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Reid Chapman
Age – 25 years old
“Special Agent Reid Chapman, good to see you again.” I stood in the back of a dimly lit room in our headquarters building at Quantico. My shoulders broadened on instinct, and I stood taller. I twitched with the urge to head back into the field, but I was called in from my current assignment for this meeting which means something big is happening on the case.
I’m rarely called in because one slip and my cover is blown. People die. And in my line of work that’s usually women and children. That’s not something I take lightly. So, while I’m standing here, my mind is back there. Back in the damp storage shed off of a main interstate that houses twenty or so young girls readying for shipment. I know they’re there. I’ve seen them. I’ve touched them. I’ve played my damn role, and if we don’t break this case open before we lose another group, I might lose my fucking mind. So, whatever the hell I’ve been called in here for better be damn good.
“Director.” Respect. It doesn’t matter how pissed I am, how much I hate the fucking chain of command in this place and the red tape that keeps us held back more often than not. The red tape that kills innocents every damn day. I will keep my mouth shut and listen. Because if I lose my temper, if I slip up and get pulled, there’s no telling what will happen to those girls. There’s not a damn agent in the field right now that cares for those women and children as much as I do. That fights for them. I am their hero, and I will play my part and be a puppet when need be so that I can save them when no one else is even in the damn ring.
“We need a specific skill set.” He paused.
“I’m already assigned to my mission, sir.”
“Let me speak.” His voice rose another octave. “We need someone with a specific ability and level of intelligence that we don’t currently have available to us here at the agency. We need someone that can think like a criminal. Get inside their minds. It’s my understanding you might know someone that fits that description.”
“I don’t understand, sir. Permission to ask for clarification.”
“Alexander Wyatt Straton. Does that name register with you?”
Alex.
“Yes sir.”
“Alexander Straton is currently serving time at a high-profile state penitentiary after being sentenced to ten years for hacking into our National Defense Database.”
“Excuse me?” I spoke out of line, but National Defense? I thought Alex was just doing some basic Robin Hood hacking shit. Stealing from the bad guys and funneling to those that needed it. I didn’t go to his sentencing because I couldn’t, and he knew it. I had to keep my distance or risk damaging the future of my career.
“Alexander Straton was in the back door of the Department of Defense for almost a full year before we found him and put him away. But now we need him. We’re looking to offer him a deal. Your case, the transactions are all being done electronically and every time our cyber security group thinks they have them something goes haywire, and we lose them again. You know as well as I do, we can’t afford to lose another group before we shut these assholes down. Someone is screwing with us, and I think your friend can figure it out. We damn well can’t count on those monkey’s sitting over in the Cyber Intelligence Unit right now.”
“Have you made the offer?” His iron-clad features turned up into what I think may be a smile, but lack of use is causing it to come across as more of a grimace.
“He spit in Agent Bennett’s face and told him to go...fuck a unicorn.” A unicorn. Dammit, Alex. I fought to keep the laughter that threatened to breach my lips locked down.
“You need me to talk to him?” I asked, knowing how much Alex hates the system. A broken system that allowed the man that killed his mother to walk free after only six months. Alex resents authority, and I can’t say that I blame him. We’re best friends, brothers by choice. While our approach is very different, we are still very much the same.
“I need you to get him to sign the damn contract. Yesterday.”
Dismissed.
