Infiltration of the Iridine | Silence of the Lambs

Chapter 2

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Your POV:

"It's great to meet you Mr. Crawford, sir." I make a conscious effort to keep my language formal, intending to make a good first impression.

"Please, come in." He leans away from the doorframe, moving backwards to press his back against the door, and stretching his hand out as a welcome. I bow my head slightly, smiling as I enter his office.

As he walks past me towards his desk, I glance around. The rectangular room is fairly large, but mostly empty. A hefty desk sits to the left, between his own chair behind the desk and two armchairs in front of it. Behind the desk is a sizable corkboard on wheels containing photos, diagrams, and lines expanding across it. The rest of the room is rather uninteresting; on the right of the room is a brown couch and coffee table, and the tan walls are mostly blank besides an occasional mundane photograph, obviously placed by the department as more general décor.

"You can sit if you'd like, give me one moment" his words snap me out of my observations.

The left armchair in front of his desk looks more welcoming than anything else visible throughout the whole building, so I accept his offer graciously. As I sit, he begins to open the shutters on the windows, revealing a view of the outer, open area of the sixth floor.

Finally, he returns to behind the desk, leaning back in his chair and placing his hands behind his head. He smiles, "most new agents arrive quite early," he admits comfortingly, "on my first day I was about thirty minutes early."

"Well, sir, you have me beat by a mere six minutes" I say jokingly. Suddenly time freezes as I shockingly realize what I had just said. Oh god, did you really just crack a casual joke to your new boss within the first minute of meeting him? I'm a fucking idiot; he's never going to take me seriously now.

He chuckles, leaning forward and resting his nesting hands on top of his desk. "I can't say I've ever had an agent comfortable enough to be humorous on the first day" the right corner of his mouth raised to a slight smirk "it's interesting though. Shows you got confidence, that's important in this line of work."

I quietly sigh, greatly relieved my satire was received positively.

"So, agent, it's your first day so I won't overload you with any heavy case assignments just yet. However, I do need to see what kind of analysis you're capable of. Let me see..." he trails off as he opens the top drawer of the desk and removes a file. He opens the file, tilting his head inquisitively before nodding slightly, signifying he removed the correct dossier.

He slides the file across the desk, placing it in front of me. "This is an old, previously solved case. I want you to look through the evidence and come up with a psychological profile based on what you've read and seen. Then, you'll come to me to get a list of suspects, with which you analyze and determine who fits the profile best."

I look down at the file attentively and nod. "Sounds great, sir. I'll do my best."

"Don't stress too much," he reassured, "this is merely a way of seeing what your strengths are, and what kind of asset you'll be in a team setting."

"Yes, sir." I smiled and nodded again.

"Alright," he said eagerly, standing up from his chair. "Let's get you to a desk, shall we?"

I followed him out of the office to the main open area of the floor. I glance again at the large window covering the wall now to my right. Taking yet another deep breath, perhaps the fifth of the day, I let the view of nature soothe my nerves, ever so slightly.