Natural Consequences(226)
“So, that’s it?” Wade asked after the group exchanged a round of glances. “We just go home and call it bygones?”
“That’s how I plan to play it, yes,” Nguyen confirmed. “I’m closing this case as soon as I can. I’ve got concerns and I’ve got questions,” she said, eyeing Lorelei meaningfully, “but in the end, we never had solid cases against you and you weren’t our primary target to begin with. Everything we could reasonably charge you with seems to have been a matter of self-defense. So for the record, I just wanted to say that we’re square here.
“However, I’d love to interview you all on a less adversarial basis,” she continued. “You have experience with supernatural matters that nobody on our task force can match. You might provide a lot of valuable insight for us going forward. That’s not going to happen tonight, though, or tomorrow. We’ll make arrangements, if you’re willing.”
“Seems fair,” Alex shrugged.
“Of the vampires, the werewolves and some others, I can speak,” said Lorelei, “but my advice on other matters will be sparse at best.”
“Strictly voluntary,” nodded Nguyen. “I’m not talking about subpoenas here.”
“But that’s it, then?” Drew asked. “Just do an interview and it’s cased closed?”
Nguyen pursed her lips. “I need to speak with your other two friends, but they aren’t in any trouble, either. As far as you’re concerned, though? Just the interviews. Nothing more. Move on with your lives and call us if you run into trouble in the future. Maybe we can repay the favor you did us here.”
Drew let out a sigh of relief. Lorelei leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder. Wade sank into a chair.
Jason quietly walked out of the room, his eyes cast down to the floor.
* * *
“I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself until now. My name is Colleen Nguyen, and it looks like I’m the agent in charge now,” she sighed wearily. Stress and exhaustion showed on her face as easily as all the dirt, but none of it looked likely to put her down soon.
The hallway offered no place to sit, but it beat speaking outside. The three stood under one of the hanging lights. It hardly offered complete privacy, but Agent Nguyen wanted at least a little space from the others for this.
“I’m Onyx,” nodded one of the young women.
“Molly,” said the other. She made a little wave with one hand before folding her arms across her chest once more.
“First off, I wanted to thank you for all of your help here tonight, both with the rescue and hanging around until now. On a less pleasant level, I’m obligated to tell you that this entire incident and everything you know about my task force is one big national security secret. If you tell anyone, by act or omission, you’ll be arrested, tried and probably put in prison. Again, that’s something I have to say. I don’t want to be the bad guy. We owe you our lives… and that leads me to the real reason I wanted to talk to you.
“You’re obviously talented sorcerers. I’m told that’s the proper term to use in a conversation like this. Anyway, I’ve heard at least a third-hand account of everything you did last month with this crew, and I can see what you’ve done here in this incident. I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in helping us out in the future?”
Neither of the younger women expected that question. “You want us to join the FBI?” Onyx blinked.
Nguyen shook her head. “No. Well. Not immediately, anyway, but I’m sure the option would be open once you met our recruiting standards. Neither of you have a college degree yet, as far as I know. But like I said, I’m the agent in charge of a very special task force with special rules and resources. I can’t just recruit new agents out of the blue. I can, however, hire outside consultants.”
“You mean the kind you pay money, right?” Molly asked. “Like, paid consultants?”
“Absolutely,” nodded the agent. “You’d have to pass the background check, of course. Do either of you have criminal records? Are you both American citizens?”
The pair snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, we’re good there,” Molly nodded. “What sort of work are we talking about here?”
“I’m not talking about full-time responsibilities, and I don’t want to put you in the line of fire. I’m talking about a case-by-case relationship. It may only come down to providing expert advice. But we pay for that,” she added for Molly’s benefit.
“How much of this has to do with keeping track of us?” Onyx ventured.