by Aman Gupta
Vik looked at Eric and nodded. Eric came over.
“He’s the sheriff. I’m just the lab geek,” said Vik, and walked away to his lab.
Bill’s team shook hands with Eric’s team individually, as they made acquaintance. Bill and Eric left to discuss the matter in Eric’s office.
Karen went to Kate and asked for private working space for their team.
“There’s an old office near the holding cells, but that hasn’t been used in a while. I hope that would be fine,” said Kate.
“Yes, of course,” said Karen.
Karen was almost as tall as Kate, nearly 5 feet 7 inches, as she looked Kate straight in the eye while talking. She looked confident and resolute, with a white chiseled face. Her demeanor reminded Kate of Vik when she first met him – cold, hostile and straight-forward.
Karen asked Mark to get their stuff from their cars, while she and Mily went with Kate to their new office. Mily was a skinny blonde, a couple of inches shorter than Karen, which she made up for with her high heels.
The office was dusty, and in poor shape, though it had adequate furniture for the entire team. Karen asked Kate to leave them alone and slammed the door in her face.
“This will be interesting,” uttered Kate.
Kate, Joey, and Emma saw as David and Mark got their heavy suitcases and boxes from the cars. It took them four round trips to get everything.
“I don’t understand why they need us. If they’re such experts, why are they here and not working directly out of Old River?” said Emma.
“There’s something that they aren’t telling us,” said Kate.
“Like what?” asked Joey.
“Maybe that’s what the Marshal and Sheriff are discussing,” said Kate.
“Well, Vik certainly made it clear that he’s off-limits to their team,” said Emma.
“I think he did it for every one of us,” said Joey. “Especially when that Bill guy came in here and told us to stand properly. This isn’t military of a decade ago.”
They saw Vik coming towards them.
“Hey,” said Emma.
“Hey,” said Vik.
“You going somewhere?” asked Joey.
“Yeah, be back in a couple of hours. Don’t let them inside my lab,” said Vik.
“Yeah, of course,” said Emma.
“You locked it, right?” asked Kate.
“Yes,” said Vik. “But don’t let them break the door.”
“Why would they break the door?” chuckled Emma. Joey and Kate laughed too.
“There’s something weird about Bill. I just can’t put my finger on it. Sometimes, he’s too easy to read, sometimes, he’s stone-faced. Almost like he’s playing a character. But maybe I am imagining things. Anyways, got to go,” said Vik.
“Thanks, by the way,” said Kate. “You stepped up for the team.”
“Oh, that. No issue, we can’t have them just walk all over us. It’s not like he has any authority here. New Frontier is off-limits thanks to our neighbors, remember?” said Vik.
“Yeah. Never been so happy living next to a TS before,” smiled Joey.
“50 miles to be precise,” added Kate.
Vik smiled and walked away, glancing at Mily, who was flirting with Adam.
“Speaking of TS colonies, I got a visitor last night from one,” said Emma.
“Really? Me too,” said Kate.
“What did they want?” asked Joey.
“It was a woman, Tamina. She told me that she was running away from some people. She left after few minutes, she looked like she was in a hurry,” said Emma.
“I met a woman too. Told me her name was Kristin. She had gotten into an accident while passing through,” said Kate.
“What are the odds, huh?” said Emma.
“Rare. Let’s make them astronomical,” said Joey. “I met a woman too last night. Told me her name was Elvira.”
“Last night?” asked Kate.
“Nothing like that. I mean she showed up all wet and everything,” said Joey.
Kate crossed her arms. “And what?”
“Nothing. She stayed for an hour, we talked and she left,” said Joey.
“Are you sure that’s it?” asked Kate, slightly angry.
“Yes,” said Joey.
“The woman you guys met? She didn’t happen to leave a paper behind, did she?” asked Emma.
“Yeah, she did,” said Kate and Joey, in unison. They all looked at each other.
“What did it say?” asked Emma.
“It was just a bunch of numbers,” said Kate.
“Mine too, some symbols too,” said Joey.
“Do you have it?” asked Emma.
“Mine’s at home,” said Kate.
“I threw away mine,” said Joey.
“Joey!” uttered Emma, like a disappointed colleague.
“It didn’t seem important. Is it important?” said Joey.
“Well, it’s no coincidence,” said Kate.
“Should we inform the sheriff?” asked Emma.
“As soon as the marshal and his team leaves,” said Kate.
“So what? A bunch of women visit the homes of this town’s police officers?” said Emma.
“But why?” asked Joey.
“No idea,” said Kate.
Vik returned a couple of hours later. He and Emma shared an awkward interaction when she ran into him while carrying a stack of files. She would move her hand away every time it touched Vik’s while they were picking up the files. He noticed her weird behavior and realized it was just a reaction to her actions a couple of weeks ago. She still liked him, but now she knew better, he thought. The mirage had been broken, he felt. That kiss was just a lapse in his judgment. His emotions felt like a sine curve that peaked at happiness and bottomed out at sadness. He didn’t know how to feel about it.
