The Truth Behind the Bullshit

Joey was in a cheap motel with Dawn again, though this time they hadn't left Washington DC, and were in fact only a few blocks from his apartment. Sadly they weren't there for fantasy fucking, but because Dawn wanted to tell her partner something that required a venue they knew wouldn't be bugged. She had been clear that an empty office at the Post wasn't going to cut it for this discussion, which made Joey nervous - as did her serious demeanour when he arrived.

"I promised that as soon as I'd done all my fact checking I'd bring you up to speed on how I think - in fact how I'm ninety nine per cent sure - you ended up getting covered in that gunk" the journalist began as she paced up and down the modestly sized room as best she could "For the avoidance of doubt, I haven't spoken to anyone else about this, and I don't intend to until the two of us have considered our options and come to a mutual decision on how to proceed"

'Avoidance of doubt', 'a mutual decision on how to proceed' - since when did Dawn speak like a lawyer when it was just the two of them together in an intimate setting? How bad was this going to be?

"You're talking like we're in court, it's freaking me out a little"

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. There's no easy way to say any of this, and I guess I've defaulted to journalistic jargon because it's what I know best. Why don't we sit on the bed together?"

As Joey placed himself next to his close friend, work partner and lover, Dawn took his hand and rubbed it gently. It felt like she was preparing him for a death announcement.

"The organisation that seems to be behind all of this is the kind that will resort to extreme and underhand tactics to achieve its aims. That can include ensuring someone is close to their mark, for want of a better word, to manipulate them into unwittingly aiding their cause. The person carrying out such a role is very likely to be both charming and highly attractive. I genuinely hate for us to be having this conversation, but there is someone close to you who has been throwing up red flags to me for a while now. I did some digging and found incontrovertible evidence they're linked to the exact group of people I've long suspected put the vat of sludge in that warehouse. There isn't an easy way to say this, because she's your friend, but the person I'm talking about is..."

"Charlie Carver" Joey finished Dawn's sentence for her with a weary sigh "I know already. And whatever she might have done in the past, she's on our side now"

Dawn paused for a moment, looking a little confused, before she gripped Joey's hand tighter and tried again.

"The person I'm talking about is Kayleigh Preston"

----

"Joey, speak to me!"

Joey had no idea how long he had been lying on the bed in stunned silence, having almost completely lost track of time since Dawn's revelation. There were so many things he wanted to say. Perhaps he could tell his partner she was wrong - but Dawn so rarely was, and would have gone out of her way to ensure she had all of her facts straight before making such a devastating accusation. Or maybe he should ask what led her to such an outlandish conclusion? Joey couldn't think of a shred of even circumstantial evidence against Kayleigh. In fact, she could just as easily have ended up covered in that serum shit as him. But that was a question he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer to.

As his mind continued to race, Dawn was still trying to break through to him in the background.

"This isn't necessarily as bad as you think, Joey"

Okay, that was something he did have a response for.

"Not as bad as I think?" Joey suddenly sprung back to life, sitting up on the bed and placing his hands on his head in despair "How is that possible? Either you're wrong about something for the first time since I've known you or my best friend is a fucking spy. Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"I didn't call her a spy. But yes, I'm positive Joey. Every single piece of the puzzle fits and there isn't anyone else it could be."

"What puzzle pieces? I don't see any!"

"When you were in the warehouse the vat exploded at the exact moment when you were near enough to get covered in gunk but not so close you could have got hurt. You said yourself there were no cameras in the building, so someone had to have given a signal. Do you remember what Kayleigh was doing at the time? Other than hanging back at a safe distance, that is?"

"I think she was messaging someone" Joey remembered "But so fucking what? Isn't there a stat that people check their phones ten thousand times a day or something? It was probably work related."

"And how did you get in the building?"

"Kayleigh found an open door at the side."

"Did you see her find it?"

"No, I was still out front."

"So you arrived at the location, she went straight around the side and happened to find an open door to an unguarded vat of this mind altering serum? Or perhaps she unlocked it with the key that she'd got from the owner who leased the place to an attractive young woman. Kayleigh's middle name is Jayne, by the way"

Joey knew exactly what her middle name was, he'd just had no reason to make the connection until now.

Since he was unable to find the words to interject in that moment, Dawn continued.

