From the moment Jorden had turned that corner and found herself face-to-face with the callous 'lift-woman' she had put her defences up. She just didn't understand what was so hard about holding a door open for someone? This Kate Lewis character looked like a real piece of work, to be honest she intimidated Currand, and that was something that didn't happen a lot.
Jorden had used her many years of military training to asses this woman before the lift door had even closed – she was average height, but had a slender build; probably got to the gym once or twice a week, she had nut brown hair – no regrowth, her natural colour - that sat in neat waves on her collar bone, it was cut so that it rested just around the edges of her heart shaped face; a safe bet, she was alert and style conscious – yet didn't want to stand out from the crowd too much, her tanned skin and steely grey eyes were made up with a light and natural, barely there blend of makeup; pretty but intentionally not too feminine, her dark blue-grey suit was well cut and tailored, yet the shade did not compliment her natural colours; the girl tended to overlook certain things in favour of focusing 100 on others, her jacket was also figure-huggingly tight; Lewis didn't carry her gun at all times, the way she stood – her hands planted firmly on her feminine hips; she was assertive and headstrong, yet she was avoiding making eye contact – perhaps she too felt uncomfortable?
Jorden Pacy-Currand seized the opportunity to look at the woman's ID card – Kate M. Lewis, born 9 August 1968. The photo was at least 18 months old, in the photo her hair was shorter and she was wearing glasses, she must be wearing contacts now – insecurity? Self conscious? Her signature was steady and the ends of the letters curled off in a light-heartedly fashion; Kate Lewis was a naturally a right-brained person, yet she could easily focus on tasks and was quite intelligent.
Now that Jorden was in the room, standing in front of the woman she could just sense Lewis, how determined she was, how quick and able she was - the way her eyes traced the outline of every person and object in the room – the way they absorbed every little detail, as though she were about to be questioned on her surroundings; Pacy-Currand admired that – perhaps there was still hope yet, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that this woman was still a rookie, she was obviously more laid back that Jorden, but Jorden's training pushed her to push her partners, bring out the best in all of them – there was no reason to make an exception this time.
"So boys – what's the case?" asked Jorden in a mock eager voice.
Good old Byers stepped forward, up to task as usual, "Well – projector", he looked at Langly. Langly, who was now leaning up against the far wall, looked confused,
"PLUG IT IN RICHARD!" said Frohike decisively, shaking his head in Lewis's direction. Jorden laughed internally – they were both vying for the attentions of the new female agent, she herself had experienced the exact same phenomena when she had first met the Gunmen. She also supposed that Lewis would do the exact same thing she had done: be completely repulsed by the two of them and eventually kick their asses at something to put them back in their places.
Lewis gave Frohike an awkward smile as the projector whirred into life. They all hushed down and turned their attentions to Byers as he begun his case synopsis. "Herston, Illinois", he handed Lewis an X-File case folder, "a series of particularly gruesome murders, occurring between two and four days apart – eights deaths so far". He flicked a small, old switch and the first of a series of photos of a blood stained stairwell flashed onto the projector screen, oblivious to the fact that Langly had turned a displeasing shade of green Lewis spoke out over the hum of the machine, "eight deaths? And we've only just been called?" Langly shuffled a little where he was standing,
"Due to the fact that these murders are occurring in such a short space of time, and due to the particularly brutal nature of the crimes, the case was originally assigned to Violent Crimes – they couldn't made hide nor hair of it. Apart from the condition that the bodies are found in, there's no solid and consistent MO, no link between the victims at all. So you guys get to have a stab." He chuckled.
Jorden raised an eyebrow, "that's not funny. Look I'm not going to mess around here – I'm sorry but you guys just aren't qualified to get involved with this type of case. Lewis and I will be able to deal with it better alone – we've both done work on cases of this nature before and there is no real need to even have you guys here."
All three of the men looked slightly disappointed.
"I'm sorry. Mulder and Scully might have let you get involved with this but we won't."
Lewis couldn't help but to agree with what Pacy-Currand was saying, this was no place for three computer nerds – it was a very serious, ongoing crime. She jumped off the desk she was sitting on and began to usher the Lone Gunmen out of the room. As she walked past, she handed Currand the case folder, which she proceeded to flick through. Kate continued to push the small group towards the door, "Are you sure you don't need our help?" asked Frohike.
"We're good", said Jorden without raising her head from the folder she was reading.
Byers this time – "We'll I booked you two tickets on a flight to Illinois that leaves at 11:30."
Kate sighed, "Thank-you Mr. Byers!" She finally got them all out of the office and shut the door. Now, to work! There was a timid knock on the door. Kate opened it, a harsh look on her otherwise attractive face.
"You forgot your tickets" said Byers sheepishly holding out two slips of paper. Without speaking Lewis ripped them out of his hand. Frohike winked from behind the others, "perhaps you could give me your phone nu- ", the door closed in his face.
Kate turned back around to face Currand, who was still reading through the case details, she happened to look down at her wrist watch, "Dammit – the flight leaves in just over an hour! We'll be lucky if we make it." Currand jumped to her feet and pulled some papers and files together, shoving them in a briefcase.
"We can discuss the case on the plane there" said Lewis as she put all the slides into a small box. Jorden couldn't help but to raise her eyebrow once again – well obviously. The two female agents finished gathering their documents and rushed out of the office, turning the light off and locking the door as they went on their hurried way.