Four

Twenty years ago.

February 16, 2000.

The SWAT team assembled themselves in lines on either sides of the door. "FBI. Open up" FBI agent Matthew Cole knocked rapidly on the wooden door. No response. His stomach tightened. He ignored it and knocked again. "Max. Open up" No answer still. He hesitated, then stepped away from the door and motioned to the man with the battering ram. He put the equipment to the door, once, and then it gave way and they swarmed into the house. It was awfully quiet and empty. The only noise was coming from agents scanning all floors and screaming "clear" after a search that revealed nothing.

Matthew stared at the bodies lying unconsciously on the floor. Max Kean and his wife, Yasmine. Bloodstains were visible on the tiled floor. He bent to check their pulse. They were late. Life had been ripped out of them both. Evelyn called out to him from the hallway and then she burst into the room. "Oh my God." She whispered, shifting her gaze from the bodies on the floor. "Lock this whole area down. Whoever did this couldn't have gone far." She shouted into her walkie-talkie. Matthew simply stared into space. "They could've. Whoever did this had perfect timing." He shook his head. "Max was a good agent. He didn't deserve to die." He thought. Matthew looked around the room once more before turning to leave.

Aaron Grey was tall, dressed in a fine black suit. He always had an impassive expression on his face but today, he seemed tired. He paced his office, clutching a cup of coffee. He watched as Matthew and Eve walked out of the elevator doors, into the large office. The entire floor was a little bit noisy. In the last two weeks, five agents had passed away. He stepped out of his office and beckoned to them.

"Have a seat". He said to them as they slid his office doors open. The atmosphere was suddenly arctic. Grey rubbed his chin in quiet deliberation. He spoke up eventually, breaking the silence and taking a seat behind his solid desk. "We lost Max today. It could be anybody tomorrow. We need to work harder to find whoever is behind this." He paused and continued." However, I understand if you both need some time off. That being said, I recommend you take the day off. Get some rest and maybe pack a bag for a vacation." It took a moment for Matthew to find his voice. "Thank you sir." He said, stretching out his hand for a handshake.

Matthew folded his FBI jacket and placed it in his locker. He headed out of the building to his car. He exhaled as he turned his car engine on, zooming off to his apartment. "An FBI agent Max Kean was shot alongside his wife in their..." Matthew turned off the TV. He had just taken a shower, he felt new. He didn't want to think about anything, he didn't want to sleep either. He just stared at the ceiling. Times like this, back massages and toasts from Juls would do but they ended their nine-months relationship last week. Well, she ended it.

Her reason? She was scared of him dying on her. She didn't want to have to deal with it, if it eventually happened. It didn't seem logical to him but he didn't bother her. He simply let her go. Everyone was going to die at some point. And that was it. He just hoped it wasn't soon. After several minutes of mental deliberation on what to fix, he stood up and made his way to the kitchen.

Minutes later, he sat down to eat scrambled eggs. The doorbell rang. He adjusted his shorts and went to answer it. Eve stood at the door, a bottle of wine in her hand. He gave her a quick hug and let her in. Eve was downright sexy but he wasn't attracted to her in that way. They shared a sense of humor, he admired her tenacity on the job, that was it. Unfortunately, she was attracted to him in that way. And at this point, he didn't admire her tenacity in trying to get him into bed with her. Regardless, she was his partner and they made a pretty good team.