The Turn
Chapter Twenty-Six
~On the Scent~
Two Years Before The Turn
Naru looked
through the information on the laptop that they had collected from their last
mission. The others had gotten some rest but he had decided stay up and go over
the information. It was the usual business stuff: staff meeting transcripts,
corporate e-mails, and the occasional angry e-mail between coworkers. Now he
was reading a transcript made a few weeks ago. It looked to be the boss, Mr.
Peterson, was talking to an associate he talked to at least once a month.
Mr. Peterson: Have we discussed all that we need to
today?
Erin Walter: There is one more thing.
Mr. Peterson: What’s that?
Erin Walter: Scar wants you to know that there seems
to be some people a little too interested the New Order.
Mr. Peterson: What do you mean? Are they on to us?
Erin Walter: No. They don’t know about the New Order.
Just separate the files and missing funds. Nothing to alert them to us.
Mr. Peterson: Good.
Erin Walter: Don’t let your guard down. Scar can
easily cut you out of the equation if the need comes.
Mr. Peterson: Of course.
Erin Walter: Good. We’re done here.
Mr. Peterson: Right.
After reading a little further, Naru found in the files that
Mr. Peterson failed to accomplish a task that he was assigned. What the task
was, Naru couldn’t figure out. But a few days after the failure, there was an
e-mail mentioning the New Order being sent out. After some investigation, Naru
found out that it came from Mr. Peterson’s computer. However, the IP address
was different from the other e-mails sent from his computer. Most likely
someone else sent the e-mail, using another computer to make it look like Mr.
Peterson sent the e-mail. Naru was reading more of the documents when Chaud
walked up behind him.
“Hey,” Chaud greeted.
Naru nodded, “Hey.”
Chaud pulled out his cellphone and took out the memory card.
He threw it in a trashcan and placed a new chip in his phone. Naru noticed and
quickly glanced in his direction. He continued reading and ignored it. Chaud
was always doing strange things.
Zara walked into the room. She had just woken up from a two
hour nap and was making her rounds to make sure everything was in order. Zara
walked up to Naru. She gave Chaud a quick glance then got straight to the
point.
“How are we doing?” Zara asked Naru.
“There is a lot mentioned about this person named Scar,”
Naru reported.
“Scar?” Zara thought a moment, “Didn’t that Mr. Peterson guy
ask the other guy who called us out if Mr. Scar was with him?”
“Maybe,” Naru shrugged, “Haven’t been able to research with
all this reading.”
Chaud popped into the equation, “Hey, know how long we’ll be
staying here?”
“A while,” Zara didn’t even glance up at him.
“A few hours, ‘a while’, or a few days, ‘a while’?” Chaud
asked.
Zara looked at him, eyes narrowed, “Until we get the info we
need, ‘a while’.”
“Oh,” Chaud looked to one side, “hmm.”
“Hmm,” Naru, who had tuned out for a while now, said as he
looked at the computer.
Both Zara and Chaud stopped their arguing and looked at him.
Naru hadn’t noticed that the two had become quiet or even that they were
straining to see what he found on the computer. He ignored them and looked at
the computer. Then he yawned and shut the computer off. Naru got up and walked
to go catch a wink of sleep.
“Night, guys,” he said as he walked off.
Zara looked at him, “Well, what did you find?”
Naru shrugged, “Something about an island and a secret
project.”
“Secret project?” Chaud asked.
But Naru was already out of ear shot. Chaud placed his hands
on his waist and sighed. Zara crossed her arm and looked at the computer.
“What now?” Chaud asked, “Our only computer geek just hit
the hay.”
Zara didn’t seem to upset, “Oh, leave it. He’s been working
harder than anyone.”
Chaud nodded, “I guess you’re right. What will we do now?”
Just then, the big computer screen turned on displaying the
standard Tower welcome screen. Then it displayed a world map and zoomed into California
and narrowed in on their current location. Seven points popped up near them at
a local bus stop. Seven images of seven people appeared near the points.
