Dan had gone to bring the truck around. Sullivan had figured it was for the best to remove the Mouth from the equation. He needed Hoover to make the deal of his own free will. He hadn’t bothered to tie him up either. That would’ve been insulting to them both. Sullivan had given his pitch. Now he sat, arms folded, and waited for the Director’s response.
“You want me to help you clear your name?” Hoover was incredulous.
Sullivan nodded. “Yep. ’Cause I’m innocent.”
“You kidnapped the Director of the Bureau of Investigation!”
“I didn’t think you’d return my calls.”
“You should be under arrest!”
Sullivan looked around the empty warehouse. “You and what army?”
Being alone and defenseless only made him slightly more humble than when he was surrounded by armed agents. “I used to own you!”
Sullivan did not respond to that.
“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”
“I didn’t think I could go much higher than Public Enemy Number One.”
“Yes, which is frankly an embarrassment.” Hoover rubbed his face with both hands. “They corrupted my own system and used it to embarrass me.”
“The Office of the Coordinator of Information, you mean?” Sullivan chuckled. “How’s the power struggle going?”
Hoover looked at him funny. “You’re well-informed.”
“Very.” Actually, it had been a guess, but it looked like he was right. “OCI used my parole to hang you out to dry. Way I see it, you either messed up and let a dangerous homicidal Active loose on society to serve as your personal hit man, or the OCI’s got this all wrong, and me and my friends have nothing to do with this plot.”
“You’re rather clever for a Heavy, Mr. Sullivan.”
“Gravity Spiker, and you knew that when you sprung me from Rockville. We’re innocent, by the way.”
“The evidence against your group is damning.”
“What evidence? A mad Boomer wearing a spell and a ring makes hundreds of people guilty? That wouldn’t hold up in any court. We’re scapegoats. Patsies. And you know it. That evidence came from the OCI, didn’t it?”
“Of course… Let me go, and I’ll be sure to bring that to light.”
Sullivan pointed. “Door’s thataway. Your car is waiting.” He tossed the keys to Hoover, who, surprised, barely managed to flinch and catch them between his knees. “Don’t forget your man in the trunk. That can’t be comfy.”
Hoover took the keys. “Just like that?”
“I’m here to make you an offer, Hoover, not hold you for ransom. The OCI is a problem for both of us. I can help fix it.”
The Director stood and hurriedly fled across the space, shoes echoing on the hard floor. Pigeons scattered to get out of his way. Sullivan stayed in place, but he figured he wouldn’t have to wait long. He had known men like J. Edgar Hoover before. Though they weren’t nearly as powerful, they were of similar makeup. Everything was about them. Any twist of fate that didn’t go their way was a personal slight. In a military officer, any positive report about a subordinate was felt as if they’d received a reprimand. In business, if the other guy made a buck, then they felt like they’d lost a buck, like there were only so many to go around. Everything was a competition, and no matter how successful they were, they were always bitter, petty men, who couldn’t stand being shamed.
Hoover came back a minute later, his curiosity having gotten the better of him. “What are you proposing?”
“You want to protect the institution you’ve built. I want to protect my people. Neither one of us likes seeing the innocent taking a fall while the guilty get away.”
“Of course not,” Hoover snapped. “I know you hate me, but everything I’ve done has been to defend this great nation from our enemies.”
Sullivan gave a sad little smile. Hoover was lecturing one of the most decorated veterans of the Great War about defending the country. “I believe you. Despite what I think of you, you sure do like putting the bad guys in jail. I respect that. Have a seat.” He waited for the pudgy man to return to the broken chair. “I’m assuming you know the truth about Mar Pacifica?”
“Anarchist Actives-”
“It was the Imperium.”
Hoover scowled. “That’s classified.”
“I was there. Don’t tell me about defending this nation, when I personally killed the man responsible for taking over the Peace Ray. I cut his head in half with a Jap sword. The Tokugawa? That was us too.. We’re on the same side here, Hoover, and you know it. I know you’ve got your hooks in everything. I’d like to share information.”
“You have been busy. Very well. You go first.”
That was expected. “I just did. Now you’ve got a confirmation about who killed the Chairman and saved New York from being vaporized by a Tesla weapon.”
“And the Geo-Tel?”
Sullivan was impressed. Hoover was just as well informed as everyone said he was. “Destroyed.”
“Hmmm… I don’t know what to say about that…”
Thank you would be nice for once. “Tell me about the OCI.”
It was obvious Hoover didn’t like being manipulated, but he was a man who liked to explore his options. “A very secret, very minor, unimportant agency started by President Wilson, specifically to study magic and gather intelligence on known Actives.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“As I said-secret. They were authorized emergency police powers after Pacifica.”
“I thought monitoring Active criminals was the BI’s responsibility.”
It was obvious this part put Hoover in a sour mood. “It was. OCI was to monitor Actives in general. After the Peace Ray, some… confidence was lost in the Bureau’s abilities. OCI had already laid the groundwork and was prepared to step in. They’ve capitalized on recent events to increase their authority.”
When he put it that way, government infighting didn’t sound much different than the mobs jockeying to control different rackets. Another gang shows weakness, you make a move. “Why are they framing the Grimnoir?”
Hoover paused, as if thinking about how much precious information he was willing to part with. “Perhaps they think you really are responsible?”
“I was a detective, remember? They can’t be that stupid. They’re not trying to conduct an investigation. This is an extermination.”
The top G-man in the country gave him a bit of a smile. “Very good, Mr. Sullivan. A lone killer, no matter how dangerous, the country deals with them and moves on. It doesn’t require any great changes to the system. Now a conspiracy… that requires action to root out. That requires men, material, money, and management. Since things are changing so rapidly in these dark times, some parties may see this as their opportunity to insinuate themselves into the fabric of power. Your group is but the means to an end.”
“And from the way the BI’s been thrown under the train, too, I’m guessing you’re in the way of that end, and it’s probably not because you’re such a fan of civil liberties for Actives.”
“You might not think so, seeing as how you’re a convict, but compared to my opposite number in the OCI, I am a saint. This may come as a surprise, but I’ve been against their agenda the entire time. I think it goes entirely too far and the American people will not stand for it.”
“What’s the agenda?”
The Director was surprised. “You don’t know?” Sullivan cursed himself for the slip. “Perhaps you are not as well informed as I’d thought. Forget that I said anything. I’m not in the habit of divulging classified information.” Hoover had scored a point.
“So what are we going to do about it?”
“We? I’ll follow the will of the people through the instructions of their duly elected representatives.”
“Sure. And if I bring you proof that OCI is rotten?”
“Then I bury them,” Hoover answered maliciously. “If you are innocent as you claim, then my Bureau never made any mistakes at all, and that will simply have to be made public, that the OCI was barking up the wrong tree. I can see how an exchange of information could be mutually beneficial for both of us. I believe that we can come to an agreement… though if questioned, this meeting never occurred.”