《Beyond the Veil》1.3 Bad news
Advertisement
Stephany read the message twice. She called up Robins on Technical to make him explain in detail how they measured the accuracy of the information. Afterwards, she checked the tapes, list of victims, maps and governmental databases. Only then did she contact her superior.
"Senior Agent Solitaire, we have a situation," she sounded after knocking. She had sometimes wondered why he chose that as his agent name. Everyone was free to choose their own agent name. She had simply used her last name. Most of the younger agents went with something cool. Every single type of natural disaster had agents named after them. The same with practically all Greek, Roman and Norse gods.
Agent Solitaire turned from the screen to meet her eyes with his piercing, steel stare. "Go on, Agent Morli," he urged.
Stephany unconsciously swallowed.
"We have just gotten a report that a cell phone belonging to one of the victims was moved from the vicinity of the mansion to a small building in the forest, belonging to the Foxfur Scout Group."
She placed the laptop in front of him and showed the two locations on the map. "The movement started about 40 minutes after the raid started, and took about four hours. That translates to a very slow pace, significantly less than half the expected walking speed of an adult through heavy forest."
She opened up the prepared data sheet.
"The cell phone belongs to Martin Schneider Kinsley, age 53. Professional violinist and private music tutor. Associated with the Dancing Dreams Orchestra, hired to perform at the mansion."
She did not mention his marital status and family. It was all in the data sheet; he could read it if he was interested. After all, he disliked too much unnecessary information almost as much as he hated a lack of proper legwork.
Advertisement
Instead, she brought his attention to a video with a specific timestamp.
"As you can see from the surveillance tape, here he is with the orchestra."
A zoomed still shot showed him, slightly blurry but recognizable.
"Once the purge started, he escaped through the door leading to a corridor. From there, he entered the dining hall, which unfortunately did not have any camera."
"The timing is peculiar," she pointed out and showed a slide with a rough timeline. "The cell phone started moving eight minutes after the execution team had pronounced all dead and the fire was started. I have confirmed this with Agent Willow."
She produced a zoomed satellite picture of the forest building.
"The network tower lost connection with the cell phone roughly six hours after it was moved here. From the start of the purge to when it lost contact, it made no calls, sent no messages, and received one. The message was from Kinsley’s mother, inviting his family to eat dinner with her this Sunday. There was a minor amount of data traffic, small enough that it is likely it was just data from apps running in the background."
"While positional data stemming from triangulating signals are somewhat imprecise, we have enough data points that the location is almost certainly accurate."
Throughout her presentation, Agent Solitaire listened to every word while staring intently at her. Apart from the occasional nod, he looked like a statue. He was silent for a while, seemingly in deep thought. Stephany waited patiently until he spoke up.
"An abnormal observation,” he spoke with an almost monotone voice. “It seems highly unlikely, but not impossible, that Agent Willow failed to detect an individual. He has a perfect track record so far. Still, we can't discount the possibility. I will talk with him personally."
Advertisement
He pointed to the triangulated position on the map.
"Send a team to the building. I want them in the air within 30 minutes. Keep me updated. If an individual has survived the purge, catching him will be our highest priority. Alive."
Stephany nodded. She knew he would take it seriously. Still, making it the highest priority was more serious than she had expected. There was so much going on that also required attention. He was the boss, though, and she knew how to follow orders. She did not ask him to confirm his orders. No unnecessary questions.
She went back to her workstation, and sent out a flurry of messages. All individuals known to be connected to Mr. Kinsley would be put under surveillance. His apartment would be bugged. An agent would hack his mail and social media. It was usually laughably easy when you had access to messages sent to the target's phone.
She did not want to disappoint Agent Solitaire.
Advertisement
- In Serial46 Chapters
Soul Forging
“At this point, humanity has already lost control over its own destiny.” If even a normal college student like Jayce could say such a thing, then things were obviously pretty bad. In Jayce’s case, by the time he understood this truth, he had already been enslaved by another race and put to work as the subordinate of a noble’s daughter. There, he was given a chance to reflect on a conundrum. Which felt worse? Being summoned to another world as someone else’s gacha prize, or learning that in this world, humans were nothing more than C-Rank trash. Follow one young man’s journey as he struggles from pitiful slavery to reach heights he never could have imagined. Chapters every Wednesday & Saturday.
8 224 - In Serial7 Chapters
The Sudden Rise of the Magic Continent
A girl named Aki is an active coder and has a very active imagination and found strange code on a weird website. That code creates a floating status screen in the real world that lets whatever she codes happen to the real world. After creating what would be a magic continent in the middle of the ocean. She removes her memories and lives her life on it experiencing everything she created and gaining memories as she continues. Can also be found on scribblehub at https://www.scribblehub.com/series/266360/the-sudden-rise-of-the-magic-continent/
8 219 - In Serial42 Chapters
Divine Macabre: The Philosopher
In this world there are wonders, which even philosophers haven't dremt of - a philosopher, who denies being one, became convinced of it one night. He will embark on a journey to fulfill his brother's wish, putting his life on the line. Will the truth, that he always refused to acknowledge, become a blessing, or the worst curse? This is the story of Edward of Rebellar, a young man, who abandoned scepticism to bring smile back on his brother's face.The time of Divine Macabre has come. ===== First tome of "Divine Macabre" series, "The Philosopher" Author: Ningyou~ClariosisAssisted by K.S.Translation from Polish to English made by lopnheusCover & Chapter Images by rrentherosedove on DeviantART.comWritten from 28.06.15 to 22.01.19
8 193 - In Serial27 Chapters
Bells and Taxes
The territory of Palmetto, ragged and mean, was once the banishing lands for the kings of the Old World. In that sea of hills they exiled their enemies, their upstarts, the deposed tyrants and rebels who came too close. Ancient prisons emptied their depths into Palmetto. Persecuted tribes fled to the refuge of its hideaway valleys. After a century and some, the land of Palmetto had evolved into a patchwork of flimsy feudalism, cult compounds, and grift economies. The merchant princes, having built some gleam of stability, reached out to the Old World's new kings for help in raising the orderly sword of bureaucracy. The event known as the Papercut Revolution closed the First Era. The new dawn rose on The Directory, who took the yoke of power into their responsible hands and began to bring forth their Good Era.
8 221 - In Serial66 Chapters
Terror Infinity-A new terror
Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live... a real life?That is the message that Chris gets one day at school and in his despair over the bully's and teachers not listening to him he hits yes. Will he be able to survive what he got himself into. This is my own take to the original Terror Infinity and Terror Infinity - side Band my first attempt at a fanfic enjoy
8 122 - In Serial22 Chapters
Sticks and Stones • Spideypool ✓
Peter is so innocent. So trusting... too trusting. And one day that will get him into trouble.Best stats:#2 stony#1 taskmaster
8 214

