Chapter 4
At the change of slide, the man's eyes seemed to slightly widen, a slight pause in the clicking of the pen that he had somehow stolen from someone between the time Sirius asked his question about flowers and the time Lily changed the slide, but it continued quickly after that. Another flick of the slide had the pen snapping in half, the man's fingers tense and obviously distraught. He tried to yank himself out of the chair again, but their Director kept a firm hold on him.
"Let go, let go, let go!" The words started slow but quickly got more desperate The Director did not lessen his grip, and they had to watch as the man seemed to have a total breakdown. James turned his gaze back onto the photo, wondering what the fuck it was that they were missing, but there did not seem to be anything amiss. He shook his head, this man clearly knew something, insider information or...or just something! While he was excited to get new leads, this person was clearly distraught. "You did not tell me." The words were low, barely audible, but clearly rife with betrayal. The Director did not waver from his blank gaze.
"You did not want to be a part of this case, and besides, we had no way of knowing until...literally just now!"
"You should have told me!" The man's voice was desperate, and he began to struggle again, his fingers going somewhere but the Director moved quicker, and in a flash his neck was held in one hand forcing his jaw upwards to stare into the dark browns of their Boss, the other holding his wrists behind his back.
"We. Did. Not. Know. You have just told us."
"I'm sorry dear," That was the assistent, who did seem truly sorry, but the man did not seem to have heard them. "We had some suspicions, but we were not sure, and you were the only one we know to coroborate them. We couldn't say anything unless you were officially on the case either." James was well aware of the rules, but his eyes were more focused on the effortless way the Director gripped the stranger. As if he was a wild animal to be tamed, and not a human.
"Do you want to continue this?" The Director asked, his words gentle, thumb tracing the artery along the side of the strangers neck. There was a swallow, before a slight, but noticeable, nod. "This will put you in further danger."
"Its fine, they are bound to..." The man stopped, shivers wracking through his spine. "It does not matter, I am going to finish this."
"It is not part of our deal, you can walk away at any time, and I will not pressure you. If it gets too much..."
"I know."
"Very well." The Director released him, and turned his dark gaze onto the rest of the members in the room, who were still struggling to contain their shell shock at the behavior of their boss. "You guys are lucky, you have just earned yourself an expert consultant. I highly suggest that you take every single grain that he gives you with the attitude it is the most precious gold. He is an invaluable resource, and we are risking our asses putting him on this case." James wants to ask, and he could see Sirius and Remus do too, but they all know better than to lift their voice to wonder. "Rosier, I want it noted, somewhere, sometime, that I will be pulling him if he seems too unstable. Clear?" The Director glanced towards the stranger at that and he just nodded once. "Good. I will be joining you on this...plane ride...Rosier, go back to the office and draft up the contents we need, whilst our dear Regulus gives us a further rundown." Sirius furrowed his brows slightly at that, but otherwise did not seem to react.
"Regulus?" James murmurred, but otherwise did not respond as the stranger pulled his body up from the chair.
"I am going to the tarmac." They said coldly, "Coming Barty?" it was strange how he did not bother to hide his closeness with the Director, but he supposed it was just going to be like that.
"One moment, step out with Rosier, and Rosier, don't let him run off." A quick nod, and Crouch gently pushed Regulus out. The moment the two were gone, James could practically feel the atomsphere drop several degrees. "This is our most important asset." The Director stated, his voice sharp as nails. "Regulus...he knows things...information...has inside information on almost every crime lord in this country, and more besides. He has given us invaluable information in connection to hundreds if not thousands of people, many of whom we would have never even known about without him. He is hidden, and for good reason. Keep the press out of his face. Do not let him be seen. Do not let him speak to any journalist...and most of all...Do. Not. Touch." The last words were punctuated with a level of threat that nobody could hide their stiffening bodies to. "We do not have a leash on him. Regulus is invaluable to us, but we are not to him. We have nothing on him, even after over three years of his being with us, after countless of interrogations, nothing. He can leave within seconds if he is not satisfied with us, and so I would highly suggest you do not piss him off." The words were a warning, and a sharp glance at him and Sirius let them know it was mostly for them. "I mean it, this team does anything to so much as hint that he is going to run, I will have your lives ruined by the time he is out the door."
"Is that why he acts like some sort of feral dog?" Sirius grunted, and the Director's eyes cut down Sirius' defenses easily.
"Don't joke about this." The words were sharp as glass. "He is traumatized, for good reason. I have been with him for years, and the little that I do know, which is considerable considering, is horrific. He is in witness protection for his safety, my safety, this bureou's safety. The government and the countries, safety. Do not downplay just how important he is based off his demenor, and don't fail to remember, he is doing you a favor, not the other way around. The only reason that we are bringing him out is because even you cannot solve this case, which means he is our last line of defense with this. And you are more than lucky that he has agreed.
"Your leads are Double T, look them up, and hunt down all the affiliants, when you have their profiles up, given them to Regulus. He will look through them and sort it out. I don't want any questions. meet us on the jet in ten minutes."