Evenfall (146 page)

"I can do that," Owen said with a nod. He reached for his coffee again but Jeff gave him an irritated look and pulled it away before he could touch it. Owen made a mildly disgruntled face before he turned to Carhart blankly. "Uh... What was...? Oh. Right, I'll work on that right after we scramble."

"Good." Carhart glanced around the table. "If no one has any further questions and comments, we will reconvene as soon as we have more information on the topic. Boyd, see Ms. Green in HR to get your access card back and Jeff, meet me in my office in twenty minutes."

Jeff nodded and began gathering his papers, placing them very neatly and in a specific order in his briefcase. Owen was the first one to get up and leave, although he was far less fastidious about it; the coffee cup almost fell as he manhandled the door open and he could be heard quietly mumbling to himself as he headed down the hallway. Jeff made a face and snapped his briefcase closed a little more firmly than was necessary, only a few seconds behind him.

Boyd glanced at Sin, then moved to leave but before he could even fully stand, Carhart said, "Wait a second." Boyd looked at him curiously but settled back into the chair and waited for him to continue. "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, actually," Boyd said after a moment. He'd been wondering about this through the meeting but there hadn't been a good place to ask. "Where is Ryan? It's not like him to miss a briefing."

The General observed him for a brief moment before responding. "He's indisposed at the moment, much to his displeasure, but hopefully he will join us next time."

Carhart didn't seem concerned that Sin appeared to be waiting for Boyd and when he seemed certain that Boyd had no further questions, he finally spoke. "I was wondering if you have any more information on this
Chingσn
character that you can share with me. As I told Sin when I first debriefed him, I'm interested in gathering more information on he and his group just in case Janus does try to utilize him in the future, especially if he's stationed near what could be a base of their operations." He paused and sat back in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Was there anything of note that you remember? Anything that stood out or can be looked into more?"

"If you are referring to anything out of the ordinary, everything about him stands out," Boyd said honestly. "He seems difficult to predict as well." He thought about it a moment. "He is adept at hiding and trailing; there were several times I felt someone watching me in Monterrey, yet I could never specify who or where it was originating from until he told me that it was him. He speaks Spanish fluently but his accent sounded different than the natives'. When he speaks English, his accent is American though I can't place from where except to say he doesn't have a Southern accent. He's also quite strong and fast. He is feared by many of the natives. He also managed to take over that tunnel apparently effortlessly when it was implausible that it would occur without bloodshed among
los perdidos,
the people guarding the area. Ah... There are any number of things I could think of. I'm not certain what you'd like to know?"

The General thought for a moment and reached up to rub his jaw. "Were you able to see any distinguishing marks on his person?"

"He always covered himself; I could never see his features. It's a well-known part of his persona and no one has ever seen what he really looks like so I can't even give you details from rumors." Boyd leaned back in the chair, thinking. "Although I can tell you he is about my height but more muscular and stronger than me. He has a tattoo entirely covering his right forearm, but between the fact that he was silhouetted by the headlights at the time and it was otherwise very dark in the tunnel, I couldn't see any details. I just recall thinking that it was strange. Ah... He wore something silver around his neck when I saw him the first time; it may have been a necklace of some sort. The first time I met him he was wearing all black but the second time he was in a flashier outfit; rings, tall boots, a hat and a scarf. He also walks with a swagger."

Carhart stared at Boyd blankly for a long moment before asking his next question. "And this seal you mentioned earlier? The one which you recognized?"

"All his crates and vehicles have '4FF' painted in yellow," Boyd explained. "Though I have no idea what that means. It may just be the name of his group; no one ever gave it a name except to refer to them as
chingσn's
people."

The statement was met with a long stretch of silence as Carhart continued to stare at him with the same strange expression on his face. It was only when Sin shifted impatiently and threw him an irritable glare that the General finally pushed his chair back and stood up. "I see. If anything, perhaps I will be able to dig up information about that phrase or anyone who has been known for using it." He collected his files, looking distracted, and nodded at the two of them. "Thank you for the information, Boyd. Without the things you told us today, we would still be without a lead and without any indication as to where to begin our search. I look forward to working with the both of you again after such a long absence and I will speak to you in a few days."

Although he didn't seem insincere about the things he said, the words were spoken in an almost automatic manner, as if he was too preoccupied to give them his full attention.  He nodded at them shortly and exited the room, leaving Sin and Boyd to stare after him.

After a moment, Sin finally looked at Boyd again and shoved his hands into his pockets with a glare. "What was all of that not wanting to come back bullshit about?"

"I didn't mean that I didn't want to; I was just curious what the answer would be." Boyd said, looking at him thoughtfully as he stood. "It occurred to me that Connors probably intentionally made me believe I was fired rather than on leave so I had even less reason to retain any sense of hope. It also made me wonder what they would have done to me had you died; would they have officially terminated me at that point as my position was no longer valid or would they have made me into a typical field agent? So I suppose I was simply curious how immediate or severe the response would be in other terms, such as had I walked out or refused to return. Since I had no intentions of actually doing so, I decided to ask about it instead."

Sin stared at him suspiciously for a long moment before his shoulders relaxed slightly, although he didn't look away. "Well. Good."

Boyd smiled at him slightly, something almost ironic in his expression. "After all that work I went through trying to convince you not to leave, did you really think I'd just walk away?"

Sin's mouth quirked up into a slight smirk and he shook his head, heading towards the door. "No, I guess not." His posture seemed far more relaxed than it had during the entire briefing and he seemed in no rush to discuss anything to do with it. "Seems weird being here now."

