Chapter 5: Secrets

Surprise inspection.

Yeah, sure.

Just lay low, be careful, don't cause a scene. It will all blow over soon.

Yeah, right.

He wasn't stupid. He hadn't gotten this far in life, he hadn't gotten all he had because he just sat down and let things happen. He did things, he made things happen. Isn't that the entire reason his boss hired him?

There was no way he was going to let the Bitch and her man-whore into his life, disrupting everything he had so carefully built. He earned all of this, damn it! No way would he let them do this. The Bitch had that damn photographic memory, who knows what she saw and remembered? And her little dog was a haltija! Of all the worthless mythics he could be, he had to be a haltija. Those damn things just kept going with a single minded determination until they did what they needed to do.

Together, he was sure they would be able to find something on him. He was careful but he wasn't perfect. There was always a chance he left something to be discovered without intending to.

Just wait, lay low.

Not going to happen. He was going to deal with this himself.

No matter how much it cost him, he wasn't going to lose this life.

XXXXXXXXXX

Brooklyn looked at the lip gloss in her hands like it was a bomb that she wasn't sure was going to go off or not. She had worn it the night before, she had even been sure she had seen Warren glance at her lips once or twice, but that was different. It was one thing to dress up for a special occasion, it was another to do it every day.

It's not dressing up, she told herself again. Women wear make up to work every day. Her two sisters, her mother, even her grandmother, all put on make up as part of their everyday routine. She was peculiar because she didn't wear any at all.

And that was the problem. She had never worn lip gloss to work before. If she started now, the day she was supposed to start working with Warren, every one would know exactly what she was doing.

Which wasn't a bad thing, she tried to convince herself. A girl dressing up to impress a guy was older than the human race itself. Every human, mythic, animal, insect on this planet tried to impress their mate usually with some sort of visual display.

Brooklyn groaned in frustration as she set the lip gloss back on her vanity, unused. She was a Plain Jane and, despite what she wanted, that wouldn't change. Sometimes, she wished she was just a bit more outgoing.

She looked at the clock on her wall and realized with a cry that she was almost late for work. She had spent entirely too long debating on what to wear, especially since she had settled right back on the same old brown and beige outfit she had worn a hundred times before.

Walking quickly through the sweet little cottage she owned, Brooklyn began gathering her things. Cottage was the word she picked for her home, the house was small and set on the outskirts of the city. Surrounded by flowers and trees and every so often she got a dear in her backyard; cottage was a very apt term. Also, it made her feel like she lived in a fairy tale. The inside of her house was just about as tepid and uninspiring as the woman who lived in it at first glance. It was mostly tidy, except that there wasn't a single flat surface that didn't have a book on it, and she usually kept a few candles around but she never lit them. She had far too many books and didn't want to accidentally knock a candle over and start a fire. When you looked past the initial boring, same old same old decorations, you could see how well loved, how well preserved each piece of antique furniture she had was. There were vases, old black and white photos that had faded with age of people she never knew, and a large beautiful tapestry in her living room that had been made by hands long forgotten. There was nothing in Brooklyn's house that didn't have it's own story, she loved antiques and she loved collecting things that had absorbed all the love and life only generations of ownership could give.

The newest thing in her house was a laptop that she couldn't find, she was sure it had been in the living room, and even that was a few years old and had belonged to a friend of her's. She usually didn't even have it at work, she worked with books all day and liked actually hand writing her papers, so it was usually at home. But she actually needed it today so she could go through MCRC employee files and make notes.

It wasn't like she forgot where she put it, she had set it down on the leather love seat just four days ago after she had used it to send a few emails. It should have been right there.

Taking a moment to think, Brooklyn moved the cushion and smiled to see it had fallen between the cushions.

She grabbed it, turned to leave, then hesitated.

After a moment of consideration, she ran back to her room, grabbed the lip gloss and ran out the door.

XXXXXXXXXX

Warren flipped lazily through the heads' files again as he waited for Brooklyn. The knuckles on his left hand were bandaged crudely because he had gotten a little too out of control while working out on his punching bag, had missed, and hit the wall of his garage.