"When we spoke to your editor he said you two were joined at the hip at work, that Kayleigh always went wherever you did. That may have been to ensure nobody thought it was odd that she wanted to tag along with you after what seemed like a nonsense lead."

"You and me always work together" Joey argued back weakly, still not ready to accept the increasingly obvious.

"We're assigned partners, you guys weren't. In fact, your editor seemed pretty irritated that you were always working so closely together. He also said the call came from a credible sounding woman with local knowledge and whose voice sounded disguised. Why would it need to be disguised unless it was someone he already knew? And the call was conveniently placed right when your boss was about to go out to lunch, so Kayleigh could have made it elsewhere and been back at her desk, or yours to be precise, long before he returned and assigned the lead. Also, someone with Jeff's personal number kept texting him with credible sounding but bogus information to ensure he was out all day, meaning the story had to either be given to you - with Kayleigh inviting herself along for the ride - or her, in which case she would have asked you to go with her for support. Either way, the result had to be the two of you investigating that facility together."

"Fuuuuuuuuuuck!"

"I'm really sorry Joey. For what it's worth, i don't think she was a plant. Kayleigh is a legitimate and talented journalist, and she probably sees your friendship as genuine. But there is no doubt she is behind you getting your powers. Perhaps she thought her best friend could help her save the world?"

"Without bothering to tell me about it?"

"I know, and believe me I'm not defending her. What she did was seriously fucked up, but sometimes people will go against their own morals and even the people they care about most when they think it serves a greater good."

Joey immediately thought back to Charlie saying more or less the same thing to justify some of her own behaviour. At least she had always been honest about her dishonesty. Kayleigh had completely pulled the wool over his eyes. It was a total betrayal of everything he thought he had with her.

"I'm going to make her come here so we can have it out with her now. I'll force her to tell us the whole truth, every last detail. And not just about what happened with me, about this fucking organisation. We'll find out and expose every single secret they have. We're going to make this backfire on them big time."

"No Joey, don't do anything rash. Like I said before, you and I need to work this out together without involving anyone else. If whoever put Kayleigh up to this gets wind of how much we know then we immediately surrender our advantage. Besides, I'd guess she knows next to nothing. Kayleigh is probably just a pawn in their game, her only power is being close to you"

"And basically being able to control the Vice President of the United States of America"

"She's just an adviser, they don't have that level of influe..." Dawn suddenly did the math "....Unless she got that job because..."

"When we interviewed Clarissa and you were out of the room, I made her think that anything Kayleigh says is a good idea and she should do it" Joey confessed.

Now it was Dawn's turn to be temporarily stunned into silence.

"What on earth would possess you to do that?" She asked as calmly as she could manage after taking a few much needed seconds to compose herself.

"Because I wanted to fuck Kayleigh" Joey didn't say.

"Because Kayleigh's my friend and I thought she had a lot of good ideas the Government could use"

"Perfect. Lets have a well meaning local journalist from Connecticut pulling the strings of the most powerful nation on Earth, I'm sure she's perfectly qualified for that. Fuck, Joey!"

"I messed this up badly. I'm aware."

Dawn sighed heavily, squeezed the bridge of her nose, and Joey was sure he could hear her quietly counting down from ten before she next spoke.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, you didn't ask for this power. Fuck knows what I might have done in your shoes. But you do realise there is probably a ninety nine per cent chance the Vice President of America is going to strip naked on my show tomorrow?"

"Kayleigh told me she wouldn't make Clarissa do that"

Dawn shot Joey a withering glance by way of a response.

"Then maybe cancel the show? Or take Kayleigh off it?"

"I'm just the host, I can't cancel it. And if I take Kayleigh off at the last moment I'll be showing my ass to whoever she's working for."

"Aren't you going to be showing everyone your ass anyway?"

It was quickly established that Joey's weak attempt at humour hadn't been well timed or appreciated by his partner, so he tried a practical suggestion instead.

"Put me back on the voice over"

"Enough with the fucking mind control, Joey" Dawn was struggling to contain her frustration now "You know what, just let me deal with this. But I do need to know one more thing"

"Sure, just ask. I'll tell you everything I can."

"What did you mean when you said you already know all about Charlie but she's on our side now?"