As always, thanks for your patience! Chapter 3 will be in three parts as well. Hoping to be able to wrap the chapter up by the end of the year. Time flies!
Continued from Volume 3 Chapter 2(c).
One morning two days later, the situation took another drastic turn. After hearing shocking news from Heiden, Yuto and Rob headed as fast as they could to the FBI headquarters.
Heiden was on the phone with someone when Yuto burst into his office. He eyed Yuto looking like he was about to have an outburst, and signalled with a dark glance to restrain himself. He continued the call as he sat on the edge of his desk.
“Understood. I’ll leave immediately. Yes. I’ll get in touch again later.”
Heiden hung up the phone and gestured in annoyance at them to take a seat on the sofa. Yuto spoke up immediately.
“What’s this about, Heiden? Could you explain?”
“It’s exactly what I told you on the phone. Someone claiming to be the perpetrator of the serial bombings just turned himself in at the Chicago Field Office. An agent over there is currently investigating, but I plan to fly over there as well right away. —Here’s a photo of the guy that Chicago sent. His name is John Baker.”
Heiden placed a printed photo in front of Yuto. It was a white man in his mid-thirties, but Yuto didn’t even have to pick up the photo to know that it wasn’t Corvus. Even if he made the generous assumption that he had gotten dramatic plastic surgery, his frame was still nothing like Corvus’.
“This is definitely not Corvus.”
“I figured as much. I don’t think Baker is Corvus, either. But he’s definitely involved in the bombings. He has information that only the perpetrator would know. Even physical evidence.”
Heiden was packing his documents into a bag when a subordinate who was accompanying him to Chicago appeared. Once he was ready, Heiden slung his coat over his arm and made for the door.
“Did he say that he was Corvus’ subordinate?” Yuto asked.
“No,” said Heiden, stopping mid-step. “They’re interrogating him, but he keeps claiming that there were no accomplices. Anyway, we’re still waiting on the details. I’ll get in touch if we learn anything new.”
With that, Heiden left the room with his subordinate in tow.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rob murmured. Yuto couldn’t agree more.
Corvus had been a shadowy figure until now. However, just when he finally starting to take shape, someone had suddenly appeared who could be the central piece of the case. Not only that, he was claiming that he was a lone perpetrator. He had no idea who this man might be, but what was the reason for his timing?
The bad feeling that Yuto and Rob had turned out to be right. The FBI concluded that John Baker, the man who had turned himself in, was the perpetrator of the serial bombings. They had even decided to reorient their investigation based on the premises that Baker was a lone wolf, as they had found his statements to be credible.
Once Heiden returned to DC, Yuto argued with him vehemently. Even if Baker were the perpetrator, there was no doubt that he was backed by White Heaven and Corvus. Why were they suddenly trying to wrap up the case without trying to get to the bottom of it? Nothing about it made sense.
“Tell me why, Heiden. It doesn’t make sense that you’d take Baker’s word for it.”
Heiden only returned a cold stare at Yuto’s confrontational attitude.
“His testimony was too perfect. Of course, there are still a lot of unknowns, but there’s no mistake that he was involved in the bombings.”
“But that doesn’t make him a lone wolf. He would have been acting on Corvus’ orders.”
“Right now, we have no evidence connecting him to White Heaven. That means we have nothing to connect him to Corvus.”
“So what if you don’t? We know that White Heaven is behind the string of bombings. The first guy who got arrested and sniped in Connecticut testified that the whole organization was involved in the bombings, remember?”
“Would you keep your voice down? I didn’t get much sleep last night and my head is pounding.”
Heiden was a fashionable man who always made sure he was immaculately groomed; however, today his bangs sloppily fell over his forehead and his tie was loose. From his battered appearance, Yuto could tell that he had fought his hardest in Chicago. Nonetheless, he had no pity. Heiden was already about to retreat from the battlefield.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to say Corvus is uninvolved in the bombings now.”
“I won’t. But the higher-ups—”
Heiden’s phone rang, cutting off their conversation. The man sighed and answered it.
