around her eyes.
“What is going on here?”
She heard Trent say, “Stay strong honey. Don’t let them break you.”
A cackling laugh filled the room and a creepy voice said, “You two have been very, very bad and you better stop or you’re going to end up dead. This is going to be your warning to stop with the conspiracy theories to smear our President. There will only be one warning. Go ahead.”
Whitney felt tremendous pain on the left side of her jaw after something smashed into it. Her arms and legs were tied to a chair as somebody beat her from head to toe with a small wooden club. An occasional punch to the face was mixed in to break up the monotony.
She wanted to cry but she wouldn’t give these sick people the satisfaction of hearing her in pain. She hadn’t heard a peep out of Trent except for the groaning as he was being beaten. The assaulters didn’t say a word as they took one last round on both of the agents.
Whitney had never experienced this kind of physical pain before as someone yanked her up from the chair and led her out of the room. She still had the hood over her head as a hand kept shoving her in the back.
Whitney started to hear other voices and the hand stopped pushing her. She reached up for the hood and expected someone to hit her but nothing happened. She hastily untied the blindfold and removed the hood. Trent was still wrestling with his head constraints.
Whitney helped him get them off and almost fainted from the look of Trent’s face. His entire face was completely stained in blood. He leaned over and kissed his lover as they stood in the back of a huge parking lot to a toy store.
“What the hell just happened?”
“These guys want to operate just like the mob and try to intimidate us. Don’t they realize I’ve worked on the inside of the mob and there’s no way I’m going to quit. I can’t believe they did this to you. Hopkins will be lucky if I don’t kill his ass. Now all these scumbags are going down even harder,” Trent promised.
“Let’s try to find someone over here by the store with a phone so we can try to get home. Come on baby.”
Whitney woke up the next day in even more pain than from the night of the beating. The couple stood in front of a mirror and Whitney stared at two battered bodies. She thought about quitting for a moment because she knew that these people didn’t see a problem with having her killed. She quickly quashed those thoughts and pledged to carry on with the mission.
Her body screamed at her to get back in bed and relax for the rest of the day, but she knew that wasn’t an option. She wanted to call the authorities about the kidnapping and assault but Trent pointed out that it probably wouldn’t do much good with all the corruption these people were involved in.
The water from the shower stung her tender skin and it hurt just to breathe. Whitney and Trent got dressed and drove to work. She knew that the Chief was going to tear into them and she mentally prepared for the tongue-lashing that seemed imminent.
They walked in the front door and all the agents they passed shook their heads and walked past them in silence. Whitney was surprised that nobody asked about the scars and bruises until she got close to her office. The names Merrick and Powers had been taken off the door and several boxes were sitting on the ground outside with their personal belongings.
A voice came from behind Whitney, “Powers and Merrick, Chief wants to see you if you can believe it.”
Whitney made the shameful walk down the hall to the Chief’s office. She realized this wasn’t going to be just a verbal badgering.
The door was open and the red-faced Chief said, “Get in here and close that door.”
Whitney and Trent sat in two chairs in front of the Chief’s long black desk.
The Chief screamed, “What the hell kind of stunt were you two trying to pull?”
Trent said calmly, “We were just trying to put everything to rest. If everything is false, we just wanted to make sure.”
The Chief had spittle shooting out the sides of his mouth as he yelled, “You embarrassed the Bureau. All I talked about on my first day was completely ignored by two rogue agents. The fact that people are even talking about this nonsense in the media is a complete disgrace to the Bureau. You were trusted to take on one of the most precious jobs in all of Adoxia and you threw it away within a month.”
“In our defense, there are records at the financial crimes unit that back up a lot of those allegations.”
The Chief shook his head. “You two have no defense, none at all. You were trusted to help our country solve some of its biggest problems and you blew it. Agents work on the cases that they are assigned to, bottom line. We don’t pick and choose what we feel is important. Even I have to talk to the other department heads before I can push a case.”
