Ghost of You

t w e n t y - s i x

"That's what I said Linda, the Prime Minister of France, not the President of Finland."

My fingers were wrapped around my cell phone as I held the device up to my ear. Ross was rattling on and on. Despite the fact that he had called me, every other sentence seemed to be directed towards someone else on the other end. 

"No, Linda, France! F-R-A-N-C-E, France!" I heard him shout, then he lowered his voice, the annoyance in his tone still making it abundantly clear that whoever Linda was would probably be out of a job by morning. "(Y/n)! (Y/n)? Are you listening?"

"Yes Mr. Secretary, I'm listening." I responded, covering the ear not blocked by my phone with my hand so I could hear his voice more clearly over the sound of all the nearby ambulance sirens.

Smoke was still gushing out of the Vienna skyscraper that moments ago had held more world leader's than I could dare to count. I was on the pavement below, staring as a large crane carried firefighters bearing large hoses up to the scene. 

"I've been told they have an updated location on Barnes, he's somewhere in Bucharest." Ross informed, his voice still agitated, each word sounding slightly clipped. 

Barnes had been the one word unanimously used across a number of various languages that I had heard spoken repeatedly from my spot on the sidewalk. Everyone seemed to be under the impression that the attack during the signing of the Accords was his doing, the Winter Soldier's doing. 

"Is that where you would like me to go or should I come back to New York?" I asked, working my way through the crowds of medical staff and government agents alike.

"No." Ross snapped. "Did you save a woman before you left the building?"

"I helped a woman with a broken leg get out." I offered, slightly unsure if this was the piece of information he was looking for. "Why?"

My question was answered with some more muffled shouts through Ross's phone, something that sounded like "I need that address now Linda!"

I took the pause in conversation to scan the site around me. I'd been keeping an eye out for Nat but hadn't been able to find her yet.

"That woman was the Chancellor of Germany's wife." Ross finally replied. 

"Okay." I said, not knowing how else to respond. I wasn't sure how this was really relevant to the topic at hand. My conversations with Ross on the phone were always slightly awkward and uncomfortable. Then again all of my conversations with Ross were awkward and uncomfortable, in person and virtual alike.

"Barnes's arrest is already being handled. Once he's in custody, he's going to be transferred to Berlin, Joint Terrorism Task Force. They wouldn't give you clearance to go because of some senile organizational jurisdiction rule so I went around them." Ross continued. "I reached out to the Chancellor to see if he could push the order through and apparently his wife had given him your name. Said it was the least he could do for the woman who saved his wife's life. Once Barnes is on the ground, he ordered that you be the first to interrogate him."

Interrogate? Ross wanted me to interrogate the Winter Soldier? Well, I guess it wasn't so much wanted, as much as that I was his only option if he wanted to be involved in Barnes's arrest. Still, I wasn't sure what good it was going to do. I'd never interrogated anyone before. Even the word just sounded terrible. I didn't want to interrogate anyone. 

At that moment, I finally saw a flash of that familiar red hair. I sped up, walking in the direction where I had just seen what I was sure was Nat disappear around the corner.