You’re Fired!
Well this is interesting! I took up this opportunity in PPP to write a fictional short story about how and why Michael Weston from USA Network’s Burn Notice gets fired from the CIA. This should also be in Bitesized Fiction, but I thought I’d post it here too. Quick writing, little editing, so pardon the grammatical errors you will find. :) And note that I have no idea how the CIA operates, so I’m using my imagination here. :P
Michael Weston thought that his Monday would be just another ordinary day. He didn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed, prepared his coffee like the usual and then went to work. The only different thing this Monday was that he found the time to eat breakfast — not that much of a big event, really.
But the moment he stepped inside the office, he knew something was up.
“Good morning, Fred,” he said to one of his colleagues who sat near the entrance. Fred immediately looked away from his direction, pretending to be busy with something on his computer. Michael raised an eyebrow but decided not to think about it; maybe he has Monday sickness.
He made his way to his desk near the back of the room, and he couldn’t help but feel like every eye was watching him. He glanced around, but his colleagues averted their gaze. Michael wondered what might be up; maybe everyone was just wary with the knowledge of the case he was holding right now, which, as far as he was concerned, is still top secret, but everyone knew that the confidential cases are the ones that are the most dangerous.
He hadn’t been in his seat for thirty seconds when Karen Fields, a close friend and a colleague, headed straight to his table and slammed a newspaper article on his desk. “What the heck is this, Michael?” she demanded.
“What, no good morning?” Michael joked.
“Don’t kid around me, Michael. This is serious,” Karen said impatiently.
“What do you mean?” Michael asked as he turned on his computer. He noticed the newspaper under Karen’s hand and added, “Oh shoot, that’s what I forgot this morning, the newspaper.”
“Why, aren’t you excited about what you did?” Karen’s sarcastic reply.
“Huh? Honestly Karen, what is this about? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?”
Karen shoved the newspaper in front of Michael’s face and said, “Read.”
His eyes took a while to focus, but when he did, his eyes widened. “What the…?”
The headline read: CIA Operative Spills Agency Secrets.
“Why’d you do it, Michael?” Karen asked.
“I didn’t!” Michael said as his eyes scanned the article in disbelief. “I never called any newspaper reporter or anyone from the media! I did not tell anyone about what we’re working on.”
“But why is your name there?”
“I don’t know!” Michael said, getting more panicky. He read the article again, hoping that his name which was mentioned a lot in the article, would morph into another name. “I swear to God, Karen, I never talked to anyone. I would never do anything like this!”
“But you were interviewed,” Karen pointed out. “You were quoted a couple of times in the article.”
“Well I didn’t say that! That wasn’t me!” Michael said, crumpling the newspaper angrily. “You have to believe me, Karen. I would never do anything like that. You know the nature of our work.”
“Then who is it?”
“I don’t know!”
Karen looked at Michael for a while. She had known him for a long time and admired the way he worked — always professional and very efficient. She knew he is on his way up in the office, and she also knew that a lot of people do not like him for all the missions he had been involved with. She also knew, deep inside, that Michael would not do anything like the one mentioned in the paper.
But then, in the nature of their work, who knows which is true anyway?
“Karen, please.”
Karen sighed. “I believe you, Michael. I just don’t know if the others do.”
“They know already?” Michael asked, looking around.
“Yes,” Karen replied. “They’ve been talking about it before you came in.”
Michael opened his mouth to ask a question, but hesitated. Though he feared the worst, he decided to ask, “Does the General know already?”
Karen shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know if he’s here al–”
Before Karen could finish her sentence, a loud male voice called on Michael’s name. “Weston! In my office, now!” The two of them looked up and saw the Director of CIA, General Allen Bennett, walk briskly past them and enter his office. The entire office fell silent and Michael felt everyone looking at him again.
“I take it back. He knows.”
Michael and Karen exchanged looks as he rose from his desk slowly. Everyone else pretended not to notice the General’s outburst and went back to their work. Karen patted Michael’s shoulder in a way of comforting him, but it was useless as the General yelled for Michael’s name again.
Well, that was fun. Of course, that’s just fictional, but if you want to know why and how Michael Weston was fired from the CIA, tune in to USA Network’s Burn Notice starting June 28th.
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