Opaque

40 | Punching Bag

"No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back."–– Sheryl Swoopes

Chapter Forty

I had to think fast. Preferably at the speed of light.

My biggest attribute, which I'm proud of, is finding a way to bounce back, like a punching bag, no matter how many times I've been kicked and stomped on. This was no different.

Logging out, I did my best to cover my tracks. Using my limited--very, very limited--knowledge on deleting search histories permanently, I tried my best to make it look like I wasn't trying to do research on another person when I was supposed to be solving my case.

No matter what anyone said, I knew there was a connection between Opaque and the Irwin High case. I felt it, deep down, in my gut.

After tip-toeing out of the room, I made it to Agent Samuel's office and helped him out. Turned out, he didn't even need my help after all.

He was a highly intelligent man, but very prone to nervous breakdowns. His extremely low ego always pushed him to the back of the line, whilst less intelligent but highly confident men surpassed him. Just listening to him explain his case to me boggled my mind.

In front of me, he didn't seem like he was nervous about getting the smallest bit of detail wrong or scared of stumbling over his words. In front of me, he was brave. Calm, cool and collected.

But that's the thing about masks: one always looks in control, brave, and calm with them on.

Nevertheless, after assuring him that he had a solid grasp on his case and that he had all but cracked it open, I took my leave from his office and headquarters.

As much as I loved spending time with a man who was a borderline genius underneath his heavy attire of insecurity, I had my own case to crack.

In order to find about Opaque, I had two options.

I could either go to Agent Hook or Agent Matthew--they both had the authorization to open the file--and ask them to unlock the file in the database or I could go to the one and only person who had the answers.

I didn't know about anyone else, but I sure found the second option more appealing.

All I knew so far was that Opaque was no stranger to the FBI. There was a solid encrypted file on him hovering around in the motherboard's vortex of information. I was positive it had all I needed to know, but it was out of my reach.

Getting to the file meant involving Agent Hook or Agent Matthew in my own plan and that wasn't something I'd want to do at this point.

Axel was the solution to the little roadblock in my path. However, before I could get to him, I had to find Mia.

I didn't want to bring Mia into the mess. However, if our previous meeting was any indication, he wasn't my biggest fan. Trying to meet with him and then subsequently interrogating him about Opaque was difficult at best. Besides, I doubted he'd tell me.

Thus the need to include Mia into the plan.

Sadly, my plan had to wait.

Sunday was void of any action, besides my second attempt at breaching into the motherboard's database, and Monday was no better. With no training sessions scheduled, I basically had the day off.

Time was all I had. An infinite, never-ending, supply of time, but a steadily decreasing amount of patience.

I was never patient.