Internal Affairs Ch. 10

The night sitter replaced Jan Saturday night at 9pm. They spent two hours watching the TV provided by the Residence Hotel. He was an opinionated prick, Roger thought.

At 11pm Roger went to the bedroom showered then went to bed. He left Tate watching the late news shows. Roger didn't want to discuss politics, which was why he left.

Roger slept pretty well. He felt like he knew what was going on. The had him to disappear pretty well. They were also hiding him just as well. Roger seemed to relax completely Sunday. He relaxed enough to be bored.

Not even the change of shift at 9am helped. since neither of his babysitters could say anything interesting to him, it was obviously his problem.

Monday was a repeat of Sunday more or less. Jan informed me that sometime during Monday, we would be meeting with a man from the DOJ. One who would actually begin working on the new ID. The plan was to begin the serious immediately after the meeting.

"Be nice to him Roger, he is going to make your new life possible," Jan said.

"I'm always nice," Roger said.

"Sure, never a bit sarcastic," she replied with a laugh. "Just be careful what you ask for. They have some pretty extreme lives they would like to put you onto. I think they pull them off the shelves every chance they get."

"I always thought I would like a house boat, or maybe to be a pot farmer," Roger said.

"He has read your file, so stay away from jokes like that one. He does his best work when he is motivated. Stay away from any indication that you might be ambiguous about drugs," Jan suggested.

"How about a park ranger by day and super hero at night," Roger suggested. "The possibilities are endless."

"You have been warned, so just keep what I said in mind." Jan repeated.

She turned to the TV, so Alex let his mind run free. He seriously could be a game warden in South Dakota or something like it. I might like that, Roger thought.

It was 11am when Jan came to the bedroom door. "The meeting is for noon at a picnic shelter at an Arlington reservoir. Let's stop by and get some fried chicken for a picnic while we talk. I sent a message to see how the creator felt about that. He agreed so, we are providing lunch."

"Isn't there some rule against that sort of thing?" Roger asked.

"Probably, but you are the one who insisted. Didn't you?" she asked.

"Of course," Roger agreed.

"Roger Hartman this is Seth, your new best friend," Jan said.

"Hello Seth," Roger said.

"Hello Roger and that was an exaggeration. I hope to be a friend but I won't be involved in your life that often. So let's get down to it." While Seth set up his computer, Jan unpacked the food, and Roger looked at the sail boats on the reservoir.

"So I read your biography from when you were working undercover for DOJ. Is there anything you would like to add before we begin the in depth Q&A?" Seth asked.

"Nothing," Roger said.

"Okay then Janet wouldn't you like to go up on the office deck. There is a great view on from their balcony," Seth commented.

"In order to keep you safe no one will know all there is to know. People will stay in their own compartment. If anyone ask you to reveal anything about your new identity call me immediately. Do you understand?" Seth asked.

"Yes, I have it," Roger said.

"You will remain Roger Hartman till you leave DC. When you do leave, you will be someone else entirely. You must completely break ties with your past. No phone calls, no email nothing unless you have a death wish," Seth said being dramatic.

"I understand Seth," Roger said.

"I'm going to lay out your background and you tell me if there is any part of the fiction you can't maintain.

The best fiction is one based on a real person with a real past. At least up to a point then we just fill in the blanks until we reach the present."

"Do you mean I am going to assume the Identity of someone else. Does that mean I going to bump into my self one day." Roger asked.

"Maybe in heaven or hell. Your doppelganger is dead. He served in Afghanistan when you did. He had no family, so when he died there will be no mention of his death in the records once we doctor them. To keep it simple we chose someone who is your age."

"Okay I can understand that. So now what?" Roger asked.

"You were a Marine sniper, so the new you drove a truck." Seth handed me a flash drive. "Take this home and memorize the content. Call it homework. It contains all I could do alone. It doesn't contain anything except what you did prior to 2005' That is when you were discharged after your enlistment ended. That is where the fiction begins. I will have that ready for lesson two by Wednesday," Seth informed him.

"Thanks Seth," Roger said.

"Nobody sees that file, not even our people," Seth reminded him. "Now let's find Janet, so I can say my goodbyes."

