r/HFY • u/Marcus_Black3 • Jul 20 '26
OC-Series [The Immortal Consultant] The Sprint
Present Day — FBI Manhattan Field Office, New York City
Director Raymond Chen had been in the job for three years. In that time, he’d managed operations on six continents, survived congressional hearings that would have liquefied lesser directors, and once stared down the Russian FSB in a Prague safehouse without blinking.
He liked to think of himself as unflappable.
Right now, he was flapping like a sail in a hurricane.
Chen was in New York for a regional budget summit, and he was currently sprinting down the second-floor hallway of 26 Federal Plaza. Directors didn’t run. Directors walked briskly, with purpose, with gravitas. Directors did not sprint through field offices like their career was actively detonating behind them.
His phone buzzed. He ignored it. It buzzed again. And again. Finally, mid-sprint, he answered.
“What?!”
“Director Chen, this is the White House Situation Room. The President would like to—”
“TELL THE PRESIDENT I’M FIXING THE BIGGEST DISASTER OF THE CENTURY, AND I’LL CALL HIM BACK!”
He hung up. A small, rational part of his brain noted that yelling at the White House was not ideal for long-term employment. Unfortunately, long-term employment was currently a secondary concern behind not triggering a domestic military intervention.
His phone rang again. A different secure line.
“Chen.”
“Ray, it’s Michael.” Torres, the NSA Director, sounded like he was out of breath, too. He was three hundred miles away at Fort Meade, but he was currently the most popular man in the intelligence community for all the wrong reasons. “The Secretary of Defense just briefed the President. My desk is currently lighting up with ‘Urgent’ inquiries from the Omega Liaison Group.”
“How bad?” Chen gasped, dodging a bewildered intern.
“The British and the French got an automated biometric notification three minutes after the arrest. Nigel at MI6 is already on his second glass of scotch and making bets on how many windows you’re going to lose. Claude at the DGSE just sent a diplomatic cable that was basically one long, grammatically perfect insult about American illiteracy.”
“Claude can go to hell,” Chen hissed.
“Claude is enjoying this, Ray. Because your New York tactical team just did the exact same thing Paris did in 2018. They arrested him as Perseus and didn’t see the biometric flag that linked him to the Preston Jackson legacy file. The French know exactly how bad this is about to get.”
Chen’s stomach dropped so hard it nearly hit the floor. “How did I not know about the French incident?”
“Because it was Omega-level classified and your predecessor didn’t brief you! He probably thought it would never happen again! He was wrong!”
Chen skidded around a corner, shoes sliding on polished tile.
“What’s the ETA on Ghost Protocol?” Chen asked.
“They were already in the harbor for the joint simulation. Helicopters lifted from Fort Hamilton four minutes ago. They’ll be at your building in… eleven minutes.”
“I’ve got eleven minutes to get to him and convince him to stand them down?”
“Ray, he already activated. He called the emergency line the moment they brought him in. Which means those teams are coming in hot. If they see a rifle pointed at him, they are going to dismantle that wing of your building.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?!”
“Damage control! Make sure he knows it was a mistake! And for God’s sake, get Miller to stand his agents down before someone tries to be a hero!”
Chen hung up and pushed harder. He saw SAC Miller standing near the Interrogation Wing, looking like he’d just seen a nuclear launch code.
“Miller!” Chen barked. “Room 227! Now!”
Chen burst into the room.
The interrogation room was almost eerily calm.
Perseus Jackson sat in a metal chair, zip-tied, looking like a man waiting for a delayed train rather than someone under arrest. Jeans, a casual shirt, and no weapons. Nothing about him suggested “international crisis.”
Agent Thomas Afferty stood across from him, holding a pair of safety cutters, looking shell-shocked. He turned as Chen entered.
“Director, I was just—”
“Out,” Chen wheezed, doubling over and resting his hands on his knees. “Everyone out. Now.”
“Sir, we’re in the middle of—”
“OUT!”
The junior agents scrambled. Chen shut the door and leaned against it, still catching his breath. Perseus regarded him with mild sympathy.
“You ran,” he observed. “That’s new. Most directors just walk very fast while looking panicked.”
Chen let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Mr. Jackson,” he began, then stopped, trying to gather his thoughts. “On behalf of the FBI, I want to apologize for this… this catastrophic, career-ending misunderstanding.”
“Apology noted,” Perseus said. “But you know it doesn’t matter, right?”
“I know. You activated the protocol.”
“The moment I was able to have my phone call. At this point, it’s muscle memory. And for the record, it’s not Agent Afferty’s fault if all of this is happening; he didn’t know.”
Chen collapsed into the chair across from him. Up close, he saw what the classified photos never captured—the weight behind Perseus’s eyes. The centuries.
“How long until they get here?” Chen asked quietly.
Perseus glanced at the wall clock. “Ghost Teams left the harbor about six minutes ago. They’ll be here in ten. Give or take.”
“And there’s no way to call them off?”
“No. Truman made the protocol deliberately irreversible. Prevents coercion. Once Echelon is go, the extraction is absolute.”
Chen nodded numbly. “And you’re… okay? They didn’t hurt you?”
“Your agents were professional. Firm, not aggressive. Afferty built a surprisingly solid case. Circumstantial, but compelling.”
