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Billy Creel's Story

I'd spent four days trying to convince myself I had done the right thing, that I was serving my country, that I had no choice - and some serious drinking had been the only outcome.

It had been easy to find out about Walker's "special" mission, all I needed was a couple of unguarded remarks from Jiao, as she provisioned up for the trip.  Maggie and me smiled and waved as she set off, as always, then I sent off that damned message on my shiny-new encrypted comm.  Easy, sure.

The next day, I kept as busy as I could manage, did some repairs to our place, anything else I could think of, wound up doing heavy negotiating with Doc Hoff for extra meds - Doc Church had a couple of patients down with dysentery, of all things.  I smiled and joked and wheeled and dealed as always, good ol' Billy, but Maggie was unusually quiet and stayed close by.  I don't know how but she must have sensed that something wasn't right.

That evening, HQ told me that they'd captured Walker alive, no casualties, and congratulations on your solid intel, Captain.  Likely commendation for you.  Unfortunately, the rest of her team had avoided capture, so were presumably on the way back ....  I felt a lot better knowing that Jiao had escaped, but I KNEW where she would go, what she would try to do.  She wouldn't leave a friend hanging, and the Lone Wanderer, of all people .... 

Didn't say anything about this to HQ, but I had a few drinks after that.

Late the next day was when it all went crazy, or crazier.  Raven Rock suddenly went completely off the air, leaving Enclave comm channels in chaos and the back-up facilities at Adams AFB trying to pick up the pieces.  It was said the Rock had been destroyed, and within an hour we were all told that the President was "alive but incapacitated".  General Jackson became 'Acting Supreme Commander' or whatever.  Never got it clear whether he made up the title himself, or if the rest of the Joint Chiefs invented it, or what.  Then a recon unit screamed about a tacnuke attack on a Satcom Tower near Raven Rock, and I heard the Ghosts' Verti-Bird lift and roar off that way only minutes later.  I hadn't even known their 'Bird was flyable.

I took it as certain that Walker and her people would somehow come back from that mess.  With good odds they would have figured my part in it.

Game Over.  The 'smart' spy would have skipped town, post-haste, suicide pills in pocket and gun in hand.  Me, I sent Maggie off to stay with Moira for the night - they usually had fun but this time she was just quiet. Then I settled down in the Saloon to drink, and wait.

The storm had been demoted to a downpour when I heard the V-Bird coming back.  By that time, most of the saloon's customers had left for the night.  Moriarty continued to sell me drinks, he'd never close as long as a single paying customer was there, but was trying to wheedle information out of me.  Unfortunately for him, I wasn't nearly as drunk as he thought, or as I wanted to be.

A bit more of a wait.  Then solid footsteps outside, through the rain, and the door opened.  Moriarty straightened hopefully at the bar, obviously anticipating more customers, only to then slump and mutter with feeling, "Oh, c##p!"

Someone slid onto the barstool next to me.  "Good evening, Mister Moriarty," came Walker's calm voice.

He produced his best smile, which wasn't much, "Good evening, Miss Walker.  Is it a drink you're wanting, then?"

She wrung some water out of her hair, then reached to her belt - and dumped a bag of caps on the counter.  "That, and a bit more, for an hour's use of your premises  ..."

Moriarty had locked on the caps, "Me premises?  But-"

"You, and Gob, and Nova, will all go to the Brass Lantern right now, and enjoy the late-night feast being laid out for all of you.  My treat.  We'll pay for any breakages here, and will lock up when done.  But only if you leave right now, without saying a thing, Mister Moriarty ..."

He opened his mouth, thought about it for a second, then closed his mouth, deftly scooped up the caps and headed for the door, motioning for his employees to follow.

Just silence then.  I thought about it, then slowly reached inside my coat, and V-E-R-Y slowly drew my 10 mil and carefully placed it on the counter in front of Walker.  Then I finished the Scotch in front of me.  Gods, the stuff was vile, but I needed the effect for what I knew was coming.

Zero surprise from Walker.  So ... 

Maybe the last words I'd ever say.  "William Stanford Creel, Captain.  E71-24182-0705-IN.  Enclave Armed Forces, Intelligence Division."

"Uh, HUH.  We've figured most of it out, Billy.  At least, I think we have.  Pretty easy, really, once we knew what to look for."

