Mister Nobody

Chapter 8

The FBI Mobile Command Center, or MCC, looked like a large semi-truck from the outside, but on the inside, it was the situation room back in Washington on wheels. Holloway sat back in his chair as he listened to his phone ring in his ear. Looking at Ralston who was on the other side of the cabin, speaking to an agent at a terminal, that same uneasy feeling he'd gotten when he first walked into the room went through his head again. Ralston rubbed him the wrong way, and although Holloway could say that about a lot of people, he was different. The mere fact he'd pulled that many strings just to prove a point about his so-called wunderkind DeLancie was disconcerting enough, but was even more unnerving was the fact that how calm he was. He had lost one of his most valuable and dangerous agents, and he didn't seem to be batting an eye. Holloway's old agent instincts had kicked in as soon as he'd entered the room, and he didn't like him one bit. Which was why he was trusting someone else with being the inside part of his operation. He just hoped she would pick up.

Chelsea Flannigan was working harder than she'd ever had in her 6 years of being an analyst. The blue and white text on the screen reflected against her glasses as she pushed them up on her face. The young woman had graduated top of her class at the academy, but had decided to go with being an analyst rather than a field agent. She'd never held a gun in her life, and never planned to. The internet was her gun, and the keyboard was her bullets. She could break any code, hack any network, and she was still down here in the Hive with the rest of the group. It was where she felt most comfortable, and felt like she was in her own world. Unfortunately, that world was broken once she felt the unmistakable vibration of her phone buzzing. Sighing, Chelsea picked up her smartphone from the side of the desk, and then widened her eyes once she saw the number. It was her boss, Deputy Director Holloway, and if he was calling, it could never be for a good reason. Calming herself a bit, she picked up. "Chelsea Flannigan."

Holloway leaned forwards in his seat as he heard Chelsea pick up. "Flannigan, this is Deputy Director Holloway. I would prefer it if we keep the contents of this call a secret." Chelsea stiffened up in her office chair. This was serious, and probably way above her paygrade. "Y-Yes sir." Holloway placed one arm across his legs. "I need you to do some research on our mystery man in New York, Jack DeLancie. I've seen what you can do, I've read your reports. You can go deeper than what we have on him. If there's any record of his involvement with this Ralston guy, or anything out of the ordinary, you call me immediately, understand?" Swallowing and hoping he didn't hear, Chelsea responded. "Yes, Deputy Director." Holloway shot a quick look over at Ralston before continuing to talk. "Chelsea, keep this on the downlow, make sure no one else knows what you're doing. Call me once you've found something." Chelsea heard him hang up the phone, and she sighed as she put it down on her desk. She had work to do. A lot of work. Back in the MCC, Holloway heard one of the agents call out to him. "Deputy Director! We just got a hit on DeLancie! He's still in Midtown." Walking over to the screen, he could see footage of DeLancie entering a roach motel. "How far out are we from Manhattan?" Holloway asked. "About 40 minutes, sir." Holloway looked back at the agent. "Step on it, we're not losing him."