Evenfall (70 page)

Boyd looked to the side, his eyebrows furrowing. It would be best to be proper and polite about this just to impress Connors more. If Connors was angry about how terribly the last mission went then Boyd needed to prove that he was a respectable person whose opinion mattered, especially given his recent reputation. It would be easier to represent himself properly in person, though, and a little more difficult for him to be turned away.

So he would go in person to ask Connors' assistant directly; that was the best compromise.

"Alright," he said aloud.

Before Ryan could say anything else, the door opened again and Carhart reappeared. His face gave very little away, but the tension in his shoulders and the stiff way he carried himself made his aggravation quite obvious.

"No go," he said shortly. "He already has the video and he claims that he will view it when he has the time. Sin is to stay where he is until he decides otherwise or until an assignment comes up that is imperative enough for his release."

"Fucking
bullshit!
" Ryan yelled in annoyance. "Man, your boss is a dickhead."

Carhart glanced over at Ryan. "Hello, Ryan." He narrowed his eyes. "Did you finish what I asked for?"

"No! Why don't you focus on what's going on now!" Ryan snapped uncharacteristically.

Carhart seemed neither impressed nor angry by the display and walked over to his desk. "There's not much more I can do, Boyd."

Inclining his head, Boyd said calmly, in total contrast to Ryan, "I understand. Thank you for trying. Marshal Connors definitely has the video in his custody, though?"

"That's what he said. However he didn't appear to be in any rush to view it." Carhart sat down at his desk and steepled his fingers together as he looked at the two young men in the room. "At this time, there isn't much more I can do. I appreciate your concern for Sin, but at the moment the best course of action is to wait or the situation could be further exacerbated. Despite that, I already sent out a notice about the pending investigation of both Harry and Hsin, so I doubt you will receive any harassment for the time being."

Carhart looked at Boyd and then at Ryan. "Boyd, I suggest you return home and rest. Ryan, I suggest you finish your assignment."

Ryan made a face but didn't disagree. "Is there really going to be an investigation?"

"It's already being looked into."

"I'm willing to testify if they need anything for the investigation." Boyd looked over at Carhart.  "If there's nothing more..." He trailed off almost questioningly; he wanted to leave so he could start his next attempt to get Sin out.

Carhart nodded. "Of course. Just remember to take your own needs into consideration. You are no good to anybody in the medical unit." He stared at Boyd intently for a moment before looking at his computer, an obvious dismissal.

Ryan made another face and went out into the hall, waiting for Boyd outside. "What are you going to do?" he asked knowingly.

Looking down the hall with an intent expression, Boyd shifted his gaze back to Ryan. "I'll head to Connors' office before I leave today and ask for an appointment in person. I know it's unlikely I'll get anywhere with that but I have to try."

Ryan nodded, face pinched with worry. "Please go home afterwards. Or you can come to my place and stay there..."

Boyd looked over at Ryan, touched by the fact that he cared enough about him to worry. Less than an hour earlier, he'd been planning his own death; certain that the world was better off without him. Certain that no one would care. But looking into Ryan's face, he knew now that wasn't true. Sin's appearance had saved him more than physically, and in part it seemed Boyd had Ryan to thank for that.

He smiled genuinely at Ryan and nodded. "I'll go home. I promise. Thank you, Ryan," he added sincerely. "You don't know how much you've helped me already."

"Okay. Just call me, okay?" Ryan began backing down the corridor. "Good luck."

Boyd nodded, raised a hand in a silent farewell, and headed immediately for the nearest elevators with access to seventeenth. He focused on what he needed to say to get Sin out and how he could go about requesting an audience with Connors. He barely noticed the other people in the elevator despite the long looks they gave his battered face. By the time the elevator reached the seventeenth floor, he was alone again.

He knew the layout of the floor well enough to know the direction Connors' office was, even if he'd never had to visit it before. It took him a little bit to find and there were quite a few doors he had to swipe his keycard through just to get clearance, as well as explanations given to the guards.

He finally found the main office area dedicated to Marshal Jacob Connors. He walked directly to the assistant's desk, but made sure he stopped at the correct distance away and waited patiently to be acknowledged. If there was anything that having Vivienne Beaulieu as a mother had taught him, it was proper protocol and how to act respectfully. Even if he didn't always follow her advice.

Connor's assistant sat behind a large glass receptionist desk. The entire area was the picture of elegant minimalism and the man behind the desk was no different. He wore a perfectly cut designer suit that was fitted precisely for his slender build and silver glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The man, Samuel Goldberg according to his nametag, had a polite smile plastered across his face but the look in his eyes was one of absolute disinterest.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Beaulieu. How may I be of help to you?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Goldberg," Boyd replied politely. "I would like to request an audience with Marshal Connors. Could you tell me when he is next available?"

Samuel peered at him through his glasses, disinterest mingling with smug amusement. "In reference to what?"

Boyd's expression did not change, nor did his voice slip even a little from the polite professionalism. "The incarceration of Hsin Liu Vega today."

The man raised thin, dark eyebrows and a knowing looking appeared on his pale features. "Ah, him." Samuel smiled at Boyd but once again it did not reach his eyes. He glanced down at his computer and typed something briefly. After a moment he spoke into the headset he wore.

"A Mr. Beaulieu is here to see you, sir. In regards to Agent Vega." Azure eyes flicked up to Boyd again and the vapid smile remained intact. "Very good, sir." It was obvious that the connection had been severed without Boyd having to hear the other end of the conversation. "Would you like an appointment? I'm afraid he is unable to see you at the present time."

