Dead by Tomorrow - Part Five

Part Five

         Dumont and another Agent entered the interrogation room and after putting a file folder on the table,Dumont sat across from Brady while the other Agent stood. He flipped open the file without saying a word and scanned a few pages.
         Brady, with his hands cuffed behind him, watched in silence.
         After a few moments, Dumont cleared his throat.
         “You are a conundrum, Mr. Ellerman, to say the least.” Dumont started. “All we have on you is basic information, birth date, Social Security Number and so forth. Your Service Record has been sealed by the Department of Defense.” Brady already knew that but he choose to remain silent to see if Dumont knew anything critical. “To them, you might as well not even exist. I placed a call to the DoD and the very polite Army Liaison Officer told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I inquired about you again, I would lose my job, my pension and might even face Jail time in a obscure Federal prison somewhere.
         “But you know what I think?” said Dumont leaning forward, clasping his hands together on the table. Brady just looked at him, expressionless and silent. “I think whatever is in that Service Record is the reason why you are running.” Dumont leaned back, trying to get a read on Brady. Brady just returned the stare.
         “You just about made it. You just about got away.” Dumont said coolly. “You tried to kill two of my Agents.” he said. He knew it wasn't true but he was  trying to goad a reaction out of Brady.
         'If I was trying to kill them, they'd be dead.' thought Brady to himself.
         Dumont noted that the accusation had caused a small reaction in Brady. He smiled slightly.
         “We'd be willing to forgive that,” Dumont said leaning forward again, “if you would assist us in our Investigation.”
         Brady let his eyes drop, momentarily, to the table. Dumont saw that and took it as a sign that Brady was considering his offer. Dumont pulled a photo from the file and turned it so Brady could see it. Brady looked and saw it was a head shot of Rebbecca Webster with a phone to her ear.
         “Who is that?” asked Dumont. Brady realized that they weren't investigating him, they were investigating her.
         “That's Rebbecca Webster.” Brady said.
         “Have you ever meet her before?”
         “Not before this morning.” Brady lied, well, a half lie. He had seen her before overseas, he remembered now, but never actually met her.
         Dumont pulled another photo. “How about him?” Brady looked again and tried not to show his reaction. The picture was a head shot of one a former member of Brady's Ranger team.
         “Nope, don't know him.”
         “That's funny, “ Dumont said, “because his Service Records are sealed too, just like yours.”
         “So you have a photo of some woman I ran into this morning, and another of some guy.” Brady said looking up at Dumont. “You've been chasing me based on a chance encounter?” Brady leveled his gaze at Dumont knowing now that his run-in with Rebbecca Webster was not a coincidence. “Has the FBI run out of things to do?”
         Dumont returned the gaze, his stare becoming a bit harsh. “Are you going to help us or not?”
         “Pick somebody else.” said Brady his voice a steel trap. “You can't hold me and you know it.”
         “And yet, there you are in hand cuffs.” said Dumont. “Maybe we will charge you 2 counts of attempted murder on Federal Officers.”
         “You bastard!” Brady barked almost letting his anger get the best of him.
         “Perhaps you should reassess your situation.”
         Brady stifled an angered sigh as he thought it over. They did have him over a barrel, he was, after all, a fugitive. To them anyway.
         “What do you need.” Brady said at last. Dumont smiled a repressed triumphant smile. He turned and nodded his head to the second Agent that was still standing there. The Agent fished in his pocket and produced the keys to the handcuffs. Brady smiled and brought his arms out from behind his back, the handcuffs in one hand. He tossed them on the table followed by a bent paper clip. The Agent stopped, looked at Brady, then at Dumont. Dumont's face registered no surprise. The Agent took the cuffs and left the room.
         Dumont pulled out a folder from underneath the first one and opened it.
         “Morse Protection Services” said Dumont, turning the file so Brady could see it. “It's a shadow company that we have traced back to two Parent Companies,so far. We still have no idea who is running it. We only know of few of the executive Officers, Rebbecca Webster being one of them. She's probably the front man.
         “We know they have been recruiting former Special Ops and Military Intelligence for at least the last two years. The have a cover of a bodyguard service, but we haven't been able to trace one legitimate job back to them. They have jobs on their books alright, just enough to keep the IRS from breathing down their necks. They are of course, fakes, once we looked into it.
         “Our question, among others, is why do they need 2500+ bodyguards, at last count.”
         Brady raised an eyebrow at that question.
         Dumont continued. “That's just what they have recruited since we started watching them.”
         “They are building an Army.” Brady said as a matter of fact
         “That's what we think. But why? To what end? They can't just have these guys sitting around.” Dumont said shifting in his seat. “We are trying to tie any unsolved crimes to them, here and overseas, but with no luck”
         “And you want me to hire on with them.” Brady said looking up. Dumont nodded. “Why me? How do you know I won't like what I find and screw you over.”
         Dumont reached into the inside pocket of his suit coat and produced the crumpled card Brady had thrown in the trash. He smoothed it and placed it on the table.
         “You have already told me where you stand.”