Mrs. Rachel Cohen, he read again, married to Jeffery Cohen, a big oil tycoon, had been in law for almost 20 years now. No children, a few assault charges that had been dropped rather quickly, as well as a history of female assistants quitting their jobs rather abruptly. She was, Jack had told him, a huge PR disaster just waiting to happen. She hadn't joined MCRC for her love of mythics but because, at the the time MCRC had been formed, she had seen the potential in the organization and could help make it, and by extension herself, powerful. She was incredibly career oriented and wouldn't hesitate to sell her soul if she thought it would help her get ahead.

Something about the woman didn't sit right with Warren at all. He really did want her to be the spy but he wasn't so sloppy that he was going to let himself believe her guilty of so many horrible crimes just because she was in general an unpleasant person to be around.

Dr. Lester Fontane had joined MCRC almost as soon as it formed and had been promoted to division head rather quickly. He had helped create the CBI serum with Dr. Daun many years ago, he was also in charge of a group of scientists whose soul purpose was to figure out how humans and humanoid mythics could interbreed successfully and produce the half-human half-mythic demi children that were becoming more and more common as years passed. So far, very little was known about the subject but Dr. Fontane was sure he was close to figuring something out. His latest project was the ear buds Jack had commissioned. Warren had seen firsthand how that was progressing. He didn't have the assault record Cohen had but there were many complaints against him in MCRC itself for performing experiments without permission. He was a pure scientist and all that mattered to him was figuring out how the world worked and why.

However, as a potential spy, Warren was having doubts. The scientist would be more likely to have been on the underwater base rather than helping cover it up.

And one couldn't forget Eisenhower. The man was pompous, annoying, and incredibly self possessed. He had a abundance of sexual harassment complaints and charges filed against him. He was in charge, more often than not, of furthering mythics in society. He controlled the MCRC scholarship fund and had his hands on multiple grants that he could distribute as he pleased. He was a money man, basically, and he seemed to be fair about giving it out to people who needed it. But Warren knew that was just as first glance, he would have to get close to the man to figure out how he worked.

A soft whistle pulled his attention up from the files and onto the smiling face of Crispin who had walked up to him in the main hall of the MCRC building.

“Hey.” Warren nodded. “I'm just waiting on Brooklyn.”

“She's not usually late.” Crispin signed. “Is she alright?”

“I think so.” Warren said unsure. She hadn't called or anything to tell him she would be late. Then again, there was no point in getting worked up about something that may be nothing. He shook his head to clear any paranoid thoughts. “Anyway, it's fine. I've already got the heads' files pretty much memorized. I didn't get a chance to look through the assistants yet though.”

“You could be waiting in Jack's office.” Crispin pointed out noticing the bandages on Warren's hand. He considered asking about them but thought better of it. “He wants to speak with you anyway. Mr. Ozera is on his way now and I don't want them to be alone in the same room.”

“But Brook...” Warren looked out the glass doors, hoping to see her walking in.

“Knows how to get to Jack's office.” Crispin pointed out, raising an eyebrow curiously. He knew Brooklyn would be a distraction for Warren, he didn't think it would be this bad. He had faith that Jack knew what he was doing though and, again, said nothing. “Come on. We have more details to fill you in on.”

Warren sighed and stood. He felt torn between following Crispin, though he did it, and waiting for Brooklyn. He wanted so badly to wait, just so he could see her sooner, but he knew better. It would save time, would be better for everyone if he just started working immediately.

So he followed Crispin, albeit reluctantly, to Jack's office.

Upon entering the sparsely decorated room, the first thing he noticed was a flash of rather bright red hair. The woman it belonged to turned as he and Crispin walked inside and she smiled at him. For a moment, he thought she must be an elf, the hair certainly suggested so. But elves didn't have such rich, sun kissed skin or tawny brown eyes.

The man standing just behind her, his face expressionless and his arms crossed, was clearly a merman. He had tanned skin as well, but his hair was snowy white, a lack of pigmentation Warren only ever remembered seeing in the merfolk.

