44: New Orders

Alex returned from taking a shower Tuesday morning to find a thin manila envelope lying before his door. He picked it up with a sigh and entered the room where Derek was busy making his bed and straightening up a bit. Alex waved the envelope at him.

"Found this outside."

"What is it?" Derek asked.

"I’m very tempted not to look," Alex replied as he threw the envelope on the desk, then hung up his wet towel, stowing his toiletry bag away. "I have a feeling it’s not going to be pleasant reading."

"From the Agency?"

"Probably." Alex pulled out a blue flannel shirt and jeans and started dressing, patently ignoring the envelope on the desk.

"So the question is, who dropped this off?" Derek said as he sat on the edge of his bed to put on his shoes.

"Probably the same person who dropped off the other envelope, but I have no idea."

"Someone here is acting as a courier for the Agency?"

"Apparently. I didn’t really think about it. Whether the person actually works for the Agency or is just an innocent pawn, who can say? There was no one else in the hall when I came out of the bathroom." He buttoned his shirt and tucked it inside his jeans, then sat to put his own shoes on.

"So are you going to open it?" Derek asked.

"Not before breakfast," Alex retorted with a grin. "I refuse to do any spy-stuff on an empty stomach."

Derek grinned. "I hear you, mate. C’mon. It’s waffles today with real maple syrup, I hear."

"Sounds good to me," Alex said as he stood and the two made their way out of the room, leaving the envelope unopened.

****

Alex and Derek spent the morning visiting the last of the resorts on the list and the afternoon improving their skills in reindeer sledding. By now, Alex was more comfortable around the creatures and was able to deal with them without any problem. So, it wasn’t until they returned for dinner that the subject of the envelope arose.

"You have to open it sooner or later," Derek said when Alex groaned at the sight of the envelope.

"Well, let’s make it later. I really don’t want to know what’s inside it. I just know it will not be good news for me and I’m enjoying myself too much to want it to be ruined by business."

"You sound as if you’re on holiday," Derek said with a knowing smile.

"Compared to my other assignments of late, this is a holiday and I mean to enjoy every minute of it. You have no idea what a strain it is to be a bad guy all the time, pretending that you really do enjoy blowing up things and people. Just being a student is a bloody relief even if it does mean dealing with the intricacies of Sindarin and all."

"Still, aren’t you the least bit curious?" Derek asked.

Alex gave him a wry look. "What? You really want me to open it? Maybe I should drop by Amroth’s office tomorrow with it and we can open it there. I’m sure its contents will be of interest to the Elves."

"Why don’t we just have an opening-of-the-envelope party and invite all our friends?" Derek retorted with a sneer, but Alex laughed, refusing to be baited.

"That sounds like a good idea," he said. "If you want to order the cake, I’ll buy the balloons."

"You’re so evil," Derek said as he gathered up his toiletry bag and headed out the door. Alex merely grinned.

****

Wednesday, Alex took the envelope with him as he and Derek headed for their Nature Studies class, intending to make a detour to Amroth’s office, but the Elf was not there and Glorfindel’s office was empty as well. Frustrated, he shoved the envelope in his book bag and they went on to class.

"We’ll have to try again later," Alex said.

But when they reached their classroom they were surprised to find their usual instructor, Daisy, was not there. Instead, Amroth was there speaking with Vorondur. The two Elves looked up when Alex and Derek approached them.

"Good morning," Vorondur said with a smile.

"That depends," Alex shot back, pulling out the envelope. "This was left in front of our room yesterday. I thought you might want to be present when I open it."

"We’re going to have a party with cake and ice cream and y’all are invited," Derek said with a straight face. Both Elves raised eyebrows in disbelief.

Alex gave him an amused smile, then turned back to the Elves. "Cake and ice cream aside, I think we should get together later with Loren and see what’s inside this envelope. It won’t be good news, of that I’m sure."

"I’ll inform Loren and let you know," Amroth said. "If someone left this for you that means someone inside the Academy is working for the Agency."

"Not necessarily," Vorondur pointed out. "The doors of the Academy are unlocked at five when the kitchen staff arrives. That means anyone can enter from outside after that and whoever left this for you wouldn’t necessarily be working for the Agency. They may simply be a courier with no idea who is paying them."

"True," Amroth said with a sigh. "We’ll contact you later. In the meantime, you had best get on with the class." This last was directed at Vorondur who nodded.

"So where’s Daisy?" Alex asked Vorondur as Amroth left to attend to his own duties.

"She needed some time off so I’m taking over the class today," was all Vorondur said and then he was calling the class to order as Alex and Derek went to their seats.

