Post by codeapathy on Jul 29, 2022 23:12:00 GMT -5
You hate my bad behavior
You cut my lips and tongue
You play the part of savior
I watch you come undone
Saint Mesa - Throne
++I hated long, quiet, auto rides. You could cut the tension in the cabin with a knife. The closer we drove towards the compound, the quieter it became until you could hear the tire treads thumping against the grooves in the road, the hum the rubber made as it rolled forward. Only the occasionally deep breath or bored sigh would cut the monotony. As we reached the security gate and waited for the wave through, I arched my head just a bit to see what was waiting on the other side. Judging by the cars already parked, some hard hitters were already on site. I collected myself and shook it off as we passed through the security gate and towards the drop off point. As the business class luxury car came to a stop, I gathered my briefcase and waited for the door to open. I slid out, exiting with the gentlemen's assistance as all eyes were on me now. I adjusted my tuxedo pants, smoothing them out, as I hoisted my satchel over my shoulder and made my way inside, head held high. At the receptionist desk they were cold and curt++
Elizabeth: I’m being expected.
“Just take a number and we will call you when it is your turn.”
Elizabeth: I don’t think you quite understand. None of that is necessary.
++I held up an ornate business card between my two fingers and waved it in her face. She paused for a second and looked over it, before her attitude changed. She handed it back gently and exhaled sharply, realizing her mistake++
“All apologies. You were not on my expected guest list. I will absolutely make sure that is changed post haste. Your accommodations are already for you and I will have one of our premium boys get your belongings to your room. Your itinerary states that you are to go straight to one of our small business offices upon arrival. We have you all checked in so if you will gladly follow the gentleman next to me he will take you straight to the office.”
++He too was quiet and stoic. I understood. A lot of serious, important landscape altering business and dealings went on in this place. It wasn’t my first rodeo. I had to come here just to get the OP approved when it came to Scotty. Amongst other things. We stopped outside the frosted glass door where I watched him take a few steps back. I was alone from here on out. I thanked him, tipped him, then turned on my heels and wrapped on the glass pane. The door was open from inside and I went in. It was decorated in a modern sense. It gave me the overwhelming feeling of being stuck in a stock image. I gently sat down on the white leather couch and waited for what I knew was coming next. I focused on the loud ticking of the nearby clock to keep myself focused. They were testing my patience. It was their MO. Make me fidget and wait, hoping to catch me off guard when they start the dress down. Finally, from the back of the room a door opened and my handler walked through. He sat down in the matching white leather chair across from me, set down his briefcase and opened it, rifling through papers. When he had finally figured out where he wanted to start, he looked up at me over his glasses and addressed me++
“Thank you for being prompt and on time. It is greatly appreciated.”
Elizabeth: These types of meetings aren’t exactly optional so I’d rather come promptly than invoke more wrath and disciplinary action for being late or insubordinate. Shall we get underway?
“To the point, I appreciate that. We don’t do names here, only codex. I have yours, you have mine, let us begin. This meeting has been called by your superiors in reference to an approved OP that seems to have gotten away from you. Considering in house staff, resources and property were used in the OP it leaves you open to the committee oversight and checks and balances. You used company assets to conduct your Project Kaleidoscope and while the finish project was deemed a success, it did not stay that way. You were his handler and you lost absolute control over him. He was ushered to the top of the list for eradication and that never happened. You sent one of YOUR own men to put Project K down and that soldier went awol. Now that leaves two loose ends. Unacceptable. What’s more is your private dalliances have garnered the attention of certain federal outfits that are taking a closer look at our finances and business dealings. Bluntly, the council would like a body to throw under the bus to make this go away and they are eyeballing you.”
Elizabeth: Fair. There’s just a small issue of my Father standing in the way, or else I would have been set up by now. I know how these meetings go. I remember that royal fuck up I caused in Frankfurt a few years ago. Though to be fair that was one of YOUR men who refused to take orders from a woman. I felt bad having to throw him under the train like that not because I respected him but because he had just gotten married and had an infant at home that would have to shoulder the shame. She’s my accountant now. So let’s just call a spade a spade. Either I go down for this mess or you want someone else to take the fall. So who is it? Who have you decided that I must play God for?
“O’Rourke. He’s sloppy and not cut out for field work. You knew better than to put him in sensitive positions where he was woefully untrained and lacked the proper skillset to subterfuge. I’m sure he’s fantastic in bed but that does not a useful soldier make. You have to cut him loose and send him up the river. It will satisfy the government boys, it deflects the focus from our outfit and frees up your schedule to end this Project K mess.”
++There it was. The golden bullet. They had decided Eoin was expendable if it meant they could breathe a little easier. They knew those frat boys in Washington would take anything if it meant it looked like they were doing real work. Who was Eoin to them? A bit player. They saw only what they wanted to see and not the bigger picture. They either failed to recognize a group that had been compromised or they refused to see it, as the idea of insider secrets being sold to the highest bidder was scary and meant they might have to do some leg work. I calmly placed both palms down on the glass top of the table and shook my head in disagreement++
Elizabeth: I respectfully disagree. You see failed ops. I see ops where someone else was playing the game with us. I see names and people and places that don’t add up. I’ve had my own staff scrubbed and checked. It turns out I had a fox in my own henhouse. It’s about to get uncomfortable for you mate so I would suggest getting comfortable. This whole situation goes far beyond then just ops and councils and protocol. You want me to deal with Project K, consider it done. Already on the docket, fell right into my lap. But there is more to this than just him. Reno is MY OP. Period. I got the okay straight from the guy who keeps you relevenent. The group that keeps you in a Lexus and those sharp black suits. This one is out of your league. I answer to nobody when it comes to Reno, or that op, unless it's THE guy. O’Rourke goes nowhere. He’s necessary. I need him to keep the attention of that pathetic glass ceiling reaching friend of his who thinks he’s going to make his career on a wild goose chase. He’s the connection to Sarah. I agree I botched the Special K project. I got sloppy. It will be handled. But I am going to need you to get all the way off my back about an OP that is above your paygrade. Am I clear?
