Pts! Warbaron: 20, Bessie Lark: 3, Elspeth: 1
Part XCI: Whirling Clouds
Date: Kapton 2nd, 114 A.U.
Oldin wearily sat down at his desk, his eyes glancing at the new watch that sat on his hand. It had come out a week ago and had quickly become the rage of Araelia, nearly selling out in a couple of days, although the company promised that they had more coming. Not only a watch, it also was able to access your cell phone and form a holographic image of the person you were talking to, if they were also using the watch. And as a result of an impressively large and successful ad campaign, the C-Watches were all the rage. And Oldin, though he generally didn’t pay much attention to fads, had liked the technology enough that he had fitted his whole team with them.
Oldin quickly brought up the files showing their tracking on the mysterious elf group that had been sabotaging their every effort to track it down. The group still seemed to be connected with the inexplicable heart attacks that had now killed ten of their best men. It had gone up far too much to be a mere coincidence; no, Oldin was sure that they were connected—that they had figured out some way to kill a man in a way that it looked like a heart attack. And there they had been stuck for months, continuing to try to find leads, and having the leads dashed at every corner as each of their men that was just about to make a huge lead was suddenly killed by this rogue group.
Oldin pursed his lips. They needed a plan. They had to come up with something new—some ingenious way to break through the hold that this group had put them in for so long. They had tried always having microphones on their agents, but the elven rebel group had managed to tangle their signals in response. And as much as he had tried to help, Iraina still hadn’t come up with any solution either, keeping them in a state of gridlock, unable to do anything against the elves while the elves danced around with their plan, unscathed from the attacks.
Oldin was getting desperate, which was never a good thing. Because when he was desperate, he’d end up trying to do the job himself. And as much as he might try to rationalize it, Oldin knew that being desperate never helped anything. But, standing up, Oldin decided that he was desperate. And there really wasn’t any avoiding what he wanted to do right now. So he headed out the door.
The latest lead was a man named James McDonnell, who seemed connected with the elf group. Oldin had already figured out that the man was gone for the day on business. And so it was time to investigate. He could have assigned it to someone else, but those plans never worked. Oldin had tried purging their system many times to hunt out spies or bugs, but had so far failed. And so, not wanting to get another agent killed, he was taking things into his own hands.
Slinking toward the house, Oldin checked for noticeable cameras and then ran up to the door, unlocking it with a fake key he had before letting himself in, shutting the door behind him. It was the standard type of house in Araelia, with the room layout nearly identical to his setup in his house.
The computer brought up no interesting results, although Oldin did manage to find the security tapes, quickly running their high-tech password-breaker to get in and editing it to erase the couple hours in which he’d be at the house. After making sure that all the security cameras were off, he continued the search. At the very least, the fact that James would have security tapes was something. An average citizen wouldn’t have as many security cameras as James did, giving further ground to Oldin’s suspicions.
Oldin quickly placed a bug on his telephone before moving upstairs. There had been a lot of security cameras placed near a section of the hallway, a section which Oldin was curious to investigate. After walking around in the other rooms, he was sure of it. In all other houses of this type, there was a closet in the hallway that didn’t appear to be in this house, which meant…
After much trial and error, Oldin finally found the tiny slit to place his fingers in and opened the secret door, revealing the hidden closet within, full of C-Watches and what looked like various prototypes for it. Oldin furrowed his brow. How was this connected to it? He remembered noticing that James worked for the company that produced the C-Watches but was this just so that no one else could see the company’s work beforehand, or was it for a darker purpose? And why would James have brought the prototypes here? Oldin remembered the workplace that James had converted his basement to and wondered if James took them home with him to try to fix at his home office. After gingerly taking a couple of the prototypes, Oldin shut the door and stepped back. That had been surprisingly easy—too easy for sneaking into the house of a suspect.
After making sure that everything he had moved was in its proper place, Oldin swiftly exited the house, a lot on his mind as he quickly got to the car and began driving back to the office. He had run a guard around him to keep him from being shot by the terrorist group, but he’d managed to make this mission without them. Now to get back to the office and make sure he was well-protected there as he began to figure out what the link was between the terrorist group, James McDonnell, and the C-watches.
