Participants:
| Scene Title | Abby-sitting Date |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sharing of intel and a date for the evening. |
| Date | April 7, 2009 |
Telephone Conversation
When Cardinal's phone rings, the caller ID tells him exactly who it is… after all, it's not the first time she's called him.
"Harrison." The phone's answered on the third ring, "What's up?"
"I'm assuming that no matter how pissed off you are at me, you wouldn't deliberately set me on a trail that lands me in prison…. so you wanna tell me why we're looking into Homeland Security Agent Matthew Parkman's father?" Elisabeth's tone is not angry, just tense. The information she's holding in her hands is a time bomb.
"What?" There's a hint of startlement to Cardinal's voice, followed by a rush of anger, "Oh that little fuckin' weasel— he said there wasn't— oh, I'm gonna fuckin' kick his fuckin' ass. I asked him about that, the sonuvabitch said there wasn't any connection!"
There is a sigh and silence for a few moments. "Okay… tell me what you want me to do with this," Elisabeth says finally. "So far, I've got his West Coast records, and I've managed to pull an additional set of records under an alias from a couple years ago. If we need more than what I've got, I can follow up on it. It'll take me until the weekend. But if I'm going, I wanna know what I'm stepping in and whether it's worth the risk."
"I'm not sure. Why the hell would this guy, of all people, be interested in Big Parkman?" A slight, thoughtful sound weaves under his breath, a curse somewhere in there, "What've you got so far? Who is this guy, is he really a crook?"
"Oh yeah, he's probably a crook," Liz replies mildly. "My guess is that he's just never been caught, except for a drunk driving count — but nobody runs off from their life with an alias before the Bomb without having something to hide. Now whether he's actually the kind of crook you've been TOLD he is? That's up in the air so far as I'm concerned. All I've got on Parkman Senior, though, is a marriage license, a birth certificate for our own Matthew, and random parking violations in LA plus the drunk driving hit down in PA a couple years ago."
"Then he's good." A quiet moment on the other side of the phone, and Cardinal admits, "It's worth following up on. If nothing else… just in case Parkman decides that he's not on our side after all, we'd have something over him. Nothing we'd want t'use lightly, but it's always good to have an ace."
"You sound surprised that your client would be interested…. why would he be interested?" Liz asks quietly. "And should you turn anything we're finding over to him? This could very very rapidly get dicey, Richard — I'm not sure whether Parkman Junior is actually Homeland or Company. Or whether that even really makes a difference ultimately. I'll take a run down to Philly later in the week, though."
"I'm not turning over shit to him until I get some answers about why — and I'm fuckin' getting some answers," Cardinal replies a bit darkly, something clattering in the background, "I'll come with you, if you don't mind a tag-along? I can stay shadowy if you're worried 'bout getting noticed. And — " A pause, "What Company are you talking about?"
She hadn't realized that they didn't know… or perhaps his bosses do and no one's told him. Elisabeth sighs heavily on her end of the phone, leaning against the wall where she stands and grateful that she can't block digital signals and whatever else because it means the silence bubble only affects keeping her words from escaping her own vicinity as she talks to him. "The Company is…. think of it as Homeland Security's black ops shadow-brother. No paperwork, no accountability. As bad as you think DHS is… the Company is their darker counterpart."
That's the one weakness that the shadow-morph has… for all that he works with a number of people, he doesn't really work for anyone. Information can be disjointed. Things can be missed. Like this. "Shit," he swears under his breath, "So who th'fuck are these people?"
"The ones we're fighting against, mostly," Elisabeth tells him quietly. "The ones who've infiltrated the highest levels of government, who'd disappeared people they decided were 'too powerful' to be left to their own devices or dissented with their agenda, whatever it is. The people who do things like create fucking bioweapons to wipe out 90 percent of the world's population and then let it get into the hands of people like Volken, maybe? Hell, even I don't know that much about it. Only that we don't want whatever it is they're running about in secret trying to make happen."
"All this conspiracy bullshit gives me a headache, Liz," Cardinal mutters a bit darkly, "Alright. You, uh, you goin' to the whole thing tonight? Or staying behind?"
There's a soft laugh at that. "And you wonder why hanging out with you on a rooftop was like the best part of my week?" Liz asks in a wry tone. "Teo asked me to stay back, keep an eye on Abby in case….. " She doesn't finish it. In case shit goes south. In case Homeland Security decides Moab couldn't have been hit by anyone BUT Phoenix and comes after known associates. Whatever. 'In case' covers a lot of possibilities.
A faint snort of breath answers the first part, "Not my fault I'm better in bed than most've the city. A'ight…" A pause, "You gonna be at her place, then, in case somethin' happens?"
Elisabeth laughs outright. "Well, you got an ego on you, but I suppose it's well-deserved," she tells him easily. "I'm planning on it, but I'm not sure what she's planning. She may be heading in to work, which means me sitting around Old Lucy's til she's off. Why? Wanna come Abby-sit with me?"
"I might as well," admits Cardinal, "God knows I can't leave you two alone for too long. You might try'n blow up the city, and-slash-or get kidnapped."
"Asshole," Elisabeth fires back mildly. "I'll text you with what's what." And she hangs up the phone on a chuckle.
 <date>: previous log |
 <date>: next log |