****

Later that afternoon, as they were heading for their fencing class, Alex and Derek met Amroth standing outside the gym. He greeted them, motioning for them to join him while the other students filed past and spoke to them in a whisper. "After dinner in Loren’s office," was all he said and the two nodded their understanding as Amroth walked away.

They did not hurry through dinner, but took their time, lingering a bit over coffee and dessert before heading for the administrative wing and Glorfindel’s office, arriving around seven, to find the room rather crowded. Besides Glorfindel, the Twins, Amroth, Daeron and Vorondur were also present.

"Normally, I would’ve suggested you come out to Edhellond," Glorfindel said as the two Men entered, "but I want to avoid you going there. I suspect we are still under surveillance and it’s best that we not be seen meeting all the time. Here, who would know?"

Alex nodded as he took the envelope in his hand and threw it on the desk. "Who wants to do the honors?" he asked.

Glorfindel gave him an amused look. "It’s addressed to you."

Alex grimaced, reluctantly picking up the envelope again and slitting it open, pulling out a single sheet of paper. He glanced at it, his lips thinning as he held his emotions in check while everyone looked on. Finally, he handed the paper to Amroth who took a quick look.

"It’s a termination order," he said.

"Whose?" Glorfindel asked.

Amroth gave him a sardonic look. "Need you ask?" He gave the paper to Glorfindel who read through it, then glanced up at Alex.

"Well it’s not as if we didn’t know you were sent here to do just this," he said, waving the paper in his hand.

Alex, however, shook his head. "My orders were to assess the situation, then report back before making any decisions as to what to do about one Ambrose Elwood. The possibility that I might, and I stress that, might have to take Ambrose out was always there, but never explicitly stated."

"Until now," Amroth said.

Alex nodded. "Until now. Farrell must know that you’ve returned or there would be no point in any of this, first the kidnapping attempt and now the termination order. You’re supposed to be missing, apparently kidnapped by persons unknown. I’m surprised he hasn’t contacted me, demanding an explanation."

"He may be waiting to see what you do now," Glorfindel suggested.

"May I see it?" Derek asked, holding out his hand, apparently not paying much attention to the conversation. Glorfindel gave it to him. Derek examined the paper closely, feeling its edges, even sniffing it and holding it up to the light while everyone else watched him with various degrees of bemusement.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked.

"What you should’ve done from the beginning," Derek replied, "checking to see if this is authentic."

"Why wouldn’t it be?" Alex retorted.

Derek gave him a disbelieving look. "And you call yourself a spy? You’re far too trusting, gwador."

All the Elves smiled at Derek calling Alex gwador but Alex merely scowled. "That order is legitimate. Lord knows I’ve seen more than enough of them to know."

"Maybe," Derek said vaguely, his attention on the piece of paper. He shoved it in Alex’s face, pointing to a signature. "Is this your boss?" he asked.

Alex glanced at the page and nodded. "Madison Washburn is the Deputy Director. All my orders come through her."

"Didn’t she sign one of those background documents you showed me?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Would you mind getting them? I want to compare the signatures."

Alex stared at Derek for a moment then nodded. "I’ll be right back," he said and left.

"You really think the signature is forged?" Amroth asked Derek while they were waiting for Alex to return.

"I don’t know," Derek admitted. "I may be off-base, but it’s best to be sure."

"I confess I’m not familiar with Maddy’s signature, not enough to be able to identify it the way I was able to identify Alex’s," Amroth admitted.

"We’ll find out soon enough," Glorfindel said.

"What would it mean if it does turn out to be a forgery?" Elrohir asked, but no one was able or willing to answer his question and they lapsed into silence, waiting.

Alex returned about five minutes later carrying the other envelope. "Here, this is Maddy’s signature," he said, pulling out one of the documents and handing it to Derek who took both sheets and laid them on the desk, moving the desk lamp closer for better illumination as he examined them. After a tense moment or two he straightened.

"The signature is a forgery," he proclaimed.

"How can you be so sure?" Alex demanded.

"While I was in Naval Intelligence I was responsible for determining if documents were forged or not. There are certain signs to look for and, of course, signatures are a prime source of forgery. Everything may be correct, but the signature can be wrong. I learned how to tell the difference. If we accept that the background documents were sent on Ms Washburn’s orders then this termination order was not signed by Madison Washburn. I would swear to it in a court of law."

The expression on everyone’s faces was grim. "Farrell?" Elladan ventured.

"Probably," Alex said, not wishing to commit himself completely.

"So what does it mean?" Vorondur asked.