Why was I still breathing?  Why was she waiting?  I felt the bile rise in my throat, my good eye start to water.  I would NOT beg for mercy, but ... "Maggie?  Just promise you'll take care of her ..."

"Nothing bad happens to Maggie, my word on that."

The pain in my gut eased remarkably.  "I volunteered for this job, you know.  I was a damnfool kid straight out of the Academy, all set to serve my President and my Country.  So, Intelligence Division offered me a chance for action, to make a real differance.  Get in close with the Wastelanders, gather useful data, discover weaknesses ....." 

A deep breath.  Walker was perhaps the single deadliest being in the Wastes, but never one to get creative about her killing.  Whatever happened, it'd be quick.  I was okay with that.

Except she didn't make any move, just talked as if to a friend.  "The Enclave doesn't have ANY regard for Wastelanders, does it?  Must have taken lots of effort for you to fit in."

I found myself nodding.  "Yeah.  It did."

"So, guessing that you began as a Caravan guard, just as you've always said.  Good way to scout out the land, set up contacts, learn stuff.  You get hurt ... " She indicated my eyepatch "... you survive.  But now there's a problem.  One-eyed guard, not much work.  So you look for something else.  Somewhere in that time, you find Maggie ..."

There was a lot from that day I chose to forget, some I simply couldn't, "... The Raiders .... That place ....  I couldn't just leave her there.  She was all alone, and then she grabbed my hand, and-"

"Welcome to the human race."  Walker shifted to look at her Pip-Boy for a second, then directly at me.  "Maybe you thought you'd leave her someplace ... nice.  But then you start thinking she could be useful as part of your cover.  One guy on his own is suspicious in the Wastes.  Guy looking after a kid that's not his - some folks think what a great guy you must be, others think ... nasty things.  Either way, it's a great cover, because no one ever looks deeper.  Then, one day, you find she MATTERS to you as a person ... "

Dammit.  Was she a mind reader?  "Yeah" was the best I could manage.  Something inside me HURT.

"... You have contacts in the caravans, so you send messages through them if you have to, but it takes days.  Guessing you were without a comm for a while..."

"Just got a new comm.  Before that, I was sending stuff through to Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons.  He knows someone in Talon Company ..."  Why was I telling her this?

"Hm.  Good old Uncle Roe.  He has a kind of history with the Ghosts, y'know ...."

"You just figured all this out?"

"Me and Jiao did.  Thinking on it, there were a few times you could have lured Jiao someplace, tricked her, pulled a fast one.  Then get her Ghostarmor back to your bosses.  Would have been quite the coup for your side.  But you didn't.  You might have started to, a couple of times, but always held back.  And then there was your bogus description of Megaton's defenses ..."

 I think I actually flinched at that one.  She'd seen THAT?

' .... Damnedest fiction I'd ever seen, on the holomap in that briefing place.  No wonder the Enclave's steered clear of this town."

"Megaton's just a place, Walker.  Enclave wouldn't gain anything by blitzing it, that's for sure.  I was saving them ammo - and preserving my cover."

"Them?  Interesting.  It's also the place where you live.  It's where Maggie lives.  Where your friends live.  Face it, Captain William Creel.  Your 'cover' became the real you a long time ago, you just haven't realized.  You've gone Wastelander."

Back in my Academy days, that last accusation was, at best, a very bad joke and, at worst, grounds for a full-on fistfight.  No way that ANY loyal member of the Enclave could ever consider lowering themselves like that, right?  Right?

Right.

Walker had been watching my face closely.  She apparently came to a decision, and slid off the barstool, obviously about to leave.  "That's it."

I had to ask, "So, what are you going to do?"

"Me?  Right now, I have a schedule like you wouldn't BELIEVE ..."  THAT smile, the one that a few people talked about.  Never thought I'd see it myself.  "Billy, you've already turned.  By way of the Ghosts, you now work for the Potomac Alliance.  You carry on as before, only we get to read all your signals, and perhaps change whatever you send beforehand."

Dizzy.  Must have been all that Scotch.  But I had to ask, "How do you know you can trust me?"

"Simple.  You waited, Billy.  You wanted this mess to be over, even if it got you killed.  Besides, running would have meant abandoning Maggie.  We all know that's one thing you'd never do  ..."

"But .... but .... "  Good ol' Billy, that's me.  Always the guy with the fancy words.

"We'll be watching, just in case.  But, I'm sure enough."