Eli Briggs
Eli curiously observed the figure bound in the chair as leaned against the edge of his desk. He folded his arms casually across his chest. The burlap sack over his head prevented Eli from seeing his expression but based on the way he was surreptitiously fidgeting underneath it Eli suspected he was terrified.
A lit cigarette dangled between Eli’s fingers. He placed it in between his lips and pulled the bag off the boy’s head, leaving him wincing and blinking as the sudden light flooded his senses.
He looked even younger when seen up close. Something about him in his Controller’s uniform, his eyes and nose streaming, bound and gagged in Eli’s dingy office gave him pause. For a moment he pictured Olly’s frightened face instead and his heart gave a painful clench. He kept it off his face though. There was no room for that here.
The boy’s wild eyes looked around wildly and he frantically made muffled noises through the gag. Eli beckoned lightly to the closer of the two masked men flanking the boy. He stepped forward to remove the gag.
“Let me go!” the boy immediately shouted before yelling indiscernibly.
Eli took a light drag and began to pace in front of him. “You’re okay,” he said softly, “I should warn you though that there’s no one here to hear you. You might as well listen to what I have to say before you lose your voice.”
It did little to calm the panicking boy in front of him. He continued to shout for help. Eli brought his fingers to the side of his temples to stave off the headache he would undoubtedly suffer from afterwards. His patience began to wane and he nodded his head towards the masked man again.
The man slapped the boy upside the head which, apart from a yelp, shocked him into a stunned silence. He hung his head in fear.
Eli bent over at the waist to make eye contact. When the boy avoided his gaze Eli grabbed him under the chin and forced him to look him in the eyes.
“Do you know who I am?” Eli asked curiously, cocking his head.
The boy shook his head fervently. The fear was genuine, and the confusion in his eyes was convincing, but it wasn’t quite enough to inspire belief.
Eli frowned and scrutinized him further. The boy’s cheeks squished together beneath his fingers made him look juvenile in a way that Eli had to tamp down deep inside him, far away from the judgment of his conscience.
"No," he thought to himself. He had nothing to feel guilty over. Young though he was, this was a grown man who was old enough to get himself into this kind of trouble. Eli would not be held emotionally responsible for a situation of this Controller’s own making. The Controller had made his own decisions and chosen his fate; now he would have to live with the consequences.
“They’ll be looking for me! I’m a Controller!” he tried to sound brave but the waver in his voice gave him away.
Eli smiled. So he didn’t know who he was. Good. He let go of his chin and gave him a fatherly pat on the cheek before sitting himself back on the edge of his desk.
He reached behind him to procure two photos and held them up in front of the Controller's face.
“Do you know who these people are?” Eli asked lightly.
The Controller shook his head and looked away.
“Ted, Ted, Ted. I think you’re lying to me. Go on, take a closer look,” he suggested more forcefully, “Things will go a whole lot easier for you if you don’t insult my intelligence.”
He looked up at Eli venomously but flickered his eyes down to the photos again.
“How do you know my name?” he spat.
“Because you were sloppy and you trusted the wrong people,” Eli shrugged, “And believe me, they’re not worth protecting. If they were, they wouldn’t have gotten you into this mess with their shoddy practices.”
Ted’s lip curled in defiance but as he looked between the large masked men flanking him he seemed to deflate.
“Fine. Have it your way. Yeah I know them but I don't know who they are or what they want.”
“But you have interacted with them,” Eli clarified, looking down his nose, “I wish to know what you’ve discussed.”
“I…” Ted trailed off.
“Yes?” Eli pressed.
He mumbled something inaudibly.
“You’re going to have to speak up,” Eli took a long drag to soothe his irritation.
“They asked me to help them,” he mumbled, looking away.
Eli had reached the end of his patience. He shot forward and grabbed him around the back of the neck, pulling him so that he was forced into making eye contact once more.
His pupils were blown out and fear was written on every inch of his face.
“Asked you? Is that all they did?!” he barked, tightening his grip as Ted tried to wrench his head backwards, “Seems like a rather convenient thing to do, doesn’t it? Just ask the Controllers to let you through! That’s all you're there for, helpfully letting people access the tunnels to get where they need to go! Isn’t that right?!”
