Chapter 2

Read from the start here: Chapter One


It felt like she was living through the next few moments in slow motion. She could feel something had happened, a deep, cracking explosion ripped through her ears leaving an echo so hideous, her reaction was to clamp them both shut. There was no time for that though, whatever happened had already begun and there was no stopping it. As she felt the object approaching, nearer and nearer, she tried to turn her head, to hit the deck or to shield herself from it, but it was no use. It got closer with every nanosecond and despite the minimal time, she had gone through the motions and even accepted it, like it was part of her journey; her destiny. Then it all disappeared.


The shock of waking up so suddenly caused Susan to jump in her chair and the subsequent shift in balance sent her to the floor, with the chair on top of her.


“What happened?” A voice originated from the other side of her desk, seeming moderately calm. “Did you fall asleep?”


Picking herself up from the floor while rubbing her sore back, she rose to see her fellow worker Fredo staring across at her with a smile on his face. He was enjoying the situation.


“Think it’s funny do you? I could have really hurt myself.” Susan replied looking agitated, while replacing her seat.


“Relax, you probably suffered a minor bruising that’s all. I saw it from my desk, what happened? That was quite a jump you did!”


“I had this…” She paused trying to think of the right word. “Bizarre dream.”


“What was it about?”


“That’s the thing, it was about ten seconds ago and I’ve already forgotten. Something quite vivid and unreal though, a bit scary too. Oh well, it’s just one of those things, isn’t it?”


Fredo nodded quietly, and as he did he began to lean against her desk and peruse the papers stacked neatly on it. The room was quite small, but for an office it sufficed, and the minimal décor made it feel quite stagnant. It really didn’t feel like the occupant had been there for a couple of years. As he browsed, Susan kept talking.


“I’ve been up since 4am this morning for the meeting which doesn’t seem to be happening and I had so little sleep last night that I can’t stay awake. It’s a little embarrassing.”


“Lighten up, it could be worse.”


“Please take it upon yourself to explain how it could while remaining in the bounds of plausibility.” She smirked.


“Well,” He began, carefully avoiding her gaze. “You could be sitting at home without a job, and then you wouldn’t even have known me!” He exclaimed with a sarcastic tone.


“When you say it like that it makes me realise how bad I have it here.” As she grinned cheekily, she sat back down in her chair and yawned loudly. “I don’t even know what the meetings about. Should I be relaxed because he hasn’t called for me yet, or should I be even more worried?”


“You got to stop torturing yourself over what is essentially nothing. If it’s important enough he’ll tell you, just give him time, you know Crutch trusts you.”


He was right. Lionel Crutch was the Director for the agency both Susan and Fredo worked for, and it was called The Trust. Its purpose was surveillance but on a wholly intrusive degree, which is why nobody outside of a select few people knew of its existence. Founded clandestinely over seven years ago, it was one of the Governments secret success stories. The levels of crime had decreased dramatically during its lifetime and it was to their own bane that they couldn’t even accredit the right people for it, instead giving the law enforcement who had been feeding off them that pleasure.


Lionel was a grumpy individual who was born to do his job. He was authoritative, well spoken, organised to the point of obsession and surprisingly personable. He had been chosen to lead this new group from its conception and rightly so. Everything that had gone right with it had been due to his leadership. His frequent professional involvement with Susan and his pride in her work had cemented in him a great deal of respect for her. Accordingly, to him she could do little wrong.


“I think I’ll work through the rest of these reports.” Susan carefully picked up a few sheets and placed them in front of her. “It’ll pass the time.”


“Let me help you with some of these.”


“No, don’t, I’ll be fine.”


“It’s a busy day Susan, you’re always taking on too much than is good for you.” He hastily took one of the several heaps of paper while Susan quickly stood up to protest.


“Don’t be stupid, this is my job and I couldn’t ask you to do any of this stuff. You’ve got your own work to do…”


“…Of which I am already ahead so this really is nothing.”


Fredo headed back to his desk with his hands full.


“I don’t owe you anything for this!” She shouted as he left the office grinning, letting the door close gently behind him.


She sat back down and gave a hefty sigh, and checked the intercom machine next to the computer screen. The hovering glass plate showed no sign of change as she waved her paw over it. Still tired, she then turned her attention to the computer, and started sifting through the files placed upon it. She selected her inbox and scrolled down to find the email she received this morning from Crutch.


‘Susan, letting you know through official correspondence that you are required to come in early tomorrow as we are expecting to hold an urgent meeting sometime after 4am. Please come early, regards Lionel.’


She had always been in the loop for classified issues, her position in charge of the Department or Research and Investigation allowed her that sort of access, but this feeling of exclusion was new. Instead of feeling aggravated about this, she felt nervous. If there was something not even she was to know about, it must be something big and her imagination was snowballing about what it could be.


In the absence of more important business for now, she turned her attention to the files in front of her. There were over a hundred cases of crime and disturbances over the past 24 hours, and it was her job to search for anything suspicious or dangerous that could be solved using the surveillance. In most cases, finding out the time and cross referencing it to the files in the database would produce enough evidence to conclude it, for example a drunken fight turning violent in an alleyway or someone who still thought they could get away with mugging an innocent citizen. These would often be passed on to her subordinates, such as Fredo, who would do the donkey work. Occasionally, there would be a head scratching case where something didn’t quite fit and the surveillance didn’t help. This was where Susan came in.


