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Knock. Knock.
The sound was light, almost polite.
Eugene froze.
For a split second, his mind went completely blank. Then, a dozen terrible possibilities surged in at once-Director Brown? Internal Affairs? Someone from the Inspector General's office? Or worse... someone who already knew everything?
"...Come in," Eugene said, forcing his voice to remain steady.
The door opened.
A familiar figure stepped inside.
"Director Eugene," the man said calmly. "Busy?"
Eugene's pupils shrank.
Morin.
The IRS agent stood there casually, hands in his pockets, looking like he had simply wandered in after getting lost in the hallway. His posture was relaxed, his expression polite-but Eugene felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"How did you get in here?" Eugene demanded.
Morin tilted his head slightly. "Through the door?"
Eugene slammed his palm onto the desk. "This is CIA headquarters! You can't just-"
"I can," Morin interrupted gently. "And I did."
Eugene's mouth opened, then closed again. He realized, belatedly, that shouting at this man was pointless. If Morin could walk into his office unannounced, then arguing about procedure was already meaningless.
"...What do you want?" Eugene asked through clenched teeth.
Morin smiled faintly and walked over to the chair opposite Eugene's desk, sitting down without being invited.
"I came to have a chat," he said. "A friendly one."
Those two words again.
Eugene felt his blood pressure spike.
"Let's skip the pleasantries," Eugene said coldly. "If you're here to gloat, get it over with."
Morin shook his head. "No gloating. That's inefficient."
He leaned back slightly.
"I'm here to help you clean up," Morin continued.
Eugene laughed harshly. "Help? You took my leverage away."
"I took away an illegal leverage," Morin corrected. "That was going to explode in your face sooner or later."
Eugene stared at him. "You don't understand anything."
"Oh, I understand very well," Morin said calmly. "You lost the agent list. You covered it up. You sent people to grab Ethan's parents off the books. You're now trapped between exposure and failure."
Each sentence landed like a hammer.
Eugene's face went pale.
"...Who told you?" he whispered.
Morin shrugged. "Does it matter?"
The silence stretched.
Finally, Eugene slumped back into his chair, exhaustion suddenly overtaking his anger.
"So what?" he muttered. "You're here to threaten me?"
Morin shook his head again.
"No," he said. "I'm here to offer you a way out."
Eugene's eyes snapped back to Morin. "You?"
"Yes," Morin replied. "Because despite everything, I don't actually want this mess to blow up."
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk.
"Ethan gets what he wants. His parents stay safe. The list disappears quietly. And you-" Morin paused, then smiled thinly, "-get to keep your job."
Eugene laughed bitterly. "You expect me to believe that?"
"I don't need you to believe," Morin said softly. "I just need you to choose."
"Choose what?"
"Whether this stays gray," Morin replied, "or turns black and white."
Eugene clenched his fists.
In a black-and-white world, laws were clear, lines were sharp, and people like him went to prison.
In a gray world, rules bent, records vanished, and inconvenient truths were quietly buried.
"...What do you want from me?" Eugene asked hoarsely.
Morin stood up.
"Nothing complicated," he said. "You stop chasing Ethan. You pretend none of this ever happened. And you let the CIA eat the loss in silence."
"And if I don't?"
Morin looked at him, his gaze calm but absolute.
"Then this stops being an IRS matter," he said. "And becomes a public one."
Eugene broke into a cold sweat.
He knew what that meant.
After a long silence, Eugene finally closed his eyes.
"...Get out," he said weakly.
Morin smiled, turned, and walked toward the door.
"Oh," he added casually, stopping at the threshold. "One more thing."
Eugene looked up.
"Next time you decide to play in the gray," Morin said, "make sure you're not standing under a spotlight."
With that, he left.
The door closed softly behind him.
Eugene sat alone in his office, staring at the wall, his hands trembling.
For the first time in his career, he realized something terrifying:
In a world that was all gray, he had just met someone who decided how dark it could get.