Billy’s Case Files
by Ermintrude
See part one for disclaimers
Part 25
The Pharaoh’s Engineer January 27, 1986
Billy was re-reading his recommendation in connection to the Code Pyramid case.
“And in conclusion—I would recommend that need-to-know be re-evaluated on files older than 20 years. If we had been able to discover what Pyramid was early into the case—we would not have suffered the physical breach of security and possible deaths of everyone in the building. Delineating a decision chain and formulating a new policy of allowing information and access to old cases, as well as allowing principles to discuss old cases without violating their security oath, might avert a similar situation in the future.”
He signed his name to the sheets and tossed them into the box marked upstairs.
He sat back and sighed heavily. ‘Like I think that will actually go anywhere. At least we discovered atropine is an effective antidote to GS gas. Hell of a way to find that out, though. We’re all damned lucky it did work. And Scarecrow is luckiest of all. Or maybe it’s Amanda that’s lucky. Maybe it’s the two of them together. They’ve had so many tight escapes over the last couple years.’
‘We have to keep closer watch on old contractors. If someone had been watching Blue Star Insurance—we might have found out about this plan earlier than we did. Thank heavens for Rupert—and Amanda. We also have to keep a closer eye on our people at Birchwood. Even though those people are out of the game—they still have valuable information that can be exploited.’
‘At least Amanda had the patience and determination to keep getting information from poor drugged Rupert. Her people skills have once again saved her partner and the Agency.’
‘I have to go over the Agency’s emergency evacuation plan. It took way too long to get everyone out once the alarm sounded. We need to start having regular drills again. It may be a disruption of work—but yesterday proved we need to do it because when the real thing comes along—we need to be ready. Maybe I can go over all the emergency drill plans. Devise a few interesting new scenarios for people to work on. We have to keep on our toes—because the bad guys never stop coming at us. And we have to be ready for whatever they throw at us.’
The Triumvirate February 10, 1986
Another black mark for the Agency. Wet operations being conducted from within the Agency. They were supposed to protect people from that type of thing—not initiate it. Sure people managed to slip through the cracks—agents had to be traded—that’s how the game was played—but for the most part the system worked. And if they didn’t trust the system—then all hell would break loose.
Billy marveled at Amanda King’s luck once again. ‘A simple data entry error brought down three of our own. And she’s honest enough to bring it to our attention. Again—she also mentioned that $50,000 Margaret Brock placed in her account immediately after the case was closed. That’s integrity. Why can’t we have more people like that working here?’
‘Damn shame we had to make a deal with Jepperd to rescue her, but he won’t get far. I never agreed to not have him tracked. As soon as he leaves the country—with his $100,000—he’ll be on the radar of every agent we have. The first time he tries anything—we’ll have him dead to rights. And maybe he’ll die after all. He’s still touch and go. He just wanted to bust our chops and prove he’s tougher than we are.’
‘It’s worth far more than $100,000 for me to have my best team intact and field capable. They’ve managed to do some amazing work in the past two years—and hopefully they have a lot more years in them as a team. They’re closer than ever. I saw that hug after Amanda was rescued. They may chalk it up to relief and friendship—but I think there may be more there. Still—as long as they clear the cases and stay alive and healthy—it isn’t my business unless they rub my nose in it. And they are both too careful and discreet to do something dumb like that, aren’t they? I certainly hope so. For all our sakes.’
The Eyes Have It February 17, 1986
Billy was talking to Lee in his hospital room, and planning their strategy for catching Dr. Goldberg in the act of passing the contact lenses to Brody.
"Billy, if I died—he’d know he succeeded and then he'd be free to sell the lenses." Lee was enthusiastic about nabbing the doctor who had tried to kill him.
"Yes, that might work. We can certainly use the NEST team to help stage something like that."
"Yeah—we could ask them what would look realistic—for me to die from."
Billy nodded. "Should I call someone in to ask about it?"
"Not quite yet—we also have one more factor to deal with."
"What's that?"
"Amanda."
"Yes, your partner."
"Billy—she has to be in on this one. We can't put her through that—thinking I'm dead again. She was pretty broken up that first time." Lee sounded remorseful about it.
"That was two years ago—are you telling me she still dwells on it?"
"I don't know about that—but she was really broken up at the time—and now..." Lee trailed off—seemingly embarrassed to be admitting he was aware of the depth of her feelings for him—or maybe his sensitivity to her feelings.
Billy decided to let Lee off the hook. "I agree. I'll brief her beforehand, and let her know what we're planning. And if she's there when you 'die', her reaction will help sell it to Goldberg as well."