"It does," Boyd agreed, walking with him as they went down the hall. He noticed the collar was on Sin's neck once again and his eyes narrowed slightly; although he wasn't surprised that they'd taken the opportunity to replace it, he still didn't like seeing it again. It made him wonder if, along with his access card and phone, he would find a new remote waiting for him as part of what they termed to be the necessities for his position. He wanted to ask how Sin was, what had happened during those few weeks when they hadn't seen each other, but he was very aware of the fact that there were cameras across the facility that were probably being monitored by the guards who would be able to overhear any conversation they had. The conference rooms didn't have surveillance or else they would never be able to have confidential briefings but it was different in public areas.

So instead he said, "For
a while
, I honestly didn't believe I would ever step foot in here again."

Sin glanced down at him, his gaze lingering for a long moment. "Hard to say if being back is good or not when you take certain things into consideration," he muttered as they went to the elevator to go downstairs.

There was silence as they did so, both of them fully aware of the stationary camera that hovered in the corner of the elevator, and Sin shifted, looking irritated as he ran a hand over his short hair. When they reached the ground floor and stepped out of the elevator, he ignored the crowd of people who stood there waiting at the elevator bank and the looks they graced him with. A few people immediately backed away as he passed them but he didn't look at them twice.  "Are you going to administration?"

"At some point," Boyd said, briefly distracted by a woman who was very obviously alarmed by Sin; she nearly dropped all her papers and turned immediately to walk back the way she had come. "Why? Where are you headed?"

Another lingering look and Sin shrugged casually. "Nowhere in particular. Back to the apartment."

Boyd considered that a moment, wondering if the cameras had been replaced. "Did anything change while we were gone?"

"Not that I'm aware, which is surprising." They exited the main lobby and stepped out into the courtyard. The spring air was cool, slightly moist and once again Sin stood there in the chill totally under-dressed although as usual he didn't appear fazed.

"Nevertheless, good to hear," Boyd said, pausing when he noticed Sin had stopped walking and was watching him. He just stared back for a moment, studying his expression and the way the muted sunlight made his eyes seem especially green, before it occurred to him that he had just intended to follow Sin to his apartment and hadn't even thought to ask if that would be alright. He slipped his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, feeling a little awkward as he asked, "Ah... I don't exactly have a reason to go home, so would it be alright if I accompanied you?"

That earned him another long stare before Sin nodded as he began to walk. "Okay."

Boyd nodded and fell into step beside him. The wind gusted, ruffling Sin's clothing and pushing Boyd's hair into his eyes. He looked around the courtyard, feeling like this was his first chance in over a year to actually see the place. The last several times he'd passed through the compound, he'd had been so pensive about other topics that he'd barely noticed his surroundings.

Now, he saw the pale blue shades of the clouds stretched thin high over their heads with the sun peeking through in pale shafts of light. The windows in the buildings around them glinted, rendering the rooms beyond them impossible to see. As he took in the people around them in the courtyard, he realized that everyone seemed to be in a rush or at least, that they wanted to appear like they were. Everyone had a sense of urgency in their stride and an intensity in their expressions that almost seemed forced. At first he'd assumed that it was only a handful of people possibly concerned about something work related, but as he looked around he realized that everyone was giving off the same vibe, everyone seemed equally stressed.

Despite that, the fresh air felt wonderful to Boyd; even if it was a little cool, he still felt more awake than he had been in a long time. That made him wonder exactly what month it was. He didn't have a cell phone to tell him, he hadn't had the energy or inclination to touch his father's computer, and any calendars that had been in his house were quite
outdated
. He knew he had been gone for months, but that was something he could tell by the weather alone; it had been winter when they'd returned from Monterrey and now it was obviously spring. He still didn't know exactly how long it had been since he'd lost touch with the rest of the world.

"What month is it?" he asked it almost absently, looking up at the trees as the leaves rustled pleasantly in another gust of wind. Sin raised an eyebrow at him as they walked in the direction of his building. "You sound like me when I emerged from the coma. It's early May."

"Hmm." Boyd studied the trees, the leaves colored in healthy shades of green and the sky seen beyond through the spaces in the foliage. He may not have been in a literal coma like Sin but in a way it did feel as though he'd been comatose. At that moment, Sin probably knew more about what had happened in the last several months than he did, which was strange to think about. He didn't care to dwell on the thought; not while he was walking next to Sin with the wind cool but pleasant as it shifted his trench coat against his legs. "It felt like longer."

Sin grunted noncommittally and glanced at Boyd again before they continued the rest of the walk in relative silence. They gained their fair share of long, curious looks from quite a few people as they went but that wasn't really a surprise. Despite the secrecy that the Agency was shrouded in, things had a tendency to get around and even if most people didn't know the truth of what had actually gone on during the year and a half that they'd been gone. However as they got closer to the building, the guards that were usually stationed in that area seemed less shocked by the sight of Sin than the general populace seemed to be.

When they reached the front of the building, two guards were stationed at the door as usual and Officer Daniels, the guard usually stationed at Sin's apartment door, was standing on the steps apparently taking a smoke break. He glanced at the two of them, blinking at Boyd in surprise, while Sin tilted his head in silent greeting and asked, "Mind if I bum one?"

The two guards at the door stared down at him oddly but Daniels didn't seem put off by the question; in fact it seemed that this was probably a typical exchange between the two. He held the pack out to Sin and said, "Keep it. I get them easier than you can, dude."