"It means this whole affair is about to go south in a most spectacular way," Alex replied with a grimace. "Farrell knows that only the D.D. or one of the higher-ups can sign that order. That signature looks close enough to Maddy’s real signature at a glance that Farrell is betting that I’ll take it at face value. He’s forcing my hand, compromising me either way."

"What do you mean?" Glorfindel asked.

"If I terminate Ambrose and it is later learned that Maddy didn’t sign it, and there can be no proof that Farrell sent it, then I’ve superseded my orders. If I don’t follow through with it, Farrell can act against me, citing contempt. I have no doubt he’s covering all bases even now in anticipation of my going either way."

"But if no order was actually sent...." Elrohir began, but Amroth shook his head, answering for Alex.

"It wouldn’t matter. Alex is correct. Farrell is forcing him to act and I’m sure he’s betting on you not complying with these orders. He already gave you a deadline for Thanksgiving."

"These orders say nothing about a deadline," Derek pointed out.

"There wouldn’t be," Alex said. "Oh, it’s not that the Agency expects you to take your time carrying out the orders, but you normally don’t just walk up to a person and blow their brains out. Most of the time, the person whom you are sent to take out is in hiding or is very well guarded. It may take days or even weeks before you are in a position to do anything about it and the Agency likes their assassins to be discrete and make it look like an accident or natural causes."

Derek gave him a troubled look. "Is that what you are, an assassin?"

Alex gave him a shrug. "When the circumstances call for it, yes. I’m sorry, Derek. I wish I could say that I’m as innocent as new-fallen snow, but I’m not. Under other circumstances, I would be labeled a murderer, but the United States government has seen fit to give me permission to kill with impunity and there’re no two ways about it. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never enjoyed taking a life, even when the person probably deserved it."

"You don’t know?" Derek asked.

"I go where my controllers tell me, and do what I’ve been sent to do, but that doesn’t mean I do so blindly. Only once did I question an order for termination and I made them show me tangible proof that the person they wanted eliminated needed to be taken out because on the surface there didn’t seem to be any reason for the order. Once I was convinced that their reasoning was sound, I followed through with the assignment, distasteful though it was on several levels. And actually, I tried to convince the person to turn himself in instead, but he forced my hand and in the end I had no choice. It was either him or me."

"Well, this is all beside the point," Glorfindel said. "We need to address the situation at hand. How do you want to play this?" This last was directed at Amroth.

"The only way to get Farrell off our backs is to convince him that I’m dead," Amroth replied. "Della and I can go back into hiding for a time. As it is, she’s beginning to reach the stage in her pregnancy where she and the twins are drawing on my life force to sustain them. I’m not going to be much use to anyone for the next year and even after the children are born, you know this."

The Elves all nodded. Alex and Derek exchanged bemused looks, not entirely sure what the Elf was saying. Derek examined the orders again. "This says to terminate with extreme prejudice Ambrose Elwood, but your name is Ryan McKinley."

"When I worked for the Agency, I was known as Ambrose Elwood," Amroth explained.

"Yes, but, don’t you see? The order is for the death of an Ambrose Elwood," Derek insisted. "I’m assuming that if you were, say, pulled over for speeding and asked for I.D., your driver’s license wouldn’t say ‘Ambrose Elwood’ but ‘Ryan McKinley’."

"And your point?" Amroth asked.

"If they were to get a hold of your fingerprints, would they match up with their records for Ambrose Elwood?" Derek asked.

Amroth gave him a considering look. "No. They would not. When I planned my escape, I arranged for a local contact in Kuwait to falsify the death records and I left all my I.D. with the body of the unfortunate who would be buried with my name on foreign soil. I obtained fingerprint and dental records and substituted them for mine in case there was an investigation, which, apparently there never was."

"How did you manage the substitution without getting caught?" Alex asked.

Amroth smiled. "Child, I’m an Elf, and while I don’t have the mental powers that Glorfindel has, I can still cloud the eyes and minds of Mortals and make them forget they saw me."

"So, as far as the world is concerned, all records will say that the person that was buried with your name is Ambrose Elwood," Derek said, "and the only proof they have otherwise is that you look like this Elwood, but all records will show that you are one Ryan McKinley. This order doesn’t say to terminate Ambrose Elwood a.k.a. Ryan McKinley, it only says to terminate Ambrose Elwood, but Ambrose Elwood is dead and I’m assuming he was declared legally dead by the courts."

"Yes, because there was a will which was probated," Alex said. "I know, because I inherited what little Ambrose had in the way of worldly goods, mostly books. It was pretty much rubber-stamped and nothing was contested."

