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Chapter One- Is Ryan Okay?

Ryan breathed a huge sigh of relief.  With everything that had been going down lately with Danforth trying to kill Division, he was relieved to have worked out a deal with the President to keep Division safe for now.  It was a huge victory for them- no more secret missions- just catching the rest of the Dirty Thirty and then they would all be pardoned and counted among the living again.  It was exactly what everyone in Division wanted- even if the President did compromise a little.

            Going back to Division and presenting the President’s agreement would definitely lighten up Division and give the agents something to look forward to.  Ryan excitedly started towards his SUV after leaving the secret tunnel he was required to travel through a few blocks from the White House.  When he felt a mosquito bite his neck, he just slapped it and kept on his way.

            As he got just around the corner from his SUV, Ryan began to feel suddenly tired.  He kept walking, but it began to feel like walking through mud.  He fell to his knees knowing something was wrong.   He looked up, hallucinating that Roan, who had long been dead, was standing in front of him.  “But you’re dead.”

            Meanwhile Birkhoff and Nikita anxiously waited for Ryan to return.  His mission was an important and everyone was anxious to see what his results would be.  It would be life or death to them so whatever he worked out would change Division in one way or another.  He had been gone a few hours and that made Nikita nervous.  She figured it may be obvious they had gone bad since they were taking so long.  At least that’s the way it seemed to her.  “Ryan’s back.” Birkhoff reported, pointing to a security camera showing Ryan’s SUV pulling into the garage.

            “Thank God.” Nikita replied, immediately setting off towards the garage.

            Ryan climbed out of the SUV and shut the door, rubbing his head gingerly.  He had no idea what he had done, he just got into his SUV after leaving the tunnel and drove back to Division, but he didn’t remember hitting his head. After locking the car, he walked towards Operations, only to run into Birkhoff and Nikita.  “How did it go?” Nikita asked.

            “Great!” Ryan replied.  “The president agreed to allow us to go on without any more side missions.”

            “That’s fantastic!” Nikita replied, Birkhoff agreeing with a huge grin.

            “You alright.” Birkhoff noticed Ryan rubbing his head.

            “Yeah.” Ryan nodded.  “I must of bumped my head a little.”

            “Gotta be more careful.” Birkhoff laughed with him.

            “I’ll be in my office.” Ryan explained.

            They all headed opposite directions, Ryan heading to his office.  He sat down at the desk and opened a locked drawer.  Opening the drawer’s folders, he pulled out a bunch of paperwork.  It was a pile of documents.  Documents that had been hidden away since Percy had died.  Until now, Ryan had no desire to even look at them.  Something had changed.  Ryan couldn’t put a finger on what it was, but he brushed it off and opened the first folder.

            The documents were all about finding opportunities.  People Percy could talk to in order to find additional funding by doing side missions.  The documents were still on paper, as apparently Percy didn’t even want Birkhoff to know about them through the computer system.  Ryan flipped through the documents, but he hadn’t heard of any of the people on the list, which surprised him.  Since he had previously been with the CIA, it surprised him that he hadn’t heard of them.  The CIA didn’t even know that they were out there.

            Rubbing his head again, Ryan didn’t know why he was looking at them.  Shoving them back in the drawer and locking it, Ryan couldn’t believe he had been looking at them in the first place.  A knock on his door and Ryan looked up.  “Michael.” He greeted him.

            “Nikita told me your trip went well.” He replied, walking in.

            “Yes.” Ryan replied.  “The president agreed.  WE clean up our mess and then we go free.  The only downside is we have the funding we have and that’s it.”

            “Hopefully we can get around that.” Michael agreed.  “For the rest of it that’s a pretty good deal.”

            “Of course we have to keep our noses clean.  The President’s agreement is that as long as it doesn’t come out on the news or as long as it can be explained through a cover up, we are fine.  If any direct attention is called to Division, the agreement is null and void.”

            “Of course.” Michael nodded in understanding, Seems fair.”

            “I’m just glad to get that burden off our backs.” Ryan stretched.

            “It’ll make things a little bit easier, I think.” Michael agreed.  “So what is our next move?”

            “We go back to the Dirty Thirty.” Ryan replied.

            “Do we have any leads?” Michael sat down and leaned back in the chair.

            “Nothing lately.” Ryan replied, “We have been focusing on the side missions and things.  Birkhoff and the tech analysts have not had much of a chance to look for them.”
            Michael nodded in understanding.  “Makes sense.  Do you want me to get Birkhoff on that?”

            “Yes.” Ryan replied.

            “Anything else?” Michael stood up, about to leave.

            Ryan thought for a minute.  “Nothing else for now.  I’m going to worry about how to keep our finances up.”

            Michael chuckled and replied, “I don’t envy that job.  I think it may have been what drove Percy over the edge.”

            You have no idea. Ryan thought, then immediately questioned where the thought had come from.  Brushing it off, he replied, “Thanks.”

            Ryan pulled up his computer to pull up budget records.  Division would be in trouble if he didn’t come up with something quick.  There was not a legal way for him to get the funds they would need since the President had cut off their funding.  A headache began to form in his temples.  He started researching for ways to find money but he came up empty.  The headache began to pound and he glanced down at the locked drawer.  He could suddenly understand why Percy had gone to the dark side.  It was so much easier to deal with a little side  mission rather than try to get the money elsewhere.

            Ryan knew it was wrong, but it was so tempting to take the easy way out.  He was fighting himself internally- do the right thing or make it easy but do it wrong.