Chapter Four

As Birkhoff arrive at the computer lab, he stood outside the door, watching the other recruits. Simon, the man from before was at the front of the class. All of the recruits were at stations with computers, working on some kind of assignment. Most of the recruits were about the same age as him, late teens, and it looked like they came from all kinds of backgrounds. Some looked like dangerous killers and some of them looked like techies by him. "Seymour!" Simon's call startled Birkhoff from his observations.

Slowly Birkhoff walked in to the computer lab. Simon pointed to an empty station at the back of the room and Birkhoff headed back there. As he sat down at the station, he glanced at the young girl at the station beside him. She definitely did not look like a killer. She was only maybe 17, her bright red hair curled to about the middle of her back. She looked shy- she made no attempt to make eye contact with him.

Glancing around he saw the other recruits were working on a simple hacking challenge. He found himself glancing over at the girls' screen and noticed she was not having a lot of success. She was doing everything the wrong way or the long way. Rolling his chair over to her station, he asked, "Hold on a second. Would you like some help?"

The young girl nervously brushed her hair behind her left ear. "I don't get this computer stuff."

Watched what she was doing Birkhoff replied, "I think you are just over-thinking it a little. Can I have the mouse?"

The girl took her hand off the mouse so Birkhoff could help her. He worked quickly, making sure to point out each step to her. "Oh!" she finally replied. "I think I get it. Thanks."

Birkhoff just nodded, rolling his chair back over to his station. When she looked up at her again, she gave him a friendly smile. "I'm Lana." She told him.

"Seymour Birkhoff. I go by Birkhoff." He gave her a friendly smile in return.

"Nice to meet you Birkhoff." She replied, "And thanks for the help."

"No problem. Computers are my specialty." He replied.

The conversation quickly ended when Simon started another exercise with the recruits. Most of it was pretty easy for Birkhoff so he found his mind slipping back to Lana, wondering what she could have possibly done to bring here. Planning to ask her after the class, Birkhoff didn't get the chance when Simon stopped him on his way out of the class. "Hey Birkhoff," Simon held out an arm to stop him before he left the room. "We talked before about your specialty."
Birkhoff nodded, barely remembering through the haze of whatever medications he had been given to be brought into Division. Most of his conversation with Simon was fuzzy. "Yeah." He replied.

"Good. Now I'm going to take you to my office and start to introduce you to the things you'll do as a technical analyst."

Without a word, Birkhoff followed Simon to his office. He knew there was little reason to question Simon- it would never result in the truth, just Simon spouting the company line. As they walked into Simon's office, Birkhoff was impressed. Apparently being head tech had its perks. Simon's office was huge- all the technical devices you could imagine littered the room, set up for every kind of technical procedure possible. In the far corner was a small bed and some furniture- probably meaning the tech sometimes had to stay on campus during missions. He also had a pretty nice living room set up Birkhoff got the feeling Simon spent a lot of time on campus. "Sit." Simon pointed Birkhoff to his couch.

Birkhoff sat down and Simon put a computer tablet in front of him. "This tablet has information on every one of these people, so it's best you get to know them." Simon turned on the tablet. "Do not let the other recruits see this. Part of being in Division is erasing the past of these recruits, so these files have details the recruits do not and should not know."

Finding it weird, Birkhoff shook his head but didn't say anything. Maybe after a while working with Division things would start to make more sense. Flipping through the tablet, Simon began to explain things to Birkhoff. He explained the system they used to pinpoint possible recruits, how they arranged getting the recruits in, then after a year of training how they would become an agent. There was explanations of recruit trackers and agent trackers and many other things Seymour couldn't even remember there was so much.

When Birkhoff got back to his room, he realized he had spent two hours with Simon learning about his new job. It was hard to tell what time it was with the lack of clocks in Division and with the lights always on. His body told him it was late, so changing into his boxers and climbing into bed, he read the tablet for a while before going to sleep.

He clicked on Lana's folder to see what her story was. As he file opened, Birkhoff appreciated the picture. She'd been made up with made up and looked very pretty, not that she hadn't been pretty in person. Seeing his birthday he realized she was 18, a little older than he had thought. She was from Chicago and had gotten in Division after being arrested for murder. The most interesting thing he found out was that her suicide was based on a widely held belief that she was innocent. As he glanced at a few more profiles before going to sleep, then shutting off the tablet and putting on the table next to his bed. Lying back in the bed, he wondered if Lana was innocent. Her shyness and quietness would certainly suggest that but he also wondered if she could make it in an assassin's training camp if she was actually innocent.