“—Yes, that’s right. What? But isn’t it kind of rash to conclude — wait! Please give me more time. There are still a lot of uncertainties in Baker’s testimony.”
It was easy to see from Heiden’s attitude that the person on the other end had authority to make decisions on the case. Heiden negotiated tenaciously, but it looked like the other end had given firm orders. In the end, Heiden hung up the phone with a look of humiliation on his face, and in an uncharacteristic display of violence, flung his cell phone on his desk.
“Heiden, what was that about?” Yuto asked as Heiden raked his hair out of his face irritably.
“This is it. There’s nothing more I can do. The higher-ups have concluded that Baker was the lone perpetrator.”
“That can’t be!” Yuto exclaimed. “Then, what happens to Corvus? Have we come this far only to let him roam free?”
“Looks like it. The higher-ups seem to want to pretend like he never existed.”
Yuto slammed his fist down on Heiden’s desk, overcome with roiling anger.
“This is such bullshit! What is the FBI thinking? It’s the stupidest story I’ve ever heard!”
Rob got out of his seat as well to stand beside Yuto.
“Was there… pressure from elsewhere?”
Heiden sat down in his own seat and wearily massaged the inner corners of his eyes.
“It happens all the time. One word from senior management, and the whole case gets scrapped. No explanation. This case is better than some – at least we have a perpetrator, so it’ll uphold the FBI’s reputation.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the FBI’s reputation. You’re going to let the real perpetrator roam free, and if he does something again, how’re you going to explain yourselves?”
Yuto was desperate to motivate Heiden in any way so the man would dig his heels in. However, the man’s exhausted face was unresponsive. His expression was of complete defeat.
“These incidents won’t end unless we arrest Corvus. He’s planning the biggest explosion yet as his grand finale.”
“Lennix, there will be no more acts of terrorism. It’s fine,” Heiden said weakly. Yuto wondered what he was talking about at first, but he soon realized what Heiden meant to say between the lines. The blood rushed to his head in anger.
“You made a deal, didn’t you?”
Yuto grabbed Heiden by the front of his shirt, and the man was lifted from his seat.
“Stop it, Lennix…!” Heiden grimaced.
“Was it Manning?” Yuto growled, shaking him. Rob hastily came up behind Yuto, putting him in a nelson hold and pulling him off Heiden.
“Calm down, Yuto. It’s no use blaming Heiden about this. He didn’t have a say in the decision.”
Rob pushed an agitated Yuto behind him and turned back to face Heiden.
“Are you saying that they asked you to accept Baker as the perpetrator and withdraw from the case? And in exchange, they would cancel the next bombing?”
Heiden shook his head without even bothering to fix his disheveled shirt.
“I don’t know,” he said. “They weren’t open about it with me, either. But the higher-ups were firm when they said that no further bombings would occur because the perpetrator was caught. It’s up to you how you want to interpret that.”
Yuto glared sharply at Heiden, still seething with uncontrollable anger.
“I’m disappointed in you. You said you would arrest Corvus with whatever it takes.”
“What else do you expect me to do? Rebelling against the higher-ups isn’t going to change anything. I’ll be sent off to some field office, and someone else will take my place. That’s all,” Heiden said bitterly, and finally began to straighten up his disheveled clothing.
“Lennix, go back to Quantico. Go through proper training at the Academy.”
“Is that just your idea of a nice way to get rid of me?”
“I told you from the start. Your position as an agent is specific only to this case.”
Yuto felt more emptiness than anger at the decision. There was nothing he could do. Everything had been decided. Now, with Heiden completely unwilling to go against orders, there was nothing Yuto could do as a lone agent.
“Return your things. You have no use for them anymore.”
Heiden’s orders sapped Yuto’s motivation further. He couldn’t even muster a sigh in the face of overwhelming defeat. It was the worst conclusion he could have imagined. He didn’t know if Manning himself had pulled strings, but there was no way he wasn’t involved. FBI had bowed to the authority of a man who might be the mastermind of it all.
