Guard duty

A grin comes to Gunner's lips and he holds up the pen. "And I was hoping this came from James Bond's lab."

Shaking his head, he gives a dry laugh. "Don't worry... I'm not going anywhere. This doesn't have the right kind of spring in it."

The corner of Gage's mouth twitches and he nods. "Okay. Sounds good to me."

Giving her a last little wave, he backs out of her cubicle and heads for the exit. On his way though, he has to pass by Jamie's cubicle and he sees that she's back to work as well. Biting his lip, he decides to stop.

Glancing in on her for just a moment, he clears his throat. "Hey, Jamie? Um... thank you... for all the stuff you said today. It made a lot of sense and... well.. um, yeah.... thanks."

Jason leans back in his chair, his brow furrowing as he listens to Ryan and tries to keep up with her story and understand why it was exactly that she was there. As he process what he's hearing, he doesn't realize that once again, he's opened up the communication to Katie, not knowing that she can hear everything that he's hearing.

As Ryan finishes, Jason still isn't sure he really knows why she's there. He wasn't convinced she could help Alec at all by paying him a visit. But what was the harm? If Axel had sent her here, she couldn't be all bad, and Jason sensed no ill intent in her. Trooper seemed halfway relaxed as well, signaling that he didn't sense anything wrong either.

Jason takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He can't help a little grin at her last comment. "Yeah well... Reese's bark is worse than his bite."

Standing up, he pulls out a sheet of paper and checks off a couple things. He had the time and didn't see anything wrong with someone seeing Alec. He had the authority to clear anybody. "Can I see your ID? It's just routine so we know for sure who all has been in and out of here. We're not keeping Alec from visitors, but with someone like him, we have a pretty tight security."

Jotting down some information from Ryan's ID, Jason files it and gestures to the door. "I'll show you the way."

Once they're out in the hall, Jason leads the way downstairs, Trooper tailing a ways behind them both. Down to the lower level, Jason passes by the rec room and a couple other doors, then into an open area with the holding cell to one side. Past that was another door that was ajar. "He's right through there."

Jason gives Ryan a kind look. "No bars and you don't have to have an audience. There's cameras everywhere though, so if anything happens, you're not alone. I'll wait out here, but Trooper will go with you."

He glances to his dog, pointing to Ryan. "Keep her safe."

Trooper gives a soft woof, approaching Ryan but staying several feet away. He looks at her, waiting for her to move. He would follow her and stand between her and Alec if need be. He was the perfect guard that allowed for privacy of visitors and he knew his job well as long as he'd received his orders from someone he respected.

Alec sat slumped on the cot, throwing a tennis ball at the opposite wall and catching it as it bounced back to him. His eyes were dull, his demeanor no brighter.

Hearing voices outside his room, he doesn't pause his one-sided game. He always went ignored - this was probably no different.