Chapter 2:
4th December
07:17 AM EST
Washington D.C.
Exact Location: FBI Headquarters
Even though she was running on barely four hours of sleep, Alyssa felt as if she’d had a full night’s rest. Confidence and pride were practically surrounding her figure as she wandered through the halls of her workplace; none other than the very famous J. Edgar Hoover Building. She would give a light wave to every other agent she walked by.
Quite a few seemed to notice her energetic pace, but only few actually questioned it. One of the people who inquired went from walking the opposite way to beside Alyssa.
“So, is this a sign that something amazing happened? Did you finally find a lover?”
Alyssa rose an eyebrow as she turned to look at her typically assigned partner, Trey Holland. Her eyes rolled as she snickered lightly.
“Seriously?
That is the first thing you think of with how I’m walking and looking?”
Trey casually shrugged. “It wouldn’t necessarily be the worst. Look, like I’ve told you time and time again, you should treat yourself somehow. If it’s not with a guy, then ---” His head tilted as a curiosity entered his head. “Or … are you more into women? Is that why you haven’t found a guy?”
A bit of crimson appeared on Alyssa’s face as she stared at Trey in a mix of disbelief and shock that he had enough gall to ask such a bold question.
“That …”
She paused for a few seconds, trying to decide how to answer. When the perfect reply came to her, a smirk adorned her lips. “Is none of your business, now is it? I’ll leave that up to your wild imagination.”
A playful look flashed in her eyes for a few seconds before being replaced by Alyssa’s more usual stoic and serious expression.
“But no. The reason I look as excited as I do is much simpler.” She lightly tapped the manila folder in her hands, her grin further expanding. “I found him!”
“No way!”
Alyssa nodded her head up and down excitedly.
“Remember that theory I had? About there being a cryptic message? I found out what it was.”
Trey chuckled softly, gently patting his partner’s shoulders with his hands. “That’s … damn, girl. You really are a lifesaver, you know? Mister Jackson will very likely appreciate this news.”
Alyssa moved her head in an affirmative movement once more. “That is exactly where I’m heading right now; to his office to report this discovery.”
“Awesome. I doubt you’ll need much of it, but good luck. Unfortunately, Ethan stuck me with another task to work on, so I gotta go. But let’s celebrate later today with you breaking the good news, huh? Lunch or dinner? Some sorta meal on me?”
“Sure. I’ll text you later.”
The two waved to one another before Trey pivoted on his feet and continued walking towards his original destination. Within minutes, Miss Portman stood in front of a wooden door. In the dead center of it was a golden plaque, which had the name “Mister Ethan Jackson” engraved in it.
Alyssa swallowed nervously. Her heart was already beginning to race, and she could feel herself getting both anxious and thrilled at being able to offer not just her boss, but the whole Bureau, some well-deserved good news. Slowly, she rose a clenched fist up against the door and, after steeling herself, knocked rapidly three times.
“Come in,” Alyssa heard from behind the door.
A soft sigh elicited from her lips as the young agent gripped the handle of the door knob and entered Mister Jackson’s office. Alyssa’s brown eyes would soon find Ethan’s blue-green ones as she made eye contact and politely bowed her head.
“Miss Portman? You’re here a bit earlier than I expected. But please, sit down.”
Ethan leaned forward, noting how quickly Alyssa complied with the order. Between that and the gleam that hadn’t left her face since entering, it was easy to guess she had succeeded where everyone else had failed. She likely deciphered those irritating notes.
“So, did you find something? That’s what your smile and overall expression is all but screaming to me.”
“I did!” Portman happily replied, setting the folder down and then proceeding to open it. She lined all of the pieces of parchment up so it would help Ethan see the same pattern she did. “He purposely made the last letter of every single letter be the beginning of a message. That’s likely why they were all so short and sounded like complete nonsense; the only part of these memos that ever mattered from the get-go was the very last part of it.”
When Alyssa realized her voice had subconsciously increased in speed - and therefore had doubts if her boss was able to understand her properly or not - she took a few moments to calm herself down. After she felt confident enough her boss would be able to comprehend what she was relaying, Portman continued to relay her findings.
“He’s offering to meet with any of the agents at the World War II Memorial on December seventh at midnight. To quote him, it’s his last free chance he’ll offer before disappearing for good.”
Ethan scoffed. When he observed Alyssa looking taken aback at the reaction, his head moved from side to side. “Not you, Portman. That cocky son of a bitch. He’s never really given us
any free chances. Anyway …”
A sight that Alyssa hadn’t expected reflected in her eyes. Rather than proudly smiling, Mister Jackson was … frowning? Grimacing, even. His hands tucked themselves underneath his jaw as he sighed deeply. A good two, nearly three, minutes went by before he carefully began speaking again.