“FINE!” he shouted back, “They paid me, alright?! I was paid by them to help give them access to tunnels without hassle. It’s not a big deal.”
Eli let go of his neck and whirled around while Ted wheezed in rage and fear on the chair behind him.
Eli brought his hand to his mouth thoughtfully. “Not a big deal? Haven’t you been paying attention, Ted? Your very own Guild has decided that security is a big deal. Do you not think that people bribing you for special access would be, oh I don’t know, a security concern?” he turned back around and looked down at him pointedly.
He shuffled uncomfortably under Eli’s gaze. “It wasn’t a bribe,” he insisted stubbornly.
“So Controllers can receive money privately to provide specialized access to random people? Is that what you’re implying?”
“Where security is concerned I’m permitted to exercise my discretion as the person in control of the access point. You’re not in a Guild, obviously. You wouldn’t understand,” Ted retorted angrily.
“No, obviously, I’m not,” Eli shook his head with a small, cold grin, “But if this isn’t a problem you wouldn’t have any issues if I asked your supervisor about the new Controllers’ Guild access policy? Or if I went all the way up to the top, perhaps?”
He coyly reached one hand behind him towards his phone.
“NO! No… Don’t do that. Please. This is my job, I worked hard for it! I need this!” he began to plead. Tears spilled down his face.
Eli retracted his hand and took a drag before blowing smoke over his shoulder.
Eli cocked his head. “Did they pay off more of you?”
“I don’t know,” Ted said, sounding defeated.
“You’re just one Controller. Surely you can’t be everywhere they need you to be?” Eli pressed him further.
“I guess not, maybe?” Ted was beginning to grasp at straws.
Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe he wasn’t, but Eli knew that probably wasn’t going to get anything further out of him on that front.
He knelt in front of him and lowered his voice.
“Listen. You’re young and have your whole life and career ahead of you. I can keep a secret if you can,” he said gently before standing up and retrieving something from his desk, “But in case you feel that you can’t, here’s a little encouragement.”
He procured a tightly rolled wad of bills and removed the elastic band around it. The man’s eyes lit up as Eli shuffled through it and counted it, before folding it in half and placing it in the Controller’s front breast pocket with a pat.
“I think you’ll find that’s more than enough to incentivize you to let this meeting go unreported,” Eli said as he walked behind his desk and took a seat, “I would particularly caution you to think twice about mentioning this to those other two.”
“Wait? You’re just letting me go?” Ted asked suspiciously.
Eli raised his eyebrows. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
“No, uh, no. No, I thought that you were going to kill me, not let me walk out of here alive,” he said hurriedly.
Eli frowned. “Why on earth would I kill you? That seems counterproductive to this little arrangement.”
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“What arrangement?” Ted frowned.
Eli leaned back and folded one leg over the other on his desk.
“Well, consider this a one time payment for your silence but I would be willing to pay well on a continued basis for updated information about their comings and goings. More importantly, if you come to learn of any other Controllers they’ve made agreements with,” Eli said as he began nonchalantly doing his bookkeeping.
Ted’s mouth dropped. “So now I have to pretend that I’m working for them but I’m actually working for you? You’re going to get me caught!”
Eli looked up and put down his pen. Amusement danced across his face and he rested his chin on his palm. “You got caught today, you just got lucky that it was by me. A very simple strategy would’ve been to not accept bribes in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
“I had my reasons! I’m not crooked, I just got caught up in something I didn’t fully understand! I’m not like… like you!”
“So few people are,” Eli said regrettably with a dramatic sigh.
He finished up his calculations and grabbed a piece of paper. He wrote a string of digits on it and handed it to one of the men who placed it in Ted’s pocket with the money.
“This is where you can reach one of my associates if you feel so inclined to provide me with information. In a show of goodwill I won’t have anyone harass you at your place of work or follow-up with you. The ball is in your court,” he looked at him darkly from across the desk, “But if I catch even a hint of you crossing me not even your Guild will be able to shield you from me.”
Ted audibly gulped and Eli brightened up.
“So we understand each other!” Eli said in a chipper voice and got up once more.
“Yes sir,” he said glumly.
Eli snapped his fingers and the bag was once again forced over his head. Ted grumbled in surprise.
