Anish has worked for the CIA for many years. She originally moved to Seattle just out of university and she was recruited by the CIA to help with covert operations in conjunction with a Canadian agency. She agreed to help because the case involved the sex trafficking of native minors and she was eager to help put a stop to it.
She gained US citizenship through work with the CIA and she has generally enjoyed the work she has been doing. She has helped many native populations in the US and Canada and she is very proud to say that she is an agent of the CIA. But since she was first sent to recruit Kevin, she was wary of US government involvement with the supernatural. The government already had more guns than the public, to think that they were employing men and women with extraordinary abilities and using them in active missions worried her. And lately, as she and Kevin enjoy more and success, their targets seem to be less and less guilty.
The current mission that Anish mulls over while she eats lunch involves the apprehension of journalists who have an inflammatory worldview, but didn’t seem to have any plans to hurt anyone. It seemed that the government was using the extraordinary people they have identified to thought police and Anish didn’t agree with that.
It worried her that Kevin wasn’t asking questions anymore, but it made sense. Kevin had been through a lot and his time with the CIA has been the only time that he has ever felt in control of his abilities.
After finishing her meal, Anish finds Kevin in the gym working a punching bag. He looks very angry with the bag and his punches land solidly and move the bag in quick jerks.
“You really don’t have a problem with this?” Anish says brandishing the briefing papers.
“I go where the boss says to go.” Kevin says between punches. “Why do you suddenly have a problem with what we do? You brought me into this remember?”
“I remember.” Anish says standing in front of the punching bag and forcing Kevin to stop. “I feel like I know you, we’ve spent time together, and what we’ve been doing was problematic to you from the start. I know it was. And now that they’re sending us to arrest people for having the wrong opinion, I think you’d have a problem with that.”
“Did you read the entire brief? They’ve inspired violence even if they don’t do it themselves.”
“People say the same thing about rap music!” Anish raises her voice. “Are they gonna send us to arrest Snoop Dogg next?”
“Anish, why are you doing this? Things are finally starting to make sense to me. I feel like I finally belong somewhere.”
“You should be concerned that you had to stop being yourself to feel like you belong. That is not a good sign. We have a meeting with the colonel in 15.” Anish leaves him angrily.
At the briefing, Anish stares bullets at Kevin and he does his best not to notice her. The colonel details the operation that seems to entail more stealth that appears necessary.
“No one should be armed, but we want to get in, arrest and extract as quietly as possible.” The colonel says.
Anish interrupts, never taking her eyes from Kevin. “Sir, why are we insisting on stealth if there is no threat of danger? Why not just have the local police get warrants and arrest them?”
“Again, agent, we have orders. We all have orders that we have to follow.”
Anish nods and stands. “With all due respect sir, I don’t support this mission. I think it’s a violation of our targets rights as citizens. I may not agree with the trash they make, but I respect their right to do it.” She leaves before the colonel can respond.
The colonel looks to Kevin. “You still in?”
Kevin doesn’t hesitate, “Yes sir.” But Anish’s words are rattling around in his head.
It’s lonely on the helicopter that Kevin takes to the site and the time that he takes to make his way inside he has to push out thoughts of Anish’s protest. He knew that she was right, she had raised the right questions and the answers from the colonel were definitely not satisfactory, but his current job had given him more peace of mind than he’d enjoyed since he left home. The mission is easy enough to complete, he only has to make his way to a back office where a group of the journalists are meeting and he imagines them all in handcuffs. Kevin helps to take them into custody and the man that he leads out gives him an earful.
“This is a shame, a violation of our civil liberties! What happened to free speech?”
Back at the CIA facility, Kevin is greeted by the colonel who is pleased with his result.
“We’ve got a similar mission up next…”
Kevin doesn’t hear a lot of the details of the newest mission, but he hears that the threat is only AD1.
After the briefing, Kevin finds Anish on her computer in a lounge.
“You’re not wrong and I won’t do another mission with the CIA.”
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