Stones Diary: Built for Pressura' 2

Chapter 78.) Out With the Old...

"What in the hell are they doing with my stuff?!" A very upset Agent Iggy asked Carmen.

"After careful evaluation and consideration, it has come to my attention that you were part of the crooked Federal Agents that Frank seemed to keep a record of. Now," Carmen twisted in her chair, "not only were you looking to pin some conspiracy on Mr. Allen, but it has also come to my attention that you and whoever it is you were working for were hoping that you could get to him first in hopes of finding and destroying the evidence."

"How dare you accuse me of such a crime when you and Special Agent Von are on Stone's payroll!"

"That's the thing about that," Carmen smiled as she removed a document from the drawer, "there have never been any shady dealings between any of us. Legally, we have a signed contract from the Judge to leave Stone and his family alone given all the good they are doing for their community. With you being here disrupting our agreement, civilians are starting to get angry and have been wanting to protest. I've warned you and told you what would happen if you did not let this go, so hand in your badge, your firearm, and your shield and turn around because you are under arrest."

"You can't arrest me! Get my boss on the phone right now!"

"Can't do that either, his office and home are being raided by my agents," removing her handcuffs, Carmen walked around her desk and forced Iggy against the wall. "Agent Iggy, you are hereby under arrest on the counts of conspiracy to influence a victim to admit to a crime he did not commit. You are under arrest for forgery, money laundering, obtaining illegal recordings without my consent, harassment, concealing private intimate moments of said victims with the intent to blackmail, aiding and abetting a homicidal maniac... do I need to go on?"

Trying to pull away, Carmen forced her into the wall before walking her out. "You won't get away with this."

"No, you didn't get away with your schemes. I knew you were a phony the moment you came into my building but I didn't think you would be stupid enough to let Shane rope you into his mess. How foolish of you, rookie," walking her out, Carmen sent a nod to Von.

The other Agents stood shaking their heads at Iggy.

"You'll pay for this, Carmen, you have no idea," Iggy gritted.

"Save your threats, neither you nor your co-conspirators scare me."

***

"The thing about cochlear implants... the surgery, people in my community feel like it gives deaf people false hope and it's sort of like a slap in the face to force us to be part of a different culture and ignore the way we were born," Sinclair explained to Dante her reason for not wanting to go through with the surgery.

"But if this surgery is meant to improve hearing, why can't they be happy about it? If you will need it eventually, Sin... go for it."

"I'm trying to explain to you the best way that I can... from your perspective, it's like this should be common sense or an easy decision for me to make. It is not like that for my community, there's a lot of thought that goes into it. Some believe that.. say I go through with the surgery and it doesn't even work? Now, what am I supposed to do? The only option now is to fully use ASL and read lips. I was born this way and I've learned to be okay with not agreeing with our rules even if I'm aware that certain things can help me, to others it's discriminatory. It's like telling us that we need to hear. That we need to talk with our mouths to be seen as normal. That using our hands to speak is a bad thing. That's it's discomfiting."

"I get all of that, Sin... I do but if your hearing aids keep breaking and there is a better option, go for it."

Sinclair sighed and shook her head, "Dante..." she paused and closed her eyes, "I cannot, I can't. I don't know how else you want me to explain this to you, doing that is not okay in my world. It's just not. Some may do it, but those who don't may look at those who do differently. I am already treated differently by hearing people, I can't go through that by my own people... I can't," she told him.