Page 37

“What order are they in, Pete?” Jensen asks.
“So they start with this one, that’s the first check-in, and then it goes like this,” Peter explains as he points out the locations in order.
“I think we should focus on the last two,” Rage suggests. “There won’t be much point looking at the ones before that, and we definitely need to look at the last one, so looking at the one before that as well will mean that we can see what her usual behavior, the way she gave her check-ins and all of that sort of stuff is like and see if she behaved differently at the last one.”
“Good idea,” Trick replies. “Have you got the recordings of the phone calls from when she checked in?”
It’s standard practice to record check-ins so it's easier to remember the information and just in case they need to be listened to again. Because it’s the norm, Peter’s reply shocks me.
“No, they weren’t recorded. Apparently, that’s standard practice for Ghost agents.” Pete replies.
“Fantastic, this case really isn’t going to be straightforward, is it?” I grumble.
Chapter Thirteen
“Probably not, but we knew that,” Cash reminds me gently.
“I know,” I reply, still frowning slightly.
“What about surveillance cameras?” Luc asks, “Are her locations pinpointed enough that we can get the general area?”
Pete nods, “Yeah, I can do that. I can actually run her through facial recognition through their cameras, and we can see her movements and maybe even see what she was doing.”
“That’s a great idea,” Trick compliments.
“Can you run the program on both towns simultaneously, or do you need to do it one at a time?” Riot asks curiously.
“I can do it on both locations, but I have to warn you guys, this isn’t going to be a quick thing. I’m not going to have answers for you by tonight. Like finding the check-in locations, it's going to take me a few days at least.”
“We always knew that this was going to be a marathon and not a sprint. At the moment, we’re just trying to work out if there is, in fact, an issue. For all we know, she might have just missed a check-in and will make the next one,” Atlas points out.
He’s right; we’re all assuming that she’s in trouble, and she could be, but until she misses the second check-in as well, we’re not going to know for certain.
“That’s very true,” Luc replies, and then asks Pete, “do we know when she’s due to make her next check-in?”
“Erm, yes, hang on,” Pete says, clicking some keys as he brings up the very scant file that Mr R sent us and scans through until he says, “Found it. She was supposed to do it every two weeks, so it should be around the second of January.”
“Okay, so we work like we always do, and we check out the surveillance and see what we can find out if anything. Jynx, Ever, and Atlas will also go and talk to the guy at headquarters and see if we can get any more information from him. Mr R didn’t seem to think that it was likely, but if anyone can, it will be you three.” Trick starts to summarise.
“I’ll have the software set up and running in no time,” Peter adds. “Hopefully, we’ll find something worth looking into.”
“She’s almost too good at her job,” I say, unable to hide the proud tone in my voice.
“She is definitely good at her job, but so are we, and we’ll find her,” Trick reassures me.
I just have this feeling that it’s not going to be as easy as we think, and in all honesty, we didn’t think it was going to be easy in the first place.
“It would only be easy if she wants to be found,” Cash points out.
“Well, yeah, I have a feeling that if she doesn’t want to be found, then she won’t be.” Riot replies and then adds carefully, “That’s another angle that we haven’t considered. The guy behind this, whatever the fuck his name is, is obviously very powerful and well-connected. He managed to convince several of the best agents in the country to turn against their own people. There’s a chance that he’s managed to do it with Rylie too.”
“You make a good point, but if that were the case, it would make more sense for them to keep her in contact with us and feed us false information, not drop off the face of the planet and make us aware of something that isn’t quite right,” Atlas replies thoughtfully.
Riot nods in agreement.
“I do agree with Riot that it is something that we need to consider though,” Jensen adds, “a lot has changed over the years since we last saw her, and she’s clearly been through a lot as well, and that's just assuming from what we know, and there's a hell of a lot that we don't know about. The sort of things that she’s been through changes a person. She may not be who we all remember.”
“I hear you,” I reply honestly because it’s me who he’s looking at while he says this. “I do; just look at how much we’ve all changed and what we’ve been through. I was fortunate enough that I had you guys, and our family after some of the more traumatic things that I’ve been through. It looks like Rylie is still all alone, and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have survived the things that I have without you guys. It would’ve warped me.”