Emma, however, wanted to stay away for one reason only – to avoid being a distraction to Vik, so that he could find his daughter without caring or thinking about her love for him. She knew she made a mistake when she almost professed her love for him the day she kissed him. He felt like a stranger when he didn’t kiss back. At that moment, she had realized he had someone else on his mind – his family that he thought he had lost forever. She knew she had to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Thank you,” said Emma.
Vik just looked at her, shook his head and walked away to his lab.
“What was that about?” mumbled Emma.
It was 8 PM. Vik saw Bill leave Eric’s office. He looked slightly intoxicated, which surprised him. They shared an eye-contact when Bill looked at Vik through the blinds on the glass window. After a few minutes, he saw Emma, Kate, and Joey going towards Eric’s office.
He thought of going in there too, to know the current situation, but he was investigating a more vital clue that someone had left for him in his car that he had parked near the bridge.
When Vik had gone, few hours ago, to see the response to his note that he had left in the car, he saw that car had vanished from the scene even though he had thrown the keys away. He did find the note underneath a rock on that very spot. When he had moved the rock and picked up the note, someone had replied to his request on the back of the paper.
‘Waiting.’
He didn’t know what it meant. It wasn’t intentionally answered, he thought.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” said Vik.
Karen opened the door and entered the room.
“I’m Karen,” said Karen.
“Good to know,” said Vik.
“And you’re?” asked Karen.
“You can call me Vik,” said Vik.
“I just came by to formally introduce myself. Didn’t feel like we had properly met earlier in the day,” said Karen.
“Of course. Nice to meet you,” said Vik.
She slowly walked her way into the lab, looking around and touching things on the shelves and tables.
“I s
ee you’re a man of many talents. Must be popular with the ladies,” said Karen, when she saw Vik’s workstations and laptops on the other side of the room through the open door.
“Yeah, the ladies like nothing more than a tech nerd reeking of blood,” said Vik.
Karen smiled as she looked around.
“Well, we meet at last,” said Karen. “I also do the same work for Bill that you do for the sheriff.”
“Do you get paid for it?” asked Vik.
“Yes,” said Karen.
“Shame, it would have spooked me otherwise,” said Vik.
Karen approached him, which prompted him to get off the stool and move around. To an observer, they looked like two snails moving randomly in a room. Vik was actually trying to outpace Karen who was catching up.
“How long have you been doing it for?” asked Karen.
“Couple of years,” said Vik.
“And forensics?” asked Karen.
“I was talking about forensics,” said Vik.
“So a lot longer working as a tech geek, I imagine by the tone of your voice,” said Karen.
“Yeah, but only slightly,” said Vik. “What about you?”
“All my life. First, I did it to impress my step-father. But later, I realized I loved it,” said Karen.
“Wow, 40 years? That’s a long time,” said Vik.
Karen chuckled. “If you want to ask if I’m old enough to be a qualified forensic expert, just ask my age.”
“Officially, you look 35. But you’re 30,” said Vik.
“Wow, that’s actually..very accurate,” said Karen.
“Been on a lot of blind dates. Powerful superpower to have,” said Vik.
She stopped moving, so did Vik.
“So, can I work here with you? I’d hate to set up another lab when you’ve got a great one here,” said Karen.
“I like working alone,” said Vik. “But sure.”
“Great. So, who’s the assistant? You or me,” said Karen.
“We both are. The people out there are the ones we report to,” said Vik.
Karen laughed. “You didn’t even try to hide your sarcasm.”
“I know. I was just checking something,” said Vik.
“What? The emotions that I show?” said Karen.
“No. The important ones that people like us try to hide,” said Vik. “Who did you lose?”
“My step-father, a couple of months ago. My mom, a year ago,” said Karen.
“I’m sorry,” said Vik.
“Don’t be. I hardly knew the man,” said Karen. “He never accepted my mom or me.”
“Still, it hurts when we lose our family,” said Vik.
“Who did you lose?” asked Karen.
Karen was slowly moving towards Vik, hiding her movements in her questions. She wanted to understand the person she was going to either work with or throw under the bus to gain control.
“Not sure,” said Vik.
“Good. I don’t know what I’ll give to be unsure of what I’d lost,” said Karen.
Vik nodded.
“So, why are you and your team here in this remote part of the world?” asked Vik.
“It’s not as remote as you’d think. Not anymore, surely,” said Karen.
“That doesn’t answer the question,” said Vik.
“Maybe you should ask your team members,” said Karen.
Vik smiled.
“What?” asked Karen.
“I get it. You don’t have the authority,” said Vik. “Or maybe you don’t know.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” said Karen, feeling at home.
Eric came inside and looked at Vik.
“We need to talk,” said Eric.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” said Karen. “Bye, Vik. Nice meeting you.”
“Likewise,” said Vik.
She walked towards Eric, forcing him to move to make way for her.
“What did the brunette want?” asked Eric.
“Trying to size me up,” said Vik.
“There’s something weird going on,” said Eric. “Come with me.”
“Isn’t there always?” said Vik.
