I sat across two of the head bosses of the FBI.
These were bosses that were called into analyze only the most intense cases involving a shoot out and loss of life.
I had to tell them everything that happened form beginning to end. I'd been sitting here for over an hour now and my voice hurt from speaking so much, my head throbbed and my chest hurt. All of the intensity and enormity of the past few months was catching up with me. The after shock of the shoot out was definitely taking its toll. It took its toll on all of us.
Mia Rinaldi, the record keeper of the events leading up to right now, looked up from her paper, waiting for me to continue. The top boss, Director Ashford, leaned backing his chair and stared me down. He was pretty young for a director but his face held many years.
"After you saw Rose disarmed Abe, what happened?" He asked.
A psychologist, brought into see how I was coping after the shooting, Dr. Karp, looked up from her own notebook. The second director, Ralph, clicked his pen, patiently waiting.
I ran my hand over my face, exhausted.
The shooting was over a week ago and I hadn't slept any since then.
"Remember, use plenty of detail. Tells what happened word for word," Dr. Karp reminded me. She said this each time I'd stopped to breathe and remember.
"I wrote all of this in my report," I pointed out sighing.
Director Ashford adjusted his tie. "We know this has been a tremulous few months. We'll take it slow but we want to know what happened from your words so please, go on. Take your time."
I thought about Christian and Kirova outside.
They had already gone through this before me. I wished I had gone first.
"Everything changed," I started.
"My entire world shifted the second I caught the flash of Abe's blade reflect against my eyes. In the briefest of moments, I saw Rose-" her eyes as big and brown as they had ever been I remembered. The four of them stared at me patiently, only the brush of Mia's pencil making noise in the room.
I sat for a second remembering Rose's eyes wishing she were here right now. I could stare into her all day and everything would be okay. They brightened in a way I could have never imagined.
" When Abe stuck his blade through and Rose fell to the ground what happened?" Dr. Karp asked. She was trying to help but I still flinched remembering. "What did you see? How did you feel when you saw Rose?"
I breathed leaned back running my hand down my face again.
"I actually thought I saw her life fade from her eyes as she fell to the ground. I was so surprised I didn't even really move or react. I watched both Rose and Abe fall to the ground. He let out a shrill laugh, still conscious and it was when he laughed that I finally moved. Lissa was weeping in the corner too shocked and surprised. I'm guessing she saw a lot in her life but watching your best friend get stabbed…it was too much."
Director Mason read from the file in his hands, my report. "It says, Ms. Dragomir collapsed then and remained unconscious upon arrival to the hospital."
I nodded and he kept reading.
"After Agent Ozera detained an already dead Victor Dashkov, he went to aid Ms. Dragomir and you went to stop former Agent Jesse Zecklos."
"Yes, I did. I chased him through the house until we ended up outside. He made some remarks about how being an Agent was as satisfying as being a criminal was. He explained laughingly how he and Natasha made more money that way. It was all about the money." I whispered the last part shaking my head unbelieving.
Dr. Karp spoke up then, making notes on her notepad. "I spoke to Abe Mazur. He was released from the prison infirmary. He admitted that yes it was mostly about money and power but it was also about honor," she told me looking up.
"I don't care what it was about any more. He should have died. He should be dead," I spoke honestly. I noticed Dr. Karp write that down and then she looked up at me again crossing her legs. I was glad I had said. It needed to be said. It was the truth. Abe Mazur survived but he should be lying six feet under in an unmarked grave and unidentifiable.
"A lot of lives were lost in this one case alone," she said. "Everyone of the perpetrators is either dead or incarcerated but the justice system wasn't enough for you. You attacked Abe Mazur when he was in the hospital leaving him on the brink of death."
"He deserved it."
"As directors of the FBI, we're supposed to remain impartial and unbiased.," Ralph said. "However you didn't include your attack on Abe Mazur in your report and we're just here to find out what happened. The FBI's credibility is being called into question and a lot of cases can be thrown out if we don't know the entire truth. It's understandable that you-"
I sat up then with what must have been an annoyed expression. "Understandable? He was in the room directly next to Rose. They were going to operate on him before they operated on Rose," I started to explain.
"Mr. Mazur knows a lot about the underground crime world and it is greatly preferred if he came in alive rather than dead," Mason said pointedly.
"I don't give a damn! He's killed more people than all of the murders put together-"
"And he shot your girlfriend?" Dr. Karp asked writing.
"Yes he did! My orders were to take him down. No one was specific on whether he should be dead or alive and frankly I don't care!"
The four of them sat stone face, Mia and Dr. Karp writing and the two directors just staring, waiting for me to calm down.
I relaxed against my chair again and flexed my bandaged hand. My knuckles were pretty bloodied and bruised from unleashing my fury on Mazur's face but it was the best feeling in the world to hit him. I even managed to plunge a needlepoint into his shoulder a few times but like most bad guys in the movies he was still alive. It took six doctors and three police officers to pull me off of him and then it was decided to just move him to the FBI prison infirmary to keep him out of harms way.
It was later explained that Abe Mazur broke his own betrayal rule and was cooperating with the police in hopes of avoiding the death penalty. He killed people left and right but the reaper himself was afraid of death.
"Let's just move on. Christian Ozera killed Eric Dragomir, Victor Dashkov is dead, Abe Mazur is incarcerated, and the two disgraced agents, Natasha and Jesse are also incarcerated but Jesse was later killed in prison. Someone leaked that he was a police officer," Ralph read.
It was Christian but they didn't need to know that.
I was sure they already did though.
"As for the civilians, members of your family," Director Mason went on. "It turns out your mother and your nephew, although both shot repeatedly, both survived in critical condition at the hospital. How are they?"
"They're doing good and they'll be released in another week," I told them, feeling a little bit better.
"That's good," Ralph noted before reading from the report again. "Lissa is alive and okay and escaped all of the troubles unscathed."
I nodded confirming.
"It looks as if this case had finally come to an end. Of course it'll never really be over. There will always be more loose ends to tie up more bad guys to catch but in majority-" Dr. Karp said putting her pencil down.
"It's over," I whispered more to my self. I looked down at my hands then. One adventure down, who knows how many more to go?
"As for Rose…" Mason inquired.
Rose…