If there even was one.
Part XCI: Whirling Clouds
Date: Kapton 2nd, 114 A.U.
Oldin wearily sat down at his desk, his eyes glancing at the new watch that sat on his hand. It had come out a week ago and had quickly become the rage of Araelia, nearly selling out in a couple of days, although the company promised that they had more coming. Not only a watch, it also was able to access your cell phone and form a holographic image of the person you were talking to, if they were also using the watch. And as a result of an impressively large and successful ad campaign, the C-Watches were all the rage. And Oldin, though he generally didn’t pay much attention to fads, had liked the technology enough that he had fitted his whole team with them.
Oldin quickly brought up the files showing their tracking on the mysterious elf group that had been sabotaging their every effort to track it down. The group still seemed to be connected with the inexplicable heart attacks that had now killed ten of their best men. It had gone up far too much to be a mere coincidence; no, Oldin was sure that they were connected—that they had figured out some way to kill a man in a way that it looked like a heart attack. And there they had been stuck for months, continuing to try to find leads, and having the leads dashed at every corner as each of their men that was just about to make a huge lead was suddenly killed by this rogue group.
Oldin pursed his lips. They needed a plan. They had to come up with something new—some ingenious way to break through the hold that this group had put them in for so long. They had tried always having microphones on their agents, but the elven rebel group had managed to tangle their signals in response. And as much as he had tried to help, Iraina still hadn’t come up with any solution either, keeping them in a state of gridlock, unable to do anything against the elves while the elves danced around with their plan, unscathed from the attacks.
Oldin was getting desperate, which was never a good thing. Because when he was desperate, he’d end up trying to do the job himself. And as much as he might try to rationalize it, Oldin knew that being desperate never helped anything. But, standing up, Oldin decided that he was desperate. And there really wasn’t any avoiding what he wanted to do right now. So he headed out the door.
The latest lead was a man named James McDonnell, who seemed connected with the elf group. Oldin had already figured out that the man was gone for the day on business. And so it was time to investigate. He could have assigned it to someone else, but those plans never worked. Oldin had tried purging their system many times to hunt out spies or bugs, but had so far failed. And so, not wanting to get another agent killed, he was taking things into his own hands.
Slinking toward the house, Oldin checked for noticeable cameras and then ran up to the door, unlocking it with a fake key he had before letting himself in, shutting the door behind him. It was the standard type of house in Araelia, with the room layout nearly identical to his setup in his house.
The computer brought up no interesting results, although Oldin did manage to find the security tapes, quickly running their high-tech password-breaker to get in and editing it to erase the couple hours in which he’d be at the house. After making sure that all the security cameras were off, he continued the search. At the very least, the fact that James would have security tapes was something. An average citizen wouldn’t have as many security cameras as James did, giving further ground to Oldin’s suspicions.
Oldin quickly placed a bug on his telephone before moving upstairs. There had been a lot of security cameras placed near a section of the hallway, a section which Oldin was curious to investigate. After walking around in the other rooms, he was sure of it. In all other houses of this type, there was a closet in the hallway that didn’t appear to be in this house, which meant…
After much trial and error, Oldin finally found the tiny slit to place his fingers in and opened the secret door, revealing the hidden closet within, full of C-Watches and what looked like various prototypes for it. Oldin furrowed his brow. How was this connected to it? He remembered noticing that James worked for the company that produced the C-Watches but was this just so that no one else could see the company’s work beforehand, or was it for a darker purpose? And why would James have brought the prototypes here? Oldin remembered the workplace that James had converted his basement to and wondered if James took them home with him to try to fix at his home office. After gingerly taking a couple of the prototypes, Oldin shut the door and stepped back. That had been surprisingly easy—too easy for sneaking into the house of a suspect.
After making sure that everything he had moved was in its proper place, Oldin swiftly exited the house, a lot on his mind as he quickly got to the car and began driving back to the office. He had run a guard around him to keep him from being shot by the terrorist group, but he’d managed to make this mission without them. Now to get back to the office and make sure he was well-protected there as he began to figure out what the link was between the terrorist group, James McDonnell, and the C-watches.
If there even was one.
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