| "Above All Others" | |||
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Joshua's Place Saturday, May 17, 2008 1300 hours Joshua stood in the living room of his vast Hoboken apartment stuffing dirty clothes into a garbage bag. He had spent the last six days in what he liked to term 'hell' pumping information out of some less than desirable persons about a potential target. He didn't particularly like these little assignments, but since he would be here for at least another four months babysitting the SIA Agents, he figured he might as well do something worth while; and if that meant deer hunting for six days straight in East Bumblefuck USA, well...he tried to convince himself that it was a character building exercise. The knock at the door took his attention briefly away from the filthy jeans and flannels currently scattered on his floor. He couldn't have stripped them off fast enough when he had finally gotten home and even now it kind of sceeved him to touch them. He went to the door to open it pulling his hand through his still wet hair. He knew who it was having gotten the 'heads up' call not fifteen minutes ago. He opened the door barely glancing at the two individuals standing there. "I need to use your computer," Birkoff said quickly as he brushed past Joshua. "Yeah, sure," Joshua replied grinning. Birkoff's antics were always a welcomed break from the typical monotonous operative types. Speaking of which... "Wanna beer?" he said casually to Michael. "Oui," was his reply as he dropped his bags on the floor with a sigh near the leather sofa and surveyed the clothes littered about. Joshua smiled shaking his head and retrieved two beers from the fridge. Michael had been staying at the apartment for a few days before he had been off helping Sara. Birkoff just came in a couple days ago, and although Joshua hadn't been home long, he was still glad for the company...even if it was these two. He returned to the living room joining Michael and handed over a beer as they both drank silently for a moment, just taking in the view. The morning sun had given way to a steady rain again, the east coast spring coming through on its promise of being quite a wet one. The windows they looked out of were huge, almost the entire length and width of the wall. The rain drops made a barely audible sound as they tapped against the windows and then streamed down joining others into tiny rivers on their way to the big one that currently occupied most of their view. Oversight was paying a lot for this apartment, Joshua mused, especially since it was hardly occupied. Paige would love this view though, he thought again for the millionth time. It seemed every time he took a moment to look out the glass wall he thought of her. Who was he kidding, it seemed hardly any moments passed without thinking of her. "When you guys heading back to France?" he asked. "Tomorrow morning," Michael answered softly, "how did the meet go?" "Hmph, tramping around in the woods with a bunch of gun toting yahoos is not my idea of fun." Michael nodded his head in agreement. "I took two showers and I still can't get the smell off me...but," Joshua said taking a sip of his beer, "I acquired a lot of intel on our boy...sent it over to Birkoff." "He's working on it now probably," Michael said. "He doesn't like being away from a computer for too long," Joshua grinned. "No, he doesn't," Michael said with a slight smile. "How's Sara doing?" "She'll be fine," he replied. Joshua nodded thinking about Sara for a moment. "That's one tough egg," he commented. "Yes," Michael nodded in agreement. "I checked on the trackers. Between stock, Gideon, and Walter, they were standard issued and not tampered with." Michael stared silently out the window. "Which means Paige and the two ops from Section Three are clear," he continued, "which implies Madeline was definitely responsible." "Madeline," Michael smiled shaking his head slowly. "I know," Joshua sighed, "I hate the bitch, too." Michael snorted a response before drinking again. "So, what are we going to do about her," Michael stated more than asked. What WERE they going to do about her? Joshua had thought heavily on the subject since Michael first brought his attention to it. His first concern had been Paige, his second had been Sara, and his third, and the one that brought his blood pressure up, had been Madeline. He did not like how she experimented with valuable operatives like countless lab rats. What really got him going was that the bitch was good at it, always covered her tracks never leaving a trail to follow. Then, when it was too late and two and two had been put together...one could only 'assume' it was her. Now, she was in charge of HIS material in Section Four, his operatives, his friends. "I