HYDRA
Chapter 11: HYDRA
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters-
Japser Sitwell-
Rumors tended to run like wild-fire at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and it couldn’t possibly have escape Jasper Sitwell’s notice that everyone had been talking about how Fury and Coulson had spent a full night arguing with the members of the World Security Council. No one had seemed to know what the exact issue was and that was enough to make Sitwell curious.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Japser Sitwell was a double agent. While he worked as a highly regarded S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, his primary occupation was spying on S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers for the HYDRA organization. It was an interesting position to be in as it gave him access to all the most intriguing information of both organizations. All he had to do when he wanted to find out what S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Avengers were up to, was take a peek in the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system. The morning when he’d heard the rumors about Fury and Coulson arguing with the council members, Sitwell went into his office and slipped into the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system. The argument, he found, was over The Avenger’s putting the witness to a crime into protective custody. The witness wasn’t named, nor was the crime. The lack of information inspired his curiosity. He hadn’t heard of anything lately that was big enough for The Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. to be concerned with. It took a little time and effort, but he managed to find out that they were guarding a witness to a child abuse case. That struck him as odd considering that The Avenger’s normally dealt with things on a grander scale - alien invasion, terrorist threats, ect. - but it wasn’t unbelievable that people with their type of character would want to help bring about justice no matter what the issue. He looked further into the records and found that the witness was going to testify about a place called Club Cod.
That name sounded familiar enough that he began to research Club Cod. It was the work of mere minutes to find and watched the news report about Club Cod and the child abuse organized there. It had taken far longer for him to find out that the owner was Dino Golzine and, seeing that name on the computer’s screen, made Sitwell sit up at attention. Now, THAT name he knew! He frowned at his computer and kept searching. Golzine’s involvement complicated matters.
He went to the NYPD computer system and looked at the evidence that was found at Club Cod - bodies, murder weapons, murder suspects all sitting in jail, plus information on computers. He hunted this way and that on the system and was largely disinterested in the matter of Club Cod except that it was connected to Dino Golzine. He found a list of the names of clients of Club Cod along with information about their preferences and the dates they’d patronized Club Cod. He scanned down the list of names until one, near the bottom, caught his eye. He cursed softly and promptly took her name off the list. He also took off several incriminating videos of her committing her crimes.
With that done, he kept searching. What he needed was to know who the witness was and whether or not they knew anything about Golzine’s more important project. If he was very lucky, the witness only knew about Club Cod. But even if that was all the witness knew, it was possible that the police would investigate Golzine far enough that they would find clues leading them to that other project and Sitwell couldn’t have that coming to light. He found quite a bit of information as he searched, but in the end, he decided to take the chance of looking in Fury’s computer.
It was a risk. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had the highest of security on his computer, but Sitwell considered himself quite good with computers and decided to just take a quick look around. There was quite a lot of communication between Fury and Coulson, but that was to be expected considering Coulson’s influence and standing in the organization. There were almost no records at all of any kind of witness protection on Fury’s computer, but he did find one email sent to Fury from Coulson.
**Witness found and identified as Ash Lynx. Injured. Taken home.**
And he had a name to research. There was quite a bit of information when one knew where to look. There were sealed police reports from Lynx’s youth - he’d been arrested for prostitution three times between the ages of eleven and thirteen. A little deeper digging showed Sitwell that Lynx had been arrested for his first murder at age eight. He’d shot a man who, it was later discovered, had already killed fifteen kids and buried them in his back yard.
Sitwell found a report detailing how Dino Golzine’s mansion in New Jersey had been allegedly vandalized by a gang of street kids. The photograph of the mansion didn’t show vandalism to Sitwell’s notion of it - the place was nearly destroyed. The leading suspect was Ash Lynx. The report was accompanied by a photograph of a skinny boy with blonde hair and a completely indifferent expression. There were little notes from the police in Lynx’s file - one officer noted that Lynx was the leader of a large gang at only sixteen-years-old and controlled all of Manhattan. Another officer noted that Lynx was a deadly shot and had excellent aim, though he hadn’t mentioned how he’d learned that fact. A third officer put in a note with a sympathetic attitude that said Lynx had delivered to the police station a woman who, Lynx had told the officer, had been ‘messing around with little girls in the park’. He’d also given a warning that he wanted her off his streets. If he found the woman on his streets again, he’d make sure she wasn’t found again. Ever. There was a photocopy scanned into Lynx’s file, of an I.Q. test with the impressive number 180 printed at the top of it.
Sitwell sat back and stared at the number. He began to smile.
Genius.
Set siege to the mansion of Dino Golzine and won, no mean feat.
Controlled a large, violent street gang at a very young age with, apparently, very little trouble.
His smile grew. Ash Lynx. Clearly, he was a boy with potential.