They went next door to Eric’s office. Vik locked the lab, while Karen looked from down the hall. They shared a brief eye-contact, before Vik was forced to break it off.
“There’s something about her,” whispered Vik.
“What’s that?” asked Eric.
“Nothing,” said Vik.
They entered the office. Vik saw Emma, Joey and Kate were also there in the room. He saw Eric had rearranged the furniture, even put new curtains on the window.
“Just like old times,” said Vik, acknowledging the gathering.
“Old as in a couple of months ago?” asked Kate.
“Feels like an eternity,” said Vik.
“Yeah, it does,” said Emma.
“So, why do you all look so tensed? See a ghost?” asked Vik.
Eric handed over some pictures to Vik. He looked at them for a few seconds.
“Are these supposed to mean something?” asked Vik.
“That is a small town a hundred miles north east of here,” said Eric.
“And?” asked Vik.
“Two hundred bodies were found a couple of weeks ago,” said Eric.
“Is that why Karen and that Marshal are here?” asked Vik. “I thought it was about Old River.”
“They think it could be connected,” said Eric.
“Which one was Karen?” asked Joey.
“The bossy one,” said Emma.
“But why here? Did you ask Bill, when he was raiding your leftover stock?” asked Vik.
“I did. He said that they need help from the locals and figured we could help,” said Eric.
“Waste of a trip,” said Vik.
“I’m thinking of joining their task force,” said Eric.
“Me too,” said Emma.
So did Kate and Joey.
“Looks like everything’s decided,” said Vik. “Thanks for telling me.”
“We need you too,” said Kate.
“You can’t possibly ask me that right now,” said Vik.
“Why? You are not getting any closer finding Charlotte’s killers or your daughter. None of us are. This could help,” said Eric.
“I’m not looking for distractions,” said Vik.
“Two hundred deaths is not a distraction,” said Eric.
“I know. That’s why I’m not stopping you, am I?” said Vik.
“Come on, man. Now’s not the time to be selfish,” said Joey.
“How am I selfish? They’re already dead, and whoever did it must have moved on. And I’m not a cop. You all are, and you are doing your job. Why does it matter if I’m helping you or not?” asked Vik.
“We’re a team,” said Emma. “We stand with each other, no matter what.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear through the noise your gun made when you shot me,” said Vik.
Emma went silent.
“You can’t still be holding on to that,” said Kate.
“I’m not. But you’re forcing my hand,” said Vik.
“You’re saying that 200 deaths are more important than Katie,” said Emma. “Is that what you’re saying? What if it was about twenty thousand people in Morrow? What then?”
“I will kill every single one of the 2 billion people on the planet, including everyone in this room, starting with myself, if that’s what it takes to save my daughter!” yelled Vik. “Nothing or no one can stop me from saving her if she’s out there somewhere. As long as I have a breath in my body, she’s all I’m thinking about. So, when you say thinking of 25000 people over Katie, I don’t even know what you are talking about.”
They were all shocked. His words pierced their heart and mind. They all looked at each other but they were left speechless.
Vik threw the pictures in the air, went out of the office and slammed the door behind him.
“He doesn’t really mean that, does he?” asked Joey.
“I don’t know,” said Emma.
“I have never seen him this way,” said Eric.
“I think he does,” said Kate.
“Really?” asked Emma.
“I would trade my life to see my family, too,” said Kate.
“He’s too emotional right now. He can’t see clearly,” said Eric. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
They nodded and walked out of the room. Eric opened the liquor cabinet in his desk and took out a new bottle of scotch. Having a drink was the only thing that was keeping the noises in his head at bay.
Chapter 8: Interval
Victor Daulton was sitting next to a fireplace carved out of a rare stone, when Anton came inside the room. Victor was admiring the interior of the ruined mansion. The carvings and the woodwork were spectacular and reminded Victor of his New York palace. With a drink in his hand and cigar in another, Victor was doing everything he could to distract himself. Anton and his men hadn’t been able to find Katie, a terrible fact that had the origins of ruining Victor’s plan.
“She’s here,” said Anton.
“Bring her in,” said Victor, after taking a drag.
Couple of guards came inside with a woman in a black hood, with her face covered. Victor told Anton to leave them alone. Anton and the guards left.
“Is it done?” asked Victor.
The woman removed the hood, and stood in front of Victor.
“Yes,” said the blonde woman. “All 5 messages have been delivered.”
“Good. Let’s see if he takes the bait,” said Victor.
“Are you sure he would show up?” asked the woman.
“That’s not the problem. What if he does and realizes we don’t have Katie?” said Victor.
“I also have been looking for her everywhere in TS – 17. I dyed my hair too so that I look like her mom. But no one has seen her,” said the woman.
“We need to find her. Even if it means that 100,000 people need to die for it,” said Victor. “But we can’t take the risk. Not yet. She can’t die.”
“Why invite her dad here, to TS – 17?” asked the woman.
“The Jay that I know, would first try to find her himself. He knows her more than me, sadly. He would lead us to her,” said Victor. “TS – 17 West is a crowded place. He would try to blend in, and that’s going to work in our favor.”