No Reason to Trust Him

"I...see Garret's up and about..." Kirk let his sentence hang in the air. He stood just inside Reese's office, leaning on the door frame with his arms folded. His hair was pulled back at the nape of his neck today, and he wore a button down shirt, but had rolled up the sleeves past his elbows.

Reese had been standing at his bookshelf, and now turned before sighing. "Yes...he is." 

"And...you approved it?"

"Actually, I instigated it. I let him go last night. Told him he could go back to Nate's house." 

Kirk pursed his lips in thought. "Why?"

Reese retrieved the book he'd been looking for, and tossed it onto his desk. Remaining on his feet, he tucked his hands in his back jeans pockets. He wasn't dressed as usual today. Somehow...he hadn't felt like dress pants and a tie. "I suppose I have to explain every move to you now, don't I?"

Kirk shook his head. "No. I'm just curious, that's all." 

"Alright. Keeping Garret caged up isn't the answer. Don't ask why - it's just not."

"Yet it was your choice to lock him up after what happened with Scott."

"I panicked. I was upset, scared for Scott, and I didn't want the Elite shut down because of one stupid move by Garret. But once I thought about it, I realized he deserved the benefit of the doubt just like anyone else. And at least I could sleep after letting him go." 

Kirk studied his face for a few minutes before he nodded and pushed off the door frame to stand straight. "Fair enough." 

"You gonna write me up?"

"Nope. I keep telling you that's not my purpose."

"And I still don't believe you."

"Then I guess we'll have to work on that, won't we?" Kirk gave him a little smile. "For what it's worth, I respect a man who will follow his gut over protocol, even if the FBI doesn't appreciate it. So quit worrying. Unless Garret goes and kills somebody, there's no issue." Leaving Reese be, he wandered back out to the main floor, and to the cubicle that he and Adison were sharing for now. 

Flopping down in his chair, he spun around once before stopping to look at her. "Things get harder before they get better, don't they?" He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Okay, so, there are three buildings I wanna go look at today for the Elite. Wanna come along? Please say yes." 


Garret thumbed through a few more pages, but really couldn't do a whole lot without access to a computer. One day they'd let him into the system...right? He wouldn't even mind limited access - anything would help. For now though, there was a little more paperwork on Brookshire. Apparently Reese wanted to make sure nothing was missed since Gunner was there now. On top of it, Garret was also browsing pictures of people of recent interest to the Elite to see if he recognized any to be Agency. 

He took a sip of coffee from the travel mug Laura had sent with him this morning, and suddenly felt someone watching him. He bristled and turned slowly to see Sam staring at him. Leaning back in his chair, he turned as she entered the cubicle, wondering what on earth she could want from him.

Finding out just what it was, one of his eyebrows arched. Was she serious? For a moment, he simply searched her face. Read her expression. Read her eyes. She was innocent of ill-intent. She was experienced in law enforcement, but new to this kind of task. She carried herself with confidence, but had a lack of confidence when it came to handling Aaron. She was an agent...but a woman...which made her more susceptible to Aaron's manipulation.

"Well first off...it's... a little hard to buy something for a man who's restrained ninety-percent of the time." He cocked his head. Was she trying to copy Nate's style? He wondered. "But... I do know Aaron better than most." 

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he thought back. "It's not like we socialized, though. He was...one of the best agents under me. Focused. Sharp. He likes to think he's in control, but in reality he thrives on pleasing his superiors. That's why he can't forgive me for what I did... because all he wanted to do was please me and... I broke all the rules and basically left him behind." He shook his head, to get his mind back on track. "As far as anything away from work though..." He had to stop and think again. "I...wasn't allowed to socialize like the lower ranking operatives. Too many distractions. I did see his personal quarters once though. Saw a whole shelf of model cars. He's got a hot temper, but underneath it all, he's got a very surprising amount of patience. That's why I always chose him for the long hauls. He could sit and watch a doorway for literally hours until a target showed up, where others would abandon their posts because they couldn't take it." 

He'd derailed again. He leaned back and put his hands up behind his head. Maybe after all that had happened lately...with Nate...with the Elite...with becoming a part of someone's family...he was feeling somewhat guilty about Aaron now. "Don't think you wanna go the model car route though," he mused. "He'll need too many tools you probably don't want him to have." He pursed his lips in thought, trying to remember Aaron's room, and anything else he'd noticed. "I do recall seeing several lego sets too and thinking it was rather strange that a grown man liked building blocks, but then again, he likes to work with his hands and has the patience for it. If I remember correctly, he'd even built a car out of them." He shrugged. "Other than that...I really don't know what else to tell you. He was pretty fond of a watch he had once, but that's kinda hard when he's wearing cuffs all day." 

That really was just about all he could tell Sam. He could describe Aaron's personality all day long, and he could describe how good an operative he'd been all day long...but as a person...Garret really knew very little. He threw Sam one last look. "Just...be careful with him," he warned. "His patience can be a good thing...but it also means he can wait a very long time until the right moment to pull something. Just because he's calm...is no reason to trust him." He just didn't want to see Sam get hurt. It was his fault Aaron was here, and he'd just as soon not have anything bad happen because of him.