By the time he’d finished his research, Sitwell had found more information about Golzine and his business, but nothing about what he had been hoping to find. He made some printouts of some interesting points he’d discovered and put them in his briefcase and stood up from his desk. It took very little time for Sitwell to lock up his office and head out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He left a message for anyone that might try to contact him that he was out for the day and was whistling cheerfully as he arrived at the office of Councilwoman Thema Shehata, one of the most respected voices on the World Security Council.
Councilwoman Thema Shehata-
In her office, Thema Shehata sat with her hands folded on the desk in front of her. She was fifty-two years old and had dark hair liberally streaked with gray. Her normally stern face was downright severe as she considered the situation. For the past week, each day brought more and more disturbing news, but it had begun months ago.
The trouble had first become apparent when she’d called to make an appointment to speak with Dino Golzine and had been told in no uncertain terms by some nameless peon who’d answered the telephone, that Mister Golzine would return her call at a later time. He was occupied. That had, rightfully, angered her at the time. Golzine had an inflated ego, but he was valuable in what he controlled and the covert project he had been orchestrating for the past many years. She allowed the ill-manners to pass.
Her next hint of something being not quite right with Golzine was the news report about his mansion being nearly destroyed by some petty street gang. She’d called Golzine, again, but a distracted sounding person answered and immediately told her that Monsieur Golzine was not giving interviews and hung up. Then, shortly after came reports of alleged tax evasion and suddenly a wild frenzy had risen up when 90 million dollars went missing from the collective investments of the Corsican Syndicate Golzine was apart of and Golzine’s virtual fingerprints were all over it. Golzine had, apparently, gone to Europe to explain himself and the next thing Shehata knew, Golzine was replace by some baron. She had been ready to make contact with that baron, to change her focus to him as the one who controlled the precious project, but before she’d even had time to meet him, he’d been killed. He hadn’t even survived his first day in America. As the days went by, there were rumors and news reports until it culminated with the most surprising information of all and it came not from a rumor or a spy, but from a newspaper article.
She’d let one hand drift to the photograph in the newspaper of the young blonde sitting in a wheelchair next to Golzine at some social affair. The boy was dressed well in tuxedo, his golden hair styled very fashionably. His expression was as empty as stone and, at the bottom of the newspaper photograph was the caption, “Dino Golzine adopts homeless orphan”. She let her eyes drift to the image of Golzine’s triumphant face. “What have you done? You stupid man.”
There had been no further news after that, no rumors or whispers about Golzine at all. It was as if he’d dropped off the face of the Earth. Repeated calls to his home gave no results.
And then came the sensationalized report, only days ago, about the Club Cod restaurant. She’d been at home when she’d heard about it and it took the breath from her. She actually gone dizzy and had to sit down while the scene played out on the television in front of her. Club Cod was being investigated. The police were involved. A witness. An unnamed witness with a list of names. The witness was willing to testify. Everything was going to come out. She could see her whole life collapsing, her reputation forever ruined.
She had gone to her office and no one had said a word about anything. There hadn’t been a visit by the police or any other sort of authority, no calls from the press. Everything had been perfectly normal. That had continued for several days, but she was sure it wouldn’t last. Sooner or later, her name would come to light. Fury had been ever so efficient and sent an email to let everyone on the World Security Council know that he had decided to undertake the protection of a witness willing to testify about Club Cod. Fearing that the witness would be her downfall, she had argued fiercely against the Avenger’s taking the witness into their protection, but with Coulson arguing on his side, Fury had won the day. With the witness being protected by The Avengers, she wasn’t sure how she could silence them.
“Well, don’t you look stressed?”
Thema pulled her thoughts away from her memories and her troubles and saw Jasper Sitwell standing in her office’s doorway. She started to sweat.
Sitwell stepped into the room without invitation and closed the door behind him. Then, he locked it. Still smiling, he pushed his glasses up on his nose a little with one finger. “Seen the news lately?”
She didn’t answer and hated him for his smarmy, arrogant attitude. He knew what the problem was, probably knew it better than Thema did, but he liked to play.
“I saw it.” Sitwell strolled across the room and sat at the guest’s chair on the opposite side of Thema’s desk. He set his briefcase on the floor next to him and folded his hands on his lap, looking for all the world as comfortable as if he were having a day at the beach. “Goodness, what a lot is going on in New York, lately. Turns out the name ‘Dino Golzine’ is being thrown around a lot.” He waited a moment, to give her a chance to respond. When she kept silent, he snapped, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“You can’t blame me for this.” She put her hands on her desk and worked hard to cover herself in a mask of cool indifference.