Looking through the files today, she was faced with an abundance of the latter. Without even thinking about it, she had already suspected it had something to do with what Crutch had called her in for. Amongst the puzzling bits, errors were plastered on the front of some of the files telling her there was no image for the supplied data, or a corrupt image in its place. In addition, there were even reports of mutated life forms appearing on the outskirts of the city and not even surveillance was capable of explaining why, just that they had first been sighted emerging from heavily forested area and couldn’t be traced before that at all. They were all aggressive and very large creatures. She’d had to command an NA (Natalo Army) Unit to guard the entrance where they had been seen heading towards.


Alarm bells were ringing in her head, and she quickly turned on the intercom type device and dialled. A couple of seconds later, a voice came through.


“Fredo.”


“Yes Susan?”


“I need you to go down to the database level and find out what’s going on down there. Something big or terrible or both is happening and I want to know what.”


“I just spoke to Ben and he told me there’s nobody down there on that floor, the whole department is out until nine. I think you’re the only one around with access.”


“Damn,” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t go because I’ve got this meeting at any moment.”


She pondered over the possibility of popping down quickly, but knew without anyone there it would be at least a twenty minute job assuming everything went smoothly. It’d have to wait until later.


“Ok abort that little plan for now, but keep on them and go down there the moment they return. This is serious stuff.”


“Will do. Anything else I can help with?”


“No, you’re set for now. Thank you.”


As she hung up, a knock came at the door, a delicate tapping which had it not been for the complete silence at the time, would probably have been missed.
“Come in.”


Inside walked a stunningly pretty feline, white from head to toe and dressed in a light coloured suit that impressed Susan and put her own to shame. Her name was Delilah, and she was very popular around the office despite being rather shy. She had worked hard for her spot in The Trust and despite being smarter than most people there she never once mentioned it. A truly modest individual.


“Hello.”


“Hey Dee, what do you have for me?” She asked, referencing the bundle in her hand.


“I apologise, but I have the most recent report and you’re not going to like it.”


“You mean that killer has struck again?”


“Yes” She replied timidly.


“Who’s the victim?”


“It was just recorded so I only have minimal details, but the victim was female, mid to late twenties. Dead from the moment she was struck, seems to be the same method as before which indicates the serial killer.”


Standing up, Susan took it from Delilah and opened it. The victim was indeed a female, who had been killed from a lodged piece of metal in her brain sent flying at a high velocity, causing instantaneous death. Everything here suggested it was the Nomag killer, named after the very rare group of people who were unable to harness the magical energy into a usable form. This murderer either chose not to or couldn’t use ‘magic’ and this made it harder to identify them.


“Have you had a look at the surveillance for this area?”


“Partially obscured, just like the rest. Nothing to identify who or what did it.”


“Perfect, just what I needed.” She moaned with a fleeting sarcasm. “Why can’t we get this guy? He can’t keep getting away with killing as and when he pleases!”


“I’ll see what the tech guys can get from it.”


“Even if it is just a formality.” She sighed. “Anything else?”


“No, except… no, I’m sorry.”


“What is it?”


“It’s nothing, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have even started that sentence.”


“Dee, what’s wrong?”


The feline hesitated. “I wanted to ask you if you knew why they have called us all in? We’re certain that it’s something important and you’re always kept in the know but we understand you’re not allowed to tell us either so that’s why I didn’t want to ask.”


Susan looked at Delilah, who was clearly a little upset about something, and if she had to guess what it was, it would be that she probably feared for her loved ones. Everybody always knew that when there was an ‘urgent meeting’ it was always bad news. They’d been through it before.


“I’m sorry…”


“No, it’s ok. I figured as much, but wanted to ask anyway. I was really rude, putting you into that situation.”


“No, I’m sorry, even if I did know more than I was letting on, I still couldn’t tell you no matter how much I wanted to.”


Delilah forced a cheerful smile and bowed her head slightly.


“If there’s anything else you need Miss…”


“Nothing for the moment, Dee. I’ll um, I’ll call you if I do though, thank you.”


“No problem.”


Delilah left the room, leaving Susan once more alone in her office. She breathed in deeply to try and reinvigorate her as the tiredness once again came back. Yawning again rather loudly, she sat back down and flicked her computer back into action again. Still nothing to report.


“Back to work then.” She grumbled, slamming down the file she had just received about the Nomag killer. As she set her eyes upon the first word, all of a sudden a loud beeping filled the room. Almost immediately, Susan reached for the intercom and pushed the glowing red button.


“Susan?” The voice was soft, direct and also female.


“Yes, speaking.”


“Mr Crutch expects to see you in the meeting room in five minutes.”


“Yes, certainly. I’m on my way.”


Something clicked and the line went dead. Susan stood up and walked across to the mirror next to the door, and straightened herself up a bit, making herself look that extra bit presentable. Satisfied with her adjusted look, she opened the door and strode out.


Fredo looked up from his paperwork to see her stride by, and gave her a wink. Next she passed Dee’s desk, and received what can only be described as the meekest smile she had ever noticed. Nodding, she continued forward towards the exit. The few workers who were in this early were all really busy, but as she walked past they all took a second or two to look up and acknowledge her, if only to wish her luck in their own ways. She would probably need it.


The corridor she had reached now was rather barren and sterile, with nothing decorative or pleasant about it. Susan briefly mulled over in her mind that she only ever noticed this on the way to these meetings. At the end of the corridor stood the elevators, two thick panels of polished steel awaiting her and a glowing panel to the side, which she quickly touched with her thumb. As the doors opened and a cold and empty room beckoned her in, all she could hope for was that whatever was coming wouldn’t be that bad, but deep down she knew it would be.

Next Chapter: CHAPTER THREE