The Fall

“Why am I here?” Douglas asked. The man from the shadows said, “You are working for the FBI, or the CIA or some other acronym government agency, are you not Douglas?” Douglas was shocked to learn they knew his name. He did not carry any personal identification on him. He knew that he had not been frisked during the entire time he was with these guys, so he did not respond to the question and asked his question again. “Why am I here?” “You are Douglas Trenton Fairbanks, age forty-one. You live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; your address is 9674 North Corlies Street. You have a wife, Linda, age forty-two and two sons; Bradley, sixteen and Sam, twelve. If you want to see them again, you will answer my questions. You should know that your wife and kids are safe. We have no one near them and we don’t intend to have anyone hurt them, they are innocent, you are not. We have no intention of hurting you either, but my large colleague would enjoy the opportunity. So again, please answer my questions when I ask them,” the shadowed man said. Douglas looked at the large security guard and firmly decided that he definitely could do serious damage to him if he was ordered to do so. Besides, Douglas was a low level employee of the FBI and he certainly wanted to see his family again. “Seeing as how you know that much about me,” he said, “why do you need to ask me anything?” “We know a lot about you, that is true, but we do not know who you work for and why a government that is collapsing even cares what we do. So Douglas, or should I call you Doug, as your wife and friends do, which company do you work for?” the shadowed man asked again. Douglas paused for a moment and started sweating at being called by his nickname, only his wife and friends called him Doug, nobody else. “You can call me Mister Fairbanks. You are neither my wife nor friend. I am sure you could look up my place of employment easily enough though. For whatever its worth to you, I work for the Philadelphia FBI field office. I am currently a low level field agent. I had a few problems a few years ago that cost me my special supervisory agent title.” “Thank you Doug for confirming that information. For the record, we did know who you worked for. I just wanted to test your resolve. Now, how did you get in the driver’s seat of the General’s car?” the interrogator asked. The annoyance on Douglas’ face showed briefly, but the looming security guard made him rethink his brash answer. “I received a call from the head of the field office saying that a meeting had been set up for today with the Governor of New Jersey and the General. I was to take the General to the government building and then I was to call the FBI with a description of the General and his staff. When I received my orders, I was told that we had some incriminating information about the real driver. Once I informed the driver about the details of his possible incrimination, he relented and handed me the keys to the car.” “I see. Do you know who informed the FBI about the meeting today? Do you know if there are any plans to harm the General and his staff? That includes during and after the meeting Doug,” the interrogator asked. “I don’t know about either of those things. I was only supposed to drive the General to the government house,” Douglas shrugged. “Doug I want to help you, but you need to be completely honest with me. Are you sure that you don’t know who the informant was and if there are any plans?” Raising his voice a little Douglas said, “I just told you I don’t know.” “My you are getting defensive Doug. I would hate to have my friend here work you over a little just to make sure.” “I already told you twice, now I will tell you again, I don’t know.” The security guard looked over at the interrogator. With a nod from the interrogator, the guard pulled a Desert Eagle XIX pistol loaded with .50AE bullets and pointed it at Doug’s left eye. Douglas Fairbanks immediately recognized the weapon and started sweating profusely. He quickly looked to the interrogator, the guard and then the weapon. “Now Doug, my friend here has never had to use his prized pistol on anyone as of yet, but I must point out that he is an expert marksman. At this range the bullet would take your head off within a second from leaving the chamber. Judging from your reactions, I can tell you already know this. I am also quite sure that you know that my friend would not hesitate to use his prized pistol on you.” Cocking his head slightly, the interrogator continued, “It would also leave us one heck of a mess for us to clean up. So I will ask you one last time. Do you know who in the New Jersey government informed the FBI about this meeting and what that person’s plans are?” the interrogator asked again. Douglas Fairbanks was a moment from shitting himself as he shouted, with snot coming out of his nose and spit coming out of his mouth, “I DON’T KN… KNOW WHO!” He saw the guard look over his shoulder again and he saw the interrogator nod once more. The guard looked back Doug and smiled. The last thing Doug thought about was his wife and kids just before the guard pulled the trigger. He had not seen or heard the man move up behind him holding the 2 X 4 piece of lumber but he heard the loud click of the pistol just as he was knocked out with a hit across his upper back.