"And there’s your loophole," Derek said. "You can honestly say that you have no actual proof that the man standing before you is the same Ambrose Elwood you knew fifteen years ago. This order is directed against a man who is already and quite legally dead. Just because this guy here looks like he could be Elwood’s twin doesn’t make him Elwood."

"But I told Farrell that he was Ambrose and don’t forget that little stunt we pulled in the Safeway parking lot. I was bringing Ambrose in as far as he’s concerned." Alex protested. "How do we explain that away?"

"Did you and Farrell ever meet?" Derek asked Amroth.

"No. In fact, I don’t remember him in the Agency," Amroth replied. "Of course, I didn’t train all of the agents and we were never introduced."

"Not even when he was here for that accreditation thing? If he knew who you were, wouldn’t he have made it a point to speak with you?"

"No. In fact, he would’ve gone out of his way not to speak with me if he could possibly help it. While we never encountered one another in the course of our work for the Agency, he couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t recognize him somehow. In fact, while all the instructors and administrators were interviewed by the members of the accreditation committee, we were not interviewed by them all." Amroth gave them an amused smile. "In fact I was interviewed by a sweet lady in her sixties who kept referring to me as ‘young man’."

The other Elves grinned at that but Derek only nodded, intent on making his case. "Then, Farrell has no personal proof that you, Ryan McKinley, are also Ambrose Elwood. It’s only his word against Alex’s and Alex can always claim that he was mistaken in his belief that you are this Ambrose Elwood character. Who’s going to really know what was and wasn’t said between the two of them?" he insisted. "Just because you bear a remarkable resemblance to the late lamented Ambrose Elwood, fingerprints and dental records will say that you are not one and the same person."

"What about voice and retinal identification or even DNA samples?" Alex asked.

Amroth shook his head. "There was never a voice or retinal scan done on me. Those technologies came into vogue after I left the Agency. Same thing with DNA samples. Any samples they might get off of personal items will be contaminated with yours and anyone else’s who’s handled them since my death."

"Then all they can rely on are fingerprints and dental records and those are covered," Derek said with a nod. "And there’s where we can convince your bosses that they’re barking up the wrong tree. Unless and until they can positively prove that Ryan McKinley is also Ambrose Elwood, then this termination order is invalid. Leastways, that’s how I see it."

There was silence among them as they thought out the implications of Derek’s statement. Finally Glorfindel stirred, giving the young Man a smile. "Ever think of becoming a lawyer?"

Derek shook his head, grinning. "Nah. There are already enough sharks in the water as it is."

Everyone chuckled. Alex gave Amroth a considering look. "How tight is Ryan McKinley’s background?"

Amroth smiled. "Child, need you ask?"

Alex nodded. "Then what we need to do is to provide thorough documentation on Ryan McKinley to show that when Ambrose Elwood was considered dead, Ryan McKinley did not just show up out of the blue. We have to convince a lot of people, Farrell especially, that Ryan McKinley is no more Ambrose Elwood than I’m the Count of Monte Cristo."

"I’ll start making copies of every legal document that I created for Ryan McKinley and get them to you," Amroth said.

"Good," Alex said in satisfaction, slipping the termination order back in the envelope. "In the meantime, I’m going to ignore this order and see what Farrell does next. If I can have the copies ASAP, then when Farrell contacts me, I’ll have the evidence I need to justify my not obeying the order."

"Will you call him on the forgery?" Derek said.

"Perhaps. I don’t know for sure," Alex admitted. "I have to see which way he goes."

"But what if Farrell insists these documents of Ryan’s are themselves forgeries, which they are, in a way?" Elrohir asked.

Amroth shook his head. "These documents will stand up in any court of law. You forget, I spent nearly fifty years planning my escape, learning everything I needed to know in order to create a believable persona as real as you are. Farrell may try to dispute that, but all the evidence will be against him."

"Well, let us hope this will help get the Agency off our backs," Glorfindel said with a sigh.

"And if it doesn’t?" Daeron asked, speaking for the first time.

"Let’s cross that bridge when and if we have to," Glorfindel pleaded, standing. "In the meantime, we will continue as we have." He addressed the two Mortals. "Daeron has convinced me that we should continue with the night patrols, so you may rest easy on that score. Derek, thank you. Your service is proving invaluable. I see why the Valar inspired you to come here."

Derek gave them a shy look and Alex grinned at his friend. "C’mon, gwador. Let’s go down to the game room and shoot some pool before going to bed. I’m too wound up to try to sleep just yet."

"I’m right behind you," Derek said and the two Men bid the Elves good night.