Special Talents (29 page)

"Apprehended?" questioned the Secretary.

"I alerted security that he would be coming into the building this morning. They were to detain him and call me immediately. They're on their way up right now."

"You play dirty, general," said Scarborough, smiling at him. "You know he's supposed to deliver the statue to the Secretary's desk by 8:00."

"You did say I could use any security measures I wanted," said Porter.

"That was in reference to the location where you had put the statue and I think you're aware of that."

"Well, then you should have been more specific, Assistant Director. I can assure you that the terrorists aren't going to make that distinction."

Several minutes later Jeremy entered the office flanked by two men in suits wearing badges that identified them as agents of Homeland Security. One of the men handed General Porter an oversized briefcase. One that would have been large enough to carry the statue.

"That will be all," said Napolitano, waving the security off.

As the two men left the room, a man wearing a maintenance uniform entered. He had a beard and was wearing a baseball cap. The name tag on his uniform read "Gonzalez".

"Excuse, Senora Secretary," said the man with a thick Spanish accent, "I leave something in bathroom. I get it."

"Yes, yes, just hurry up," said Napolitano, waving the man toward her private bathroom. More than likely he was one of the custodians who cleaned the building every day. She wasn't concerned about him. Everyone who worked in the building was closely scrutinized and a background check done before they were hired.

"Well, doctor," Napolitano, looking at the clock on her wall, "7:49. You're right on time."

"But he didn't complete the assignment," said Porter, holding up the briefcase. "I believe you were supposed to put this on the Secretary's desk. You didn't."

"Well, if you hadn't had me arrested when I came in the building, I would have," replied Jeremy.

"You did say any security measures?" said Porter, putting the briefcase on the floor. "I guess now we know I was right. Your people aren't ready for this. They don't have the training or experience for it."

"Training they can get," said Jeremy. "Experience comes with time."

Just then the custodian came out of the bathroom carrying a small case of soap. He glanced down and noticed his shoe was untied. He sat the case on the edge of Napolitano's desk and bent down to tie his shoe. At that same moment, the door to her office opened and Colonel Green, followed by Captain Phillips entered the office. Green was carrying a small satchel.

"Madam Secretary," said Green. "I'm sorry I'm late, general. Traffic is murder this time of day." He handed the satchel to Porter. "Madam Secretary, may I introduce my adjutant, Captain Phillips."

"Captain," said Napolitano, nodding at him once.

"What's this?" Porter asked, looking in the satchel.

"It's the statue, sir," said Green. "As you can see I'm as good as my word. The infiltrators didn't get it and I delivered it as ordered."

"Who ordered you to bring it here?" questioned Porter.

"You did, sir," said Green a look of confusion on his face. "Last night just after the prisoners escaped."

"Colonel, I wasn't at the compound last night," said Porter.

"Oh, I'm afraid that's my fault," said Jeremy. "Things were a bit hectic last night, as the colonel and captain can attest. I thought it would be a good idea if he brought what he was guarding here."

"What's going on here?" Porter demanded. "I wasn't at the compound last night and I didn't give any orders. Dr. Sloan, you were supposed to deliver this statue to this office and put it on the Secretary's desk." He picked up the satchel and held it up. "You didn't do that. Which mean you failed the assignment, according to our agreement."

"Maybe you'd like to have a look at that statue before you start claiming victory," said Jeremy, an odd smile on his face.

Porter reached in and pulled the statue out of the satchel. The general glanced at it and then held it up.

"So?" he insisted. "This was the award that Colonel Green was supposed to protect. It seems he did just that."

"Look a little closer," said Jeremy.

The general looked the statue over again. It took him a moment before he realized that, although it did look like the statue that had been sitting in the Secretary's office, there was one difference. Instead of two "W's" interposed over each other on the oval, there were two "M's" interposed over each other.

"General, that's not my Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service," said Napolitano, taking the statue and looking it over. "It's a very good forgery. Except for the initials engraved into it. But it is obviously not the statue that Dr. Sloan was supposed to deliver to my office."

"That may be the case," said Porter, glancing at the clock on the wall. "But the fact of the matter is, it's now 8:01. And according to the terms of our agreement, your team has failed. You didn't put the statue on the Secretary's desk as agreed upon."

"Actually," said Jeremy, "Dr. Sloan did put the statue on the desk. And well before 8:00 a.m."

They all watched as the custodian stood up from tying his shoe. He pulled of the baseball cap and began to pull the beard from his face. When he was done, Jeremy stood next to the Secretary's desk smiling at Porter.

Confused, Napolitano and Porter just looked at the two Sloans. They looked virtually identical. Suddenly the one that had been escorted into the office closed his eyes. His skin rippled for a moment and he suddenly changed. Instead of Jeremy Sloan, Wil Barnes stood in front of the Secretary's desk.

"Madam Secretary, my name is Wil Barnes. I'm one of Dr. Sloan's' team members. It's an honor to meet you, ma'am."

"I figured you pull something like having me arrested at the front door when I came in," Jeremy said to Porter. "So I had a couple of my people bring this in earlier this morning." He opened the box of soap and pulled out the statue. He then sat it on the desk in front of Napolitano. "It was in the bathroom. All I had to do was bring it out here and sit it on the Secretary's desk."

"Which you didn't," said Porter. "You just now sat it on the Secretary's desk."

"But if you'll recall," said Jeremy, "I sat the box it was in on her desk before 8:00. To tie my shoe. You didn't say it couldn't be inside something. Just that it had to be on her desk."

