Sitting in a little piece of crap dark room was not the way to live, at least according to Jerome Ryan. He was in his miniature little room, watching countless hours of security tapes for vice. People are not meant to be caged up like this, he thought to himself. It was almost as if he was being punished by someone higher up on the food chain, likely for asking too many questions about who knows whatever it was this time. Someone had to sit there and watch hundreds of security tapes looking for man who may or may not appear on them. It sucked, but it was his job for now. He'd rather be in the crime lab, analyzing voice recordings or working on a blurred video to help identify a crook for the good guys, but here he was doing the ultimate grunt work that produced little if any results. It's such a shame he was at atheist, because if he had any religion in his soul at all, he would pray for his deity to strike him down to put him out of his misery. That was not possible so he freshened up with a new piece of bubble gum and continued to plow through, convinced that he would never get out. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Jerome hated to be interrupted but was afraid to be rude in case it was his supervisor coming back to give him another work hard for the team lecture.

     "Who is it?" he called out with a little fear in his voice.

     "Special delivery for conspiracy boy." the voice outside the room replied.

     Jerome was confused since he never ordered anything, especially because he couldn't afford to right now. He also thought the voice sound familiar and walked over to open the door. When he did, he was surprised to see Edgar Willis standing there with what happened to be lunch with him. Jerome left the door open and returned to his desk.

     "Two meetings in the same week," Jerome commented, "The guys here at the station might get the wrong impression."

     "Yeah, they might think I actually value your opinion." Edgar said with thick sarcasm as he laid the food down on his desk.

     "More garlic bread?" Jerome said with a wiseass grin.

     "Actually, it's an exquisite pasta, freshly made at Costantini's," Edgar replied somewhat curious if Jerome had ever been there in his life. "But if you don't want it I'm sure there's someone out there who."

     "No!" Jerome called out, swiping the food and protecting it from Edgar as if it were his first born. He had been living on Mac & Cheese, Mr. Noodle and hot dogs for the last few weeks so this was like a slice of heaven in a Styrofoam box. Jerome stared to quickly eat the succulent pasta when he turned back to Edgar who was now watching from a chair.

     "I almost forgot you where there." He confessed between bite, "Do you want more information on what we were talking about earlier? After we talked I was so stroked about what was said that I did more snooping around and got a ton of great stuff for you."

     "That's great, but I want more than information. I'm here to offer you a job and pull you away from all of... this." He made a motion to the small dark room he was in. "I need someone who is an expert in the field we were talking about. It wouldn't also hurt to have someone with your technical and forensic background on my payroll as well."

     Edgar sat back and waited for Jerome to respond. He knew the young man was on probation and basically banished from the work he really loved, thus already on the edge and ready to walk out and go private.

     "You want me to work for you?" Jerome repeated, as the thought of working for Edgar didn't seem so bad, "How much would I be making? I didn't think you guys had the payroll to expand anymore."

     "Tuck and I hit pay dirt, scoring a massive payday." Edgar said, somewhat stretching the truth as far as he would like. "We're actually going to do a lot of hiring in the next few days. Because of our recent financial gains, I'm able to offer you a very hefty pay percent raise and work that won't be anywhere near this boring."

     Edgar was hoping that would be enough to sway the young man to join the team, but he couldn't read what Jerome was thinking.

     "And the work is better how?"" Jerome said someone hesitant to leave a secure job.

     "I'll give you one really good reason why it's better," Edgar said, knowing what it would take to reel in this fish. "One of the cases I will be taking on is the matter we were discussing at the bar."

     Jerome's face lit up with excitement as he couldn't believe the words that hew as hearing from Willis.

     "You're actually going to take that case about Flight 77?" he squealed, "Do you have any idea what kind of case this is? The people pulling the strings up above are not going to like it."

     "Should I be scared of these people?" Edgar said, trying to seem calm over something that was worth worrying about.

     "I'm just saying we don't know who conducted this fraud on the people," Jerome explained, "But if turns out to be the government, it will be hard to pin it to them. They'll also fight back with everything they got. Are you ready for that kind of fight?"