Trent said, “If you just give us one more chance, it was just one mistake.”
The Chief said, “Not a chance. This is not a job where you learn as you go. The former Chief apparently made another huge mistake in judgment bringing you on. A lot of people told him that you two would be useless. Solving a case in a small city is much different than the game we play here. You two play checkers while everyone here plays chess.”
“Don’t get comfortable in this office and if you think this is the last you are going to see of us, think again. We know about your meeting on the tarmac and it will come to light. You might have the authority over us right now, but this isn’t over. It will only be over when you are being led away in handcuffs.”
The Chief started snarling before he said, “How dare some bitch try to threaten me? I should have you both thrown in prison for dereliction of duty and endangering national security. I must be feeling nice today to take it easy on you two and now you try something like this.”
Trent said, “You know none of those charges about us are true. We’re coming for you and the Vice President. You know, the one who sat right next to you on that plane when you joked with the King of Olodomo. We have your ass so you can try to squash this as much as you want, but there are too many people loyal to the country than one crooked president. Good day, sir.”
Whitney and Trent got up to leave and the Chief started yelling, “Get the hell out of here. Both of you are complete disgraces to the Bureau. I’ll take your badges now before I forget. You two will never work in law enforcement again. This was the biggest mistake of your lives.”
Whitney pried her badge out of her wallet and threw it on the desk. Trent wound up like he was going to throw the silver badge at the Chief’s head. The hefty man screamed in a high pitch and put his hands in front of his face to defend himself. Trent dropped the badge softly onto the black desk and the couple left.
They gathered the few boxes of belongings and went to get their car. However, Whitney had forgotten that the vehicle and apartment had been given to them by the Bureau, which presented an even bigger problem. Trent and Whitney spent the rest of the day trying to figure out if they could find a car and residence to live in or if they should go back to Pennsburgh for a while.
9
Whitney and Trent found a place to rent and purchased a new vehicle. They had decided to stay and had already talked with Barrett and a few other agents about helping out with the case. Whitney knew they would be limited on resources, but she hoped they could still push forward.
The couple had found a small free-standing house just outside the Capitol. Whitney liked the lack of traffic in the area and looked around appreciatively as she went to check the mailbox. She hadn’t registered this address but the box was stuffed with sales ads fr
om the local food stores almost every day. Whitney flipped open the front of the red mailbox and found a small envelope the size of a credit card.
She went back inside and opened the tiny package. There was a folded letter inside that she opened up.
Jobs are lost, but not the faith,
When trying to help all stay safe,
Facts, there are, to still be had,
Avoid frustration and don’t get mad,
Our help, you have to guide the ship,
Don’t give up or make a quip,
Our friend with wings, colored in gold,
Will take you where favors are sold,
A new car will drive you anywhere,
Directions already given will take you there.
Whitney and Trent looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t have the Intelligence Agencies at the tips of their fingers to find new evidence, so this was a welcome letter. Trent drove and followed the programmed directions to another state park about twenty minutes away.
Whitney got out and the fierce wind blew her hair into her eyes. She pulled a pony tail holder out of her pocket and tied back her hair. They walked toward the woods and looked up for Darominius. She shielded the sun from her eyes but still didn’t see her friend.
Whitney wondered why the directions had sent them here. There weren’t a lot of people around but every other place they had gone to meet Darominius had been empty of humans. The closest person was about fifty feet away and Whitney tried to think about where they could go to be alone.
Trent tapped her on the shoulder and when she looked over, he was pointing up to the sky. A golden dragon descended with tremendous velocity and she heard a whistling sound as he plummeted. She took a quick peek around and everyone was pointing to the sky.
The dragon slowed down as he neared the harsh surface of the earth and landed as his waving wings came to a stop. People started to run over toward them.
“Hurry and get on,” Darominius told them.
Roam Around The Earth: Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure #2 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 6
