Inner Workings

Inner Workings - Part 60

After a long morning spent with pliers and plastic tubing, Cetz could barely hold chopsticks. He and Rachel settled down in her office after she checked on Bella's weekend food intake. She broke her chopsticks and dug into sweet and sour chicken, picking out the bell peppers and dropping them in Cetz's carton. He broke out the plastic fork. Rachel took out the last of her aggravation on the chicken and rice, chewing thoroughly.

Cetz gave a rundown of what she had missed when Louis and the others had come back. Including Louis' dressing down and a terse conversation with Tzarkoff, Head of Watch One. It was easier to talk about fuck-ups after a weekend to reflect, and over fried rice.

"You think he feels bad about not getting Sandra Pearl in the first place and trying to nab Louis off of us?" asked Rachel.

The "us" made Cetz grateful. Rachel still stood by him and Watch Two as his right hand, even after his screw-up.

Cetz shrugged. "I can't read the guy's mind. I doubt he'll apologize for getting grabby."

"Watch One has always been grabby with Watch Two." Rachel's chopsticks paused. "No, I take that back."

"Watch One has been grabby with me as Head of Watch Two," Cetz, completed her thought. "They weren't like this with Bronx at the helm."

Silence hovered for a moment. Bronx had been the Head of Watch Two when Rachel and Cetz first joined, had handpicked them for their duties. At the end, he had picked Cetz to be his replacement.

"Watch One treats us like we have training wheels," said Rachel. She reflected Cetz's thoughts and gave them voice when he couldn't find the words. "A lot of our decisions have to go through them first instead of Mission Control. And they have more autonomy than us."

"And more funding," said Cetz. "You wouldn't believe the numbers I saw at the last budget meeting. Obscene."

"It's not about money, it's about autonomy. Approval for any experiment I do has to pass under Watch One authority before it filters upwards. It was a miracle I was able to get away with my tests on Louis." Rachel speared her chopsticks into the steaming chicken like it was a white whale. "Watch Three is damn near dirt poor, but it has more autonomy than us."

"That's because it had to be rebuilt from the ground up after... Barley Circle."

Cetz paused rubbing at his buzz cut. Rachel huffed at the gravid silence. Years after the incident and they still felt the effects.

"We haven't been driven to alcoholism or depression," said Cetz with a forced smile.

"Yet," reminded Rachel. She dunked an egg roll in plum sauce and licked the excess off her fingers.

"Yet. Thanks for the reminder that I can still fall to rock bottom."

"Rock bottom makes a solid foundation sometimes."

Cetz grabbed his share of the egg rolls before Rachel nabbed them all. Rock bottom, and so far all they had were two deskbound agents. Not quite seafloor depth, but the day was young. "We have to find a proper therapist in six weeks."

"Hell of a deadline," said Rachel. "What are your thoughts on the guy we're testing now?"

"Dr. Balcuwitz?" Cetz talked candidly, knowing the stress of the past week colored his opinion. "The few times I've seen him he's an inch away from being underfoot. I'll find out if he's worth it when I read his reports."

"He found me dried pineapple when I was desperate for a bargaining chip with Dr. Kilo," said Rachel. "That's a point for him."

"That's because he walked out of the building. Something we rarely do nowadays."