“Warren, this is Joe.” Jack pointed to the woman who waved with a bit of a smile. “And that's Kai behind her.” Kai's greeting was a simple nod.

“What's up?” Warren shook Joe's hand not bothering to try and shake Kai's, he looked like he wouldn't want to anyway.

“They just flew in from the Phoenix.” Jack explained. “They managed to pull up the ocean base and it's being shipped here but I wanted to get them here immediately so they could get ready to begin working. You two, this is Warren. He's working with Brook right now, anything you find, he needs to know about.”

“Sure thing.” Joe nodded. “We'll begin our research and tests the second the base gets here. Well, the first piece anyway. It's a rather big base, we had to pull it up and ship it in sections. Jack says you're looking for a traitor?”

Warren nodded and held up the files in his hand. “We're off to bad start though. Everyone but Jack looks guilty at this point but that's mostly because I don't really like any of them. Just bad people.”

“I know.” Joe grimaced in sympathy. I've had the, uh, pleasure of working with Mrs. Cohen a few times. She's....uh, what's the word?”

“Horrid and distasteful?” Kai spoke up dryly.

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Joe nodded happily. “But don't let that affect your investigation.”

“You're not telling me anything I don't already know.” Warren shook his head. “I was going to take a closer look at the assistants' files today since, technically I'm supposed to be going through Jack's department right now.”

“I'll be doing most of that.” Crispin signed. “You and Brook can focus on the other three departments.”

“We have to spend at least a little while pretending to search through Jack's department.” Warren reminded him. “They think we're doing inspections.”

“Brook will be doing most of that.” Jack said. “She'll focus on keeping your cover up, you focus on finding the traitor.”

“So, since we met Warren, can we go now?” Joe asked Jack. “We have to get the warehouse ready for the base pieces.”

Jack nodded. “Try to keep it quiet, will you? No one but us and few others that Crispin has already triple checked know it's coming. I want it kept that way. Kai, you stick close to her at all times. I don't want any more deaths on this case.”

“Of course.” Kai said simply but Warren could see a hardened steel in his eyes that told him Jack didn't need to say anything about it.

“Come on.” Joe took hold of his hand, forcing his arms to uncross. “Let's get to work.”

She led him from the room, a grin on her face, excited about her job. Kai followed her willingly, his face still pretty unreadable which Warren thought was odd. He was sure merfolk communicated non-verbally. The guy could give a painting a run for its money when it came to staring blankly.

“Weird couple.” Warren couldn't help but say as their footsteps faded down the hall.

“Blame Jack.” Crispin grinned.

“Focus.” Jack said bringing their attention back to him. “Since Brook is late, we're just going to have to-”

He was cut off by the door opening and Warren turned, hoping to see Brooklyn's pretty face poking in sheepishly as she apologized for being late.

He was more than a little disappointed to see Mr. Ozera instead.

“I saw Joanne and Kai.” he said by way of greeting. “When did they get in?”

“This morning.” Jack said, his body tightening visibly as the other man entered without even knocking. “They're on a vacation right now.”

Warren looked over at Jack but didn't question the lie. It wasn't the first time he had lied to Mr. Ozera, he was sure it wouldn't be the last. Sometimes, Warren thought Jack did it just to make the other guy mad. For such great men, they could both be such children.

“Good, good.” Mr. Ozera accepted the answer with a bit of a smile. “Joanne is a nice girl. You work her too hard.”

“Shall we focus on work since we're all here?” Crispin signed peacefully, cutting off any retort Jack was sure to make. “Brook is late but I'm sure she'll be here soon. Warren can fill her in on anything she misses.”

“Absolutely.” Mr. Ozera nodded. “Warren, you and Brook, will, unfortunately, need to stay close to me for this.”

“I know.” Warren shrugged. He figured as much since, technically, the inspections were his idea to the other heads. It would be odd if he wasn't at least present while they were being performed.

“That means, again unfortunately, that you won't be able to focus your full attention on the investigation the entire time.” he continued.