don't know," he said finally. Michael simply nodded. "Sara," Michael said softly, "mentioned something about Paige." Joshua's eyes flicked over to Michael. "What's that?" he asked evenly. "She said Paige had fitted half a dozen extra locks to her door." Joshua thought about it for a moment. Sure he had noticed them, who wouldn't? But he had chalked it up to another one of Paige's eccentricities. "It's to be expected if she suspects she's under surveillance. "Half a dozen?" Michael turned his face to Joshua, the sarcasm clearly evident. Joshua shrugged it off, "you know she often goes to extremes." What the hell are you saying, he chided himself, you know damn well half a dozen locks is ridiculous. "What other 'extreme' things is she doing?" Michael asked turning back to the windows. "She's guarding the doors, the glass ones to her balcony. She's almost...obsessed with it." "Paranoia," Michael suggested sarcastically, "from the surveillance." "I guess," Joshua mumbled clearly agitated. "I don't think half the time she realizes she's even doing it...she just...stands there." Joshua shook his head still not getting how being under surveillance would cause such bizarre behavior. Michael suddenly turned to him, "what did you say?" "About what?" Joshua shrugged. "She does what?" The alarms started going off in Joshua's head. Michael hardly ever gets uptight. "She uh...guards the doors but just stands there completely zoned out...doesn't even realize what's going on around her." "How long?" "I noticed it over the past two weeks..." "No, how long does she do that?" It was Michael's turn to be agitated. Joshua held his breath considering the data, his motives, Michael's motives, and how Paige fit into all of the above. "Hours," he breathed out. Michael caught himself before his jaw dropped open. His eyes narrowed, "do you know what she's doing? Do you know what she does when she's thinking," he gestured toward his head, "when she's processing something?" Joshua felt his heart rate speed up as he tried to think about her. Finally, he got it and closed his eyes. "She stares off into space biting her lip," Michael said almost angry. "It's usually seconds, maybe minutes...but hours?" "Fuck," Joshua said furious with himself. "I kept thinking it was because of the surveillance." "She's processing the code," Michael said moving. They placed their beers on the dining room table and rushed into the computer room where Birkoff was. "Stop whatever you're doing," Michael demanded softly. "What's up?" Birkoff said alarmed that the two powers that be were suddenly about him and clearly agitated. "The Directory we encrypted?" Birkoff nodded his acknowledgement. "You need to come up with cover primers," Michael stated flatly. Birkoff smiled just the slightest bit, "she's processing the code," he said matter of factly. Joshua shot him a warning look, "just do it." This was not one of those times that Birkoff amused him. He was just another person who knew Paige better than he, hell, probably better than Michael did. Joshua knew it would be ugly if she got the primers and figured out exactly what was in that data. Then, he and Michael were going to be up shit's creek without a paddle and all they worked so hard at floating right on by. Birkoff cleared his throat and turned back to the computer, "it'll take an hour...maybe more." "Do what you can, quickly," Michael said gesturing for Joshua to follow him out. "We make him nervous," he said as they walked out into the hall, "it will take him longer if we hover over him." Joshua nodded as they walked back into the living room retrieved their forgotten beers and slumped on the couches. "How many do you think she has?" Michael asked, almost in a whisper. Joshua shrugged, "who knows." The two conspirators sat in silence, each running contingency scenarios through their heads, each forming possible ways to protect themselves... (two hours later) "I've almost got them," Birkoff announced from the computer room. Joshua and Michael got up quickly. Joshua stood silently as Birkoff tapped furiously on the keyboard. His thoughts were difficult to organize as one scenario played out and the constant question nagged at him: had they recognized the problem soon enough? He had denied what was in front of him too long, not wanting to believe what was clearly happening. He denied that Paige couldn't handle what he had done to her, what THEY had forced her into and now...now she was just losing it. "You're sure this will work, Birkoff?" Joshua asked the computer expert growing uneasy in the silence. "It will depend on how far she's gotten into the data. It becomes easier with every primer." Joshua groaned inwardly, easier? That was just wonderful. "She can't have that many," Joshua said