“I apologize in advance. This likely isn’t going to seem fair, especially because you did exactly as I asked, and well before the assigned deadline. But I thought long and hard after you left last night, Miss Portman. The unfortunate truth is … we really have wasted a lot of time, morale, effort, and energy on this guy. We’ve even lost a few great men and women from the times he did resort to murder. Alyssa, I’m sorry … but he’s really not worth it anymore.”
To say Alyssa was shocked was an understatement. Her mouth fell open wide and, if it could, her jaw would have dropped right to the floor.
“But … but Mister Jackson! It’s exactly like you said! I did everything you asked before the twenty-four hours ran out! Shouldn’t we embrace this opportunity?! This would be perfect! We could finally bring Vincent Bishop in and give everyone in the FBI peace of mind!”
Her head frantically moved side to side.
“Please, don’t say we’re quitting. We’re the Bureau! We’re meant to bring people like Bishop to justice! What kind of message would we be sending to the
nation or even the
world if word got out we were giving up on one single man?!”
An irritated huff left Mister Jackson’s lips. This had essentially been the exact reaction he expected. To be fair, Miss Portman had all the reasons in the world to be shocked and frustrated with him. Her own added logic about how anyone else may react also held quite a bit of truth.
Even still, his voice remained firm as he swiftly replied back, “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. Alyssa, you’re one of our best. These letters, surely you understand they’re a trap that Bishop is setting for anyone who accepts his challenge, right?”
After watching her give an affirmative nod to his rhetorical question, Ethan quickly added, “All more the reason to let him go. He’s not worth putting yourself in grave danger, even if it means accomplishing what we originally set out to do years ago; put him away and ensure he has justice served to him.”
His eyes narrowed as Mister Jackson leaned forward in his chair.
“I sincerely suggest you heed my words and just forget about him. However, if you truly want to go after him, you’ll give your badge and gun up. I also recommend thinking carefully about this. You’ve worked so hard. It’d be a shame to lose your job over a mere Phantom.”
Alyssa couldn’t find the right words to reply to Ethan with. Or, whenever she almost felt as if she could express herself, the words seemed to get stuck in her throat. Hearing her boss dictate the entire Bureau was going to give up despite having found the answer to a difficult riddle was insulting. It felt like a literal slap to her face.
Her body started to move on instinct as she slowly - a bit shakily even - stood up from the chair. Portman’s eyes landed first down at Ethan, lowered to the folder, and then glanced back up to her boss.
Wordlessly, Alyssa reached down and retrieved the letters, placing them back into the dossier.
“Then … if you’re going to make it official and tell everyone else we’re quitting, I doubt you’ll care if I take these, correct?”
Mister Jackson nodded. Although the grimace had never left his face, tinges of guilt could be detected. They simply weren’t strong enough to make him change his mind.
“I … I guess I have some serious thinking to do.”
At this, Ethan couldn’t help but raise his own eyebrow. “You would seriously think about giving your job up? After all you’ve done.”
“If it means keeping my beliefs intact, then yes. I don’t know if I could remain here and feel great about myself, especially knowing we
had - still have - the perfect opportunity to catch one of the most elusive men we’ve ever dealt with. And yet … if I let it slip …”
Alyssa shook her head sadly.
“I … don’t think I could view myself as a proper agent if that ended up happening. Good day, Mister Jackson.”
The last thing Portman heard was an irritated “Goddamnit” seconds before she shut the door to her boss’s office. As she began hastily heading towards the parking garage, Alyssa pulled her cell phone out and composed a quick text to Trey.
Don’t bother with the celebrations. He’s going to announce every single case against Bishop will be dropped, and we’re supposed to be fine with pretending he never existed in the first goddamn place!
- Alyssa
Normally, Alyssa didn’t cuss, be it out loud or in texts, emails, or any kind of correspondence. But right now? She was feeling
very furious with everything she had just heard. Of all the people Alyssa may have expected to utter the verdict ‘let’s just give up’, Ethan had definitely been one of the last people she expected to hear such words from.
Tears started to prick the corners of her eyes as she exited the headquarters and walked into the parking garage. Right as her hand rested on the handle of her car door, a
ding! signaled Trey had replied to her.
Sure enough, a simple fishing around in her coat pocket revealed he did indeed swiftly respond to her text.
Her head lowered as she took her turn to heave a defeated sigh. After weighing her options, Alyssa put her cell away, opened the driver’s side door, and got into her car. She’d reply to that text later. Right now, she wanted, scratch that
needed, to head home and do her own serious thinking.
With an easy turn of her keys into the ignition, the engine of her Ford Expedition roared to life. Alyssa easily navigated herself out of the parking garage and soon found herself driving along the streets of Washington D.C., beginning to head back to her house.