"Yeah, that's a good idea, Billy. She can really help. She is emotional—and her reaction will be pretty strong—even if she knows it's not real." Lee's fast acceptance of the plan masked his strong relief.
Billy wasn't fooled. He knew the man would have argued loud and long to make sure she wasn't taken in again. 'It seems our Scarecrow has come to appreciate her viewpoint and is more sensitive to her feelings that he might like to admit. I wonder how much he has come to care for her? Past his protectiveness and survivor's guilt—I think the man has developed real feelings for his partner. They're fast friends—we all know that—but could he have come to love the woman? She's in love with him—anyone with a lick of sense can see it. But she also knows he's out of her league. Not that she'd turn him down if he decided to pursue a romantic relationship... The question is—does he realize it, and is he interested?' Billy responded to the agent. "OK, I'll go find one of the NEST team and have them come in here. We can plan strategy, and then I'll hunt down Mrs. King and brief her on what's going to go down. Then we can get our people in place, and stage your death."
"Sounds like a plan, Billy."
Before Wrong Number March 3, 1986
“Come in, Amanda.” Billy smiled as Scarecrow’s partner entered his office.
“Good morning, sir.” Amanda sat after Billy’s waved to the chair.
“Amanda—I have an assignment for you.”
“For me? Another courier assignment?” She sounded eager.
“Not this time—though I am pleased with your performance there lately.”
“Thank you sir. I’m pretty happy they’ve all gone well, too. No more phoney 20 dollar bills.”
Both chuckled. Billy hefted a pile of dossiers and handed them to Amanda. “One of the jobs of the Agency is to check security clearances of people whose work might have an impact on national security. Most agents think its grunt work—but sometimes these clearances uncover things that we need to know about. So I have here a group of people who need their clearances checked. You can use the Q Bureau to do your work—Lee will be in and out for the next week or so—and you two don’t have any cases pending—so you will have the privacy and computer access to do the work.”
“I see. What do I need to do here?”
“The first file contains the form and guidelines we use to conduct the searches. And it contains a couple of sample reports so you can see what they should look like when completed. Most of it is routine and clear-cut—but there are some areas where careful judgment is required. That’s where your instincts come into play. You are good with people—and part of the procedure is a personal interview with the subject—sometimes more than one. I’m counting on you to get the most out of each subject interview—and for you to use your instincts in evaluating their clearance rating.”
“Wow! It sounds like an important job.” Amanda was impressed.
“It is important. Like I said—most agents think its busy work—but a wrong security rating could cause disaster down the road. With these ratings we determine who needs to be watched, and who is trustworthy. It also gives us a personal handle on these people—just in case something comes up in the future—we have already had contact with them and gotten some sort of baseline to work from.”
“I see.”
“You’ll have a week—more if you need it. Start by studying the samples, and work from there. If you come up against any security walls or have any questions—feel free to ask me about it. Or Scarecrow can also give you advise—he’s done his share of these over the years. Technically you’ll be under his supervision. He knows about this, but I hope you’ll do these on your own as much as you can.”
“How did Lee do with these?” Amanda asked with a smile.
Billy smiled ruefully in return. “Let’s just say, I prefer assigning this to you—I think they’ll get done more quickly and with a lot less fuss.”
She looked through the top file. “Sir—this indicates I should do a practice evaluation—could I evaluate Lee? Just for practice, of course.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she asked.
“Of course—but be fair. No fudging the scores out of loyalty to your partner. Even Scarecrow has his flaws and weaknesses.” Billy replied with a smile and a twinkle of his own.
“Oh no sir—I’d never do that. I’ll be fair about Lee. But it will be fun even so.”
“Well—if you have no more questions…”
“Thank you sir—I appreciate the trust you have in me to assign me to this important job. I’ll do my best, you can count on it.”
“You always do Amanda, you always do.”
After Amanda left Billy mused on his real reason for assigning her the task. ‘If she manages to successfully complete these evaluations—that’s another skill she’ll have mastered. And hopefully she’ll need to access some higher-level documents and databases for the task—so I can temporarily elevate her clearance for the project. If she proves as good at this as I expect her to be—she’s one more step along the way to being a full-fledged agent. All I need is to get her into the training course. Of course—I’m feeding it to her bit by bit. So when she does actually take the course—she’ll pass with flying colors because little will be new or unfamiliar to her. She’s a whiz at the paperwork and she’s great with people—so how could it go wrong?’
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.