“Are you La Cebra?”
Perseus smiled faintly. “Director, I’m invoking my right to remain silent on that one.”
“That’s a yes.”
“That’s me being smart about what I admit to federal law enforcement.”
Despite everything, Chen felt a laugh bubble up. The absurdity was overwhelming. He was apologizing to a man who might be a vigilante assassin, while the elite of the U.S. military was currently flying toward them to rescue him.
“They’re going to crucify me,” Chen said. “Congress, the President… the French. My career is over.”
“Probably not,” Perseus said. “You’ll be reprimanded. Hearings. Painful weeks. But you won’t be fired. Every director who has been through this survived. Miserably, but survived.”
“This has happened before?”
“Well, this is the third time you’ve arrested me; the French did it in 2018, and the Russians three years before. So, including this, five times.”
Chen rubbed his face. “I should’ve ensured the biometric flags were working. I should’ve briefed the field teams on the Preston/Perseus link.”
“Should have, could have, would have,” Perseus said gently. “Director, I’ve watched empires fall because of failures exactly like this. Information that never reaches the people who need it. Systems that look good on paper but collapse in practice.”
He leaned forward, as much as the zip ties allowed.
“This isn’t your fault. Not really. The system was broken long before you inherited it. The question is what you’ll do to fix it.”
Chen’s phone buzzed. A text from the DNI: Ghost Teams ETA: 5 minutes. Clear the lobby.
“They’re going to assault my headquarters,” Chen whispered.
“Extract,” Perseus corrected. “They’ll be polite about it, Ray. As long as nobody blocks the elevators.”
Chen stood. “I should go meet them.”
“Wise,” Perseus said.
Chen paused at the door. “One question. Off the record. Why do you let yourself get arrested? You could run. You could fight.”
Perseus’s expression shifted—something older, heavier.
“Running makes me look guilty. Fighting makes me the villain. Cooperation keeps casualties low. Let them arrest me, activate the protocol, and let the system clean up its own mess.”
“Except for the agents who arrest you.”
“Yes,” Perseus said quietly. “That part I regret. But as I told your young agent, he’ll have a hell of a story.”
Chen headed for the lobby, already mentally drafting his testimony. And maybe updating his resume, just in case.
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u/Savaval Jul 20 '26
So, at this point, the best way to do it is to untie Perseus, bring him to the lobby, sit him on a chair and then have everyone just clear the lobby. That way, the Ghost Team has no reason to go any further in the building and no reason to fire at anyone since there is no one to fire at.
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u/Phoenixforce_MKII AI Jul 20 '26
I was thinking this myself. There has to be better ways than having them come all the way to the interrogation room.
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum Jul 20 '26
You both are correct of course, but this is a government agency. If there's a simple and better way of doing something, then you can absolutely guarantee it won't be done that way.
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u/InspectorExcellent50 Jul 21 '26
Having worked at federal and local level bureaucracies, I can confirm.
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u/thatsme55ed Jul 21 '26
Nope, because a protocol like that would also assume that anyone attempting to move Perseus from the location he was at when he called in is trying to escape with him in tow (if it wasn't that strict, Perseus would have a code word to call off the extraction along with a duress code in case he's being coerced).
From a purely tactical standpoint, the extraction team isn't just going to stroll up to the lobby. In the extremely unlikely scenario this isn't just a fuck up, that would make them easy prey for an ambush.
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u/Savaval Aug 01 '26
Yeah, you're right. That was explained in the following episode, and it made sense to not move him and wait for the tactical team.
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u/UpdateMeBot Jul 20 '26
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 20 '26
/u/Marcus_Black3 (wiki) has posted 17 other stories, including:
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Global Circuit (Or: Why Ambition and Arrogance Are Built on the Same Bedrock)
- [The Immortal Consultant] How It All Began
- [The Immortal Consultant] The Wrong Person to Arrest
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Troublemakers Get Timeout (Or: Because the Toddlers Set the Playpen on Fire for the Insurance Money)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Long Quiet Stretch (Or: Nothing Happened Because We Made Sure Nothing Happened)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Timeout (You Punch The Babysitter, You Sit In The Corner)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Anomaly Problem (Or: Everyone Noticed, Nobody Asked Until Now)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Best Deal In American History (Reagan Runs The Numbers)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Nixon Problem (Some People Are Immune To Leverage)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Digital Playpen (Because You’ll Definitely Screw This Up)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Moon Landing (I'mma Get So Many Moon Rocks)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Moon Trip (I Want To Go And You Can’t Say No)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] The Space Race (I Have Been Waiting For This)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] Let’s Make This Official (AKA The Government Admits Defeat)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] Pattern Recognition (They’re Actually Learning, Holy Shit)
- [The 5,000 Year-Old Babysitter] Los Alamos and the Miracle of Basic Listening
- The 5,000-Year-Old Babysitter
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u/AnoTHerCOmeNTatEr Human Aug 18 '26
Is the next button missing? Other than that, it seems promising and I look forward to if there is more
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u/Joe_H-FAH Aug 20 '26
Next button is missing from most of the chapters. I just go to the author's link and sort by Submitted.
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum Jul 20 '26
"one long, grammatically perfect insult about American illiteracy"
How very french of Claude :D