Doing Laundry – Part VIII

Photo: Kim MyoungSung – (CC BY 2.0)

     “Haley…” Eli began, but stopped short when his confidence ran out.
     “So she said ‘you’re under arrest for fraud’ before cuffing you, and bringing you in?”
     Eli thought back to the moments in the mall. The police officers had tried, but Haley stopped them after pointing out they didn’t have a warrant. The gears in his head clicked into place.
     “So I’m not under arrest?” Eli asked, pensively.
     “Nope,” Hank smiled. “But you could be.” He paused. “Eli, the N.S.A. has been developing a top secret weapon to sabotage the nuclear weapons program of a country I can’t talk about. We were going to use one of our own, but the best candidate was found in a pool of his own blood eight months ago. Since our window was too tight to train another agent, we opted to turn to someone already in the business.”
     “Business?”
     “Social engineering.”
     “Ah,” Eli said, still not feeling as relieved as he thought he should.
     “You take the job, your criminal record disappears and you walk free. Make Uncle Sam proud enough, and you just might land a permanent spot within the N.S.A.”
     “And if I refuse?”
     “I did say you could be under arrest didn’t I?”
     “Right. So why is it so important for Haley to trust me?”
     “She’s the liaison between the F.B.I. and the N.S.A., since this is a joint operation, well, her operation she got to pick the who. She picked you.”
     She’s trusting me not to burn her. She knew. She was right.
     “I’m in.”