Under Age and Undercover: A Hannah Clark Novel (under edit)

13. Anonymous (edited)

Shane decided then that my interrogation tactics aren’t very effective and interjected.

 “Thank you, Hannah. Why don’t you go stir the pasta? I think it’s boiling.” Taking the hint and leaving the living room, Monique followed me into the kitchen.

“He’s lying.” I tell her and to my surprise she nodded her head in agreement.

“Yelling at him won’t make him tell the truth, though, Hannah.” She added, sounding almost contrite. She helped me with the sauce as we listened in on the inquiring in the next

room.

 I didn’t hear from Landon until she called me when she got off the plane in San Antonio or wherever you landed yesterday. Or the day before.” I could also hear the rustle of paper and pen as Shane took notes on what he was saying.

“This is ridiculous!” I whisper exasperatedly. “He’s hanging on his every word!”

“I know,” Monique placated, “you’d think he was The President or something.” I rolled my eyes halfheartedly, draining the Penne noodles and mixing the sauce. “You sounded pretty pissed off back there,” she commented.

“John used to rely on me for everything.” I said, explaining as best I could my tense relationship with John.  “I was like a second secretary to him, but much better than his first. I was always the first to known what was happening in the Whitehouse. I took some time off last month. My updates and contact with both John and homeland security completely stopped while I was away. I guess I blamed myself for letting this situation with China slip by me when I first found out about OS, but still I blame John for putting me in that position and compromising both my career and my life in the process.” I can openly admit that telling all of that to Monique felt good but I was still mad as ever.

“All of those weekends you were away, spending family time, you were really in D.C?” She asked sympathetically, an undertone of curiosity in her voice. We hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk about this since we got to San Diego and I could tell that she was itching to ask all of the inevitable questions for a while now.

“Almost always,” I replied, “Sometimes I was at headquarters, either training or going over project files.” She nodded her head empathetically.

“All the missed school?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Usually missions, sometimes training, never actually sick or out for an appointment.” I felt almost blameworthy telling her all about the behind the scenes work that goes with being a teenage spy. She was new to it all and obviously had no idea what she was getting herself into.

“Bull shit!” Shane yelled suddenly and I was pulled abruptly out of Monique’s tell-all question and answer session.  I motioned for Monique to finish the fruit salad she was just starting to mix and calmly walked in on the now heated interrogation going on in the living room. “There is no way Landon would have chosen me as a security agent for you over Hannah. You have no idea what you’re saying! Do you have any idea who Hannah is? What she’s capable of? How much she’s already done? You can’t tell me that Landon favored me; she’d never even met me before the plane ride. Tell me the truth. This cannot end well for you until you freaking”-he stopped immediately upon my touching his shoulder.

“Dinner’s almost ready.” I said sweetly, “Shane, why don’t you help Monique with the beverages?” He stood up and before leaving the room gave me a warning glare that I returned with an all-too-innocent smile. “Now, where were we?” I asked, addressing John for the first time after entering the newly acclaimed cross-examination room. Looking down at Shane’s notes I see a detailed list of points he wanted to go over. The latest being that Matterson lied about not knowing the sniper.

Knowing the president personally for such a long time I had a much better idea of how to approach the subject and how to effectively get information from him than Shane did. I knew, for example, that although he put up a brave front for the press he was completely paranoid about everything- especially his own safety. I also knew many of his well-kept secrets, and knew him well enough to use that information to my advantage. No matter how manly he tried to act John was trumped by my extensive personal experience with his personality. Going against me was the worst decision he could have made for himself, and I had every intention of showing him how sorry he would be for it.

“When you were in the car with Landon, you sat in the back seat?” I asked, trying a less direct approach to the information I wanted to uncover. He seemed confused by my sudden bout of diplomacy, but nodded in affirmation still the same. “And Landon drove, is that correct?”

“Yes,” he replied, finally seeming to catch on to my antics.

“Who was in the passenger seat, John?” I asked, speaking as if I were talking to a toddler. He gave me a look of disgust toward my behavior so I immediately changed tactics knowing that at this rate I would quickly lose my temper and we would get nowhere. “Mr. Matterson, you understand the risk you’ve taken in attempting to kill me, do you not?” I ask, and to my delight he looked terrified by my question. Nodding his head and looking hurriedly around the room- probably hoping Shane would come back in- but Shane was nowhere to be seen so I continued. “And you understand that, since your little stunt with Landon this morning messed up my schedule, you now have a number of hours before someone realizes you’re missing?” Again, he nodded, averting his eyes from my penetrating glare. “Now that we’ve got all that covered, need I inform you of how utterly important your 100% cooperation is in your safe return to the Whitehouse?”

“No, of course not, Miss Clark.” He answered quickly, a slight wavering in his voice making his fear evident. “I understand completely.” 

“Good.” I said, and we continued with the questioning having no more need to worry about the potential lies and cover stories he may have tried if I hadn’t made it perfectly clear that I wouldn’t hesitate in harming him.  Within the half hour I spoke with him before dinner I managed to uncover a large portion of what we needed to know, sadly still lacking a name for the man in the passenger seat.