The Second Device

The Director pushed a button on his desk and the double door to his office swung in. The woman who stood outside the door made no move to enter. “Agent Adele Stevens? You may enter,” the Director said.

Adele walked into the office and stopped in the middle of the office. Behind her, the doors swung shut on silent hinges, closing with a soft click as the latch engaged.

“Do take a seat, Ms. Stevens.”

“Yes, Director.” Adele pulled one of the two chairs in front of his desk back a few inches and sat, her back straight, feet together on the floor. She kept her head up, her eyes fixed on the Director’s ever-present smirk.

“You can relax, if you like, Ms. Stevens. This is not a formal inquiry. Think of it more as an informal chat between two citizens.”

“A chat about what?” she asked.

“Oh, just this and that,” the Director waved a dismissive hand. “Nothing to be concerned about.”

Adele crossed her arms. “In that case, may I be excused, Director?”

“Nonsense, you just got here.” He leaned forward, his hands flat on his desk. “How was your weekend, Ms. Stevens?”

“It was fine,” she said, her feet moving back under her chair.

“Just fine, huh? I thought you’d have more to say than that.”

Her gaze moved to his hands, pressing against the top of his desk. “It was fine,” she said again, “what do you want to know…Director?”

The Director’s hands pressed against the desk hard enough that his knuckles turned pale. His smirk grew. “Ms. Stevens, I am genuinely interested in your weekend. Why don’t you tell me all about it? Starting from the moment you woke up on Saturday morning until you were brought here this morning.”

“I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, went to the grocery store—”

He raised his hands and slammed them down on the desk as he yelled, “NO!”

Adele jumped in her seat, scooting the chair back another inch. Her arms tight around her chest, she raised her head to look at the Director’s flaring nostrils. “You wanted it all—”

“You woke up. Where? Were you alone? Who else was there?” The Director took a deep breath and laid his hands back on the desk. “I want details, Ms. Stevens. How am I supposed to understand your weekend without them?”

Adele took a deep breath and relaxed her hands where they were gripping her shirt at her ribs. “I woke up alone, at home. I live alone and there was no one else there—”

“Ms. Stevens,” the Director said, snapping his fingers and pointing up. “My eyes are up here, and you need to stop lying.”

“I don’t know what you want from me.” Her crossed ankles had migrated to the point that they couldn’t go any further under the chair. Her palms were leaving sweat stains on the sides of her shirt, below the growing sweat stains from her armpits.

“Ms. Stevens, I want you to think of me as a friend. You can tell me anything…as long as it’s the truth. That’s all I want from you. The truth.”

Adele forced a deep breath, raised her head, chin out. She pulled her feet out from under her and planted them firmly in front of the chair. Her arms stayed crossed. “If I tell you the truth and you don’t like it, then what?”

“Whatever do you mean, Ms. Stevens?”

“If you were a friend, you’d know the truth and not care either way.” Her eyes locked onto his. “The truth is, you’re not my friend. The only friend you have is yourself. You see the rest of us as useful tools or in the way and disposable.”

“My, my, Ms. Stevens. Please, tell me how you really feel.”

“Everyone hates you. You’re not obeyed out of loyalty, but out of fear.” She straightened her back, rose to her feet, and dropped her hands to the side. Her breath quickened. “No one gets called to the Director’s office for just a chat. I expect that at the end of this I will be disappeared. The truth is, I’m done being afraid.”

“Oh, Ms. Stevens,” the Director said in a sing-song voice, “I have something you want.”

“There is nothing you could offer—”

The Director cut her off by waving the photo of a woman in a cell, cuffed to the bars, bruises and cuts visible on her bare arms, legs, and face.

Adele sat down, her breathing quick. Her fists curled at her sides. “Okay, I’ll talk. Just let her go.”

“Well, that would depend on what you have to say, Ms. Stevens. I am so very interested in what you have to say that is worth Ms. Garcia’s freedom.”

“Yes, I was at her place Saturday morning. She had nothing to do with it.”

“Nothing to do with what?”

“You know what. Senior Agent Merley was the one that gave her the package instead of me.” Her fingernails dug into her palms as her fists tightened.

“Mr. Merley knew where to find you, then?”

“Yes. He’s known for months.”

“Very well. Please, continue.” The Director waved the photo again.

“He also knew that Maria wouldn’t want to trouble me for something so minor as dropping off a package, especially if he told her it wasn’t that important.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. Not that you’ve convinced me, but carry on.”

“Maria left a note that she dropped a package that Merley wanted me to deliver on her way to the store.” Adele’s gaze bored into the dead eyes of the Director. “I woke up alone, at Maria’s. I saw the note and ran for the barracks.”

The Director nodded and motioned for her to continue.

“When I saw the package in the guard shack, I knew that Merley was trying to distance himself.” Her mouth set tight. “I told him to leave her out of this. He’s too much like you, seeing everyone else as a tool or a problem.”

“Mr. Merley is well-known to me, Ms. Stevens. Please, refrain from assigning motive to the actions of others, and stick to your own story.” His smirk returned to its normal ill-humored state. “You saw the package at the guard shack, and then what?”

“I looked for Maria at the store she usually shops at. She wasn’t there. I sent her a text to contact me.” Adele kept her gaze steady. “When she didn’t answer I knew something was wrong. That’s when I went to Merley.”

“What time was that?”

“You already know. I met with Merley in the cafeteria at 12:30. We had words, and he reprimanded me in front of everyone, until you stopped him.”

“Ah, yes. You caused quite a scene.” The Director tented his fingers. “I should thank you. If I hadn’t been drawn to your little drama, I might have been in the meeting where I was meant to be, and where the package that Ms. Garcia delivered did its damage.”

His eyes narrowed. “Too much damage. I lost three deputies and a secretary. I was planning on getting rid of two of the deputies anyway, but the third was starting to grow on me. The secretary happened to be my favorite, though.”

“She didn’t know what it was. Please, Maria had nothing to do with this.” Her fists relaxed, her shoulders dropped, she bent forward, her back bowed. “Please. I don’t care if Merley sacrifices me to save his own skin. I’ll take all the blame, but you have to let Maria go.”

The Director leaned back. “I wouldn’t worry about Mr. Merley. We’d been following him for a while. If not, we wouldn’t have known where you were Saturday morning. Besides, he talked enough for all three of you.”

“All three?”

The Director’s smirk grew. “All three. Mr. Merley, Ms. Garcia — or as he called her, ‘the brown chick’ — and yourself.”

“Please, he’s lying. She had nothing to with any of it.”

“The only thing he wouldn’t tell me before he died was where the other device is.”

Adele sat back up. “I know, and I’ll tell you…after you release Maria.”

“I’ll play your game for now, Ms. Stevens. If you break your word, however, we will recapture Ms. Garcia, and her death will be long and painful.” He placed his hands flat on the desk and leaned forward. “And after you’ve witnessed that, yours will be three times worse.”

“I won’t, Director.”

He pushed a button on his desk. “Connect me to holding unit one,” he said.

“Yes, Director,” came the voice over the speaker. It was followed by a few clicks, then another voice.

“Holding one, Chief Garber speaking, Director.”

“Just the person I wanted to talk to. Release Ms. Garcia. Ensure her injuries are properly treated and she is safely escorted home. She is no longer of interest in the case.”

“Yes, Director. She’ll be home within the hour.”

He pushed the button that ended the call. “Now, Ms. Stevens. You were saying?”

“The second device isn’t exactly a device, but it is close. Here’s the truth.” Adele bolted upright, ripped open her shirt, unzipped the belt around her waist and flung handfuls of fine powder into the recirculating air of the Director’s office.