“Now wait a minute!” Jack protested, leaping to his feet and slamming his palms on his desk.

“They think Brook is my assistant,” Mr. Ozera pointed out with a hint of a smirk on his face, as if pleased he could put Jack in his place, “they think Warren is my bodyguard chosen because I love Brook so much and want her to be happy. The inspections are important, but I have other duties and responsibilities that I, and by extension the both of them, would be required to attend. That is an unavoidable fact, Jack. This investigation is important, but I can't put my entire life and schedule on hold to help with it because it is a secret.”

Warren saw Jack grinding his teeth and knew he wanted to come up with a good comeback but couldn't. There was nothing but logic in Mr. Ozera's explanation. However, that didn't mean he would be happy about them having to take time from trying to find the traitor.

“I'm sure Warren can multitask.” Crispin signed when it became obvious that anything Jack might say next would only be rude and pointless. “What's important is not letting the traitor know we're on to him. We can't have him getting scared and running. Finding him not only fixes our mole problem but we might be able to get more information on Intrebari out of him.”

Warren nodded, agreeing with him. “It won't be a problem. Relax, Jack. You know me, this is what I do.”

Jack sat back down slowly, reluctantly agreeing with Mr. Ozera.

“I'm having my secretary e-mail Brook my schedule.” Mr. Ozera continued as if there hadn't been a break in the conversation. “She'll take a vacation herself after that while Brook takes over. There are a few black tie functions I have to attend in the next few months so you might need a tuxedo. She'll fill you in with the rest when she gets here.”

“We have Ilia looking through their backgrounds.” Crispin signed. “She wasn't happy about it, but she said she'd do it.”

“Did she say she'd do it or did she require being threatened first?” Warren laughed. “I can't imagine she was happy when you got a hold of her.”

Crispin smiled but didn't respond. “She said they don't have the best internet connections in the Islands but we would get it as soon as she had it.”

They stood there for another ten minutes or so, discussing details of Warren's assignment. Mr. Ozera said to focus on Jack and Lester through January, Rachel through February, then Pablo through March and he could report his findings before the next dinner for the heads at the end of March. He had ordered each head to cooperate with Brooklyn and, by extension, Warren.

Besides the few formal dinners Mr. Ozera had, there were a few MCRC functions he needed to attend, a thing in Washington he couldn't miss, as well as days where they wouldn't be able to do anything with him because he would be buried in paperwork. Each thing, he assured him, had been meticulously planned and scheduled by his secretary and all they had to do was follow it and they would be fine.

By the time Warren walked out of the office, leaving Crispin alone to referee an argument that had finally developed between Jack and Mr. Ozera about Jack's tendency to keep Mr. Ozera out of the loop, he hadn't found out about Joe and Kai it was just a general complaint he had, Warren was already wishing that there was another way he could go about doing this. It was a lot of trouble to find one person.

When he reached the elevator, just as he went to push the button to go down, the doors opened and Brooklyn rushed out. She stopped quickly, though, at the sight of him.

“Oh, man. I missed the meeting, didn't I?” she asked, her face flushed from rushing over.

“Not really.” Warren smiled, feeling better just by seeing her. “Just Jack and Mr. Ozera attempting to kill each other. I think Mr. Ozera won that round.”

“Am I in trouble?” she asked looking down the hall, wondering if she should stop by to see Jack, apologize, see what she had missed.

“Of course not.” Warren could practically see the thought in her hand and grabbed her hand. She just got there, he didn't want her to leave now. “They told me to fill you in. Come on, let's go to the library so I can go through these files.”

“Alright.” Brooklyn smiled at him and Warren felt a tightness in his chest he hadn't even realized was there loosen.

Just seeing her beaming at him was enough to erase any stress he felt at watching his bosses verbally flay each other. He noticed a slight sheen of gloss on her lips and he found himself wondering how it would taste.

“Sorry I'm late.” her grin turned sheepish, just as he thought it would. “I'm not ever late. I felt so horrible.”