Agent Jones- Book One

| Chapter Seventeen |

"Chief Dooley!" I called out as I opened the door. He and Sousa were standing outside the Chief's office, talking over something. The minute I called out, however, they stopped and looked at me.

Peggy nudged past me a bit and walked out. "Chief Dooley I'd like to make a confession," she said, and I saw she was holding the piece of paper.

He shook his head and held his hand up to stop her. "I already got the confession I need," he said, trying to dismiss her.

I walked out now, and so did Mr. Jarvis. "It's a fake," I said. The Chief looked from Peggy to me, very confused. At least it looked like he believed me.

Jack then walked up to us, hands in his pockets, and then leaned on a nearby desk (it just so happened to be mine). "Why are you pulling this, Carter? You're even trying to get Agent Jones involved," he said, gesturing at me.

Taking another step forward, Peggy continued. "Howard Stark isn't coming. The confession is a phony, signature a forgery."

"Agent Carter..." the Chief started, but Peggy stopped him.

"Miss Carter. I don't work here anymore," she said. I felt some pain come out with that, knowing that she may have accepted it but she's still hurt by it. "But if you want a confession, if you want the truth, I'm ready to give it to you." She sounded desperate at this point, and it hurt my heart just a bit.

The Chief nodded. "Then let's go."

We all walked back into the room and sat down. Peggy sat first, and we all filled in around her. Mr. Jarvis and I sat to her left while the other three (the Chief, Daniel, and Jack) sat on her right. We all listened intently as she gave her story.

"And why are you telling us this now?" Chief Dooley asked.

Peggy took in a deep breath, and I took one with her. "Because I need your trust if you're going to believe me about Dr. Ivchenko," she answered.

"The evil enemy scientist," the Chief clarified.

"Yeah, he's a real killer," Daniel said as well. I looked over my shoulder and saw the doctor looking at us and rubbing his nose. "You can tell by the way he rubs his nose."

I sighed. "It's hard to believe, I get it. But there really is something going on with him. The three of us watched him drawing out morse code on the window's ledge. It was to someone across the street- the southeast corner of the building," I said. I looked to Peggy to make sure I got the specifics right, and she nodded.

Peggy jumped back in. "He was discussing some kind of timetable. We have less than 90 minutes before something's going to happen. We can't leave him on his own," she said. We all sounded pretty desperate at this point.

Yet the Chief still didn't buy it. "He's a good man. He's done nothing but help us," he fought back.

This time I really had to roll my eyes. "He's been here, what, three days now? We don't know him," I said.

"Maybe not," Daniel started. "But we know you, Carter." The two of them shared a look where Peggy looked hurt and so did Daniel, but different kinds.

Chief Dooley contemplated for a second. "I'm supposed to believe that you pulled off your own investigation without any of us noticing?" he asked

"Why would you go through all that trouble instead of coming to one of us?" Daniel asked, and I resisted the urge to scoff out loud.

Peggy was done at this point. "I conducted my own investigation because no one listens to me. I got away with it because no one looks at me, because unless I have your reports, your coffee, or your lunch, I'm invisible." Her words made Jack and Daniel look away, and Daniel looked a bit mad at himself. He obviously liked Peggy, so this was very hard for him to navigate.