John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

The train abruptly emerged from the semidarkness of the tunnel and entered the brightly lit D.C. station. Elias had occupied a window seat on the side opposite the platform, and the bank of upward-cast fluorescent lighting nestled between the tracks stung his eyes, causing his pupils to rapidly contract.

He exited the train, his gait neither hurried nor leisurely as he passed the SmarTrip proximity sensors. As was his tendency, his mind, acting autonomously from his conscious thoughts, subtracted the fare from his account balance as his eyes gazed upward. The concrete groin ceiling of the station, with its repetitive, rectilinear design, had been called neoclassical and brutalist, but to Elias it felt as if he were walking through the interior of the honeycomb fabricated by a new, mutated species of giant bee.

The long escalator, which took him from the bowels of the subway system, was always a trustworthy barometer of his mood. In good times — in other words, when he and Leah had been together — the trip up had seemed like an exit from an elaborate amusement park ride. At others times, such as this trip, it felt more like a conveyor between Earth and hell.

The interminable ride to the surface completed, he was surprised to see Faulk waiting for him personally.

“I’m honored,” Elias uttered sardonically. “I assumed you’d send a driver.”

Faulk tried to overlook the barb and reached out for a handshake. “It’s good to see you, Elias.”

Elias fleetingly considered ignoring the outstretched hand, then thought better of it. The handshake was brief and perfunctory.

“What is this about, Richard?”

Faulk’s irritation with the cold greeting poorly concealed, he snapped, “We’ll talk during the drive,” and turned toward the exit.

They walked without sharing another word. Outside the station, a black Escalade with government plates was idling by the curb directly in front of a “no parking” sign. A uniformed officer from the Metropolitan Police stood by, ensuring that it was not towed away. Faulk gave a curt nod to the cop, then entered with Elias into the warm interior.

Elias, again surprised that there was no driver, waited patiently as Faulk negotiated the traffic in front of the station. He did not have long to wait.

“We all know how you feel about Aegis.”

Faulk paused and waited for a response. Getting none, he continued, “Do you think you can be objective?”

Instead of answering the question, Elias asked, “Why would I need to be objective?”

Glancing over at Elias for a moment, Faulk tried to read his expression. Failing that, he said, “We need you to investigate it.”

The comment grabbing his attention, Elias blurted impulsively, “Investigate it! How? Peek over the wall?”

Faulk calmed a bit, knowing that he had piqued Charon’s interest. “No, the old-fashioned way. By going in.”

Twisting around in his seat as far as the seat belt would allow, Elias faced his former friend and remarked, “Now that’s a clever way to get rid of me.”

A brief, mirthless laugh burst from Faulk. “Elias, we’re not trying to get rid of you.” The SUV stopped for a red light.

Richard Faulk took a deep breath, looked at his passenger, and explained, “You would be an envoy…a representative of the White House. You would be the first person allowed to enter and, after your job is done, leave Aegis.”

This stopped Elias dead in his tracks. It was not the answer he had expected, and the implications of what Faulk was saying to him tumbled through his mind in a kaleidoscope of thoughts and images.

The traffic light changed to green, and Richard accelerated.

Finally breaking the silence, Elias asked, “What is the job? Specifically.”

Keeping his eyes on the traffic, Faulk began to fill him in. “There would be two separate and distinct assignments. We need to know what is going on inside Aegis. Some of the intel we’ve received has the administration concerned.”

“I’ve seen enough of it on the news.”

Shaking his head, Faulk continued, “That’s only the tip of the iceberg. We’ll show you the rest when we get to my office. But there is one element which never hit the media.”

“What is it?”

“Rudy Kreitzmann went in.”

A sudden shiver crawled up Elias’ back at the sound of the name. “Kreitzmann! How did he ever get back into the country?”

“We don’t know. The FBI tried to figure that out but failed.”

“How do you know he went in?”

With a heavy sigh, Faulk said, “This isn’t public knowledge, but we’ve had a camera at the entrance since the day Aegis opened. Facial-recognition software flagged him as he entered. It has been validated.”

“A camera at the entrance? Kind of a violation of the privacy everyone was promised, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Faulk answered casually, “I suppose it is. But we wanted to know if any of the people we were looking for waltzed into Aegis; then we could, at least, stop looking for them. The names of the individuals we spot have always been kept classified.”

Elias again fell into silence. Faulk left him to his thoughts for the rest of the drive. They parked in the underground garage and rode the elevator up to the top floor. They continued to not speak to each other as they approached the corner office.

“E.C.! How are you?”

The greeting came from Marilyn, Faulk’s aide. She had been a fixture there for years and had worked in the same position for Elias at the time he had occupied the office.

“Hi, Marilyn. I’m okay.”

She stood and came around her desk to give him a hug and a brief kiss on the cheek. As she did, she whispered in his ear, “You look like hell.”

Elias allowed himself a brief chuckle and replied, “So do you.”

She did not, of course.

As they separated, over her shoulder Elias caught a brief glimpse of irritation on Faulk’s face. Although he had become something of a hermit since his abrupt departure, there had been enough communication between Elias and Marilyn to know how she felt about her new boss, her dislike amplified, no doubt, by her very detailed inside knowledge of the incident leading up to Elias’ abrupt exit.

“I hate to break up this reunion,” Faulk interjected, using words perfectly consistent with a friendly jab at the two of them, his tone conveying the opposite. “But we’ve got quite a bit to do, Elias.”

Her back still turned to her boss, Marilyn rolled her eyes, a sour smirk curling her lips. Elias had to struggle to suppress a smile at her as he said, “Let’s go.”

“Marilyn, we’re going to need some coffee, and maybe some muffins.”

“Yes, sir.” She looked at Elias and asked, “Your usual?”

This time he did allow himself a smile as he answered, “That would be great. Thanks.”

The two men entered the large office. Instead of moving toward the desk, Faulk sat at the medium-sized conference table positioned adjacent to the windows. Taking the seat at the head of the table not only placed Faulk in the natural power-position, but also gave him access to a keyboard and control panel. Elias followed and dropped heavily into one of the side chairs.

Mounted on the closest wall to the table, a flat-screen came to life, instantly displaying the agency logo. With a few keystrokes, Faulk summoned up the video he had described to Elias during the drive.

“There he is,” he indicated unnecessarily, the camera clearly capturing one of the most notorious faces on Earth, as the man emerged from the inside of the last turnstile.

Faulk had already paused the image when Elias suddenly urged, “Keep rolling.”

“What is it?” Faulk asked as he resumed the video.

Rather than explaining, Elias questioned him. “Who are those two?”