Until The Trial

Lucas

From Director Auclair's office, Lucas heads to Vaughn's. He's hoping Vaughn has finished making copies of the agent files. When Lucas enters, he sees a towering stack of files on Vaughn's desk.

Lucas pokes at the stack. "I don't remember there being this many."

Vaughn's head emerges from behind the files. "Neither did I, but we had two teams and interns working on this full-time before the evidence went missing. Now it's just one team."

"Great, but how am I supposed to get all of these out of here without raising any eyebrows?"

"I've got it covered." Vaughn pulls out a duffel bag and starts shoving the files into it.

"A duffel bag? How's that supposed to keep people from asking questions?"

Vaughn shrugs. "Better for people to wonder what's in the bag than why you have their file."

Lucas looks at the array of childish figures scattered across Vaughn's desk—some from people Vaughn's helped, others from agents, and a few souvenirs from places he's visited. It's a quirky collection, but it makes Vaughn's workspace feel oddly personal.

"Auclair approved the plan?" Vaughn asks as he stuffs the last of the files into the duffel bag.

"Yes."

"When's my turn to watch her again?" Vaughn hands over the bag.

"I've got enough coverage for the next three days. Hopefully, I can finish sorting through these files in two and identify some potential agents."

Vaughn gives him a skeptical look and chuckles. "With Samantha in the house, you're lucky if you finish in four."

Lucas scowls. "That's not funny. I'll make sure she stays occupied."

"Oh, really?" Vaughn raises an eyebrow.

"Shut up. You know how focused I am when it comes to work."

"I do," Vaughn says, his tone turning serious. "On a serious note, don't get too involved. It wouldn't be good for you."

"Don't you have work to be doing? People to interrogate?"

"Truth is, interrogating the former 166 members is nearly pointless. They're all too scared or threatened to talk."

"There might be one who isn't scared. That's the one we need. Just keep pushing."

Vaughn slaps Lucas's hand away from a Funko Pop on his desk. "Don't touch those."

"Right. We meet at the house tomorrow night, unless something urgent comes up. Remember to take a different route than yesterday."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. See you then."

"Hey, Marc," Lucas adds, "these aren't good people. Make sure to bring backup. Don't go in alone."

"Love you too, honey."

"Go to hell," Lucas mutters with a smile, shaking his head. He decides to take the back stairs to avoid unnecessary encounters. After a few flights without incident, he hears footsteps coming up. He debates ducking into a random floor but decides against it. There's no reason to hide.

"Flynn?" Dixon's voice calls out as she reaches the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi," he says, continuing down the remaining flight.

"What are you up to?" she eyes the duffel bag.

"Just some stuff I need."

Dixon nods. "Stuff meaning you can't talk about it."