Dancing with Embers - Book Two (Winter Soldier)

8. Highway Hell

Chapter eight:

*Truth is only visible to those who are able to question everything that they have been taught to believe.*

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Jasper Sitwell wasn't hard to find. Then again, he wasn't aware of the fact that he was being searched for therefore he had no reason to not be hard to find.

Thankfully Steve and I were still in our civilian clothing so that rapidly decreased our chances of being seen. But just to play it safe, we decided that Sam would be the one to actually reveal himself to Sitwell in public through a phone call. Steve and I were to cover Sam in case things went south and meet Sitwell on the top of a building a few miles from the Triskelion.

"Alright Sam, you remember what to say?" Steve asked one last time before Sam got out of the car that we had pulled up to the Triskelion entrance. Sam nodded once at the Captain and casually got out of the car, heading towards a small cafe a little ways down the road.
"Alright let's go." I rushed. "We don't want to be seen just yet. My guess is that SHIELD is still holding you responsible for Fury's death. Even though I still fail to realize what they could possibly be after me for."
Steve cracked a lopsided smile and pulled out from in the Triskelion. Just as we pulled away I caught sight of Sitwell walking down the flight of stairs in front of the huge building alongside Senator Stern. The two embraced and parted, and shortly after Sitwell picked up his phone.
I smiled. The plan was going smoothly so far.

Steve and I parked the car next to a tall office building that was both tall enough and far enough away from the Triskelion. If everything went according to our plan there would be no one looking for Sitwell, but Steve and I both knew better than to not be careful about hiding out location when it came to things like this.
It took less than five minutes for Sam and Sitwell to pull up alongside us and get out.
"What do you want?" Sitwell immediately asked us. His eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to pass out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam slip away to pull his Falcon suit on, and I motioned for Steve to take Sitwell into the building.

We didn't say a word to the HYDRA agent until we had reached the very top of the office building. There, Steve forcefully shoved the man to the hard ground, expressing his anger.
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm." He spat at the man at his feet. Sitwell looked shocked to hear this as he scrambled to his feet and picked his glasses up from where they had fallen.
"Never heard of it." Lie.
"What were you doing aboard the Lemurian Star?"
"I was throwing up. I get seasick." Lie.
Steve backed Sitwell up until they were both dangerously close to the edge of the building. Sitwell looked behind him and upon seeing the twenty story drop, turned back around with a nervous smile.
"Is this you indicating that you intend to throw me off the building? Because that's really not your style, Rogers."
"You're right." Steve took a step backwards and smoothed out Sitwell's expensive-looking suit. "It's hers."
He moved sideways to give me room and in a split second I had drop-kicked Sitwell off of the building, hearing his screams get steadily quieter.

There was a few seconds of silence between Steve and I.
"Oh, what about that girl from accounting?" I asked Steve, hoping I had finally found a girl he would be willing to go out with. "What's her name? Laura...?"
"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?" Steve said. I nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! She's cute."
"Yeah, I'm not ready for that."
I sighed in disappointment but I wasn't too surprised at Steve's answer.

Our short, pointless conversation was suddenly cut off when I heard Jasper Sitwell's scream start to get louder. I looked towards the edge of the building to see Sam-in the Falcon suit- flying upwards with Sitwell in his grasp. Sam dropped Sitwell back on the rooftop at Steve's feet and he came to a perfect landing behind us.
Before Steve could make any threats towards Sitwell, the scared man put his hands up in surrender.
"Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!" He gasped. I frowned in confusion and flicked my eyes up to see if Steve was receiving this information the same way I was, which he was.
"What targets?" He asked.
"You! A T.V anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa State. Bruce Banner, Steven Strange, Kindle Jay for the love of God! Anyone who's a threat to HYDRA, now or in the future."
My frown only deepened when Sitwell elaborated. What was he talking about?