Dale checked to see if Brett Cassidy was in his office. He had some reports that were due supposedly by the end of the day, but Dale didn't know if he'd been able to finish them or not. At lunch, Brett's assistant went home sick, so he was probably a little behind. Dale found him sitting behind his desk furiously writing.

"Hey Brett, you got those reports for me? I was getting ready to take off for the day and I was going to drop them with my secretary so we can go over them first thing tomorrow."

Brett looked over at the digital clock on the wall and whistled.

"I didn't realize it was so late. I guess you know Joan went home early. Thinks she's coming down with the flu, so..." he rummaged through a stack of manila folders to his right.

"I'm a little behind, but, yeah... here they go. Joan managed to get two completed by the time she left and I finished the last about an hour ago. Take particular notice of the results for the Simpson case. I think we got our man."

His enthusiasm for his job was always present and Dale like that. He must thank Diana again for recommending him. It's hard to find guys like him anymore that sincerely enjoy their work. Speaking of Diana...

"Um, have you heard from Diana by any chance? She's been gone for over a week and I haven't heard anything from her. She usually checks in to see what's going on. Where'd she go anyway, did she tell you?" Dale asked.

"Well, I take that to mean that she didn't tell you either... she was very evasive with me when I asked her and then kind of brushed me off, which isn't like her. Why is she so secretive about herself? I know nothing about her family, where's she's from, nothing..." Brett said.

Dale laughed. "Well, how do you think I feel having worked with her as long as I have. I've always felt that she was hiding something. Maybe she's had a bad past and wants to totally forget about it. Who knows?"

Well, is there anything in her personal file... I mean, other than the little we know?" Brett was bursting with curiosity.

"Her personal records, of course, are confidential. I have seen them. But being that I wasn't the one who hired her, I didn't have the opportunity to go over her information with a fine-toothed comb!"

They looked at each other in a conspiring manner.

"We shouldn't..." Dale finally said.

Brett exclaimed, "That's what I thought you'd say!"

But watching Dale as he walked away, Brett decided he wasn't satisfied leaving it at that...

*****

It was sometime after eight and Brett was still at his desk. He was staring blankly at a slim folder on his desk with the name Diana Prince typed on the tab. He desperately wanted to open it but couldn't bring himself to.

It was bad enough that he had taken the file to begin with, knowing how much trouble he could get into. But now he faced another moral decision. Should he poke his nose into another's private business just for the sake of pacifying his own curiosity? Looking at an agent's confidential file was wrong, and when that agent was a friend it made the situation even worse.

Brett realized that even this file might not tell him much; just the basics. Most everything would be on file in the computer system now and without the right credentials he would never be able to access what was there.

He had just barely grabbed her file from personnel and exited the room when someone had come around the corner. Brett was sure the guilty look on his face would have tipped the person off that he was up to something, but the person had continued on their way, barely even looking at him.

It was a big risk, but something had driven him to do it. And now...

He didn't know if he could.

For some time now he had felt this unmistakable... how could he describe it? ‘Link‘, he guessed would be an appropriate word. There was just something about Diana Prince that so intriguing. And the fact that she was so evasive about herself and her past made her even more so. And so he had reasoned that he would take a quick look at the file and try to find out what he could and then return it as soon as possible and before anyone could know.

There were several ways he could justify what he was about to do...