Preller Spy AU

Illustration for Hannibal Spring Fling and the fanfiction Shaken, Not Stirred

"The streets of DC in the summer are hot and sticky, as if the pavement has been newly tarred over only moments before you step on them. Brian dislikes being so far south at this time of year - he could be swimming in the cool clear waters of the Mediterranean, or walking through the shopping district of Toronto, watching Canadians take advantage of their socialized medicine by being extremely nice to unruly tourists. Instead, he's stuck here in the blistering heat, waiting on a cab to take him to the corporate headquarters of Crawford Bioengineering."

 

"He called for a taxi ten minutes ago, and the driver assured him it would be less than fifteen minutes until it arrived. The nice thing about having your trip comped by a multi-millionaire is that you don't have to sweat and stretch with the rest of the normal folk for a yellow cab. You can dial a number on your phone (burner, paid for in cash), give them a debit card number (untraceable, routed through three different fake accounts, changes every week) and be whisked away to wherever you wish to go.

The cab pulls up not two minutes later, and Brian slides into the back, giving the address to the driver before asking that the privacy window be raised."

 "Brian turns to see a tall, imposing figure (probably 6'2" , 245- no 250 pounds? African-American, no, don't know if he's of African descent, definitely does some body building on the side, early 50s-) dressed in a plain black suit, hands tucked into his pockets, eyes wandering over and measuring Brian up"

 

""Dr. Bloom, Mr. Ackerman is here to see you," she calls. He hears rustling from inside the room, and the door opens. A fairly tall, petite brunette woman smiles at him, dressed in a red and black polka-dotted blouse, and a sleek black pencil skirt."
 

""Ahem," Alana says, and the two of them finally turn to look at Brian. "This is Brian Ackerman. He's the new IT consultant we discussed last week?"

"Right, right." Beverly tosses down the screwdriver she was holding and steps over, wiping lubricating oil off of her hand and holding it out to shake. "Nice to meet you. You any good with hardware construction or are you more of a software guy?""

"They keep going on about solutions to salvage the motherboard, and on the one hand, it's interesting tech jargon, but on the other, Brian's curious about the third person in the room, a tallish, grey-haired man leaning against one of the desks, swiping across a tablet screen with his thumb. He appears to be reading something, chewing on a pen, solid brown pupils zipping across the screen, but the tension of his shoulders tells Brian that he's paying complete attention to this introduction."

"There's a rustle, and time comes to a standstill as Price presses the smooth, cold metal of a pistol against his forehead. Brian freezes, fearful adrenaline coursing through him, eyes focusing, finally, on the gun. Price has a neutral expression on his face. There's no hint of uncertainty, and it's terrifying to behold how emotionless he seems holding a gun to another person's head. Holding another person's life in his hands.

"Lecter told me to kill you the moment I knew who you were," Price says. "I'm glad I didn't listen to him." He cocks the barrel, and Brian closes his eyes."

 

"Later, much later, Brian rolls over to see Jimmy twirling the USB stick between his fingers.

"Here," Brian says, grabbing his tablet out of his briefcase. "Let me see."

"I took a peek at it this morning," Jimmy says as Brian plugs the stick into the device. "Look for the folder named Project 37."

Brian opens the folder and looks at the file names: "Prototype 1," "Prototype 2," "Gentic Marker Formula 1.26.1", and half a dozen other PDF files. He feels a weight on his shoulder, glances back to see Jimmy pressed against his back, peering at the screen."



And finally a drawing that is not a scene from the fanfiction, but, well... how can I resist? The three spies: Price, Zeller and Lounds.