Dopamine || Reid

CHAPTER TWENTY

ERIN STRAUSS CALLED THIS MORNING. I was in the middle of buying a car from some sketchy man I found through a newspaper ad when her name popped up on the screen. I won't lie... I sort of panicked for a second- thinking this could have been a sting of some sort and she caught me. But it turned out fine. He got his money, and I've finally got my car! Erin had wanted to see me in her office as soon as possible.

Thankfully, back alley sales are quick and I was able to drive my car to the bureau for the first time! The excitement offsetting the dread at what she could possibly want.

I step out of the elevator on the sixth floor, glancing down the corridor before heading to Erin's office just to make sure I don't run into Penelope.

My footsteps echo in the empty hallway. The lights are dim, and the windows do their best to let in the small bit of light that the early morning has to offer.

I didn't sleep much last night, her voice kept echoing around my head. Making me relive each and every word, a cruel punishment my mind regularly sentences me to. My home felt cold and empty, like everything she said sucked the warmth right out.

Everything looks different now, I don't know if it was the events of last night tore off the rose colored glasses or the product of my 'vacation' and the memories I was forced to make.

But either way, the glasses are off and it feels like I'm seeing this situation in the light for the first time.

And it's bleak.

I hope whatever assignment she will no doubt be handing me won't render the same results as last time. I have yet to see a single name on those classified documents be reprimanded in any way whatsoever.

And despite how irked it makes me I'm still pleased I was trusted with the assignment, being able to get that classified information on some of the most prestigious in the FBI. It made someone very happy. And it lessened the noose around my neck.

"Ma'am." I knock on the door before opening it slightly, peering in to find the woman sitting at her desk filling out paperwork from the stack that sits to her left. It's as if the mountain of work hadn't even changed since I was here last.

I guess when you are in charge of something the paperwork never ends.

"Cypher, come in." Strauss sets the pen down, her sharp eyes scanning me as I take a seat across from her. "How was your vacation?"

"It was... fine." I start, skepticism creeping through my voice. "I can't tell if your question is to try to seem more relatable, if it's leading up to a way to make fun of me, or if it's because you need something. You've never shown any personal interest before, so it's obviously leading to something. I'm thinking it's the third one... but you tell me."

I watch as Erin breathes a long sigh through her nose, eyes closing briefly as if she's fighting off a headache. "Forgive me for trying to make you feel more comfortable."

"Oh so that was for me, was it?" I must still be on edge from Penelope's comments, because I cannot catch up to my words before they leave me. "Spare me the pleasantries, Strauss. We both don't want me to be here. So let's get on with it."

To my surprise she doesn't reprimand my snark reply. Instead folding her hands on her desk in front of her. "I've contacted Aaron Hotchner, letting him know the team will be without you a little longer."

"Oh? An assignment too important to be done between cases."

"There's a branch here that is in need of someone with your expertise." She states, picking up her pen and continuing her work. "An agent has been deployed to escort you to their department. We don't know how long you'll be needed. It could be thirty minutes, could be a week."