Inclining his head slightly, Boyd did not break eye contact. "Yes.  When is he next available?"

"Mmm, let's see," Samuel hummed to himself. He glanced down at the computer again, nodding to himself. "April 15th, 2020. Does 0700 hours sound good to you?"

Boyd's eyes narrowed very briefly before he returned to his calm expression. It was
mid-February
; that was two months away.

"Marshal Connors must be incredibly busy for the next available booking to be so far out," Boyd observed. "Is he going on vacation?"

Samuel blinked at him. "I don't see how that could possibly be any of your business, Mr. Beaulieu. Marshal Connors is the head of this organization; he is a busy man. It is foolish to expect him to cancel dire meetings to discuss the incarceration of a known killer."

The smile widened a bit and then the man went back to looking at his laptop. "If you would like to see him in April now is the time. The spot will close soon."

"Ah," Boyd said smoothly, "but if he left, having such an important man gone from the Agency could jeopardize the stability of the entire organization. I should think it would be the business of anyone working for the Agency."

Samuel gave him a haughty look, not seeming moved by his words. "And the fact still remains that there isn't an opening until April. Imagine that. Would you like to see for yourself?" Cool, detached amusement was quickly turning into irritation and Samuel spun the LCD screen around so that for a brief moment, Connors schedule for the next three months was visible to Boyd. "Now if there's nothing else..."

Boyd looked at the screen, memorizing the schedule as best he could at the glance he had; it was true that it looked booked. He wondered if he could get more information from Samuel.

"Surely those are not all day events," he said with his eyebrows raised. "I can't imagine he couldn't afford a few minutes to meet with me between meetings. He's only moving from floor to floor, is he not?"

Samuel gave him a completely withering look. "As a matter of fact, no. You are a fool if you believe all of his business is carried on in this building. Later in the week he will be gone from the compound for three consecutive days for meetings."

"Then I can have a phone conversation," Boyd insisted. "Or I can catch him before he leaves; when will he be gone?"

Samuel glared at Boyd, his polite facade evaporating into cold impatience. "Unacceptable. Take the appointment in April or take none at all. Unless Marshal Connors specifically asks me to make such exceptions it's impossible for me to make them."

"Why not?" Boyd asked, not letting up. "He can't even be contacted between meetings or before he leaves?"

"Marshal Connors turns his phone off during meetings so he is completely unavailable during that time. Now if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you would stop pestering me."

Boyd's eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the situation. "Very well," he said evenly, and crossed his arms. "If you will pass a message along for me, word for word and in front of me so I know you did it, then I will leave you alone."

Samuel watched him impatiently but ultimately seemed to decide that it was better to take him up on that offer and get him out of his sight than to keep arguing the point. He put his hand up by his headset and arched an eyebrow. "What do you want to say?"

"Tell him that I know he's there and I know he's ignoring any lobbying on Sin's behalf. Tell him that seems like it's indicative of an even greater problem here at the Agency. Letting low-ranked agents and guards abuse high-ranked agents and not only ignoring it but doing nothing about it when it's brought to his attention..." His eyebrows raised and he trailed off meaningfully. "That doesn't bode well for him or the Agency."

Samuel had been taking notes as Boyd spoke and he glanced up with narrowed eyes at the end. Boyd couldn't tell if he was annoyed, affronted, or what, but he didn't care. He watched closely as Samuel told Connors over the headset that he had a message from Boyd, and relayed what had been said. When he got to the end, there was a beat of silence and then Samuel nodded. "Yes, sir."

He dropped his hand from the headset and raised his eyebrows. "Your message is relayed and the Marshal still does not have time for you. Now. I believe you said you'd leave..."

Boyd had expected as much. "Write me in for April," he said and left without waiting for Samuel to reply.

===

The resolve Boyd felt only strengthened overnight. The next day he sat down with his panel and a cooling mug of jasmine tea, and poured over everything he knew.

Since he was considering this as a mission, he knew that the best thing he could do was start creating contingency plans. If he could not negotiate with the leader, he or Sin generally just killed them. He obviously couldn't do that here, so he had to go at it a different way.

Rescue.

Boyd spent a few hours on his panel going over every file he had collected regarding the structure of the Agency. He logged onto the secure server and flipped through every page that would not be suspicious for him to be viewing, and started compiling in his mind as complete a blueprint of the levels as he could.

If Connors was going to sit on this and Sin was in danger every moment he spent there, then Boyd was going to have to be creative. Although he knew nothing permanent was liable to happen, like Sin being killed, he still didn't want Sin to suffer at all. Every second he spent on fourth was a second too long.

Although he was impatient to save Sin, he knew he had to let the situation run its course to some extent. Connors had legitimately appeared to be busy for a few days and he needed time to be able to view the evidence and make his prediction. Pissing him off by doing something right away would only negatively affect the verdict. Right now, he was probably helping Sin the most by disappearing from everyone's minds at the Agency.

Still, he wasn't going to waste that time. He spent the next few days at home, planning what he would do. He had to take the time to do this right-- if he went into it without planning for every contingency, and if something went wrong, he was likely to only make matters worse for Sin and probably get himself killed in the process. And while that had been acceptable to him earlier in the week, now it wasn't.
It was probably a good thing that he was forced into taking the break. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was until he had the opportunity to sleep in every morning, and had something worthwhile to concentrate on when he was awake. The last several weeks had been stressful and difficult, riddled with depression, hopelessness, and on and off nightmares. He'd nearly forgotten what it was like to wake up in the morning and not feel like he wanted to go right back to sleep, or find a way to disappear.