Diary of a Detectress – Episode 13 – Life, death and disablement

The agent she was sent to find turned out to be a red herring, and now Sophie's set to demand answers from the stunning-but-slippery Adam. Are her deductions correct? And if so, what about the fourth challenge?

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This is Episode 13 in the Diary of a Detectress series. For previous episodes, please follow these links:

Episide 1 – A life inside-out

Episide 2 – Student record not found

Episide 3 – First steps towards success

Episide 4 – Lack of leads

Episide 5 – A new home

Episide 6 – Staking out

Episode 7 – The explanation of a lifetime

Episode 8 – Tracking down a hacker

Episode 9 – What happens when you mess with the future

Episode 10 – Task the second

Episode 11 – Agent in red?

Episode 12 – Trailing a Blaze

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Dear Diary

I’m getting a bit sick of my daily visits to this café. On the bright side, this time when I arrive, Adam’s already sitting there with a cappuccino in front of him. Thank goodness he’s already taken care of the necessary drink purchase. The coffee here is sold at decidedly anti-student prices. And it’s not as good as what I get at home. Maybe there’s something to be said for Katie’s infernal heat-immersion ratio. 

Adam looks surprised when I sit down opposite him. He’s got a couple of folders in front of him and is flicking through the contents of one of them. Could it be that I’ve caught the master of surveillance unawares? 

Nevertheless he recovers quickly, his features relaxing into that devastating smile that I’ve come to know so well. “Well, Miss Dayton.”

“Hey Adam.” I’m itching to ask him what he’s doing with those folders, but force myself to stick to business. This time I’ve pre-downloaded the necessary photos to my phone, so there’s no need to mess around with the wifi. 

I pull up the best shot of Blazer and give Adam the phone. “Your agent was there to watch this man. His name is Blazer and he works for The Future.” Adam glances at the picture, but before he can make a response, I continue. “This is pure conjecture on my part, but I think that Blazer was there to watch me. And if that’s the case, it means that you lied about the second challenge.” I pause for a second, a little taken aback at my own bravery in making the accusation. Adam’s eyebrow lifts, but I can’t back down now. “You didn’t know that your agent was going to be at the gala dinner until you gave me the ticket for it, because his only reason for being there was to watch Blazer, who was watching me.” 

Adam grins at me lazily through half-closed eyes. “And what would be my purpose in misleading you like that?”

“I don’t know… To see whether I would figure it out I suppose.”

His smile disappears and he leans forward. “That was one reason, yes, and you’re absolutely correct by the way. There is, however another more important reason. And that’s to make you realise the nature of the world you’re hoping to enter.” 

He reaches across the table and grabs my wrist, staring into my eyes with a grim expression. Tingles of electricity run along my skin and my heart rate spikes. He continues in urgent tones. “How would you have reacted if I had told you that you were being watched? I mean yes, you probably would have believed me, especially after what those guys from The Future did to your student record. But you wouldn’t have realised the scope and reach of their power, Sophie. You have to understand what you’re working towards.” He pauses, running his free hand through his hair, then continues. “You’re about to enter a world where nothing is safe. No written notes, no electronic account, no public or private conversation. In fact, once you join our organisation, the concept of privacy will no longer exist for you. All you will have to rely on is yourself.” 

He releases me and leans back in his chair, a ghost of a smile returning to his face. “And a team of highly trained colleagues, of course. But sometimes, not even that. It can be lonely, it can be scary, and sometimes, it’s deadly. Your parents were some of our best people and they didn’t make it. You have to live with the knowledge that, any day, it could be your turn.”

I’m able to concentrate a bit better now he’s let go of my wrist. The background noises of the café start filtering through my consciousness again. I take a deep breath and shake my head slightly to clear it. “About my parents…”

“That’s not a conversation we can have right now.”

“Ok.” I know he’s right. “What about… If complete the last challenge, do I get a choice? About joining I mean?”

“Of course, Sophie. We’re not a press-gang unit.” He looks down at the folders on the table for a couple of seconds, then continues in a softer voice. “But, if you’re going to back out, I would strongly advise you to do it before you begin the training. Some of the things you learn there… Let’s just say it’s a lot harder to go back to normal life afterwards.”

I resist the urge to gulp in terror. Adam obviously senses my unease and smiles comfortingly. “Cheer up Dayton, you’re doing great! So, for the fourth and final challenge!” He rubs his hands together, the gesture causing me to wonder whether he’s acquainted with Ethan. “You have to disable the agent, Blazer.”

