CHAPTER 28

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Russell House Office Building

Washington, DC

2016

Senator Helen Bashfield was working late in her ornate congressional office. Red and blue carpet added a patriotic décor, along with the statues of eagles and painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. A television set aired the coverage of the Georgetown Bus Bombing.

A glass of red wine stood on the desk, considering the impending attack and scheme. She pondered how she had gotten so deep in the rebellion and if she was being double-crossed by her protégé. After a moment of reflection her phone vibrated next to her. She brought her phone to her ear.

"Is this line secure?"

"Yes..." Agent Zero responded.

"I see you have hit your second target. The city is on edge.... Good work," her shrill voice approved from on high.

"Thank you."

"But Xander is on your trail and I don't have the target..." Bashfield stated with an intense plainness.

"You assured that we would not be watched..."

"Xander acts outside of standard protocol, there is no predicting his movements." Bashfield defended herself.

"I planned for this contingency."

"Wait, are you saying that you intentionally gave him the box?"

"He would have gotten it anyway. Nothing could have stopped him. That is why Xander now has the box and is the key to all of this. I need to speak to the Chairman and present a revised plan to the Collective," Agent Zero led, hoping to be granted permission. But no such thing happened. Bashfield laughed a villainous shrill.

"I don't think so... you know that only members of the Collective can speak before them. And as for the Chairman... don't be so naïve my dear. It is the Collective's role to plan and it is your role to execute that plan. You have been my protégé for some time and I admire your brightness but you have to know your place..." The words stung so much so that Agent Zero's fist tightened at hearing this.

"How do I relay my message?" Agent Zero asked through gritted teeth.

"You will have to tell me and I can relay the message at our next meeting...." she explained.

"So you will receive credit for my plan? The one that I devise and execute?" Agent Zero's tone began its revolt, but Bashfield only laughed in a mockery.

"As a matter of fact yes... you do not have a seat at the table. You and your Skeptics are merely foot soldiers for the Collective, nothing else. If all goes according to plan, I will submit your name to the Collective for consideration. Now tell me your genius plan and I will see what the Collective thinks of it," she ordered, direct and cold. A weighted silence came over the phone as Agent Zero considered alternative courses of action.

"Never mind... the plan just changed." Agent Zero hung up the phone, leaving Bashfield to quiver in the darkness of her office.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Five hours had passed, the sun sank below the horizon. A full moon rose, shining a glow through the high windows of the apartment, casting an ominous blue twilight over Xander and Mac. Empty cans of food scattered the dirty apartment floor. Mac had been neck deep in aligning the voice distorter for the entire evening; it was only now that his thought strayed from the recording and onto the hunt for Duke.

Something had dug at him since seeing Xander.

It had been a long time.

Mac was not one for swallowing untold thoughts; rather he decided to put it out in the open.

"Xander..." Mac stopped typing and turned. The muting of his keyboard action was as deafening as the saddened tone in his voice.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I just haven't seen you since the funeral... How have you been doing?"

Xander stopped in his tracks. His head leaned forward and rested against the drywall on which he was writing.

"I'll be okay... work helps me move on..." He almost choked on his words.

"Fiona was a great Spartan..."

There was a pause where old friends' eyes connected. A comforting nod told Xander, 'you'll be alright'. Xander turned back to his notes, mapping out the complexities of the mission at hand and the impending terrorist attack on US soil. Mac knew he had struck a chord and sulked back to his work in decrypting the voice. He wasn't surprised Xander shrugged off the condolence for he knew Xander was an agent, focused on a terrorist plot – lives were at stake, grieving the death of Fiona would have to wait. 



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