“I certainly can. Madam Shehata, do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused? It was your duty to keep an eye on Golzine’s B1 project. That was the only thing you had to do for HYDRA. So, what do I find when I take a little breeze through the evidence the NYPD has from the Club Cod case? I found your name on a list of the Club Cod clients. Apparently, Golzine was extremely well organized and he had all the names alphabetized so your name was far to the bottom and it appears the police haven’t started investigating you, yet.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
Sitwell went on, “Well, you look a bit relieved. How nice for you. Does that mean you didn’t know about the video evidence?”
“The what?”
“Yes, apparently Golzine liked a little insurance. In addition to a list of names of clients and the dates when they went to Club Cod and detailed notes about their preferences and history at Club Cod, he also recorded every visit to his establishment. You were caught on video with that young blonde. Four times.”
Thema felt sick. She hadn’t known. Of course Golzine wouldn’t advertise that he’d done such a thing, but, in hindsight, she should have expected it. It wasn’t as if Golzine was a respectable, honorable man.
“The police won’t see those things, now.”
Thema looked at Sitwell, stunned. “What?”
“I’ve taken care of it. They won’t see your name on that list or the video. With that little concern out of the way, we can deal with important issues. What has happened to the B1 project?”
She was acutely aware that she owed him. Sitwell didn’t do things out of the kindness of his heart. She’s have to pay for having him clean up the mess and that, more than the mess itself, infuriated her. Still, there was little to be done about it. So she swallowed her pride. “The last I’d heard, the B1 project - code named Banana Fish - was being worked on at the National Institute of Mental Health in New Jersey. It was less than a fifteen minute drive from Golzine’s mansion so he undoubtedly chose the location for his convenience. He started out with a Doctor Abraham Dawson as the lead researcher, but he died some months ago. After that, he had a Doctor Mannerheim, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, heading up the project. I would expect the Banana Fish is still with him.”
“You were very distracted by the news about Club Cod, weren’t you? If you hadn’t been distracted, if you’d done even a little research, you would have known that Doctor Mannerheim is dead. He was found in the mess of bodies at Stark’s newest real estate development. How about Golzine? Have you contacted him?”
“I have tried, but I haven’t been able to reach him.”
“I see. So, we have Golzine missing, his researcher is dead, and you have no idea where the Banana Fish is. Is that correct?”
Thema thought desperately. She couldn’t deny that Sitwell was quite right - she had been distracted by Club Cod. She hadn’t been able to think of anything else since the news had come out, she certainly hadn’t given even one thought to Golzine’s Banana Fish project, which she had been assigned to monitor. “I haven’t abandoned my assignment. Everything happened so quickly, there was no time to do anything, yet.”
Sitwell took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then slowly put them back on. “You do understand the importance of the Banana Fish to HYDRA, don’t you? If it works as well as Golzine believes it will, the potential is virtually unlimited. A mind-control drug that is one hundred percent effective. It doesn’t fail and there is no recovery. A single dose is all that would be needed to turn anyone, in the entire world, into a HYDRA agent. We could have Captain America himself working for HYDRA. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Now, it’s gone. We have no idea whether the Banana Fish is destroyed, stolen, or sitting safely in a filing cabinet somewhere.”
“I didn’t- ”
Sitwell held up a hand. “Don’t. Don’t make excuses. It’s undignified. You knew very well how important your task was. Not only has HYDRA lost the Banana Fish drug, but your name ended up on a list now in the hands on the police and enthusiastic lawyers. The first five seconds of one of the videos of your debauchery would be more than enough to put you in prison for at least a decade. Frankly, considering what you did to that poor boy, I’d be afraid to leave a dog in your care. If I hadn’t found your name on that list and hidden all the evidence against you, the police would have reached your name and started to investigate. The fact that you are a councilwoman on the World Security Council would, naturally, make the investigation even more in depth and would have gotten S.H.I.E.L.D. involved. I can only imagine it would take, perhaps, a couple of hours to discover your true allegiance and, from there, all our plans would have fallen apart. Your indulgence...” he sneered the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Has the potential to ruin years of work infiltrating agents into S.H.I.E.L.D. and into the World Security Council and all because you couldn’t keep your hands off Golzine’s little boys.”
She kept her chin high. “I did my job and kept tabs on the Banana Fish project, but I was never expected to sit by Golzine’s side 24/7. Just like his other potential buyers, he spoke to me when there were new developments and invited me to a few demonstrations of the Banana Fish, but he wouldn’t accept interference on his project.”
“Maybe. But you could have done a little research. While you’ve been sweating this morning, I spent about twenty minutes online and found this.” Sitwell put a large manila envelope on Shehata’s desk. “Go ahead. Open it.”
She did and inside where copies of legal forms and photographs of a graphic crime scene. There were several morgue photos.
