24 Hours

10:00 p.m.

"W-what?" That was the only sound that I could utter. A fog clouded my brain, obstructing my normal thought process.

"Claude Wintsor, we genuinely appreciate your call," Boyd said as if making a grand announcement. "If it hadn't been for you, we would have never found the real Jordan Bledou."

The wheels in my brain turned as they processed this information. The real Jordan Bledou...there's a guy here who looks like me...

"Y-you're Jordan?" I stammered.

The man in the choke hold pursed his lips, but didn't say anything.

"Yes, he is," Boyd stated. A smug grin settled on his face.

"Wait, you called Boyd?" Raven exclaimed. He whipped around to stare at me. His steely blue eyes raged like the sea.

I shrunk backwards. Please don't hurt me! I'm just an innocent bystander! I don't know or understand what is going on!

"I-I didn't like what was going on. I-I was scared!" I tried to explain.

"But you called our enemy, the man we are trying to collect evidence against?"

Evidence? What?

"What do you mean by 'evidence?'"

Raven huffed. "Boyd is the leader of a drug ring here in the Washington D.C. area. We've been trying to bust it wide open for years."

"Wait, you're the good guys?"

"Yes, we're a special unit within the FBI. We infiltrate gangs and drug cartels and turn them in to the authorities."

My jaw went slack. The world around me spun. My legs turned to gelatin, threatening to melt beneath me.

This whole time, I was working against the FBI? The Federal spy agency in our country?

I was working against the U.S. government?

A firm hand planted itself on my arm. I grabbed hold of it, stabilizing myself. My vision cleared to see Parrot standing in front of me.

"You okay there?"

I barely processed his question.

"But... why didn't you tell me?" I cried.

"I thought you knew!" Raven said. "I thought you were Jordan!"

"But I told you I wasn't!"

"I know, I know. But you have to understand, that's exactly the kind of stunt Jordan would try to pull."

Jordan raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement.

"I thought you just didn't want any involvement with the FBI based on your criminal history," Raven continued. "We chased him down for years. In fact, we nearly caught him a few times, but he always managed to slip through our grasp. That kind of history isn't erased very easily."

"But you had me hack into stuff and break into someone's home. That was a private citizen, and I don't think you can do that." Truth be told, I had no idea whether it was legal or not. It just seemed illegal, no matter the just cause.

"We were locked out of the Federal archives. Hacking back in was our way of getting past the illegal blocks that they had put up. We had you hack into certain sites on the deep web for evidence against their illegal drug crimes. As for the Mayhad's home, we had a search and arrest warrant."

"But you killed the Mayhads!" I said.

"What do you mean?" Raven seethed. "We arrested them and called the police to come to the house and pick them up."