“Oh, shoot,” Chaud muttered.
Zara looked at him, “‘Oh, shoot’, what? You know who those
people are? Are they looking for us, Chaud?”
“Don’t worry,” Chaud sounded a little less than confident,
“Miwa has this place labeled as inactive. They don’t know we’re here.”
“Oh, your friend can do that, huh?” Zara placed her hands on
her hips, she was not amused, “Who the heck are they, Chaud? Enough of this ‘I
can’t tell you’-‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ nonsense!”
“You know about the incident in New York that they tell us
about in school?” Chaud smiled, “They say the machine malfunctioned.”
Zara roller her eyes and shrugged, “Yeah, so.”
Chaud rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, they left out one
tiny teeny detail…”
IOIOIOIOI
Fang disembarked the bus. He looked through the six folders
that were given him of the missing Agents. Currently he looked at Zara’s file.
She stared back at him from the ID photo with determination and grit. Fang
glanced at the next folder holding Chaud’s file. The look in his eye was one of
sly secrets. Fang smiled. They might be just kids but together, her
determination and his sly secrecy, would be a force to reckon with. He stood
off to the side while everyone else got off.
“Why do I ‘ave to carry all da luggage?!” Alister
complained. He was adorned with bags and luggage.
“Because I said so,” Fang muttered.
Penelope pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled. She
carried her laptop with her at all times. For a brief moment her eyes narrowed
in determination then returned to their round carefree selves. She took another
step, tripped over her feet and fell face first on the ground.
“Ow…” she stated.
Fang wasn’t too concerned. By now her face had to be the
strongest part of her body. She’d be alright.
Shadow helped Penelope up with a smile, “That was one of
your better wipeouts. No blood.”
Raven stood behind him without her cloak. She wore all black
clothing. When Penelope got to her feet, Raven gave her a new set of glasses.
Lumin followed Arisa who had just run into a gift shop. The
girl might be older and a little more mature but there were times that the kid
in her shown through. Lumin was here ever following shadow. He was a man of few
words to the rest of them but could carry on in hours of conversation with
Arisa. They had a deep love for each other that could last through the ages.
Shadow looked back at Fang, “We’ll Sirius said that after
digging around they said that with a great deal of certainty that those Agents
came to this area. What do you suppose we do?”
Fang looked at the files again, specifically Chaud’s in this
situation. He smiled.
“Penelope, when you get the chance, I want the plans to the
sewers,” Fang looked at Shadow and showed him Chaud’s file, “We’re up against
at least one person that knows the ins and outs of the Tower like the back of
his hand. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to get caught on any camera.”
“They could be in a building,” Alister suggested.
Raven rolled her eyes, “And risk getting recognized?”
Alister shifted his weight, “It was just a suggestion.”
Fang thought a moment, “Oh, and Penelope, in your spare
time, try and find this kids source. I’m sure by now he knows we’re here.
Someone at the Tower is keeping him updated.”
Penelope nodded.
Shadow gave a sly smile, “Anything you want me to do?”
“Look around, see if you can find them,” Fang stated, “I’ll
go find ourselves a motel.”
Arisa ran out of the store carrying shopping bags. She saw
that everyone looked rather serious. Feeling left out she crossed her arms. A
gentle hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Lumin standing just
behind her.
“I’m sure they’ll tell us what we need to know later,” he
said, “No need to get upset.”
Arisa smiled, “I guess you’re right. Besides,” Arisa pulled
out a t-shirt from one of her bags, “I bought these cute t-shirts! Won’t this
one look cute on me! I got some for Penelope and Raven too! Aren’t they adorable?”
Lumin smiled, “I don’t think that pink one is really Raven’s
style and I think that Penelope likes dogs better than cats.”
“Really?” Arisa looked at her selection. She shrugged, “Oh,
well! I guess these will all have to be for me!”
She turned and ran toward the others and babbled about her
shopping spree. Lumin shook his head with a smile and followed behind her.
Admittedly, Arisa was a lot to handle but Lumin never seem to mind.
