✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ War Dogs [The Punisher | Frank Castle]✔

─⌖❖ 19

For now, the next five to ten minutes, Page estimated, she should possess her peace. After that, Madani would come back, give her several reasons why Frank Castle belonged to them, Homeland, and try to kick her out. But, she was prepared for that as well, and should all the cords break, and the dark-haired woman, begin a little power play, she still possessed a wild card.

"Before you even start," Castle grabbed the floor in front of Page it could, watching as she calmly wandered back from the door after it fell, a little louder into the lock, "What was with the dick comparison?"

"For it to be one, you need two and the da....? Ridiculous. Besides, that was just merely stage one. "At that, Page pressed a small button with a red circle, after which she deleted her wonderful performance and turned off the camera before pushing back a chair and joining Frank at the table. "My brother has always been of the opinion that to avoid unnecessary discussions, especially when you're in the right, you might as well let people know. With men one calls such asshole behavior, might have you probably, that or other times to hear got and with women, Bitch Move. That's how quickly you see each other again, and with each subsequent encounter, you look shittier. What was it this time?"

"A little meeting with a casual acquaintance and an old friend," Castle downplayed, causing Page to press his lips tightly together and nod to keep from laughing, "Did I say something funny?"

"No, I was just wondering how fun a party with you could be," with a pout, Page shrugged, tilting his head to the side and looking at Frank's stricken face, "I guess I don't even need to ask what her 'friends' and 'acquaintances' look like. How are you?"

"Can't complain," which was a typical man's answer, because it couldn't be that man as admitted to possessing pain when you looked like a bloody steak, "So, is foreplay over and you're going to tell me what the FBI wants from me?"

What a spoilsport Frank Castle really was. Soon enough, Castle would learn what the FBI wanted. By no stretch of the imagination did the man need to worry about that.

A quick glance at her phone followed, after which Page peered through the glass out into the hallway and waited. Ten minutes had long since passed, but there was no sign of Madani. This had been too easy, especially considering who she was here to see, and the fact that no agency would give in so easily.

More minutes passed in which silence reigned as Page looked out into the hallway, transfixed, waiting. She didn't answer either of Castle's questions for her and merely waved them off, saying that it would be any moment now.

"Agent," a man, around fifty, greeted Page not a minute later, and was, how could it be otherwise, accompanied by Madani, "I'm Director Hernandez...."

"Is this going to be one of those numbers? You get your boss, I get mine, yours then gets his, mine then gets his in turn and this goes on and on.....? Or, to cut that right to the chase, I'm going to call Congressman Wenham at the Department of Defense and if he doesn't concede, General Bryant. "Page immediately pulled out her phone, wiped the screen several times with her thumb and, holding the device to her ear, glanced at Agent Madani and her supervisor. "It's toot."

"You're bluffing," but Page pulled down the corners of her mouth, looked at her display again, and shook her head with her lower lip slightly advanced, "Hang up already."

"No," Page replied, pressing her lips together and looking tensely at the two agents in the doorway, "From my understanding and what's happened, our friend here falls more under the FBI's purview. Yes, Homeland doesn't just deal with terrorism in the country, blah blah blah and if we're being honest with each other. Their agency is under the FBI, the CIA, and NSA..... Sir, I am pleased to reach you. My name is Agent Killian with the FBI, we had the pleasure a few months ago because of.... You remember? Thank you very much, I'm glad to hear it. Why I'm calling, however, is extremely inconvenient to me sir, because, we've been ordered to investigate the Frank Castle case...."

"Never mind," Hernandez interrupted Pages another time, causing her to lower the phone, rest it against her collarbone and tilt her head slightly, signaling an 'I'm listening', "He's all yours, but first we need him. You see, Castle is part of our current investigation."

"Billy Russo?", Page asked skeptically, which was the biggest shot in the dark she had taken in her career so far, so she waited a moment before apologizing to the congressman that the misunderstanding had just been cleared up because documents had ended up with the wrong people and had only just arrived, "You're not serious? This is getting better and better. Why didn't you tell me your friend was over a dead body, Castle?"

In one, very distant form, Frank had, but it was as far as declaring Billy Russo a terrorist.