Returning from the Agency
It's been three days since he's had contact with Sandra. It was better that he didn't go into detail what happened or why he wasn't around. His handler wasn't pleased that his operative wasn't as available as he used to be. Sheldon held his cup of coffee carefully, keeping his temper in check as his supervisor continued to reprimand his number one.
"Listen, I already told you that I'm not going to take just any job. I'm a specialist and you know that." Sheldon's response was very calm in the face of the one man that could kill him in an instant if he so desired. Agents lives were not their own. They belonged to the government and NATO was the source that he had to ultimately answer to. Sheldon knew for a fact that he could easily be hunted if he stepped out of line.
"You're the best we have. You've successfully cornered and destroyed three factions and survived. You also have trained fifteen of our finest and all of them have surpassed Jordon's and he's been around longer than you have by seven years." Carlson responded coolly as he sat down behind his desk.
"I know." Sheldon mirrors his handler's action, no longer finding his stance to be a threat and internally locking the information away for a later time. "He's also been gunning for the diplomacy spot. He's not going to get it and we both know that."
"That's what worries me. If he ever found out that you discovered that, we're both done for." The older man didn't seem too worried but this was the nature of agents. They constantly had to wear a poker face to keep the other guessing yet these two men in the sound proof office spoke freely as old friends. "Shelly, I know where you've been going and I appreciate that you're going out of your way to protect her. It's a smart move."
"Don't fuck with me, Casey." Sheldon pointed his finger toward the other. "If you so much send out anyone to dig anything up on her, I'll take them out, one, two, three. You know I'll do it." Sheldon wasn't hiding the fact that he wasn't happy that Carlson knew. The other determining factor was the fact that he used his nickname which irritated him.
"I know, I know. But there is something that you should-"
Carlson was interrupted immediately when Sheldon lifted his hand. "I don't want to hear it."
"I understand that but the people-"
Sheldon was up on his feet immediately and gripped Carlson's tie and hard. "I told you to back off. Did I fucking stutter?"
"N-no." Unlike Sheldon, Carlson's area of expertise lie in computer and internet surveillance. He tracked Sheldon down on many occasions when he went radio silent using only his credit card information which was the only trail that he needed. Sheldon wasn't big on being openly communicative unless he felt that he had something to give. That's how they found out about his botched mission to extricate him in Culican just before he was tortured. They didn't catch the ones that were responsible but their best agent was returned alive along with the information he carried.
"Good." Sheldon's simple answer earned a release on the others tie. "She's not to be touched or her family. As long as I'm with them, you don't need to send out any eyes. The moment I find out you did, I'm going straight to the source - you." He slowly sat back down.
"Uh....at any rate, just be careful." Carlson responded as calmly as he could.
"Is that all?" Sheldon took a calm sip of his coffee as if nothing happened.
"I need a brief."
"It was a special circumstances case. I put one bullet in the man's head. He was killing children and I don't stand for that. I have the evidence." He pulls out an envelope that contained many still shots of the slave trade. "One less asshole stealing kids for profit. He was kidnapping kids and selling them overseas for slaves. Some never made it to their destinations. You know the courts won't touch a case that big."
Carlson nodded his head and opened up the envelope. "Yeah, I know. If the media got a hold of that, who knows what this would pose on an international level. Good work."
"Yeah, so fucking great." Sheldon wasn't too thrilled with the idea that he had seen so many dead children on that boat. "Some were so ill and malnourished that they couldn't remember their own names. Imagine what that's like when our own have to go look for the parents, turning the kids over to the Feds only for them to get the credit. Joy. At any rate, we, meaning me and one other agent, Agent Susaki, recovered thirteen children in need of medical care and five that needed to be identified. The coroner's report will reveal more on that mess. The ages were between five and thirteen. All girls."
"Damn. That's not a good sign. A third recovered dead on arrival. There's no telling how many more are still out there." Carlson steepled his fingers in thought.
"Yeah. If we're lucky, we may find a fraction of the total number. The Feds are up to their necks in missing kids. Touch base with them and make sure they get that report." Sheldon moved to stand up after taking another sip and tossing the paper cup into the wastebin.
"I'm already on it. I'll be in touch." Carlson said in an act of dismissing the agent.
Sheldon didn't hesitate to leave the office. He wanted out of that building in the worst way imaginable. After three days in handling this case, he was efficient in getting to the heart of the matter and putting a stop to it was as fast as putting a bullet in the main member. The others were being watched carefully by other operatives. He wanted a distraction. The first person he thought of was Sandra and picked up his cellphone to make the call.
After dialing the number, he waited for the phone to pick up.