10/17

Episode 4, Chapter 15

Senior Special Agent Denike once again sat staring out the window of her office without seeing the landscape beyond. The warmth and vibration of her ear piece indicated an incoming call. Tapping it once she said, "This is Denike," with a perfect indifference in her voice that belied the storm of emotions and thoughts spinning through her mind.

"Agent Denike, please accept my sincerest apologies. I tried calling sooner but your line was not available," Dr. Vaughn said. "Obviously, when I made that insensitive comment, I had no idea this would happen."

"Of course not, Dr. Vaughn. It's not like you could have orchestrated something like this," she agreed. Contrary to her words, she did want to lay the blame for all of this at the good doctor's feet. Inwardly, it gave her a spiteful kind of comfort to hate this man who had been the harbinger of such bad tidings, but she would never allow her personal feelings to interfere with the job. Or almost never.

"True, but I take no comfort in being the messenger. When I said what I did yesterday, I assure you it was no kind of prediction. My statement was meant as a dramatic tool, to emphasize my point. That's it. I never imagined my ill chosen words would play out quite so accurately. And even worse," he rushed to add. "We used nearly the same scenario in your presentation this morning. Judging by the phone calls and information requests my assistants received earlier, I know that didn't look good." He was right. It had not. 

An exhausted Doctor Vaughn had left the compound directly following their presentation of her PoA. The news of the school fire had come little more than an hour later, while the department heads had still been debating the merits and drawbacks of her admittedly radical proposal. Within minutes of the announcement, Director Smith had confined to her office, pending a preliminary investigation. An investigation that had taken another four hours, but it worked out in Agent Denike's favor. The delay had allowed her the time to calm her own roaring emotions over how swiftly the instability could surface in the altered teens. More importantly, however, the incident and subsequent investigation had pushed the department heads into making a decision.

"Don't worry, doctor. While there will still be a long term investigation, with the nature of the incident and the ease of tracing our interactions over the last few days, it has been ruled highly unlikely that we had any potential involvement in the school fire. The agency appreciates your cooperation and forthcoming in all of this," she reassured him.

"Of course, Agent. Exterrs has nothing to hide," he replied. "Our whole goal is to help humanity." She rolled her eyes. Humanitarians could be so cloying. Taking a deep breath she once again shoved aside her personal animosity for the doctor. She needed this man on her side now, more than ever.

"Okay, enough of the pleasantry garbage. Let's get down to the real reason you called. As I'm sure you've surmised, A PoA based on our recommendations has been approved, with a few conditions," she informed him. "If you are amenable, stage one can be implemented tonight."

"Oh, um, yes, of course," he said, appearing to stumble over her abrupt change of subject. She smiled, letting herself enjoy the idea that she was keeping him off balance for just a moment. "Are, ah, I mean, Are they going ahead with the whole plan? Full detainment?" Dr. Vaughn finally managed to ask.

"No, but I told you was a long shot. The incident," she said, meaning the school fire, "Has shown that the instability you mentioned is a concern, but when our lab team double checked you work using the same samples, they believe that the time frame may not be as immediate as you indicated. The DNI is not keen on stomping on the rights of eleven thousand citizens and their families without conclusive, inarguable evidence. And even if they were, where do you propose we house that many subjects." She informed him. "Full detainment is not off the table, but not without more information. So that is what we focus on. The sole exception will be volatile subjects, which will be handled accordingly."