BIA Ch. 117
by Shrimpy
“What?”
Mickey exclaimed with a startled face.
“Wh-What are you suddenly saying……!”
“I told you not to make me repeat myself.”
Isaiah warned lowly instead of answering. As if pretending he hadn’t understood, Mickey quickly stood up and threw off his suit jacket and shirt. Then, stealing glances at Isaiah, he took off his pants too.
“Why aren’t you taking off your underwear.”
“I, I have a girlfriend!”
“So what? I have a boyfriend.”
Mickey’s face went beyond pale, turning almost blue. But that was only for a moment; the instant Isaiah’s hand gripped the M24A2 resting on his thigh, Mickey pulled down his own briefs with lightning-fast hands.
“Wow, do I have to take them completely off?”
Isaiah asked, holding the briefs caught around his ankles. After confirming there was nothing inside his underwear, Isaiah waved his hand.
“That’s enough. Pull them up.”
“Yes……?”
Mickey stared blankly at Isaiah, then with a complicated expression, awkwardly pulled his underwear back up. He should have been relieved, but his pride felt wounded and he felt bad, wearing a look of self-confusion.
“Follow me.”
Isaiah stood up, holding the gun, and went to his bedroom. Mickey followed hesitantly, covering his chest with both hands. Isaiah found a matching gray sweatsuit set in the closet and handed it to Mickey.
“Wear this.”
“Yes……?”
“Your clothes have too many buttons.”
“No, what does that possibly have to do with…….”
Mickey, blinking as he took the clothes, soon let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about a listening device? Haven’t you watched too many movies?”
Judging by the way he spoke, this guy must have only ever sat behind a desk. Well, I had roughly guessed as much.
“Not movies, but in Afghanistan.”
Isaiah opened the walk-in closet door inside the bedroom. After placing the rifle back where it belonged, he knelt and started searching, opening the bottom drawer first.
“I’ve seen all sorts of strange things. The most fascinating was a recorder shaped like a decorative pearl embedded in a woman’s fingernail. The suicide bomb, disguised as a hairpin, was for when she got caught.”
Fortunately, the item he was looking for appeared as soon as he opened the second drawer from the bottom. It was spoils of war brought back along with ammunition when they raided an enemy base in Kabul. After securely grabbing the remote control as well, he closed the drawer and came out to find Mickey, who had already finished changing, looking around the room.
“If you’re dressed, come here.”
Isaiah beckoned as if calling a dog. Mickey approached warily, his eyes full of suspicion.
“Arms up.”
Mickey raised his arms hesitantly. Isaiah put the bomb vest he was holding onto him. Mickey’s complexion changed, as if sensing something from the unusual weight. However, perhaps because its appearance resembled a regular thermal vest, he seemed unable to react immediately, thinking, ‘Surely not.’ But the moment Isaiah fastened the buttons and the vest emitted a beep, his pupils dilated rapidly.
“What…… is this……?”
“An Afghan specialty.”
“Crazy!”
Mickey shouted, pushing Isaiah’s hand away. Isaiah quickly showed the remote control in his hand before he could struggle wildly.
“Don’t move.”
“Please!”
Tears instantly welled up in Mickey’s blue eyes. He even dropped to his knees right there and started begging.
“Take it off, please. This isn’t right, this is really not right, Lanius.”
“Of course, I’ll take it off.”
After the job is done. Isaiah said, putting the remote into his jacket pocket. Mickey looked at Isaiah with eyes full of despair, then buried his face in the nearby bed and sobbed.
“Why are you doing this! I came here to protect you!”
“That wasn’t agreed upon with me.”
Isaiah grabbed the nape of Mickey’s neck and pulled him out of the bedroom. Mickey, extremely cautious lest the bomb explode from the rough handling, said as he was dragged along.
“What on earth does that mean.”
“Exactly what it sounds like. I’m still deciding whether or not to accept that protection.”
“What does that…….”
As soon as they reached the living room, Isaiah threw Mickey onto the sofa. He then rummaged through the clothes Mickey had taken off, found two cell phones, and holding one in each hand, asked.
“Which one is your personal phone.”
Mickey looked back and forth between the two phones in Isaiah’s hands before speaking.
“The left one.”
“Be honest now, don’t regret it later.”
“Damn it, the right one.”
“Then this must be the work phone.”
Isaiah threw the cell phone in his left hand onto the floor. Then he pulled Mickey’s Glock 17 from his back pocket. Mickey screamed, seemingly realizing what Isaiah was about to do.
