Reid, a 27 year-old field agent

"Reid!"

The man looked up from his desk as the sound of his friend's voice carried over the din from the computers and the machines crunching numbers and figures in the background. If there were some highlight of what a FBI field office would look like, certainly a windowless cavern of machinery and wires was definitely not it. He hated that he bought into the recruiting nonsense spouted in career day at the university but, with a degree in economics, it was either go to the FBI or work towards a Ph.D. on Edgeworth boxes and variation equations using econometrics. Good god, no...

"Yo!" he replied, raising a hand and spotted his friend immediately seeing a solitary human hand raised and rushed over.

Hopping into the seat next to him was another young guy, Alexander, all of 25. He still had the bright-eyed look of someone who kept his ideals and sense of determination, the fool, whereas Reid was 4 years out of the academy and working on his 4th case of data recordings and trying not to look completely dead inside. "Man, they got you on the Richards case? You know this'll never go anywhere."

Reid nodded and sighed. "Yup, though I'm coming for review in a few months, need to get this squared away. Figured that not even the career-killer could do me in on this one." He looked briefly at his friend's face and laughed a bit. "What's gotten into you? You get the field promotion?"

Alex leaned closer. "Even better."

"I got the field promotion?"

The younger man laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder, not noticing the smudge on the report and the look of disgust on Reid's eyes. "Nope, though I'm sure you'll wish you did. You're being reassigned." Looking at his face, Alex nodded. "You're being sent back to the Farm, some sort of project that you were scouted for. All hush hush." He tapped the paperwork. "No more 'report' after 'report analysis' for you, man." Alex nodded. "You're getting your shot."

****

Perhaps being shot would've been better.

Reid stood in the assistant director's office, looking for a moment like he was about to throw up, faint, cry, or some semblance of all 3. To his left, the section chief leaned in and whispered into the man's ear. "Agent? You okay?"

Reid shook his head clear and then turned it to the older man sitting behind the desk. "I'm sorry...you're assigning me to...I'm not sure how to put this...I-Bod?"

"International-Broad Operations Directive". The man handed him a folio and a small tablet-like device. "We have three teams out in the field, you'll be the fourth. I read your writeups and we like what we see. Besides, you were requested by your partner." The man gestured to the person standing next to him, doing his best to look anywhere else other than over at him and Reid just stared. "Um...I take it you weren't expecting this?"

"No sir, I wasn't."

The man nodded and smiled. "Anyway, you'll get your first assignment in the morning. Dismissed."

Reid nodded his head slightly to the director before he turned and walked out of the office, holding the folio and device in his hand and looking more or less confused. Ahead, near the elevator, waited his newly assigned partner who had treated him with disdain and sneered at him when he had offered a hand to shake. They hadn't exchanged more than 2 words over the past hour and now, with the formal assignment, he wondered if they were going to speak at all about the project.

"Oh, Reid!" He turned at the sound of a voice from behind and came across a younger woman who smiled. "I thought it was you! How's it feel to be back here?"

"I dunno...new assignment."

She looked at the folio and nodded. "I know, I handled the assignment. In fact, I'm here to explain what the I-BOD is all about." Before she could continue, the elevator doors opened and the man walked in and didn't wait before they closed again. "Don't worry about James, this doesn't really concern him as much as it does you..."