I left the office at 7 that night, after doing everything I could to confirm the info Weiss had given me. The piece of paper he had handed me contained nothing but a name: Charlie Acosta. For 12 hours straight, I worked to gather all I could about him. He was former FBI, which probably explained how Kendall knew him. I found nothing beyond that until I was about ready to give in and leave.
I was digging deep into old CIA records when I found something that was both extremely interesting and extremely disturbing: Sloane and Acosta had worked together on a joint CIA-FBI mission just 3 months before Sloane 'switched sides' and started SD-6. It had been a long-term mission, keeping them in close proximity, working together every day, for over a month. It made me wonder: would they have kept in touch after that mission ended? It seemed quite likely, but I had no way of confirming it.
I packed my things up and shut my computer down, then headed to my car. Just my luck, I ran into Kendall on the way out.
"Agent Bristow, why don't you take tomorrow off?" I groaned inwardly.
"We've been over this already. I don't need time off, I need to do whatever I possibly can to find the people I love." He gave me a look of distrust, which quickly changed to thinly veiled triumph.
"I'm afraid that's an order, Agent Bristow."
"You can't order me to take time off!" I protested.
"Fine, you have two options: either you take the day off, or I order you to see Dr. Barnett again." I glared at him.
"And assuming I choose neither?"
"Well, if you ignore the first order and come in to work, I'll have to punish you for that."
"In what way?" I figured he would say something like taking me off active duty, which would just give me more time to look for Vaughn, Dixon, and Dad.
"I'll have no choice but to revoke your clearance to see your mother."
"What? You-" he cut me off again.
"Furthermore, if you refuse to see Dr. Barnett, it will show that you are refusing to seek help for your trauma, and I'll have to revoke your clearance anyway, on the grounds of your instability." I was so shocked that he would play that card, I couldn't respond at first. Then another concern crossed my mind.
"Wait- I'm the only one she's willing to talk to, with my father gone." Kendall gave me another ill-hidden smirk.
"Well, if you're not allowed to talk to her, and she refuses to see anyone else, than she'll be violating her agreement, won't she?" Before I could formulate a reply, Kendall walked away. Angrily, I made my way out to my car. On the way home, I decided that not only would I take tomorrow off- it would actually prove beneficial. I could get Weiss to do some more checking in the CIA records, while I did some research myself. I would go see my mother again on Monday.
