Special Agent | ✓

Thirty (II)

(a/n: this is an early, two-part update. make sure to read part 1 & 2 of chapter 30 in order)

THIRTY (II)

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It did, in fact, take more than a while. It took a solid five hours for the Chiefs to reach anything that even resembled a conclusion. About halfway through, at least a few of Kimmel's assistants had brought in some drinks, which were gold to Adina's parched throat.

If I get a sore throat after this, I wouldn't be too bloody surprised.

She had done what she could for Quinn, pushing the edges of Kimmel's tolerance with her mild outbursts during the meeting. There was little she wouldn't do for Quinn, when push came to shove. In this instance, Adina could proudly claim she'd gone all out for her protege.

Adina was lucky she'd managed to wipe Quinn's Knightsbridge HQ computer in time before the meeting, as they hadn't been able to find any more incriminating evidence on it. Chief Vahid (of Technology) had sent one of their runners to check it, coming up empty. If they'd found more files which, in any way, pointed to Quinn being guilty, Adina wouldn't have been able to lobby for her as she had done now.

What was surprising, however, was Kent's response to learning the computer had been wiped.

"The computer seems to have been wiped," Chief Vahid had reported, once their underlings had dropped off the results from examining the hard drive, " — there was nothing to be found on the computer."

"How is it wiped?" Kent bit out, tone stiff. Kimmel shot her a look cold enough to make hell freeze over.

"I'd like to remind all participants of proper decorum in this meeting." The Director's reprimand had been enough to make some color go into Kent's cheeks.

Instead, Special Agent Kent had to press the 'wishing-to-speak' button on the side of her chair. Once Kimmel had given her the word, she'd rephrased her question with more finesse than she'd first used.

Kimmel nodded to Chief Vahid, signalling them to respond.

"It is possible for Analysts to wipe their computers remotely, if they're skilled enough. It's not unusual for employees to custom-program their work computers, and it's simple enough to temporarily remove the custom programming whenever we perform routine tech check-ups."

Kent looked ruffled at the response. Adina's eyes had narrowed at that, her suspicious mind turning at what Kent's response had revealed. There had been things on that computer Kent wished would've been brought up, at least during this meeting.

However, they'd moved past that incident, continuing on with the discussion. And now, here they were. Kimmel had just announced they were about to move into the voting phase. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the Chiefs had divided themselves into the two usual camps: intelligence against field work. It resembled the meeting they'd had after Kent's emergency beacon had first gone off, only now they were voting on someone's life.

Adina's lips flattened, eyes turning cool.

"You may vote now. Each Chief has one vote — for or against," said Kimmel. Consequently, a dozen buttons were pressed. The Director had a thin, flat screen before her, which had folded up and out of the table in order for her to read how many votes had been cast.

Kimmel's face revealed nothing as the votes stacked up. Adina had swiftly pressed the against, attempting to tally how many of her Chiefs were voting in the same fashion. She could expect at least a few of them to agree with her.