     "That might be true, but for all we know this might be one massive goose chase with no boogey man to be found." Edgar replied, "Our job is to prove it which ever way it happens to go. Tuck and I are also bringing in some extra workers to help with any opposition that might come our way. So the question remains the same: are you in or are you out?"

     Jerome needed only a few seconds, "When did you want me to start?"

     "Right now," Edgar answered, "Take this job and tell your boss to stick it. I realize this is short notice but we've got to get started as soon as possible."

     Jerome took a look at his screen and paused for a moment. He wolfed down the last of his pasta and started to pack his bag. "Meet me outside. I don't want anyone to know we talked before I walked out."

     Edgar didn't say a thing and slipped out of the room.

Jerome was slow to pack up his stuff. When he finished packing up his stuff, Jerome turned off the computers and screens he was working on and grabbed his coat. He peaked his head outside the door to make sure Edgar was long gone and then slowly stepped out and started to walk down the hall. About twenty meters later he was near the lab he loved to work in and across the hall from the office occupied by his boss. As he walked up to the door, he softly knocked on it before speaking.

     "Excuse me Sir," Jerome softly called out, "I need a moment to speak to you about..."

     "What the hell are you doing here?" his boss roared at him, "You should be watching tapes and doing your god damned job!"

     The man looked more annoyed than usual, but this was just what Jerome needed at this time. Jerome just stood there, pleased that the old man had given him all the excuse he needed.

     "What the hell is your problem?" the boss asked.

     "You are!" Jerome snapped back as he tossed his credentials and pass cards onto the desk. "You and this dump are wasting my time and talent on jobs that are far below my skills! I'm tired of putting up with it and more than that, I don't have to. I friggin' quit!"

     His boss could have been blown over with a feather as he watched Jerome walk out the door. Jerome didn't wait for anyone to come after him as he quickly exited the building and started to look around for Edgar. He couldn't spot him, but then he heard a horn beep from twenty feet behind him. He darted over and quickly got into the passenger side. Edgar paused for a moment before speaking.

     "Are you sure you don't want to wait and see if someone comes out after you?" Edgar asked, trying to be nice.

     "Forget it," Jerome responded without hesitation, "Let's roll."

     Edgar pulled the car out and started to drive off towards their next destination. He turned to face his new co-worker. "Is there anything specific we need to get this off on the right foot?"

     "That depends, what kind of budget are we working on here?" Jerome asked trying to pry for answers, "We probably could use some new computers and possibly some forensic equipment."

     "I'll get Tuck to look into it for you. I over see the grunt work, but he handles the money." Edgar turned at the second light and kept driving with little regard for anyone else on the road. He was a bit of an aggressive driver, a habit he picked up while on the force.

     "Where exactly are we going?" Jerome quickly asked, "I thought the office was the other way."

     "It is," Edgar confirmed, "But we need to visit someone before we head back. I thought it would be wise to bring you along for this."

     "Who are we going to meet?" Jerome asked.

     "The client," Edgar replied, "We're going to inform her that I've had a change of heart, and that we'll be taking her case."

     "Is this the case I think this is?" Jerome then asked, excitedly.

     "It is," Edgar again confirmed, "So please keep quiet until I ask you to speak up, okay?"

     "Alright," Jerome said, obviously aware of what might be going on. It was obvious Edgar had turned the person down, so that might make this a very difficult discussion. Jerome wondered if that change came after they had their talk. He figured he would soon find out because he was sure the client would ask the same question. He was along for the ride anyway and was sure as long as he paid attention, he would get all the answers he needed. For now Edgar was in charge and leading the way, at least for now. He tossed all his stuff in the back seat and decided to let Edgar have his way. There was no need to say anything too soon because he liked where this was heading. Finally someone was going to pay him to look into the crooked stuff that he wanted to dig deeper into for a long, long time. He would be a fool to question that gift, as it was just what he needed to get away from the hell he was in and finally do some real work.