“No!”
Ignoring Mickey’s plea, Isaiah gripped the pistol with both hands. He aimed at the phone on the floor and pulled the trigger. Bang! With the sound, the phone shattered into pieces.
“Oh, my God.”
Mickey tore at his hair with both hands. Isaiah put the pistol back in his pocket and returned to the bedroom. As he opened the walk-in closet door and began disassembling the M24A2 he had just put away, Mickey, who had been sitting on the sofa calling out to God, came running, wailing.
“Are you really Lanius? Real name Isaiah Cole, age thirty-one, born in Korea?”
“Are you my stalker?”
“This is so different from the briefing!”
“Briefing? They did something like that?”
The FBI must really have nothing better to do. Isaiah laughed as he completely separated the barrel from the receiver.
“What did it say.”
“That you have extremely low emotional fluctuation and possess immense patience!”
Mickey shouted, still practically wailing.
“They said you were calm and had excellent situational judgment, so if I just explained the situation well, there would be no difficulty in getting cooperation.”
“I am cooperating.”
“Where exactly!”
“If I weren’t cooperating, you’d be lying knocked out in the car right now with your friend.”
Mickey suddenly fell silent as Isaiah spoke while putting the disassembled gun into a caddy bag. Isaiah opened the drawer containing ammunition and gathered Lapua Magnum rounds, saying.
“And I used to get briefings like that every time I worked, too. They’re all lies. The client has a tendency to value rules? Means they’re obsessive-compulsive. Somewhat impulsive means they’re a junkie.”
Mickey couldn’t say anything. Isaiah, having packed plenty of M24A2 ammunition just in case, closed the walk-in closet door and came out.
“Where were you planning to take me, kidnapping me?”
“It’s not kidnapping……”
Mickey started to say something but then sighed.
“Williams Hotel.”
“Oh.”
Isaiah raised an eyebrow. It was a hotel located between the WD headquarters and Fairfax Medical Center. Not only was the location chosen considering his movements, but the fact that they picked the most expensive hotel in Virginia showed that the FBI was paying considerable attention.
“Everyone’s crying poor about budgets these days, especially at year-end. Looks like the FBI is doing well.”
“The FBI? No way. We get interrogated even if gas expenses are slightly high.”
“But you’re going to the Williams Hotel?”
“Bran designated it.”
Of course, Bran is covering the cost too. Mickey said with a bitter face.
“……I see.”
Isaiah exited the bedroom.
As soon as they left the house with Mickey in front, they encountered Billy’s body. Thanks to the neighborhood elders who go to bed early and are hard of hearing, Billy was still lying on the cold pavement.
“Billy……”
While Mickey tearfully moved Billy’s body into the driver’s seat of the Ford sedan, Isaiah called a taxi.
A short while later, the taxi arrived, and the two sat side-by-side in the back seat. Unable to calm down, Mickey couldn’t stop his tears. Beside him, Isaiah called Morgan.
「Oh, Isaiah.」
Morgan answered the phone almost before the first ring finished. As if he had been waiting just for Isaiah’s call.
「Are you in Virginia?」
“Yes. I arrived a little while ago. Is Father in the ICU?”
「Yes. Visiting probably isn’t allowed right now.」
“Alright. I guess I’ll have to go during visiting hours tomorrow morning.”
「Do that. And could you come by the office for a moment now?」
“Sure.”
Isaiah answered briefly and ended the call.
About 30 minutes later, the taxi dropped the two off in front of the WD headquarters building. Isaiah went straight to the Director’s office on the 4th floor with Mickey. Perhaps because it was already past ten at night, the entire building was dead silent. Morgan’s secretary, Howard, had already gone home long ago.
“Wait here.”
Isaiah pointed to the sofa in front of the Director’s office. Mickey, hands shoved deep into his sweatshirt pockets, shuffled over and slumped onto the sofa. His face was swollen from crying so much. When he was wearing the suit, he looked like a working professional, but in the fitted sweatsuit and the silly-looking vest, he looked exactly like a child.
In this state, it seemed unlikely he’d even think of running away, but it felt better to say it anyway.
“As you can see, the partitions here are glass, so I can see everything from inside. Know that I’ll press the remote the instant you move a finger.”
Mickey looked back and forth between the glass wall of the Director’s office and the remote in Isaiah’s hand, then nodded with a stiff face. Isaiah patted Mickey’s shoulder once before entering the Director’s office.