The Recoil Of The Mind

Epilogue

Bradley tapped his foot on the linoleum floor as he sat on the couch, waiting for his turn. He gulped down what was left of the sugary drink and crushed the can in his hand. He looked down, at the crushed can and admired his strength, despite the fact that all of the people in the department had been working for 2 days without any sleep.

His wife had not been particularly happy about this, for it had been only a year since the wedding, and she disliked him putting all his energy into work. On the other hand, there was Rickard. Bradley didn't know if he had died or if he was missing, or if he was deliberately ignoring their commands. Whatever had happened, it was on a scale nobody had precedented, and Bradley was the one wracking his head over the issue. After all, he had known Rickard since their recruiting days, and they both had opposing ways of taking a problem down.

He looked up and saw the doorknob turning. It was dusk now, and the window to his left presented a beautiful view of the sunset, with the bridge in the horizon. But it wasn't time for these things.

A man emerged out of the room, followed by a woman, both looking absolutely tired. The man shook his head at him, the woman smiled rolled her eyes. Bradley smiled. "Shit, boss. Good luck in there', she said as they both strode down the hallway.

Bradley got up and straightened his suit. He didn't wear a tie, he found them impractical. He threw the crushed can in the trash, and went over to the door. He sighed before opening it and stepping inside.

Regional Director DeWall was sitting at his desk. He was arranging a great news of reports into a file when Bradley walked in. He looked up at him, then shook his head.

Bradley came over to him and stood in front of him. "Director", he said as he nodded.

"Ah, no need for titles between friends, eh?", DeWall said as he got up, not taking his eyes off the file. "Truth be told, I am pretty fucking pissed at you. But I've been pretty fucking pissed for two days now, and it has done me zero fucking help."

"Yes sir, I know. It was a mistake."

"You're goddamn right it was a mistake, you naïve fuck." DeWall glared at him. "It was your idea to deploy him, a man who didn't even want to go back out in the field, undercover like that. It was you who convinced me that there was no need for psych trials, or any trial, considering the fact that it was not even a week, before his previous assignment got over. There were others who tried to convince me otherwise, but no, I trusted you on this." He paused and opened his drawer. He took out a plastic evidence bag and placed it on the desk before him. A red-gold coin lay inside. DeWall looked up, his eyes still glaring. He was normally calm and composed, but when he was angry, it was best not to stay in the same room as him. An old man, but he had the fire in him, same as Rickard.

And it was rightly so that they feared him, as Bradley feared him, for his anger was not emotional at all, but cold and calculating.

"I could end your career right now, you know that right?", DeWall told Bradley as he walked over to him and stared him down.

"Yes sir." Bradley stared back into cold eyes.

"But I won't. I won't be held responsible, and neither will you. This terrorist attack cannot even be classified as a terrorist attack if you look closer at it. You know why?"

"Because terrorists target innocent civilians."

"Right."

Bradley picked up the bag, studying the coin. It looked like a casino chip to him. A form of payment perhaps? Too bad that they couldn't even collect it, now that the perpetrators were dead.

"Rikker is on these. Truth be told, he's doing a piss poor job of connecting all of our-", he paused, searching for the right word. "Terrorists."

"More like a gang war broke out."

"No. They were civilians. But the terminology for now is 'terrorist'. Sit down."

Bradley complied as he sat down on one of the visitor's chairs. DeWall walked over to the window and sighed.

"Did he contact you before this?"

"Rickard? Yes, but it was too late by that time."

DeWall turned to face Bradley. "And before that?"

"No.", Bradley replied.

"And I'm correct in saying that the last known contact of him was almost 2 weeks before said incident, right?"

"Yes sir."

DeWall sighed. "Then it's safe to assume that he's no longer working for us now."

Bradley's face shot up. "What?"

"You tried to contact him, right? But he ignored your calls, failed to provide information as to what he was doing currently. It's safe to assume that he was acting by himself, that he was not acting on your orders."

Bradley tried to say something, but he was confused as to where the regional director was going with this. "Yes, but-"

"Then I'm afraid, he no longer is classified as an undercover agent. What he did was by himself, and we had no part in this. What he failed to prevent, we had no part in that either. We are not to blame."

"What?", Bradley was too shocked by what DeWall was saying to even form complete sentences.

"I'm sorry, I know he was a close friend of yours. You have five days to pull him out of the field, so that we can interrogate him, otherwise I may have no choice but to scrub him from the lists."

"No! Don't tell me that you think that he turned, he could never-"

"Compromise the operation?", DeWall interrupted him. "He was always an emotional agent, but he was in no way at the top. Still I'm offering him a chance to come clean. Either he takes it, or he's hunted down."

"What? How do you expect to play this out? You can't just leave him out in the open like that!" Bradley said, almost screaming at him.

"Calm down man. I am not saying it outright. But the circumstances are suspicious. I have no choice but to replace him."

Bradley spinned his eyes around the room, then closed them and took in a couple of deep breaths, until he calmed down a little. "Fine then. I'll pull him out."

"Good." DeWall stared out of the window. "It's a beautiful view, isn't it? Shame that we can't enjoy it." He turned around to face Bradley. "You were always one of my best men, and I would hate to see you go down over this. But this was the only way."

"Yes sir, I get it, I get it."

"Yes. Don't worry, the odds of him going rogue are pretty slim, but we must follow protocol. Speaking of which, you are to debrief the new kid coming in. Agent Keith Richards, I think. He's smart and calculating, and he'll make short work of this whole mess, provided that you work with him."

"All of it?", Brandy said as he got up or if the chair, his anger rising.

"Yes. Counter terrorism unit from New York. Your way, it won't work with this operation."

"I understand." Bradley's anger rose even further at his statement.

"That's all. I'll keep you posted." DeWall sighed.

Bradley turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door on his way out. He walked through the corridors, towards the washroom. He walked in and opened the tap. He splashed some water on his face. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror and shook his head.

He wiped his face as he was coming out of the restroom. Bradley took out his phone, wasting no time, and began to call Rickard's number.