“Nothing. I just think this is the best move for my family right now.” And on the end of that, she felt the weight of what she had left to tell him. She could tell him about her tumor and it would all make sense to him. But for now, she wanted to keep that away from him and, truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe it was because she’d feel like she was exploiting her weakness and now, sitting here with him, that seemed like a very cowardly thing to do. But really, at the core of it, she knew the simple truth: she didn’t want to appear weak in any way. Especially not to Director Anderson.
“How long of a leave of absence are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. How long do you think it will take the US Marshals to do their job?”
Anderson folded his arms across his chest. It was a posture that reminded her how, even though he was nearing sixty, the man was in excellent shape. His arms and chest filled out the white button-down nicely.
“I’ll give you two weeks,” he said. “Anything more than that, we need to touch base.”
“I certainly hope it won’t take them that long.” Immature or not, she just couldn’t resist getting in that last jab.
“Agent Gift, are you sure about this?”
She glared at him for a moment. It was clear he knew he didn’t have the entire story but, given the tricky nature of the situation, was choosing to remain quiet about it.
“Yes,” Rachel said. “I’m positive. Only…would you mind letting me know when they find him? Can I stay updated?”
Anderson considered it for a moment and finally nodded. “I’ll send you any daily reports pertaining to the pursuit of Alex Lynch, yes.”
“Thank you.”
She made her way to the door and was surprised to find that she felt a slight bit of regret. She felt that she was indeed manipulating Anderson in a way, pressing him into a give me what I want or I may just walk sort of scenario. But then again, he didn’t know about the tumor, about the fact that she likely only had a year to live—and half of that time may be spent in considerable stress and pain.
But she said nothing else as she left his office. She figured he’d have someone email her the paperwork necessary for her two weeks of leave, but that could be handled later. For now, she had a date with her daughter and grandmother to get to.
She couldn’t think of a better way to start her two weeks off. And after all, maybe it would distract her from the unsettling fact that as of right now, she was on leave from the FBI.