"So how did it go?" Jan asked.

"It went just fine. How about we stop on the way home to get a milkshake. If you have kids, you are bound to know somewhere that has good milk shakes," Roger suggested.

"I do," she said. "The problem is I have a fitness evaluation in a month."

"So?" Roger asked.

"So I need to lose a minimum of five pounds," Jan suggested.

"Ah, well I hope that isn't going to be part of my life. I have been eating like a horse recently." Roger said. "Reformed junkies do that." That's the kind of thing I have to stop doing, he thought.

"Okay tell you what since I don't have a car, I will drink it in my room. If you can find a drive through milkshake restaurant, you wont even have to see it," Roger Everhart- Hartman suggested.

My kids love the donut barn, they sell milk shakes and they have a drive through window.

After the ice cream and donut Roger spent the evening in the toilet. It was a large price to pay for a couple of donuts and a milk shake, he decided. Jan packed up and was waiting impatiently for her relief several minutes early.

"What's up? Do you have a date?" Roger asked.

"That is none of your business," Jan replied nervously.

"Oh my god, you do have a date. Must be another Marshal." Roger guessed. "Did you tell your husband?" he asked.

"Of course not," she replied. "I will thank you not to mention this to Tate

"Why would I and who is Tate," Roger asked.

"Tate is your night babysitter," she said.

"Is that his name? I wonder why I didn't remember that," Roger said. Roger had an urgent need to use the toilet again, He was in the bathroom when Jan left and Tate arrived.

"Goodnight Roger," Jan said through the door.

"Goodnight Jan," he replied.

When Roger went back into the bedroom, Tate was in the living room with a take out coffee cup on the table beside him. He wasn't drinking from it. He wouldn't be drinking designer coffee ever again. Tray was extremely dead. Roger had no idea what protocol was in a case like that. His protocol was to hide the flash drive in the toilet tank, then to take Tate's weapon, Only then did he dial the Marshall's office after which he dialed 911. He wanted bodies between himself and the bad guys asap. He figured the more the better.

When the cops arrived first, Roger surrendered with his hands on top of his head. He for sure knew the drill. He told the first officers on the scene that Tate was a US Marshall. He also told them he knew nothing about it. They would need to call the Marshall's office to find out what was going on.

"So you aren't going to tell us anything?" the black detective asked. "You don't have any ID on you, so who are you?" he asked.

"I am going to have to refer you to the US Marshal's Office but the Marshall's service should be here any time," Roger said. Roger heard voices in the hall, so he figured the feds had arrived.

"What happened here?" he asked the detective.

"Well Deputy Tate was stabbed at the door, then it looks like he was dragged to the chair. Other than that we know nothing. Seems this gentleman isn't talking." The detective said.

"What a cluster fuck," the deputy said.

"My thoughts exactly," Roger said.

"You shut the fuck up," the detective said.

"Back off, he is only following protocol," the deputy said. "We need to get him away from here, out a back door or something."

"You want to put a block bag over his head" the detective said.

"We don't have black bags in the trunk of our cars,' The deputy asked.

"I have a hoodie and some big reflective sunglasses," Roger said.

"Get them and get ready to move," The deputy said.

"Bull shit, he is a material witness in a homicide." the detective said.

"Listen closely. I'm going to take him to your station, where he will go directly into the interview room. We can both talk to him. You don't need to arrest him and he will cooperate. But we have to be there, and he has to be protected at all times. Is that clear, or do I need to call your chief?" the deputy US Marshall asked.

"Yeah, you do need to call him, and do it before he goes to bed," the detective suggested.

"Dial him," The deputy said.

The local policeman moved away with a cell phone. He went into the hallway, while the Marshall stayed behind to talk to Roger. "This never happened to me," he said.

"Well don't feel too bad, it never happened to me either obviously. It is really strange," Roger said.

"How so?" The deputy asked.

"Stop right there," the detective said. "We are going down to the station. The chief and some more feds are going to meet us there. Then we are going to find out what happened."

"That's was our first offer," the deputy marshal said.

"Could we just get out of here before world war three starts." Roger asked.

Roger didn't say another word until he was in the police station. He found himself in the interrogation room with a cup of coffee while he waited for them all to assemble.

