Hidden Among Us by Garrett Hutson

Author:Garrett Hutson [Hutson, Garrett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBT mystery, historical mystery, murder mystery, spy mystery, LGBT historical fiction
Publisher: Garrett Hutson
Published: 2018-11-26T07:00:00+00:00

16

Monday, June 26, 1939

Martin couldn’t believe his ears. As the news sank in, he shook his head in disbelief and disgust.

“So what’s to become of us?” Frank Hooper, one of his fellow Intelligence Analysts, asked the chief.

“You keep doing your jobs,” the chief said. “No one’s out of work here. We still own all the intelligence that the overseas missions send us, and we still have to sort it out. That remains our number one job. The only difference is that when we detect a foreign agent, either in or coming to the United States, we’ve been ordered to hand that intelligence over to the FBI. They’ll handle the investigation and arrests.”

“So no more undercover work,” Hansen said. He sounded bitter.

“No more undercover work,” the boss agreed. “We leave all of that to the Bureau from now on. And remember, it’s not just us—MID and ONI also have to share their domestic counter-espionage intel with the FBI.”

“Military Intelligence, the original oxymoron,” Sam Watts said in an attempt at levity.

Martin stared at the side of the chief’s desk, saying nothing. He kept replaying in his mind the smug way that Special Agent Sloan had interrogated him after his arrest at the Bund Rally in Madison Square Garden in February, and again in the Waldorf Astoria a few weeks ago. And now these FBI agents—who had no foreign sources of intelligence—were solely responsible for keeping the United States safe from foreign spies.

They had won, and it made his blood boil.

“You don’t have to like it,” the chief was saying, and Martin looked up to see the chief looking at him. “But this is by order of the President, so no argument. And as Assistant Secretary Messersmith has pointed out, this change frees up State to focus on building better foreign intelligence networks, centered around our overseas missions. Now get back to work, everyone; we’ve still got a lot to do.”

Martin sat back at his desk, but couldn’t concentrate on the paperwork in front of him. He kept stewing.

Those smug FBI agents had won.

Becky had won.

And he had lost.

“Damn it!” he muttered, loudly enough that the guys around him heard, and gave him side glances.

Hansen got up and patted him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go out and grab a beer.”

Martin wasn’t normally one to leave the office early, or to shirk his duties at work, but he nodded and got up, grabbing his hat and following Hansen out the office door without a word to Trudy or anyone else. He walked beside Hansen in silence as they crossed the typing pool, loud with the metallic clacking of keys.

**

Fifteen minutes later, they sat at a bar up the street, a bottle of Löwenbräu in front of each of them.

“Slimy FBI bastards,” Hansen said, taking a swig from his bottle. “It’s not right. It’s just not right.”

“J. Edgar Hoover,” Martin replied, pronouncing each piece of the name slowly, deliberately. “He’s gonna run everything before you know it.”

“They say he’s got cabinet after cabinet full of blackmail material on every major government official,” Hansen said.

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