Chapter 7: CIERRA

I'm glad that was over; that had been one of the toughest exercises so far, in spite of the crumbs that were placed in our way to direct us to our conclusion, which turns out was the wrong one. My fellow agents had proven how easy it is to accuse and convict the wrong person, based on our need to believe, that the more normal seeming, upstanding citizen, was always innocent; while the society reject, was always the guilty party.

The fact that Frank Connell is a fat, balding middle-aged recluse, painted him as guilty in their eyes. It was a sad fact that this kind of thinking had put many innocents behind bars, and worse yet, sent them to their deaths. I was willing to do everything I could to put a stop to such behaviors, one case at a time.

I left the building and headed to the cafeteria for some much-needed tea. Yes I know, what federal agent or law enforcement officer worth their salt preferred tea instead of coffee? I couldn't stomach the stuff; it tasted like lead paint in my mouth.

There was a lot of activity on the base this time of day. Cadets going through their rigorous paces, the echo of gunfire could be heard off in the distance, breaking that feeling of the serene one could sometimes get, when walking these grounds. Surrounded by hundreds of acres of wooded land, the Farm was a thing of beauty. It looked like any college campus in the country's Midwest, and in the fall, rivaled its neighbors in beauty.

I'd been here six months, instead of the usual four, because my case was a special one. I had been recruited into an accelerated special agent-training program, which meant hundreds of hours of training.

It wasn't all physical training and firearms, though they too were essential. But I had to study all aspects of crime and law enforcement, which had been my field of study at the University. It had been a grueling few months, each day starting early and going on nonstop for twelve hours or sometimes more.

I will miss it when I left, it was one of the only places that had felt like home in a very long time, I didn't want to know what that said about me.

***

Mancini

***

My meet with Jason Laramie went smoothly; we finalized our dealings, no doubt under the watchful eye of law enforcement, from afar of course; which we had a good laugh over. The details of our little meeting, if revealed, could cause quite an uproar. Jace is one of my best friends, outside of my two brothers and my family; he got pretty much the same rap as I did, and it made us close.

In our line of work, trust was hard to come by, but we've known each other since we were young men. In fact, we'd become part of the same organization at about the same time, though Jace had beaten me to the punch by a few months. Another scion, from yet another wealthy family.

Our organization was kind of a secret society if you will, that the public had no knowledge of what so ever. It was best that it was kept that way, for all intents and purposes though it made our lives a bit difficult. That was the price we paid for who we were, it gave us the freedom to move in the shadows, as we will. Had we applied our special skills to a law enforcement badge, we would've been more hindered than the criminals we sought to eradicate, which would've been not only a shame, but also a waste.

"So Hank, you all set for your meet with these guys later?"

"Yeah, that's set for another hour or so." I sat back in my chair, a little more relaxed now that the hard part was over. Planning for an Op was always grueling work, there was so much to cover, so much that could go wrong, and the consequences if we failed, which for me was never an option.

"Alright dude, I guess I'll leave so that you can get yourself together. I know how it is having to deal with them on an empty stomach; I don't begrudge you this part of the operation dude seriously. I think if I had to carry your load I would've burnt out by now."

"I doubt it Jace; we do this because we have to, because it needs to be done and most of all, because we don't trust anyone else to do it."

"This is true, and on that note, are you planning on settling down anytime soon brother?" We always ended our conversations the same.

"No bro I don't think so; I don't think that it'll be fair to anyone, you know what I mean? This lifestyle, she'd have to be one special woman." For some unknown reason, one Cierra Stone popped into my mind at that precise moment, but I brushed it aside.

***

I wasn't in the market for hearth and home, but something about her kept tugging at me, which was unacceptable. It was one thing to want to get her between the sheets, and quite another to start down that road of make believe. There was no room in my life for permanence, not now anyway, and maybe not ever. The little I'd garnered about her so far had rung true for me. It was almost as if she was my equal, that could be the reason for my fascination, I wasn't sure. I'll have to dig a little deeper into Ms. Stone's background at a later date.

"What about you, found anyone willing to put up with your shit yet?" If I was a hard ass, Jace was the poster boy. He was tough as nails, though his down home Louisiana, boy next door charm, could easily fool the unsuspecting into believing different.

"Nope not in the cards brother." He had a wistful look there for a moment, but it was too fleeting to be sure. Jace for all his tough outer shell, needed family. He'd lost his at a young age and was for all intents and purposes, pretty much alone in the world. That's why I shared mine with him; Juliet Mancini could melt even the iciest of hearts, and over the years, her gentle understanding had helped to mellow out my friend.

"So I'll get back to you after I meet with these guys and let you know the particulars, everything's pretty much set already though, unless they throw me a curve ball today, so we're a go."

"Can't wait to be done with this one, this one's left a really bad taste in my fucking mouth; these fucks are really sick. Sicker than the usual pricks we deal with and we've dealt with some sick shit before haven't we?" Jace stood to leave.

"I know what you mean brother, it takes all kinds; the fact that this bunch dresses up in suits and holds high positions in our society is what makes it so distasteful. But we knew going in that it wasn't always going to be the so called dregs of society that we were going to have to deal with; we knew going in that it was going to be some of the world's best sometimes that we'd have to bring down. Doesn't matter to me, guilty is guilty, I don't care if you're wearing a thousand dollar suit, or you're a fucking bum on the corner."

"I wonder that our government doesn't have the first clue that they're harboring these assholes, so much for national security, the shit is sickening."

"I know, that's why we're here, doesn't make it any easier though; so tell me before you go, how're you doing with the CIA, they still on your ass for that last run?"

"Brother please, they're always going to be in my shadow, doesn't phase me none; our boys have us covered, what about you?"

"I think I have a new shadow coming soon, I'm not sure about this one though."

"Yeah, why is that?"

"This one's a girl."

"Sheeiit they putting a female on you, what are they up to this time?"

"I don't know, have to wait and see. I'll keep you posted brother."

"You do that, keep your head down and your ass covered bro?"

"Will do, you do the same, drinks after?"

"You know it, how's my girl doing? I haven't spoken to her in a few days at least, been a bit busy trying to fine tune my part of the Op."

"Be forewarned, she's on the warpath again."

"Uh oh, what happened now?"

"Hell if I know, apparently we're not paying her enough attention. I know the spiel, she's working her way up to the get Hank married campaign." He laughed at that of course, because everyone knew how shamelessly relentless mama was in her drive to see me married off.

We said our goodbyes on a lighter note, granted that in a few days we'd both be in a much different place, facing danger, in our bid to free the world of scum, one criminal at a time.