"Okay so what do we call you," the detective asked.

Roger looked to the deputy federal attorney general. She just nodded. "My name is Roger."

"That's all," the deputy US Attorney said. "Roger here is involved in an undercover operation. That is why we are taking custody of the interview tape."

"We have already agreed to that," the detective from the crime scene said.

"I want both you and Roger to know what we are doing to protect him," the chubby blond said.

"Okay then just Roger, what happened in that motel?" the local detective asked.

"I ate a couple of Bavarian creme donuts and a chocolate milk shake earlier today. By the time Jan was packing up to leave, I had been in and out of the bathroom for some time. At 9pm I was in the bathroom. I heard Jan say goodnight and then the door close. I didn't hear anything for a few minutes then a commotion. When I came out of the bathroom, Tate was dead and the door was open. I bolted the door and called 911 and the marshal's emergency number. The police arrived first, then the detective here showed up and finally the Deputy. I have a feeling your next question will be, if this was a hit why I am still alive? I've been asking myself that since I walked out that bathroom door." Roger said.

"So, you were there, what do you think happened?" the city detective asked.

"With the timing and the fact that I could hear everything, I think whoever killed Tate came in with him at shift change.

Why and how I don't know. They somehow incapacitated Jan, and then they kidnapped her. They didn't even know I was in the place. That's my number one theory. Why they wanted her is anybody's guess. So, what are you doing to find her?" Roger asked.

"You don't get to ask questions." The local cop demanded.

"She isn't answering her cell. Did she see the secret file?" The deputy asked.

"If the cops didn't find it, the flash drive is still secure. I dropped it in the toilet tank. If these clowns have decent lab people, they have it now." Roger said.

"If you found that drive, you need to return it, without viewing it." the deputy said to the detective.

Roger decided that they were serious about keeping him safe. He had seen the contents of the flash drive and knew there was nothing of value to anyone else on it.

"There are patrolmen still on the scene. I will call one of them," the detective said.

He made the call on a radio that he carried every where. He put everything on hold until he finally reported, "We have it."

"Good, have them bring it here. The contents are classified." the deputy said.

"So are you finished with me?" Roger asked.

"Not quite, stick around." The detective said as he arose from his chair and left the room.

"Tell me if they found Jan and her family, and I'll tell you something I didn't tell them," Roger whispered to the deputy.

"Her apartment was empty but there was no sign of a struggle. Do you think she killed Tate?" the deputy asked.

"I don't know," Roger whispered. "What happened to the fancy camera you had in the living room?"

"It went out just before shift change. The techies were trouble shooting the system before we called to alert Jan. Your call came before they finished," the deputy said.

"How convenient," Roger said.

"The last tape does show you on the toilet and her walking to the door. It shows nothing after that."

"Did the whole building's Wifi system stopped working, or just your cameras?" Roger demanded.

"You know we do know how to do an investigation," the deputy said.

"So?" Roger asked.

"You are officially a suspect," the deputy replied.

"You have images of me sitting on the toilet when your cameras failed, but I somehow get my ass of the toilet, and over powered Tate, and Janet then make her disappear. Damn I need to take that show to Vegas." Roger said.

"Yeah, there is also no answer on her cell phone," The deputy said.

"That's not good," Roger stated the obvious. "That puts me back in the jackpot. I don't understand what they want with Janet. She doesn't know anything."

"It may not be Paco, she has worked on other things," the deputy suggested.

"If that is not the case it's good news for me and bad for Janet. Well, I'm sure you can figure it out," Roger said. In his mind it was related to Paco. What surprised Roger was that Paco didn't have her give up the motel's address. He could then come in after she left and just kill them all. He could also have waited till he had a new ID and been relocated, then come for him. It just made no sense. Roger believed that Janet knew something was about to happen. She might not have known what, but she knew something.

It was also possible that she killed Tate for some other reason. They might find out at any minute that Janet was a family annihilator. That didn't sit well but it was possible.

It was just as likely a Paco Gomez hit gone wrong. Those guys weren't criminal masterminds. What they were was a bunch of super thugs more vicious than the other thugs. Which didn't look good for Jan.

