Special Agent | ✓

Three

Havas' scowl deepened, to which Adina smiled haughtily. Her hands moved again, easing the tension in Quinn's shoulders.

"Maybe if you'd stop coddling your analysts, they'd have a better grip on the authority around here." Havas' response evoked another scoff from Adina, who shook her head.

"Maybe if you stopped threatening them and followed Agency protocol, we wouldn't have any issues." Adina spoke calmly, " — besides, you're not the authority around here. Not in this case."

At Chief Tibble's calm delivery, Havas' eye twitched in anger. His already red face grew even darker in color, veins ticking in his forehead.

"Need I remind you, Jonathan, that you're co-chief of operations. Sit your ass back down until we address this properly. Until then, you're leaving O'Reilly alone."

"You —" Havas bristled, but Adina shook her head and raised a hand. A neat silver bracelet glinted in the yellow lights from the ceiling.

"Your brutes carted O'Reilly off to your office, in the middle of the bloody night, and have kept her here for hours without officially noting any of the contents of this interrogation. From your audible shouting and the obvious force you've used on O'Reilly, you should be counting your lucky stars I haven't already yanked the Director here."

Adina's hands rose from Quinn's shoulders, and crossed over her chest. Two brows furrowed in Havas' direction.

"Your actions in this situation have been despicable. When this is over, I'm personally going to make sure of your departure from the Agency."

Havas' entire torso was shaking as Adina beckoned Quinn up from the chair, leading her out of the room. She gently grasped Quinn's shaking hand, squeezing it once as they exited.

"I came as fast as I heard," started Adina. Her eyes were troubled now, glancing at Quinn as if making sure she wouldn't fade into the wallpaper of the hallway, " — he was damn wrong to have held you like that. Why didn't you tell him to bugger off?"

"I didn't know what to do." As someone who prided herself on always finding logical solutions to every possible situation, the words irked Quinn to no end, " — I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a software malfunction, at first. I mean, the signal originated from Paris — Cam's mission is in Shanghai. It had to be a one-off."

Nodding in understanding, Adina guided Quinn into the elevator. She leaned back against the wall and watched O'Reilly attempt to compose herself. Tibble cast a critical eye on the drawn look on Quinn's face, on the tired slouch of her posture. The analyst's clothes were rumpled, voice exhausted as she spoke.

Unacceptable, thought Adina. Good luck finding a job in this industry when I'm done with you, ex-Chief Havas.

"But it wasn't a one-off," replied Adina instead, as the elevator slowed. Quinn nodded tiredly, raising a hand to rub at her eyes.

"I ran all the programs, all the way until those agents busted down my door." Quinn's voice held the tiniest edge of contempt, which made Chief Tibble's lips quirk. While Quinn was an exceptional analyst in her own right, Adina hinted a backbone of steel hidden beneath layers of introversion. In Adina's mind, the girl had the mind of a genius and the guts of a veteran field agent. They were just deep, deep down.

"Either way, I found nothing suggesting it was an accident. Kent pressed her emergency beacon all on her own — and the GPS worked as it should. Wherever she is, her beacon is in Paris." Quinn rolled her shoulders, grimacing as something in her neck cracked.

The elevator beeped, signalling they'd arrived to the analyst floor. After Chief Havas' agents had whisked her shell-shocked self away from her apartment, they'd dumped her in the HQ's basement — where Chief Havas had cheerfully greeted her in his frigid office.