Cat and Mouse game

Chapter Eight

The faint rays of the sun, sinking below the horizon, broke through the lowered blinds of the room. It was past 6 pm, but the task force was still working without keeping track of time.

Deep in thought, Raven slowly looked around at his colleagues. He then turned off his tablet and placed it on the desk in front of him. With a stretch of his stiff neck, he got up from his chair and headed to the hallway.

"Chief, I'm done for today," Eric said to Laura, "I need to get my stuff from home."

"Okay, you're free to go then," the woman replied, never taking her eyes off the laptop.

Elias glanced at Eric as he left and sighed with relief. Finally, he could work in peace without any distractions. He was back to his usual calm state of mind. It was like he could breathe more easily without Raven around.

A couple of hours later, the task force members began to leave, and gradually the room became almost empty. It was lit by a few lamps from those who had not yet gone home. Only the constant sounds of mouse clicks and keyboard taps shattered the silence.

Apart from Elias, only Laura and Logan remained in the room working. They were both focused on their screens.

In fact, Elias had already finished studying the data given to him. But, due to his perfectionist nature, he read it over and over again to make sure he had not missed any details. He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Morales, you can go now! The workday is over. You still need to get to your new place of residence and unpack. After all, tomorrow is your first day undercover," Chief Carter said, shifting her gaze to the hard-working agent.

"Thanks! I was just about to," Elias responded.

Elias put his tablet away in the desk drawer. Halfway down the hallway, he suddenly remembered something and turned around to look back at his colleagues.

"Chief Carter, I wanted to ask you something. About Raven," he said to Laura.

"Mmm, what is it?" the woman asked, turning her attention from the screen back to the agent.

"Have you ever worked with him before? Or maybe you know his former partners?"

"This is my first time working with him personally as well. However, I do know a number of people who have been on operations with agent Raven, including his partners," she replied, "are you worried about whether you will get along with him?"

"Well, yeah, a bit..." Morales admitted, looking down awkwardly.

"Then, I can assure you that there's nothing to worry about. I know that Eric is a great agent and always gets the job done," Laura said with a reassuring smile. "Although he is a little eccentric, you can rely on him. He really knows how to handle any situation. And will not leave you in the lurch."

"I see... Thank you, your words helped me to calm down!"

"Yeah, no problem at all! Now hurry home, it's getting late!" the chief urged him on in a stern tone.

"You sound like you're not the one who is most committed to working overtime," the IT-guy joked.

"Huh! I have no clue what you're talking about, Logan!" she responded, making a kind of offended look.

Elias smiled slightly at the sight of their casual, friendly interaction.

"Chief Carter, Evans, have a good evening!" he said.

"You too!" Carter responded.

Logan, back immersed in his work, didn't bother to waste his energy on answering and just nodded.