Agent Jones- Book One

| Chapter Sixteen |

As soon as I walked into the office, I was ready to defend Peggy. The doctor's presence, however, stopped me. He turned to us and gave us a stupid little smile, then it dropped and he looked concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Doctor, if you could please wait in the hallway with Agent Thompson while I speak with Agent Jones," the Chief said. The doctor nodded and did as he was told, closing the door behind him. The Chief stood on his side of the desk, one hand on the chair and the other on his hip. I moved to stand directly across from him with my arms crossed.

He wasn't talking, so I went. "This is ridiculous. Agent Carter is still a good agent."

"Yeah, one who is betraying her country by helping a criminal like Stark," the Chief said.

I huffed. "We don't even know the whole story. The best thing to do is to wait until the man himself gets here and explains everything. If he's smart, he'll explain her involvement, too." I threw my arms up, exasperated. "Who knows! Maybe she really was helping to clear his name without knowing the truth. This is Howard Stark we're talking about- if they really do know each other well, I wouldn't be surprised if Peggy jumped at the opportunity to help clear his name."

The Chief sighed, and looked at me. "Why do you believe in her innocence so much? If I recall correctly, you weren't very happy at the aspect of her lying to you and it didn't seem like you believed her."

"Yeah, at first didn't. I won't deny that," I started, and then began to pace. "But I was trained to read people and I saw how honest she was. During the interrogations she didn't say much- or anything really. But what she did say was so honest. And when Mr. Jarvis showed up she was so confused when Stark supposedly admitted to his guilt. Something doesn't add up."

We were silent for a second, and the Chief sat down. He moved one arm to be on the desk, and the elbow of the other also went on the desk as he put a hand over his mouth in thought. His eyes moved and the gears turned. My pacing continued as I waited to hear what he was going to say. For crying out loud, I was putting my own job on the line here defending a possibly treasonous person.

He sighed and moved his hand so I could see him face. "Pace anymore and you're gonna start diggin' a trench in my office," he said. It was almost a joke, but he didn't say it in a joking way. I stopped and crossed my arms as I looked at him instead. "I see where you're coming from, but don't ever question me like that in front of everybody again, alright?" he asked. I nodded.

"For now, I want you in that room with them. Bring some files in to work on, bring in a book to read- I don't care. All I want is for someone to be in there so they won't try anything on me," he said. No, he didn't give me any sort of response to what I was originally in here for, but I wasn't about to argue. So I just nodded and left the office. "Send the doc back in here!"

Thompson was at his desk, the doctor standing nearby. I grabbed some uncompleted files from my desk under one arm and walked over to them first. Jack was the first to look up at me, but I was focused on the doctor. "Chief wants you back in his office," I said.

He nodded and walked away. I was going to do the same, but Jack got up and stopped me. "Hey wait what happened in there?" he asked. "I heard you yell at some point and thought it was bad."

I was very confused now. Why did Jack care? He must've noticed how he was acting, too, because he adjusted his stance awkwardly and tried to show he didn't care. Too late, pal. I already know. "Everything is okay, I think. Thought I might lose my job, too, but he didn't say anything like that so I think I'm in the clear."

Jack nodded. "Right now I've got to get in there and sit with them, so..." I trailed off, and Jack moved out of my way. I felt him watch me as I walked into the current holding room, and even turned to look at him when closing the door.