Yuto pulled out his badge, ID card, and pistol from his shoulder holster and wordlessly placed them on Heiden’s desk.
Once Yuto returned to his hotel from FBI headquarters, he began packing up his things.
“Rob, I’m sorry things had to end up this way after you came all the way up to DC,” Yuto said, overcome with powerlessness as he folded his clothes. “You should take a flight out of here back to LA today. I’ll be heading back to the Academy.”
“Are you sure?” Rob said from behind. “You vowed to arrest Corvus, didn’t you? I think it’s too early to give up.”
“I’ve lost my badge. How am I supposed to investigate?”
“You might have lost your privileges to investigate as an agent, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost the right to go after Corvus.”
Yuto was cut off by his phone ringing. He wearily took it out of his jacket pocket, but his face instantly changed when he say the caller display.
Yuto showed Rob the phone, which made him gasp. The caller display showed the same dummy Skype number that started with 000.
“Hey, Yuto. It’s been a while. Looks like you’re in DC, huh? How’s work?”
“Are you keeping surveillance on me or something? If you’re dying to see me so much, why don’t you come down in person?” he said sarcastically.
“One of these days,” Corvus said with a chuckle.
“Underhanded of you to set up a scapegoat like that. Are you that afraid of the FBI?”
“That wasn’t my idea.”
“Stop making excuses!” Yuto snapped. “You wanted to deal, and I agreed to play your game. Now you’re just backing out? You fucking coward.”
Corvus heaved a sigh on the other end.
“Don’t be so angry. I’ve got my reasons, too. And by no means have I cancelled the game. I’m planning the best fireworks display there ever was. I’d like for you to see it, too. And Dick, of course. He’s getting real close. I can almost hear his footsteps.”
The phone suddenly went dead.
“Shit,” Yuto spat, gripping his cell phone.
“What did Corvus say?” Rob asked.
“He doesn’t plan on putting a stop to his terrorism at all. He’s planning the biggest bombing yet.”
Rob’s face tensed at Yuto’s words.
“What’re you doing to do, Yuto?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.”
Even if he went to the FBI about it, the higher-ups were unlikely to change their minds. Since he was no longer an agent, he no longer had the power to prevent the bombings.
“Hey, Yuto. If you’re giving up on going after Corvus, does that mean you’re giving up on Dick, too? Can you bring yourself to?”
Yuto turned around to face Rob. He searched the man’s brown eyes, trying to get a sense of his intentions, but he was too distracted. He already had his hands full trying to suppress his negative emotions.
“Are you trying to talk me out of it because you’ve got an academic interest in this case?”
“That’s part of it, but the biggest reason is because I’m in love with you.”
“You’re not making sense. Wouldn’t you be happy if I forgot about Dick?”
“Yeah, I guess. I’d be over the moon if you could forget about Dick and fall in love with me instead. But what I want more than that is for you not to admit defeat. You’ve worked so hard to come this far. I don’t want to see you bend your will and turn your back on it. I fell in love with a man who’s true to his feelings and upholds his principles.”
Rob grinned and playfully gave Yuto’s cheek a pinch.
“At least try to dig your heels in a bit, hm?”
“I’m a dreamer, you know. I always want to see the people I love being their best selves, shining in the spotlight.”
Rob’s exaggerated line made Yuto snicker.
“You’re so dramatic, you know that?”
Rob hunched his shoulders, looking hurt. “I was serious about that, you know. No need to laugh.”
Letting out a laugh made Yuto’s mood lift a little from where it had been sitting at rock-bottom. He felt grateful for Rob’s advice, and decided to reconsider his decision. It was not over yet.
Things were still unsolved. Besides, Yuto had vowed to dive into the same loneliness that Dick had plunged into. He had vowed to capture Corvus with his own hands, for Dick’s sake as well as his. As long as Dick was still going after Corvus, there was no way he could give up.
“So, where to next? Quantico or New York?” Rob asked, holding up the invitation to the party tomorrow. Yuto snatched the blue envelope from Rob.
“New York,” he said firmly. “Let’s get going.”