John Depp Special Agent. Book I: Deadly Pride

Chapter 17: Tying up Loose Ends (Part I)

On Sunday at the Garcia's Residence, Alec Baldwin arrived around midday with his family. Andy and his wife welcomed Alec and his family. Andy told his wife he and Alec needed to talk some business in his studio and he needed not to be bothered. She nodded and told him she would let him know when lunch was ready. Ireland wanted to tag along but Alec told her to stay with the rest. Andy led the way to the studio.

"Does your daughter have a crush on her chief?" Andy asked.

"It is more like he is a rock star and she is his fan."

"And you are the president of the fan club?" Andy said with sarcasm in his voice.

"I know, I sound a bit enthusiastic, but the man is outstanding. Have you read his files? I wish I could read the ones that are classified!" Alec said.

"OK. Groupie, relax. You are scaring me. I have those files, too. You can take a look if that is so important to you."

The two men got to Andy's studio. They got in and Andy closed the door behind him.

"Take a seat." He handed him the classified files.

Alec went through the pages and looked astounded. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He knew he had classified ops with the Marines but he didn't know he did some work for the CIA. He looked at Andy.

Andy looked at him, "If you've finished, give it back to me. Take a deep breath and let's have our little talk about this agent that seems to be more meaningful to you than your troublesome little brother."

Alec handed Andy the files. The latter shredded them. Alec saw how Andy destroyed the files with sorrow in his eyes as if Andy was destroying a copy of a rare incunabulum book.

"Well, tell me. Why do you put up with all this guy's bullshit?" Andy asked.

Alec coughed and told him everything right from the start, exactly how it happened since the moment he met him when he entered the Cold Case department with the transferred agents. He left nothing out, the undercover ops, the money stolen from the ops, John's wife and house, Duke, how John became the Chief of that department, the beheaded woman delivered to the department, the evacuation, the database, the cases being solved, the conspiracy theory, how John was handling things to protect the agents, the Texas serial killer case, the retire agents, the dead loose ends agents.

During Alec's narration, Andy's face transfigured: going from surprise to ignorance, bewilderment, disgust, anger, disappointment, anger.

Andy was sitting with his elbows on the desk and his hands held together in a tight fist where he rested his head. His fist was so tight his knuckles were white. His breathing was heavy and his face was red with anger.

Alec looked at him, "Partner, are you OK?"

Andy was brought back to reality, "Now, you remember you have a partner? Why didn't you come to me?" He sounded disappointed and hurt.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. But John didn't want to get anyone involved until we had a clear picture of what was happening?"

"And now, you do?"

"No! No, I don't. But if you are involved I want to know."

"How can you even consider the idea????" Andy shouted frantically, "How long have we known each other?"

"I don't want to believe you are involved in this. But someone got in a lot of trouble to protect me. There are two reasons to do that. One, they didn't want me to become a liability and end up killing me because my father is a congressman. Two, someone who cared for me didn't want me dead, and that's you. You have always protected me, as I always protected you."