"That wasn't part of the agreement," said Porter.

"Neither was having him arrested when he came in the building, general," said Scarborough. "It seems you both took some liberties that weren't agreed upon."

"So it would seem," said Napolitano.

"He was supposed to bring it in himself," said Porter. "He just said he had two of his people do it."

"Well, maybe I misspoke," said Jeremy. "I should have said I had two of my people help me bring it in. We do have footage showing me bringing the box in and setting it in the bathroom. So I did complete the assignment. Maybe not as everyone imagined but I did complete it."

"A technicality," said Porter.

"Life is full of technicalities, general," said Scarborough. "What do you think? That the terrorists are going to operate by your timetable? That they're going to follow the rules? If we've learned anything in the past ten years it's that they don't have any rules. They'll do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. And they don't care who gets hurt or killed in the process.

"Maybe Dr. Sloan took a few liberties. But then, so did you. Those BOLOs on our vehicles wasn't part of the deal. Neither was having Dr. Sloan apprehended when he came in the building this morning. But I'd say that Dr. Sloan and his team completed the assignment to the letter."

"At any rate," said Jeremy, "my team got onto the complex, got the statue, and returned it here just as stipulated. I think, general, you have to admit my team is a lot better than you thought they were. And they've proven they can work together."

"I must admit, general, I have a tendency to agree with them," said Napolitano. "But you were the one who wanted this test. You'll have to decide if it convinces you or not."

Porter looked at Green and Phillips. He thought about it for a minute and then looked at Jeremy. He was used to being in command. And he wasn't used to what he considered subordinates telling he was wrong.

"Well," said Porter finally, "I guess I do have to admit you completed the objective. And Assistant Director Scarborough is right. The terrorist don't play by the rules. They don't have any rules. Very well, doctor. I will concede that your team accomplished the mission as specified. I guess they are better than I had originally given them credit for."

"Thank you, general," said Jeremy. "I'll try to be a gracious winner. Now, Madam Secretary, I would like to go home and get cleaned up. And maybe get some rest. It's been a very long night."

"Certainly, doctor," said Napolitano. "You've earned it. I'll arrange with Assistant Director Scarborough for our next meeting. Oh, and as of right now, you can tell your team they are officially a part of Homeland Security. I think we can now begin to decide how best to utilize them."

"I'll let them know," said Jeremy.

Jeremy and Will turned to leave the office. As they passed Green and Phillips, Wil turned to the captain.

"Oh, by the way, captain," he said, "I thought you might like to know Simon got that gig at the Improv. When he told them you thought he was colonel funny that cinched it. They said that anyone who was colonel funny had to be a headliner. You should come. He's got some great new material he'd like you to hear."

Phillips just stared straight ahead with no expression on his face. Wil could tell he was doing his best to control his temper. Wil also noticed the looks of confusion on the faces of Napolitano, Porter, and Scarborough.

"Oh, he'll explain it," said Wil, putting his hand on the captains' shoulder. "Captain Phillips and Simon go way back."

Smiling to himself, Wil followed Jeremy out of the office. It took all of Jeremy's self-control to keep from breaking out in laughter.

"And then," said Scarborough, "Wil turns to the Secretary and the general and says, 'Captain Phillips and Simon go way back'. They had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I thought Phillips was going to deck him right there."

Everyone gathered at the table broke out in laughter. They were having another celebratory dinner. With their success on the training mission, Secretary Napolitano had agreed they had all earned a well-deserved vacation. It would take some time to decide on how best to utilize the team and she said they could rest up while they could.

"Oh, no," said Jeremy. "Colonel Green's men are trained to fight their natures. He'd never strike a civilian without provocation."

"Sounds like he had plenty of provocation," said Conrad.

"Well I almost lost it when Simon was telling Phillips his name," said Janet. "Mr. Mehoff?"

"'You can call me Jack'," said Conrad, imitating Simon's voice.

"Simon, you really do have a problem with authority, don't you?" said Jeremy, smiling at him.

"Well, Dr. Sloan, it's like this. Most of the people 'in charge' that I've known are idiots. Or they think they're better than the workers. Most of them have this attitude that they're in charge so they don't have to do any actual work. No matter how short-handed they may be at the moment. I just don't like people who figure they're above it all."

"You wouldn't do well in politics," said Scarborough.

"You know," said Jeremy, looking around at the group, "I think we can dispense with the 'Dr. Sloan'. None of you are my patients. And we're going to be working pretty closely together. Everyone else is on a first name basis, even Richard. Can't see why I should stand on ceremony. From now on, it's Jeremy."

"I've called you that for years," said Janet.

"You know, Richard," said Frank, "I thought you were crazy to suggest that the team allow itself to be captured. I couldn't figure out how getting captured was going to help us accomplish the mission."

"Well," said Richard, "they knew you were coming. As long as any of you were still out on the grounds they'd be looking for you. I figured once they had you in custody they might relax a bit. I just wasn't sure about how you would escape."

"I for one enjoyed playing the general," said Wil. "When I showed up at the front gate they didn't even ask me for ID. They just waved me on through. And Colonel Green never even questioned me. It was great barking out orders and having them jump through hoops for me."

"Yeah, but parking that van next to the confinement building was a good idea," said Jeremy. "It allowed Simon to phase us all into the back of the van and then you just drove of the base with us. They never even bothered to check the van."

"Why should they?" questioned Kamalene. "They thought we were trying to escape. That once we got out of that prison we'd get as far away from it as possible."