The Turn
Chapter
Twenty-Five
~Call the
Wolves~
Two Years
before The Turn
Zara jerked
awake. Lazily she looked around the subway. Across from her, Hina lay asleep on
her brother’s shoulder. Naru was the most aware and awake of the rest of them.
Deontay sat a little ways away. His head tilted forward in slumber. Vicky stood
holding on to one of the overhead bars. She had an inner strength that had yet
to come out.
“Good
morning,” Chaud sounded as chipper as ever.
Zara glared
at him. He sat just to her left. Even after all the traveling they had just
gone through, he was still in a very good mood. They were all about at the end
of their ropes. After touching down in the middle of the desert, they promptly
stole a van and drove toward their last location: California. Now they were on
their last leg where they needed to get to a safe house.
The train
finally stopped and the six weary travelers got off the train. They walked to
the surface. Zara shifted the weight of her back on her shoulders before
walking on. They continued down the streets until they reached a secluded
alley. Deontay lifted a manhole and the rest of them crawled in.
“Oh, yuck,”
Hina muttered as she covered her nose.
Naru turned
on a flashlight.
“Come on,”
Zara sighed, “the sooner we get to where we’re going the sooner we can all sleep.”
Quickly they
walked through the sewers until they reached a dead end. A small electrical box
sat to one side. Naru opened it revealing a complex security system. He pulled
a few wires and typed a little on the key pad. Suddenly the wall pushed back
and slid open.
As they
walked in, it was immediately noticeable that the air quality was much better.
There was a hum as equipment in the room started to activate. A low blue glow
signaled things were turning on. The metal grated floor under their feet
rattled as they walked.
“Alright, we
have a week at most, more likely less, to get the information we need. Chaud,
Hina, and Deontay get to sleep first. Vicky will help me get the system up
while Naru hooks up his laptop,” Zara instructed.
Groggily,
Hina and Deontay walked off. Chaud stood there with his hands in his back
pockets.
“You know,”
he started to say; “You look pretty tired yourself.”
“Yeah, so,”
Zara turned and walked over to one of the computers.
“Well, you
should get some rest,” Chaud shrugged.
“I will,”
Zara looked up at him, “later.”
“Fine!” Chaud
walked away, “Just thought you might want some rest. I was just giving you a
chance.”
“Just go!”
Zara shook her head. She turned to look at Naru, he looked to be self-reliant.
Vicky stood awkwardly waiting for instruction, “You can start over there. Let’s
see if we could get some of these computers online. Getting connected to the
Tower database won’t be easy without being noticed.”
“I could do
it!” Chaud called.
Zara sighed,
“Really?”
Chaud turned
and walked back. He was typing away at his cell phone. “Shouldn’t take long,”
he said when he was done.
Sure enough,
more lights turned on and the large screen against the opposite wall turned on.
All the computers turned on and the sliding wall closed in place. A small
animated character jumped onto all the screens. It twirled and jumped. When it
stopped it pulled a box out of its pocket and opened it. The screens all went
black for a moment but slowly started to regain their image. A world map
appeared on the large screen and different applications on the smaller ones.
“This is the
Tower’s database?” Zara asked.
“No,” Chaud
shook his head, “It IS the Tower. Well, at least we see what they see. And can
use what they use. Miwa really outdid himself.” The latter he muttered to
himself.
“Miwa?” Zara
asked.
“A friend,”
Chaud shrugged and started walking toward the sleeping quarters.
“You know, I
was wondering why you were taking forever! I was talking to Bridget for like
ten minutes!”
“I have no
idea what you are talking about!” Chaud called over his shoulder.
“Chaud, I
swear! Arg!” Zara turned her back on Chaud and walked to one of the computers.
“Start looking for anything to do with the New Order!” she shouted at Vicky.
“Yes, ma’am,”
Vicky darted to another computer and started typing feverishly.
IOIOIOIOI
“Really?”
Sirius nodded as he listened to Bridget’s complaint the next day.
“Yeah!”
Bridget crossed her arms, “I just thought you might want to know. She was in
here wanting to get something from upstairs. I sent her on her way.”
Sirius
thought a moment, “That doesn’t sound like her to forget something. Even if she
did, it doesn’t sound like her at all to give up that easily.”
“That’s what
happened,” Bridget shrugged.
“Thank you,” Sirius
continued on his way up to his office.
Kaiba and
Kiri were already there. He greeted the both of them a good morning. He sat in
his desk and took a quick glance at the piles of paper work on his desk. He
took a sip of his coffee. His eyes narrowed in thought. It wasn’t like Zara at
all. She would have barged up the stairs with Bridget clinging to her legs.
Sirius took out his cell phone. There was a messaged that he received from his
son the day before saying something about him staying at a friend’s house. He
called Chaud. The call went directly to voicemail that wasn’t set up yet. He
then called Deontay’s apartment number. No luck there either. Sirius pressed a
button on his desk phone.
“Do you need
something?” Kaiba sighed.
“You don’t
happen to know where your brother is, do you?” Sirius asked.
There was a
slight pause, “Which one?”
“Chaud,”
Sirius responded.
“Wasn’t he at
Deontay’s house?”
“He switched
phones again,” he said as if it has some weight.
Kaiba sighed,
“That’s never good. I’ll see if I can track him by his Agent tracking number.”
“Report what
you find,” Sirius remembered something, “Call the others too would you?”
“Sure.”
Sirius
waited; his elbows on the desk, hands folded anxiously under his chin. Chaud,
he knew, had and uncanny ability to disappear. He also knew that his son had at
least a dozen different cellphones and switched them around on a regular basis.