It was after midnight when Roger appealed to the camera in the empty interrogation room. "Hey could I get some coffee, a glass of water and some Tylenol, and some Aleve. I have a terrible back ache," He waited but no one appeared to help him. It was as he expected, he was just being detained not interrogated.

When he knocked on the door a uniformed cop said, "Yes?"

Roger made the same request to him. The cop just nodded his understanding then closed the door with the click of a lock. Roger didn't like being at the mercy of anyone. Least of all the local police in a town he never heard of before a few days ago.

It must have meant sending someone out for the drugs. Most likely it was a Deputy U S Marshal who went for the drugs. It was at least twenty minutes and might have been more, Roger thought. Since he had no watch and there was no clock on the wall, he suppose that there absence was part of the plan. When the drugs came, it was fifteen minutes of more before I got even the slightest relief. It wasn't real relief, but it did feel better. Roger had his head on the table and was near the sweet oblivion of sleep, when the man entered the room.

"I'm agent Pelham with the FBI, and I'm here to help you," the tall thin man suggested.

"You know Pelham, I'm beginning to understand what they mean when someone says, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you, you should be very afraid." Roger said.

"Wow now that is original. Would rather I not be here," Pelham asked.

"Right this moment you could hand a Glock and give me a five minute head start and I think I would be just as safe," Roger said.

"I'll put your request through to the Bureau. Where should be mail the new ID?" He asked.

"I'll drop you a line with the address," Roger said. In his heart he knew they would never go for it.

"I think not. If you want the new ID you cooperate," Pelham said.

"I kind thought you might feel that way. So does the Marshal's service have the drive now?" Roger asked.

"They do and somehow they know it hasn't been opened, since it went into that toilet tank," Pelham said.

It was password protected, so they would have had to crack that. I doubt that the local cops had either the time or the expertize to do that," Roger guessed.

"That to," Pelham suggested. "So you ready to get out of here?"

"Several hours past ready," Roger answered.

"This time you will be in a FBI safe house, and there will be no field trips so get your mind right. The people you need to see, will just show up, there will be no appointments."

"I knew it. You guys think I had something to do with it. Before you say anything, I would at least wonder about it myself," Roger admitted.

"Good, we don't see any reason you would had sold out, but someone might have recognized you. Our money is on Janet turning, but you never know.

You came in dressed in jeans and a nylon Hoodie and those silly sunglasses. It is hard to imagine anything that would draw more attention, but we probably have it.

You are going out in a cop uniform, actually in a swat uniform. Five FBI swat team members will enter the building and five ill go out with a prisoner. The Prisoner will SWAT team member in jeans and a green Nylon parka but no silly glasses. If they can run facial recognition they can make him, but not you. So get dressed. You are going to be an FBI agent for a few hours," Pelham explained.

When you are prepared 99% of the time nothing happens, but 1% of the time it does. The move was part of the 99%. It would off without a hitch.

Roger found himself in another re-purposed building. His new home had previously been an auto storage yard, judging from all the damaged automobiles in the fenced in yard. There was a two bay concrete block building behind the fence as well. There was a keypad lock and a facial recognition system obviously. Since we had traded the SWAT armored car for a plain Chevy sedan. Pelham and Roger waited at the gate for someone to do something to cause the all clear buzzer to buzz. Once had clearance, we drove into the yard.

"Just curious what would have happened if they didn't recognize you? Would we have been vaporized?" Roger asked.

"Your family wouldn't have to had worry about a funeral," Pelham said.

"Very impressive," I said knowing it was all bull shit. I had recognized

the two foot wide break in the concrete. I was absolutely sure that it would flip automatically if not turned off. My guess was it contained spike strips, There might be a flash bang type device as well. Something to incapacitate the occupants till people from the shop could come to assault the car.

"My guess is the car would then become part of the lawn art," Roger said.

"Something like that," Pelham admitted.

When they pulled the Chevy in a space between the junk, Pelham opened the door so roger did the same.

"Honey we are home." he said into his cell phone. Roger said when he went inside the garage. The previous office area had a large window that overlooked the mechanic's work area. The office area was being uses as the control center, while the Repair bay had been converted to a room filled with cots.