++The handlers never did like being talked to like a little child. It always bruised their pitiful little egos. I had to phrase things in a way that would sound pleasing to his tiny dicked ego. Frame the words in a manner that would make him feel like he was a big boy getting big boy accomplishments. I tilted my head and smirked, smoothing the glass top, tapping my nails against it++
Elizabeth: Let me angle with you. What I am trying to accomplish with Reno and Miss Sarah is very important. There are a lot of dominos involved and when one goes they will all go. I’m talking numerous agents of various groups, with egg all over their faces and ONE person taking the fall for all of it. We’re talking black market, child endangerment, tax evasion, the whole gambit. Everyone will get a piece of that sweet pie of illegal gains. Even you fellas. I bet an accommodation sounds good about right now. You used to be a field agent until you were shot on an OP. Now you ride a desk. Help me, help you look good. Competent. This is big…you follow me?
“Ah…ahem. Yes. I do believe I follow quite well. It sounds like what you are working towards will benefit quite a few agencies. I can understand now why it’s above my pay grade as you said. Very well I, and my associates, will back off for now, pending a change in vote of confidence from the very top, but there is still the matter of Project K. He knows too much…”
++I stood up and moved towards the switches on the wall, changing the glass so that no one could see in, only we could see out. I tapped my nail on the knob adjusting the frosted glass and chuckled to myself++
Elizabeth: He knows…whatever it is I LET him know. Off the record. Can you afford me that?
“Indeed. Carry on.”
Elizabeth: Project K was a success. The mind subversion was adopted completely. It wasn’t hard to convince his stupid, grief stricken wife that he was a gonner. Everything went off without a hitch. The problems started stemming from outside influences. Violence. Buyers remorse I guess. Most men who talk that hard and that much game usually are overcompensating for something and I guess in his state it was the fact that he wasn’t as ruthless, violent or dedicated as he appeared to be. It’s one of the main reasons I went to great lengths to make sure Mr. Violence was needed elsewhere away from that lab while Project K was being developed and perfected. You want to know what Scotty knows? That I flipped his whole world upside down. He knows he entrusted his vision to me and I turned around and removed him from his own vision because he was a weak link.
He was drowning in a sea of mediocrity. Burying himself alive with pipe dreams and bullshit fantasies. In his warped head he really felt that the bunch of social rejects he put together were going to be the answer and help usher in a saving grace for the business. Humans are the disease. We can no more cure the infection than we can prevent it. He was just wallowing in self-pity, longing for the good old days, a different time and place where he still held relevancy and actually mattered. His whole goal was a self-serving personalized vendetta to stop making all the cool kids pick on him. I freed him from that swamp he was thrashing in. I released him from his burdens, his children, his marriage his old life. I granted him the freedom he sought and all it cost was everything he ever knew and loved.
The only people of whom he poses a threat is me and mine. He’s been waltzing around, playing his half hearted, cartoonish mind games with me and others who were involved and he really thinks he’s accomplished something. I know where that comes from. His partner. That little sniveling bastard hasn’t had the balls to face me let alone address me. The boy wonder wanted to get his dick wet when it came down to me but to face me like a big strong man that is asking way too much. Guess it’s easier to be a big brave toy soldier when you got a stiff prick and you’re really wanting to impress a girl. He’ll get his before all is said and done. Meanwhile, Scotty can’t quite decide if he wants his old life back or if he still wants to keep a firm grasp on the life, the identity, I made for him. So he walks around talking to the fucking mask like it’s become a part of him or some dopey shit.
If I made ANY mistakes, it was not taking into consideration his mental state BEFORE I went ahead with the project. He was mentally fucked before I got my hands on him and the chemicals into him and he will be LONG After this whole saga is said and done. He pretends everything is fine, that his whole world went back to normal, yet it hasn’t. He’s trying to force issues that his brain isn’t ready to acknowledge yet. The only one who can grant him the absolute freedom he wants is me. I’ll handle Scotty. He needs a reminder that I made him who he is now and no matter how hard he tries to go back to the way things used to be, it isn’t possible. Nothing will ever be the same between him and his family again, not after this. She spent months mourning a husband that was barely even present before I started playing God with his life. Everything is strained and awkward.
Are we done? Is this debriefing satisfactory?
“Indeed. Pending review on the Project K conclusion of course.”
Elizabeth: How about you guys worry about if there are any other foxes in the henhouses? She got to mine, it isn’t far to reach she has invaded yours. That should keep you boys being productive.
++I excused myself and slid out of the room. I already knew some of them were dirty. Hopefully he could read between the lines. I made my way for the elevator and as the door shut, I made a quick call++
Elizabeth: Ground Zero is compromised. Alert Father Time. Scorch it. All of it.