quietly, though he was not quite sure whom he was trying to convince. "That was a LOT of data." Birkoff looked at him doubtfully as Joshua glanced between him and Michael. "Ok, so how long would it take for a computer to go through all that information?" "It would obviously take her much longer than a computer..." Birkoff said, again in that matter of fact tone. Joshua shot him another look, "then she couldn't have gotten that far." "Well, sort of," Birkoff said squirming slightly. "Sort of?" Joshua asked. He hated finding all these things out AFTER the fact. Birkoff sighed softly, "any computer can go through code, even without a primer. It's very systematic and methodical. Paige would do the same exact thing which normally would take her longer..." "So what's the problem?" "Paige can do the one thing that computers can't," Michael said softly. Joshua stared at him. It was the reason they chose to give her the data...she could think; manipulate the data to make connections, relationships, and inferences computers would not be able to do. Of course, she was not supposed to do any of that until they needed the information, until they were ready for it, and until she was primed to accept what was in it. Now that they realized she was processing the code searching for the primers they had to scramble to create fake ones, something to mask the true data in a tangible form. Something, Joshua thought with loathing, to satiate her curiosity, her Bathroom Tigers as she referred to it as. If she believed she could access the data any time she wanted, more than likely, she would leave it alone. At least that's what she did last time and it's what they hoped she would do this time. If she ever figured out what he and Michael had hid in the data besides the Directory, he was quite certain it would end tragically, more than likely with a bullet in her head...but if that bullet came from his hands or hers he did not know. Now, for the first time since he had met her, since she had first intrigued him, he would have to do the one thing he swore he wouldn't...lie to her. "Ok," Birkoff said grabbing the paper that had suddenly appeared from the printer. He turned the page around so they could see and pointed to the row of numbers along the top. "These are the real primers," he said quietly. He then pointed to the other sets of numbers, "these are the fake primers. Find out how many she's figured out and give her the corresponding string." "There's only five sets," Joshua looked up to him. Birkoff pushed his glasses up, "if she's figured out more than five primers and you give her a fake set...she'll know almost immediately." Joshua nodded his understanding chastising himself once again for underestimating her. He took the paper and tucked it in his jeans pocket. "Thanks," he muttered to Birkoff as he left the room with Michael trailing. He went into the living room taking his coat from the closet. "You have to make sure she's looking for the primers," Michael said quietly, and for once, Joshua was glad it was devoid of any tone. "She thinks a lot about...who knows what...so don't give them to her unless you are positive." He paused, "and if you do give her the primers," Michael continued, "you have to stay with her. To get all of them at once, real or not, might be too much," he thought for a moment before adding, "even for Paige." "We fucked up," Joshua said quietly. They both had a lot at stake with these Section operatives that turned Agents. Each one, Paige, Sara, Jordan, and eventually Eric, played a unique role in their plans and the data was at the center of it. It would do neither Joshua nor Michael any good to waste time pointing fingers, because in the end they had both been wrong. They had not communicated enough, had not done their homework and the proverbial Bathroom Tigers were now biting them in their asses. Michael stared intensely at him, "yes, we did." Joshua nodded, the queasy feeling in his stomach turned up a notch and he wasn't sure if he was not going to heave. He did not want to do this though he resolved himself that he must. There was a lot more at stake here then his feelings for her. "Alright," Joshua replied softly. Michael searched his eyes and he knew for what. That he had been sleeping with Paige had not been kept from Michael. It was, in fact, a necessary 'sacrifice' Michael actually condoned, another form of control, he had said. But Joshua knew it was more than a control method, it was more than a 'trade off' as Paige put it; and he had been around long enough to know how dangerous it was, so he masked his face to hide his emotions. "I'll call you when it's done," Joshua nodded to Michael and slipped out the door... Return |
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