“What?” Disable him? What the hell does that mean?

“I’m not going to lie Sophie. At some point in the future when you’re fully trained and have moved on to real missions, disabling a target might well mean eliminating them altogether. However, we’re not expecting that from you at the moment. Instead, we want to you find a way to remove him as a threat.”

Phew, no need to break out the poison just yet. Don’t suppose Adam’s going to give me any useful tips about how to do this, is he?  

He continues. “You can take all the time you need. We’ll consider you to have completed the challenge as soon as Blazer is out of the picture. Meaning he’s forced to stop following you on behalf of The Future.” 

Sometimes it sucks to be right. “Ok, got it.” In an imitation of Adam’s generally abrupt departures, I stand up to take my leave. “See you later, Adam.” I give him a quick wave.

My suave exit is spoiled slightly when I realise I’ve left my phone on the table and have to run back for it, but it was almost worth it for the smile he gave me as he handed it over. 

On the way home I think hard about the final test. As with the previous challenges, I have no real idea how I’m going to do it, but that hasn’t stopped me so far.

I also muse over the fact that I forgot to bring up the issue of whether it was ok to accept help from my friends. I meant to subtly work it into the conversation with Adam, but things got so intense with all that talk about life and death that it went straight out of my head. 

Well, if Adam doesn’t already know how I succeeded in the previous tasks, then maybe I’ll get away with simply not mentioning it…

As I’m walking in the front door of the flat, I get a text from Shane asking about the tickets for the football match in the evening. I totally forgot to ask the others about it!

Then a thought strikes me. If I advertise my intention of going to the match, it will probably mean that Blazer turns up there too. Not that I know what to do about it if he does, but I might as well put myself within firing range and see whether any opportunities to ‘disable’ him present themselves.

Hearing voices in the kitchen I head there and find Layla and Dylan seated at the table, empty food plates in front of them. They’re watching with avid faces as Katie and Ethan battle each other in what sounds like another epic discussion. This time it seems to be about the arrangement of tinned food in the cupboard.

“I’m just saying that you’re likely to want baked beans more often than the tinned asparagus, so even though B comes after A, I’d still put the beans closer to the front,” Ethan is saying as I enter.

Katie pushes her glasses up her nose. “But if I’m sufficiently familiar with the system, then it shouldn’t matter where things are placed because I can easily find whatever I’m looking for.”

“Right, it shouldn’t matter!” cries Ethan. “So why not have a more logical system?”

There’s something dreamy about the way they’re gazing at each other that completely belies the heated tones of their debate. “But how can I create an objective system based on frequency of use?” asks Katie, reaching out to touch Ethan’s arm. “I would need months of data, especially as Sophie has only just moved in so I’m not yet familiar with her patterns of buying and eating food.”

At the mention of my name, I take the opportunity to interrupt their love-spat. “Hey guys. Hi Layla, Dylan.” Layla waves and Dylan nods at me from where they’re lounging at the table. Katie and Ethan glance in my direction, and then turn back to each other, as if ready to continue their discussion. I quickly jump in again. “Anyone free this evening? A friend of mine’s got free tickets for the football match at the uni ground. He asked me to bring as many people as I can, so it’d be great if you’re up for it.” I turn to Layla. “Sport photography?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Not my forte.” The her face clears. “But I could get some cool shots of the crowd. Ok! I’m in.” She tugs Dylan’s arm. “You too?” He nods. 

“Brilliant,” I exclaim. “Oh, and Shane’s girlfriend is trying to promote this as much as she can, so maybe you can post something on your Facebook page? Tag me as well?”

“That’s a good idea. Ok sure!”

“What about you two?” I ask Katie and Ethan. They both look doubtful, but I really need all of my genius friends to be there so I push the issue. “Katie I was thinking of doing that people watching thing again. Want to join me?”

Her face brightens. “That was fun. Ok, I’ll come too.”

I turn to Ethan. “And you’d best come too. Katie’s so short we don’t want anyone trampling on her at the match.” His eyes widen at the thought, but I leave the kitchen without waiting for his answer. He’s been hanging around our flat so much the past few days that he’ll surely tag along to the game if everyone else is going. 

Turning on my laptop, I see that Layla has already announced the impending outing on her Facebook page. She’s tagged all of us so it appears on our pages too. 

Excellent. My trap is set!

Now all I have to do is figure out what the trap actually is… 

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This is an original piece, written for Steemit by @Victoria-Kelly. Thanks for reading!

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