King of Crime ✔️

Under Influence

It didn't take long before Aram came around our office with news. Matthias had left to get lunch for both of us and Houghton was still not back from his trip to who-knows-where. 

I had my feet put up on the desk and my laptop on my lap, when Aram stormed into the dark room with his laptop in one hand and a sandwich in the other. 

I startled up and studied his expression. "Already?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I mean..." He placed the laptop on my desk so I could see what he found. We both inched forward to read the small characters. "The man just doesn't stop calling. I didn't even mean to go after it today, you know, to play a little hard to get, but I kept getting notifications since I already put a flag on him. Anyway-" he clicked twice to zoom in- "he doesn't actually call. He dials someone who doesn't pick up and speaks in a voicemail in... Let's see. Two minutes, every time."

"What does that mean?" I queried, trying to make sense of what I was seeing on his screen.

"Yeah, that's what I wondered as well, because it's quite the mysterious behavior for an Agent." He scrolled down, to a typed conversation. "So, I tapped the voicemail. I didn't actually listen to it myself, but let a program run over his monologue. That's harder to track down. Here it is, this is what he told someone over voicemail, half an hour ago." 

He tapped with his finger on the screen as I read it, recognizing it immediately. Those were files on Hannig's case, the ones only Matthias, Houghton and I could have access over.

"He's passing on classified information," I mumbled, rubbing over my chin. I didn't actually expect to find anything, but Jesus, this was really something.

"Yeah, he is. But the strange thing is, why do it through voicemail? Even mail would be more secure. At least, if he's passing it on to the CIA, they have possession over his inbox. Using the phone could mean that..." He threaded a hand through his hair. "Man, I really don't want to be involved in this."

"Don't be like this," I said, meeting his eyes.

"Yeah, well, not everyone is as cool as you. This is all I'll do, alright? You owe me something."

"Definitely. Can you send this..." I gestured at the screen. "To me?" 

A grin swept over Aram's face. "Like you'd understand. But will do." He took a big bite of his sandwich. "Aren't you going to have lunch?"

"In a minute. Matthias is getting something for me." I said, rolling my chair back to where I sat before. Aram shut his laptop, letting his eyes go over the dark interior of the office and the closed blinds.

"Ah, alright then. You guys should really let in some light sometime. It's good for you."

"Yes, yes. Thanks for helping, Aram."

"No problem. Hey, I gotta go. Don't get yourself killed, alright?" He raised his hand as he slipped out of the office again, to which I hummed, glancing over at my phone. 

Well, fuck. 

What was I to do now? I could simply turn this over to Davidson and have Houghton gone from office. But then with him would go the opportunity to find out who he'd been passing the intel to, and I was a little too interested to let that just slip away. On top of that, I could definitely use a break from Hannig's case. 

Well, I guess there you have your answer, Sam.

As I started digging into Houghton's background, for as far as that was possible, Matthias came back with coffee and lunch. I mumbled a 'thank you' when he threw the sandwiches on my desk, without looking up.