The Chivalrous -Pilot Episode 28-

Scene 12

Forensic Lab, O.S.I Headquarters, Quantico, VA, 6:20 am

The sound of blaring alarms wasn't abnormal to hear when nearing the forensic lab. But an alarm that forced you to plug your ears? Now that was abnormal. Provoked by curiosity, Cody quickened his pace as he rounded the bend. He had been on his way back from interrogation when Scottie had texted him using their emergency emoji, so Cody knew it had to be important.

"Damn it!" Scottie smacked one of his computer monitors in frustration as the agent entered the lab.

"Scottie?" Cody raised his voice in hopes to be heard over the noise that blasted like speakers at a rock concert, but most of his words came out muffled.

Scottie put up a hand to silence the agent then returned his fingers to the keyboard; flying across the keys like an F-15 aircraft, "I think I've almost got it."

He continued in his endeavor to silence the screeching alarm as a horrid headache formed at his temples. Trying to backtrack into the system and turn off the alarm, Scottie turned on an additional monitor to hack his way into his own computer. But after a few failed attempts he felt like taking an axe and hacking into his computer that way.

Suddenly, just as Scottie's hopes began to rise, his computer screen turned black and the blaring alarm fell into a silence that the two of them welcomed.

"What the hell?" Scottie's arms flared about as his eyes searched for the cause behind his computer shut down.

With no clue as to what had happened Scottie turned to share his confusion with his fellow co-worker, only to see the Agent's hand outstretched with an extension cord in his palm.

"I- that's..." he stuttered trying to choke down his disapproval of the agent's methods, "I almost had it."

He snatched the cord back and returned the three-pronged plug to its place in the outlet carved into the tiled floor beneath the counter. It took a lot of effort for Scottie to do so; wheeling back his chair to make room at his feet and then to reach down and force the stubborn plug back into its place, none of which helped Scottie's frustration die.

"Since you interrupted the computer mainframe while it was trading information it will be a while before it gets back on track." Scottie's eye twitched.

There was something off about the forensic scientist that morning. Cody wasn't sure if he should just write it off as sleep depravity or if he should dig deeper.

"Sorry?" The agent offered, not sure what to make of Scottie's childish behavior. He decided to just ignore the attitude since he was on a time crunch, "You called me down here?"

"So I did." Scottie retorted; fingers slapping the keys to emphasize that he was upset, like a teenager slamming his bedroom door.

"You got something?"

"Well... I did."

Cody grimaced and slid his coca hands into his expensive suit coat pockets, "O.K... Why was the alarm going off?"

"I programmed my computers to inform me when they got a hit. It turned into the Titanic when I kept getting them. I didn't have time to shut it off before another would inform me that I had a match." Scottie didn't let his eyes leave the screen as he rebooted the system.

"What were you searching for? Fingerprints?" Cody toyed with the piece of paper, Kim had given to him, in his pocket.

Scottie shook his head as the main page for the computer finally popped up. He logged in and, thankfully, he was able to shut off the alarm before another episode began.