If one was older than three months, he would toss it and by a new one keeping
the memory chip. And then there was his ability to plan and execute. Honestly,
Chaud was probably better at that than even Kaiba. It just seemed to come
naturally for him.
His cell
phone rang. The caller ID read Chaud but he didn’t recognize the number. He
answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dad,”
came his son’s voice, “You called?”
“Yes, I did,”
Sirius sat back in his chair, “Just wondering where you are.”
“You know,
around,” Chaud said in a dismissive manor.
“Around?”
“Yeah, just
hanging around with some friends. We’re going for ice cream later. Got to go,
okay, dad. We’ll see ya around, alright!” Chaud hung up.
Sirius put
down his phone, “Around.”
It’s a hard
thing to lie to family. They know you so well. They know that you look up or
down when you’re lying or you do that weird thing with your nose. Or that you
can’t stop fidgeting or you can’t look them in the eyes. In Chaud’s case, he
used the word ‘around’ when he didn’t want to be found. It couldn’t be helped.
It was his family tell. Sirius tried to call the number again.
“I’m sorry; this is not a valid number.
Goodbye!”
Kaiba walked
in, “Their Agent numbers aren’t in the system. It’s as if they were wiped from
the system. And all their phone numbers aren’t valid anymore.”
Kiri walked
in just then, “Kaiba had me check the security cameras. They were disabled
yesterday and any existing footage was erased.”
Kaiba looked
at his father’s blank expression, “You don’t look surprised.”
“He called,”
Sirius stood up, “He’s says they’ll see us ‘around’.”
Kaiba rolled
his eyes, “Great.”
Kiri looked
around, confused, “What? What does that mean?”
Sirius
smiled, “It means we won’t be seeing them for a while.
Kiri looked
at Sirius, “You mean they left the Island?”
“Zara was
never really the type to give up,” Sirius walked out of the office.
Kaiba
followed him, “What are we going to do? We have agents on AWAL. We need to get
them back but we don’t even have a place to start.”
Sirius
entered the elevator, “We’ll get them back.”
“You’re
fairly confident,” Kiri noted.
“More like
terrified, really,” Sirius looked to Kaiba, “Your mother would have my head if
she found out.” He sighed, “This will be an interesting conversation at dinner
tonight.”
Kiri saluted,
“Good luck, sir.”
“You did set
up your will so I will inherit your seat right?” Kaiba’s expression was all
serious.
“Thank you,”
he said to Kiri. He turned to Kaiba, “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
The elevator
door closed.
IOIOIOIOI
There was a
knock at the door. A dissatisfied groan was heard from the sleeping figure in
bed. Gold eyes looked at a nearby clock. A sliver of light made its way through
the drawn curtains.
“Go away,”
the man growled.
“I would, but
I can’t,” a figure walked into the room, “We have a visitor!”
Fang sat up
in bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His hair was now mostly white than
black. There were still a few black strands to be seen but not many. The night
before had been a long one. Alister had though that it would be a brilliant
idea to dabble in the arts and take on painting. All well and good but there
was one thing Alister failed to mention: he was intending to ‘paint’ with a
flamethrower. Thought it would be ironic or something stupid like that. Because
of that, Fang had been up late that night.
He looked up
at Shadow as he rummaged through his drawers, “Who’s here?”
“You’d never
guess,” Shadow smiled.
Fang waited a
moment for more information. There was none, “That’s why I’m asking. Who is
visiting?”
Shadow tossed
some clothed at Fang, “Here. You’ll just have to see when you get down there.”
“I swear,
Shadow, tell me or I will strangle you! I do not have the patience today,” Fang
stood up, his eyes narrowing on Shadow.
Shadow didn’t
feel threatened, “Tsk, tsk, are we impatient today. You should curb that
attitude before to meet out guest.”
Fang stepped
closer to Shadow. Seeing that Fang just might make good on his threat, Shadow
made his way briskly to the door.
“Shall I tell
out guest that you should be down in the dining room shortly?” Shadow said with
a smile.
Fang got
dressed and freshened up. He walked down the steps and entered the living room.
Arisa, now a blossoming young lady, sat on the couch texting away on one of
those gizmos. Naturally, Lumin, formally known as Blue, was sitting next to her
reading a book.
“Good
morning, Fang,” Lumin acknowledged without looking up from his book.
Arisa looked
up from her text, “Hello!”
Fang nodded a
greeting to both of them. He passed the large staircase as Penelope ran down
the stairs. Inevitably, she tripped and broke her glasses all before she even
changed out of her pajamas. Fang paused a moment, considering whether he should
turn and help. He glanced over his shoulder.
“Ow,” she
muttered.
Penelope
pulled a spare from her pocket. She turned to see Fang and smiled sheepishly.
Fang determined that she would be fine and carried on.
Alister
walked out of the kitchen. His flaming red hair was a complete mess. He had an
automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. Fang eyed him closely, wondering what
he had done to the kitchen this time.
Raven sailed
past both of them, a canvas in her arms as she headed out to the backyard.
After Fang had forbidden Alister to even think about painting, Raven had taken
up the notion. They had plenty of spare canvases now and Fang saw it as
something to help her express herself.
Finally, Fang
walked into the dining room. He paused only slightly when he saw who it was.
Sirius tuned
at Fang’s entrance. He had been looking at a painting on the wall. Fang walked
cautiously forward.
“Hello Fang,”
Sirius greeted.
Fang said
nothing.
“Well, I’m
sure you want to get straight to the point,” Sirius said.
Fang looked
around, “More or less.”
Sirius
sighed, “I have some Agents I need you to find.”
