The Red Herring

Chapter 11

"Why the hell did you shoot me?!" yelled Felix.

"They didn't tell you that you were expendable?" said a voice.

"Fuck you," said Felix. "Didn't they tell you that are too?"

The person attached to the voice laughed. "We are all expendable. We're agents."

"Agents die. Blah blah, I know."

"Call an ambulance. He's still alive. But it'll send the bitch running straight towards us," the voice said, a camera flashing and snapping a photo of Jim.

"What do you want with her anyway?" Felix asked.

"She's a cancer, Felix. She'll always be there. I don't know how she's lasted this long."

Later that evening, Mike arrived at the townhouse. He was met at the front door.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

"I told you to work from home."

"Sup, man?"

"I was out. I was planning on working tonight. Hey, Dev," Mike answered.

"Have you talked to Jim?" Beth asked.

"Not since earlier when he was in my office with you," he replied.

"Well, he disappeared. And he's not answering his phone."

"And there's a body in your ops center," said John.

"There's a what?"

"Body. Woman. Probably early 40s. Maybe late 30s," Beth told him.

"But how- why is- do we know her?" Mike stammered.

"Facial rec is your thing," Devin said.

"Ok, yeah. Let's find out who she is," said Mike.

The quartet made its way to Mike's operations center. He entered the room. "Never seen her before and I have no idea how she got here. Wasn't the door locked when you came in?"

"Yep. A good criminal might lock the door behind him. Or he might have a key," Beth said as she stared at him.

"Yo, guys. I had nothing to do with this..."

"Didn't say you did," John replied.

"It kind of felt like an accusation. I was with Jenna. You can call her if you don't believe me..."

"It's been a long day," Beth said with a sigh. Her cell rang. "What?" she answered. "Oh, hey. No, I haven't. You did? When? What?! I'm on my way."

"Hold it!" said John in a very stern voice.

"Jim's been shot!"

"What? When? By who?" John asked.

"Is my dad ok?" Devin asked.

Mike had snapped a photo of the woman and uploaded it to a computer. It chirped almost immediately.

"What is it?" John asked.

"Evie Webster," Mike said.

"Shit," John replied.

"Who is Evie Webster?" Beth asked.

"Hank Webster's oldest daughter. So they got Evie and tried to take out Jim in one day?" John asked. "He's alive, right? Who was that?"

"Something weird is going on," Beth said.

"No kidding," said Mike. "Who called you?"

"Dmitry. He said he got a phone call saying his brother had been shot. He's in a Maryland hospital. Yes, he's alive but he's in surgery. Why would someone call Dmitry? I'm Jim's emergency contact," Beth pondered.