"Homeland security in the form of dealing with the selling of weapons to a hostile warzone." said Agent Rodriguez. "Director Harkavy must have very high confidence in assigning this investigation to you two."
"We work for the CD department. That's our job." Andy said. "If you're here for the Russian we'd do it discreetly."
"Why don't we meet up for a couple of beers?" the CIA agent suggested.
"We still have work to do." I said as my phone buzzed in my pocket. "I need to take this." I can feel the man's gaze on me as I walked out to answer the call. "This is Senior Special Agent Black Bird."
"Special Agent? This is Assistant Director Ryan Carey."
"I hear you. Is something wrong sir?"
"Our tech division is still tracing the buyer of the weapons, we might need to bring the suspect in for questioning at J. Edgar Hoover." he said. "Be on your guard however, I have a feeling that something will go wrong somehow."
"Acknowledged, thanks for the heads up sir." I said. Turning I headed back into the office once more. "Change of plans, RC called. We need to bring our suspect down to the building for questioning." Andy nodded and approached Bruce.
"Mr. Wayne I presume?" he asked when I approached him. "We're from the FBI, and we have orders for you to come with us."
"This is a serious accusation, I will have to call my lawyer before I come with you." he said.
"Seriously, don't waste our time Mr. Wayne." I said, my voice cold as ice. "We will notify your lawyer but you will have to come with us now." I took out a set of handcuffs, revealing the gun strapped to the holster on my belt. "You will be charged with obstruction of justice if you refused to comply." I lifted my handcuffs as a warning.
"All right, no need for the fuss." he finally agreed and I kept the handcuffs. "I'll notify-"
"As I said earlier, we will notify." I retorted. After that we brought him to the SUV and drove off, Agent Rodriguez coming with us. I focused on the journey ahead as I was the one driving this time, while avoiding gazes thrown at me through the rear-view mirror, not from Agent Rodriguez of course. We reached DC and stopped at the J. Edgar Hoover building. I stepped out first, climbing the stairs while Andy led him by the arm into the headquarters of the FBI. Lucky for him the media hasn't got word of anything yet and we are able to maintain a low profile. The assistant director is already waiting at the lobby, along with a man dressed in a sharply tailored suit with a briefcase in his hands.
"Miss Stark." the man addressed me. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Federal investigation. That's your answer." I said. "You're Mr. Wayne's lawyer I presume?"
"Gerald Atkinson." he said.
"Come with me, we're escorting your client to the interrogation room." I say, gesturing him to follow me.
"But first I need time to talk to my client before the interrogation."
"We'll work out the details later Mr. Atkinson." I said. Both men walked into the interrogation room while the three of us entered the room that served as an observation room for personnel to supervise the entire process.
"I'll supervise the interrogation, you two go ahead with it." he said.
"Yes sir." Andy replied, turning to open the door. We entered the interrogation room, dropping a file on the desk. "Okay, let's begin." he said, interlacing his fingers on the desk. "On October 12th which is just last night, a container with crates of illegal weapons were stopped at the Gotham Harbor which is due to be shipped to Afghanistan."
"The container which has the name of your company emblazoned on it." I say, lifting the photograph and showing it in front of both men. "Captured by the Evidence Response Team."
"Do you have any hard evidence before accusing my client of distributing illegal weapons to a war torn nation?" the lawyer questioned.
"Mr. Aktinson," I say. "Your client is under suspicion for doing so, we are not incriminating him."
"According to the law you are not technically under arrest, only under suspicion." Andy cuts in. "We'll obviously try our best to keep it under a tight lid."
"Fail to cooperate with us, you'll have to bare with the consequences." I say. "I have already locked up a billionaire before, I can try to imprison another one." the lawyer's face became white as death upon my words. "The crimes he committed is more severe than your client does."
"Is this a threat Miss Stark?"
"It's Senior Special Agent to you Mr. Atkinson." I say, avoiding Bruce's gaze.
"Very well." the lawyer said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"All right, back to the interrogation." Andy declared. "Care to explain your relations with the dealers that you attempted to sell the weapons to?" I double-checked the evidence while my partner carried on with the interrogation.
"I do not, I am unaware of the dealings."
"According to the profile we have on your company you and your CEO run the business together. Would a CEO make a deal without informing the chairman?"
"Lucius didn't do it, neither did I." he denied, again.
"And again, we are aware that your company has multiple military contracts." Andy pressed on.
"So, is this a conspiracy?" he braved the question, prompting me to look up from the reports.
"Even though our country manufactures the weapons, they wouldn't even send Avtomat Kalashnikova overseas." I said. "Unless you walk the grey area of course." Bruce blinked but his facial expressions hinted that he is aware of something.
"Your company is selling AK-47, for the uninitiated." Andy said. "A weapon favored mostly by insurgents, terrorists and the biggest? Russia and the Soviet Union."
"The Taliban has been killing people with these weapons and yet, people still sell them for profit." I say. "You have just now declared that you and your CEO have no knowledge regarding the weapons trade why didn't you inform the authorities first?"
"Like I said before, Miss Stark-"
"It's Senior Special Agent, Mr. Wayne." I say. "This isn't a private conversation."
"You better answer the question before she gets mad." Andy said. "I've seen it before, and it's not pretty."
"Senior Special Agent-"
"We're not the CIA, so we won't resort to waterboarding." I said before the lawyer can begin his sentence. "I won't hesitate to put you on a polygraph."
"I don't know who has been using my company to sell these weapons overseas. If I find out who did-"
"This is not a civilian arrest, this is a federal investigation." I clarified. "We'll deal with the problem, you will provide the evidence required to prove your innocence."
"We'll need the shipping manifest to do so."
"We already got it." I say. "You're not going anywhere until we have the evidence we need to prove your innocence."
"Sounds fine with me." he said.
YOU ARE READING
Russian Roulette
Mistero / Thriller"This is a crossroad Isabella." he said. "There will be no return if you were captured." "Can I even turn back?" I asked.