“Oh, and of course I’m not letting you ‘just walk out of here’. You will be dropped off at your residence by my good friends. I'm feeling charitable enough to allow you to avoid the gag this time and escape with your dignity intact. Happy trails!”
A muffled groan was the only response he was given as Ted was led back out. Their departure left Eli alone in his office once again.
He propped his elbows on his desk and interlaced his fingers in front of his face.
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“Excuse me, you have WHAT?”
The weekly all-hands meeting took place the day after his meeting with Ted. Eli was exhausted and just wanted to get it over with but Tarry’s senior most counsel, who was seated across the boardroom from Eli, was not taking his update particularly well.
“I have an informant within the Controller’s Guild,” Eli explained casually, “I have it on good authority that the Controllers are becoming compromised.”
“Whose authority would that be?” the senior counsel asked incredulously.
“Mine. I’ve identified one and have eyes looking for others,” Eli confirmed with a smirk.
“Mayor, we need to address this with the Guilds imminently,” the senior counsel said, looking deeply scandalized.
Eli looked up sternly from across the table. “You’ll do no such thing. I won’t have you undoing my work. He is, at least for now, under my sphere of influence but I will need time to identify others. If we alert the Guilds we will lose all progress and hand everything over to them.”
“Mayor, you cannot be serious about letting this shyster oversee such delicate matters of national security!” he boomed.
Tarry squeezed his eyes shut while rubbing his temples. Eli wondered if not telling him in private first was a mistake. Or if telling him at all was the mistake.
“Counsel. I respect your advice as always, but I do think there’s value in letting Mr. Briggs continue with his current methods. As always, I will evaluate and determine if we need to pull the plug,” he said decisively.
“This is absurd!” the counsel sputtered.
“And these are absurd and uncertain times. I expect you to work together for this common goal,” Tarry turned his eyes to Eli sharply, “As for you, keep it clean. If the Guilds find out we’re hiding this from them we will lose arguably more than we stand to gain. Let me be the judge of the progress and inform me of anything noteworthy.”
Eli nodded reverently. The senior counsel looked furious.
“Ladies, gentlemen, I have to run for my next meeting with the Mayors of Donnol and Aspir. Try to stay civil. Give me a report back of action items. Mr. Briggs will be selecting a team to work under him on the issue of tunnel security as it pertains to the Shadow Fellowship, please speak with him with any concerns or interest.”
Tarry exited without another word or backwards glance. Eli began to wonder if he had put enough thought into damage control. However, it would have to wait. With Tarry now gone the boardroom was more like a stand off than a meeting.
Tarry’s senior counsel’s lip curled. “You will be his undoing, you know that? What do you expect will happen to you if he’s no longer in power?”
Eli gave him an innocent look. “Oh, I don’t know, but I hope it's fun.”
“You treat this as a game,” he hissed, “You’ll make a mockery of our sacred democratic institutions just as you’ve made a mockery of the Guilds'.”
Anger flashed across Eli’s eyes. “I will not hear a word against my nephew,” he said warningly, “He is innocent and has every right to be in the Academy.”
“Whatever you say. Go ahead and play your little games, plans your little schemes, but mark my words I will be watching you and any and every misstep will go straight to the Mayor’s ears,” he threatened.
“I have no doubt it will,” Eli responded smoothly.
This was, apparently, the incorrect response because the counsel looked like he wanted to hit him.
“Sir, perhaps we should adjourn if there’s no further discussion,” one of the younger counsel spoke up.
Eli’s eyes shifted to the owner of the voice. James Colton. Tarry had indicated to him when he started that James was one of the newer counsel on the team. Eli didn’t interact much with him outside of meetings so it was unexpected of him to stand up to his boss on Eli's apparent behalf.
“Fine,” he hissed, “Watch yourself, Briggs. I won’t let you ruin him.”
He stormed out without another word and the remaining staff awkwardly filed out one by one.
“Ruin him?” Eli thought with a roll of his eyes. The melodrama of politics never failed to frustrate him.
Eli looked up to find he was alone with Colton who was looking thoughtfully at him.
“Mr. Briggs?” he asked politely, “I’d like to join your team if you’d allow it.”
There was an earnestness about him. He was probably at least five years Eli’s junior, broad shouldered and athletic in a way that deviated from the usual counsel type. His blonde hair was messily pushed back in a way that suggested he ran his hands through it too many times per day.
