Operation: Bounty Hunter

Chapter 6

As a formal end to the moment, a knock at the door caught our attention as Mom put on a brave face before pulling away from me. 

"Come in." She yelled at the door. Creaking open, S.A. House looked to both of us as he entered and quietly shut the door behind him. 

"Sorry, I'm late. I had to lay out a couple details for me and my agents. Oh, Reagan, we got your code name in." As he said this, I had to take a moment to question the reason I would need a cryptonym. "But I'm undercover. What would I need a code name?" 

"It doesn't hurt to have extra layers of protection. In the field, you will be identified as Turing." The reason as to why Mom suddenly began to chuckle was not lost on me as she turned away and covered her mouth, pitifully trying to hide how amused she was. 

"So... were you feds trying to be cute when you named me after gay icon Alan Turing?" It was as if his peach complexion had been painted pink when I said that. In combination with the shock on his face, I also wanted to burst out laughing. Something tells me that Monica was behind this...

"What? That's not... No, you're great with computers, this wasn't... um..." "Okay. Just... brief me..." 

"Here's the lowdown, kid. Before you and House arrived, the local Chief of Police gave me a tip that a good cop that was looking into murders of people who opposed the FAJ who went missing, they now have a list of possible locations on where he might have been taken." "Do you trust him?" She nodded, albeit lightly. 

"He hasn't given me a reason not to, yet." "So, how does this work? We taking him for ourselves or shall we just let the police take him and ask for what they know?" 

"Ooh, I love the way you think. Considering the delicacy of this operation, you can't blow your cover and I am responsible for technically leading the investigation and coordinating with the local police. Here's the deal: You find something that'll narrow down the search, I'll pass it on to Police. When he's found and they have their boy back, we in exchange, get everything he knows about the FAJ." 

I nodded as she grabbed her phone out of her pocket. Still, I felt grossly underprepared for what I needed to do so I did what I needed to. Asking for a bone or two from El Gran Jefe, I got my hands on some files regarding names of people involved with the FAJ as well as a couple of, what I'm assuming are outdated dossiers of their guerilla tactics, courtesy of a secured covert comms channel. 

It would take me and House hours to go through most of what the government knows about what we're up against, not to mention I would need to be able to develop my own network of assets in combination with the amount of discretion I needed to keep the FBI out of the CIA's intel. Fortunately, I'd find out that this'll be the start of my recruitment process, I knew this when I dug up a phone signal from a remote location in the woods. 

It would be about four hours and then two more hours of sleep before we get anything back from the Special Forces, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to wake up hearing. "Damn it." I heard mom say as I looked back at the file while she paced around, on the phone with her asset.

 "Is there anything we can use? Pictures, maps, anything useful...... Hold on, let's go back a second, it's encrypted?... Sir, I have an idea. I'll call you back. Please trust me. Goodbye." I closed my file as mom hung up. 

Mom smiled at me as she pushed her hair out of her face, with the other hand slipping the phone smoothly back into her pocket. "So you want our analysts to break the encryption?" S.A. House asked Mom as he came out of the kitchen with a coffee mug. "Nope. No need." 

As she walked up to the couch where I had made my nest, a smile crept onto her face. "Daniel, please answer this honestly: how long has it been since you cracked an encryption?" 

Shutting my laptop with a soft thud, the couch cushions groaned as I sat upright as House's face twisted in concern as he made a desperate attempt to defend his sorry excuse for a cybersecurity system.

"What? We're--" "Daniel and two of his friends beat your security before. So... Honey?" 

"Not in a while... Why? What do you need?" 

"So, Special Forces didn't find their guy. Fortunately, they managed to confiscate a laptop but it's encrypted." 

"Okay... Oh, I saw this in a TV show! What if I were to go in with S.A. House as a Consultant?" "You could decrypt the messages for them and relay the intel back to the U.S. and the Company..." 

I turned to Special Agent House with a cocky smirk to counter his face of mild annoyance. 

"Yes?" "So, yesterday, you were my handler. Today, you're my chauffeur." I smugly commented, looking back to my mother as I put on a pair of non-prescription glasses.