“All that,” Sitwell said as he began to carelessly pace the room. “Is what you should have already discovered. The entire force of Colonel Foxx’s men - very useful people we’ve employed many times for various duties that required more brute force than finesse. All of them were found dead in a building owned by Tony Stark along with Doctor Mannerheim.” He added papers detailing the witness’ criminal history. He added paperwork about Golzine being investigated for tax fraud and other various details surrounding Golzine. “This is big and the longer these investigations go on, the more will be uncovered. We need to get Banana Fish and we need it as soon as possible.”
She set all the papers he’d given her back on the table and pushed them back towards him. “I know how bad the situation is.”
“Then fix it.” Sitwell’s voice had gone cold. “Find the Banana Fish.”
“And the witness?”
“You keep away from him. Don’t go near him, don’t even think about him. You just do your job and find the Banana Fish. It must be out there, somewhere. Pray that it is, because if you come back empty-handed it’s entirely possible that the higher-ups will decide you’re more of a liability than an asset.”
“What about the witness? Even if you’ve erased the evidence against me...”
“Ah! Hidden, not erased. It’s still easily accessible to anyone who knows where to look. Just keep that in mind.”
She huffed a breath through her nose at his thinly veiled threat. “Fine. Even if you have hidden the evidence against me, the witness will still speak under oath and if that witness can name hundreds of others with proof, there’s no reason why a jury won’t believe him if he adds my name to that list, evidence or not.”
“I’ll deal with the witness. He’s got far too much potential to waste by killing him, which I’m sure you would do without thought to the benefit he might be to HYDRA. With the right training and discipline, he could be one of the greatest assets HYDRA has ever produced. So you focus on finding Banana Fish and let me take care of the witness.” Sitwell stood up and walked out without another word.
Thema waited a moment and, when she was sure he was gone, then picked up her phone. The Lee family had always proven to be effective when she needed discrete jobs done and their intelligence network was extremely competent. She could have them start looking for Golzine and, as soon as she found him, she was sure she’d have the drug. She had heard the news that the head of the family, Lee Wang-Lung, had died along with most of the rest of his family, but the second brother, Lee Hua-Lung, had taken over and she’d dealt with him a time or two. She hadn’t expected an unfamiliar voice, Lee Yut-Lung, to be brought to the phone. He sounded young and impatient and she had no urge to bring someone into the matter if she didn’t know them, so she made her excuses and hung up.
As she thought about her next move, she closed her eyes and thought back to her visits to Club Cod. She’d always taken the same boy. He’d been young and blonde with a delicate, finely-shaped face. His green eyes nearly shone like the eyes of a cat. “Two thousand a night.” She smiled. “You were entirely worth it.”
The Avenger’s Tower-
Max-
Max had taken Ash to his room and, after checking quickly to make sure Ash’s wounds were healing well, sat and kept Ash company until Ash finally fell asleep. At least, Max thought Ash was asleep. He faked, sometimes. Max retired to the rooms Stark had given them to use. Finally finished being set up, they were very nice, he’d thought.
“Ash needs to be with us,” Jessica reminded Stark as he gave them a quick tour of the room.
“There a room for him just there.” Stark had pointed to another door next to the room for Michael. “It’s small but we were on short notice.”
Max glanced in the room and assured Stark, “It’s great. The boy’s not picky.” He winced. ‘Eighteen,’ Max told himself. ‘He’s eighteen - a man, now, not a boy.’
He’d carried Michael, still sleeping, to the little room that had been set up for him and put him to bed. A few age-appropriate toys had been left in the little room along with two blankets - one with dinosaurs and one with spaceships. Knowing his son’s recent infatuation with the color green, he covered Michael with the dinosaur blanket before he joined Jessica in the living room. It wasn’t home, not really, but it was comfortable enough and private. Soon, night fell and he and Jessica went to bed, too.
“He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” Jessica had asked as they’d laid together in the darkness. “Ash was so broken up about Shorter.”
“Ash will survive.”
“Surviving isn’t the same thing as being alright.”
Max thought of Griffin, lost in his nightmares while staring at the hospital ceiling, completely separated from the real world.
In the darkness, Jessica took his hand and squeezed it. “He NEEDS to talk to someone. Someone professional.”
“I know. We can’t force him to, though.”
“Yeah.” She just sounded sad and Max wished he could fix things for everyone. Eventually, they both fell asleep.
Max woke up to the ringing of his phone. He blinked in the darkness until he was awake. Jessica was asleep beside him. She was warm and snored. He sat up and grabbed his phone from the bedside table before it could wake Jessica and answered it with a yawn.“Yeah? What?” At the sound of the voice on the other end, he was immediately awake and smiled. “Yeah? In two days? Don’t worry, I’ll be there. And we’ll keep it a secret. Don’t tell Ash anything.”
To be continued...