Eli chuckled lightly as realization dawned on him. “Oh yeah? Why?”
“Because it’s a matter of grave importance,” he began to explain, “Unlike my boss, I think your methods are necessary to keep ahead of the threat. Everyone plays it so safe, we don’t have time for it.”
Eli smiled. “Listen, Colton, I hate to tell you this but the team is just for show. I’ll put your name down, you can put it on your resume and get your glory, but I work alone.”
Eli got up to leave.
“But, Mr. Briggs, I know you’re rather busy and could use the help. Did you not reopen your own place of business recently?”
Eli froze in the doorway and turned around to face him. He gave an amused smirk.
“Is your astuteness supposed to impress me?”
Colton gave him a knowing smile. “No, but can you deny that you could probably use an extra set of eyes to watch for threats?”
Eli shrugged. “I’m not afraid of being watched. Lots of people watch me. If you think that your ability to keep tabs on what I do in my other business is supposed to overwhelm me with gratitude then I think you should stick to your legal files.”
“And how many of those people watching you are doing so because of your association to this office?” Colton pressed.
“Worried about my safety?” Eli said with a mocking smirk, “I work for a public figure now. It comes with the territory.”
“It’s not me who’s worried about your safety,” Colton checked his nails casually, “And I’ve heard enough about your methods to have full confidence you can take care of yourself.”
Eli clenched his jaw. He was starting to become annoyed.
“Then I don’t see the point of this conversation any longer.”
He turned to leave once more and waved lightly as he left.
“Does Tarry know about those two people who have been following you around?”
Eli turned around fully this time. He levelled a glare at Colton but only received a well practiced poker face in return. “If I tell Tarry everything going on in my world I am inherently putting him at risk. He doesn’t need to worry about the details.”
“You mean he doesn’t need to worry about you. And yet, he does. You know how to play the game in the lower boroughs but you are operating in the dark up here. And now that you've insisted on taking on a terrorist organization you’re going to need someone to watch your back in the upper boroughs. I can help you with that.”
If he was irritated before, Eli was positively bristling now. “I don’t recall asking for advice on how to handle threats to my personal security.”
“Personal security?" Colton asked in amusement, "How do you figure they’re not an issue of national security? Clearly you felt threatened enough to investigate the Controllers after they entered your radar.”
A silence fell between them. Eli studied Colton more closely. Eli realized he had underestimated him; he wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“What is it you want from me?” he asked suspiciously.
“It’s not about what I want. It’s about protecting the state. I don’t disagree with your methods, in fact I support them because we need a shake up around here. But working solo is going to create a security gap. If you continue to treat all threats against you as being personal threats you are going to create a national security issue if you attempt to shoulder them all solo.”
“And you think you’re somehow in a position to help me?” Eli asked pointedly.
“Simply, yes. I think you’re the only one with the skillset needed to suss out and neutralize the threat at hand but I think you need an ally. It’s a twofold benefit to Tarry to keep you safe because it both stops him from worrying as much and helps to protects him by preventing him from doing something rash. And it’s a benefit to you because you’re rubbish at feeding information up to him and you need someone who can speak the right language at the table.”
Eli scrutinized him. “Fine,” he said finally, “But don’t interfere in my work.”
“I have no intention of doing so. And to your earlier point I’m not interested in recognition or glory. I just want to see things set right.”
“Whatever you say,” Eli huffed, “I’ll let you know the next time I hear something of interest. I’m going to be gathering intelligence on the upcoming media tour next. I don’t suppose you’ve given any thoughts of strategy towards that?”
“It starts in one week, doesn’t it?” Colton leaned back in his chair looking thoughtfully at the ceiling.
Eli crossed his arms. “Yes.”
“I imagine you already have insight from your nephew so let me see what my connections can find out about it. We can keep tabs on where they’re going to be and maintain our own security detail,” he suggested.
“Okay, good,” Eli pursed his lips, “I’ll connect with you before the tour commences.”
“I look forward to it. Thanks for hearing me out,” Colton said as he gave him a friendly smile.
Eli only curtly nodded in response before walking out for good this time.
He had to admit it sounded helpful but he had never placed any trust in altruism. Information always came at a cost.
And he was going to have to figure out the price for this service before it too took him by surprise.