“I do,” Noah said, “because no matter how much we want to believe that our world is just and fair, it isn’t. At least in some cases, the only way to have justice is to leave fairness at the door on the way in.”
The old man picked up a file on the desk in front of him and flipped it open. “I see that you have been known to take steps that might be considered leaving fairness at the door, yourself. I’ve read through your entire file, so I know your story. There’s enough glaring truth in it to make me personally think that we should send one of you guys after the officers who sat on your court-martial. They weren’t looking for truth or justice; they were trying to find a big enough rug to sweep you under. Of course, that had a lot to do with a certain politician. Had my way, we’d send one of you boys after him, too. Sadly, they don’t let me have my way.”
Noah didn’t say anything, but the old man saw the look in his eyes. “Speak up, youngster, if you got something to say.”
“The only thing I want to say, Sir, is that the congressman was only acting to protect the memory and name of his son. While I may not approve of how he went about it, he did act within what I consider normal human behavior. I can’t really be angry at him for that, so I cannot agree that we should send someone to do him harm.”
“That’s because you think too logically,” Parker said. “You don’t have access to that part of your brain that allows you to feel and experience and utilize emotions, so your thinking is too clear for most people to even understand. That will be an asset for you around here, but you can’t let your understanding of human behavior convince you not to eliminate someone whose normal human behavior creates a danger. Understand?”
“Understood, Sir.”
Parker tossed the file back on his desk. “Noah—you don’t mind if I call you Noah, do you?”
“Not at all, Sir.”
“Good. Noah, you did a good job of answering my question about why our organization should exist, but you didn’t quite come up with the right answer. You see, E & E is the first organization of its kind in the United States. While there have been organizations in the past that have indulged in assassination at times, they have all been under the direct oversight of one of the intelligence agencies, or the president of the United States. What that means is that there was no one to keep hold of their leash, so when our current president conceived the idea for E & E, he was smart enough—and don’t ask me how, when he’s been so stupid on everything else—to make sure that the only person who could give the order to use that most efficient tool of diplomacy would be completely unknown to any of those agencies, and not subject to the orders of any of them, including the commander-in-chief. He created this agency, chose an incredibly insightful intelligence analyst to run it, transferred an enormous amount of money that would allow it to remain autonomous for many years, and then created a secure channel through which any agency that wanted to use this tool would have to submit a request. That request is reviewed by our administrator, and then she sends back her determination, whether to approve or deny the request. If it’s approved, she simply hands the mission over to one of her people. If it’s denied, then the same request cannot be made by the same agency again.”
The old man paused, and Noah nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “This has all been explained to me.”
“Who cares? I’m just doing my job, and my job says I have to explain it to you all over again, so sit there and be quiet. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, well, anyway, not even the president can order our administrator to approve a request. From what I understand, that was the one rule that she asked for, and he agreed to it without argument. What that means is that no one can ever force her to order anyone’s death. And, since nobody outside this organization except the president knows who the administrator is, nobody can put pressure on her to do so.” Parker leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk, his hands folded neatly in front of him. “That’s the big difference between this agency and any other one that’s ever existed, in this country or anywhere else. It’s also the reason why this agency has been so successful at making a difference in this world. Now, can you tell me what makes you think you belong in this organization?”
Noah felt a moment’s surprise at the question. “I can’t say that I think I do belong here,” he said. “I simply defer to the administrator, who apparently does think so.”
“That was an excellent answer,” Parker said. “Then why do you think she chose you?”