Shift Happens(33)

“Supernatural Regulatory Division. My name is Patty. How may I direct your call?” A woman’s real voice cut off the music.

“Hi, Patty,” I said as calmly as possible. “This is Agent McNeilly. I am a contractor under Handler Landen. I don’t know his last name. He’s dead and I’ve encountered difficulties with my last assignment…”

“Agent Andrea McNeilly?” the woman’s sharp voice cut me off.

“Yes,” I stated. How many Agent McNeillys were there?

“Please hold.”

This time the music was pop from my adolescent years. Normally I would have hummed along, but this time a string of curses escaped instead. It didn’t help my current mood. Sparring would relieve some of my pent up stress and other frustrations, but playing fisticuffs with Wick was no longer an option. I didn’t trust either of us to behave in close proximity.

“This is Agent Booth.” The woman’s husky voice scratched my ear through the receiver. Too many cigarettes. That or she’d gone clubbing with her girls the night before and had no voice left. “Is this Andrea McNeilly?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I need you to answer a few security questions to confirm your identity before we can proceed.” Her fingers tapped away at her computer.

“Okay…” This wasn’t standard procedure. What was going on?

“Please tell me your employee number, month and day of birth, your mother’s maiden name and your safe word.”

“16113, May 15th, Anderson and Serendipity,” I listed the answers quickly. When I was a child, I’d read a book with a purple dinosaur named Serendipity. I didn’t know what it meant until I looked it up years later. Serendipity—by chance. Regardless, it had always been one of my favorite words and became my safe word for the SRD when I joined fifteen years ago.

“Thank you, McNeilly. I’m relieved you contacted us voluntarily. Turning yourself in is the right thing to do.”

“Turn myself in!”

“Well…yes. Isn’t that why you contacted us?”

“No.” I clutched the phone tightly. “What is it you think I did?”

There was a long pause. “McNeilly, where is Landen?”

“He’s dead.”

“I see.” Booth’s tone was flat. More clicking sounds came from her end of the line while she vigorously typed something on her computer.

“I tracked him down after the last assignment he gave me went bad.”

“I see.” There was another long pause. More clicking.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked after I realized Booth still stewed on what I’d said. Taking a deep breath, I focused on relaxing my grasp on the phone before continuing. “I’ve followed every order given to me since the start of my employment. I’ve submitted debriefing statements to my handler and I’ve maintained a low profile, just like I was hired to do.”

“McNeilly, we haven’t given you orders for two years.”

The synapses in my brain stopped firing. I sat in silence while a weird fuzzy sensation moved up my back.

“You can play dumb all you want, but you and Landen have been wanted by the SRD for the last two years for going rogue.”

The handset fell into my lap. I stared straight ahead but couldn’t see a thing. How the hell did this happen? If that son of a bitch Landen wasn’t already dead, I’d track him down and peck out his eyes.

“Agent McNeilly?” the receiver croaked. I picked it back up. “Agent McNeilly? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here…” I wiped away the sweat forming on the bridge of my nose. “I’m not sure what to say. I’m shocked. I swear I had no idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when Landen gave me an assignment, I assumed it came from the SRD.”

“Are you honestly trying to tell me you weren’t aware the orders Landen issued you were outside SRD initiatives?”

“Yes! Of course, I wasn’t.” Something cracked. I paused and looked at the phone and realized I’d gripped it too hard again. “How would I know otherwise? My contact with the SRD is through my handler. The only reason I’m contacting you now is because he’s dead.”

More clicking. “Hmm. Yes. I can see how this could happen. We might need to amend our Handler-Contractor protocol. Could you please hold?” Without waiting for a response, music from my parents’ generation came on.

I can tell you what to do with your protocol. This woman was either an absolute pain in the ass, or a much needed ally. And I couldn’t tell which.