D Carpenter - Infertile Grounds

Pell’s right arm twitched. This was going to be fun. He held the file open on his lap and stared at the papers but his interrogation was already well-planned. He turned his attention to Pell, studying him, taking him in, trying to get a feel for who he was. Slowly Pell opened his eyes. Arthur waited until Pell looked relatively alert. “How’re you feeling, Agent Pelletier?”

“Been better.”

“You know why I’m here?”

“Of course. You’re here for me. Frankly, I didn’t think you’d come.”

“Well here I am. Do you feel up for talking now?”

“I guess there’s no time like the present,” Pell replied. “And, given the state I’m in, there may not be any other time than the present.”

“The doctors say you’re out of the woods.”

“I feel like it.”

“Rough few days?”

Pell nodded softly, “Look, Arthur, I understand the approach but let’s just cut the bullshit. You’re here to talk to me, to hear what I have to say for myself.”

“Then let’s talk,” Arthur replied.

“Is this on the record?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Then I think I should have a lawyer.”

“Why’s that?”

Pell chuckled as he pressed the button that elevated his head. “Come on, Arthur. Don’t give me that.”

“I don’t think you need a lawyer, Paul. I’ve read the report on what’s been happening. This case that you were working, if it proves to be real, is huge. You realize what’s at stake here?”

“It’s real,” Pell said calmly.

“How do you know?”

Pell smiled as he turned back to Arthur. “I’m a patsy, Arthur.”

“A what?”

“You know, like Lee Harvey Oswald, a straight up patsy. According to Carl, I’m an Agent turned bad. On the run, killing cops and all that bullshit but I’ve been set up. I reported this whole virus thing to Carl personally. I followed our escalation protocols exactly and he told me it was bullshit and not to follow up on it. He said, if I remember his words exactly, that I should go back up to Bangor fucking Maine. But I couldn’t do that, not with what’s at stake here. Can you imagine it?”

“Imagine what?”

“This virus, if it exists, and if it works, it would be something mankind has never had to deal with. I wanted make sure all avenues had been explored before dismissing it. And what do I get for it?”

“I’m not following you,” Arthur said after a moment. He pointed down the hall to Carl and his two agents. “Are you saying Carl didn’t respond to the escalation?”

“Do you know my history with the Bureau?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Carl won’t let it go,” Pell said as he struggled to sit up in his bed.

“But that was so long ago. Hell, don’t take this the wrong way, but I didn’t even know you were still with the Bureau until the other day.”

“That’s fine. But I can tell you that Carl Moscovitz has been after my ass for eighteen years. When I came down here and presented this case to him, he saw his opportunity to finally get rid of me.”

“How so?”

Arthur listened intently as Pell recounted the events of the past few days. He noticed subtle and not so subtle differences with Carl’s report. He sensed there was more here than what he had expected. Hints of which surfaced through Pell’s story and he found Pell to be extremely believable. There was something about the guy that made Arthur comfortable with him and with what he was saying.

“Carl told me he was not going to put anyone on the case and that I should forget about it but I couldn’t and when he realized I was still digging around, his main objective became making certain that he brought me down. Hard.”

Arthur sat patiently, quietly returning Pell’s stare. He had the urge to start asking questions but resisted it. Let Pell say what he had to say. Maybe it would all just flow out, making this easier than Arthur had anticipated.

“When Carl issued that APB I hadn’t broken any laws. All I did was disobey his order to stand down. Really, all I’d done was go visit Andleman and there is no crime in that.”

Arthur pursed his lips and nodded. Carl had certainly left out a lot of the color.

“And, I didn’t want to kill that cop up in New Hampshire,” Pell said. “It was an accident, he tried to arrest me. In fact, I didn’t actually shoot him. I flipped him to the ground and he fell on his gun. I radioed for help from his car, but he started shooting at me. That’s how I got this.” He pointed at the bandages on his chest. “I had to get out of there before he finished me off.”

“So what did Maurice Andleman tell you?”

“He told me to get a lawyer.”

Arthur laughed. “No, seriously, Pell. Did he tell you anything of use?”

“I am being serious, Arthur. I’m not going to let Carl and his vendetta plant my ass in jail for the next twenty years. So, the way I see it is that you’ve got two options. Cut me a deal and I’ll talk, or put the cuffs on me now and try to find Sarah Burns and her potions on your own. At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“You’ve got everything to lose, Pell.”

“I do? Like what? Wife, kids, family – sorry, not applicable. My dead-end job in Maine – you can have it. I’ve got nothing, so don’t tell me how good my life is, or what my responsibilities are, all right?”

“Okay, Pell, calm down.”

Pell took several deep breaths. The machines monitoring him beeped and buzzed like a mariachi band.

“So what kind of a deal are we talking about?”

“It’s pretty simple. Drop any legal actions against me, and give me a full-boat, life-long pension with benefits, effective immediately.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Not one bit.”

“There’s no way I can do that. You shot and almost killed a cop, for Christ’s sake. There’s no way I can let you walk.”

“But it was an accident!”

Arthur turned his palms up and shrugged.

“Well, there is one way you can let me walk,” Pell said.

Arthur walked to the front of the bed and paced. He fished a breath mint out of his pocket, wishing it was a cigarette, and popped it into his mouth. “So, either Maurice Andleman told you something real good, or you’ve got something else up your sleeve.”

“I’ve told you nothing you didn’t already know.”

“That’s not completely true but whatever,” Arthur said as he crunched down on the mint. “Are we talking about Sarah Burns, or is there something else?”

“Let’s just say that I know something that could be extremely embarrassing to the Bureau – major scandal, congressional hearings, the whole works. The Bureau is teetering as it is, Arthur. You know that. We could be split, consumed, dissolved, or—”

“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on.”

“I know. News like this will just be more fuel for the political fire, that’s all. Believe it or not, I still love the Bureau.”

Arthur resumed pacing. He tugged at his square chin as he walked. After a couple of minutes, he stopped and wrapped his large hands around the shiny rail at the foot of the bed. There were so many angles to everything. Everyone had their own agenda, their own motivations. Some were simply selfish, others purely political right along predictable party lines. It had taken time but Arthur had learned to filter through it – to keep the prime objective in focus. He stared at Pell and said, “Okay, I could probably work out some sort of a deal. If what you’ve got warrants it, of course.”

“Probably?”

“Be realistic, Pell. I can’t make any commitments until I know what you’re talking about.”

“Do you want to know about ongoing corruption at the Bureau? Who the agents are?”