Chapter 6

KNI news emblazoned the heavy glass door leading into the lobby. The entire facility was constructed with modern architecture in mind. Straight lines and shined steel made up the bones of the place. The smell of a thousand cups of coffee was masked by the smell of an acrid lemon sanitizer.

I frantically looked around the lobby ... hoping beyond hope to see Carol waiting in one of the chairs. But there was no such luck.

A blond woman was sitting behind a minimalistic front desk. Just past her was a row of metal detectors and a security guard. On the other side of those was a bank of elevators.

The woman had a name tag on that read "Candice."

I pulled my FBI tag out and showed it to her.

"Hello," I said. I was surprised to hear that my normal, mild professional tones, had been replaced by the frigid terseness of my "Beast."

"I am Supervisory Agent Creed, and I was in contact with your legal advisor Mr. Connors five minutes ago. Did he call down mentioning my arrival?"

Candice flashed me a small vapid smile.

"Mr. Connors has informed me that he will be coming down to talk with you. Please, have a seat. I'm sure he'll be down shortly."

The calculations in my head dropped in optimism immediately. Carol wasn't in the lobby, and I couldn't get past security without a warrant.

2.002 percent chance of success.

Ten minutes later, Jeff Connors strode through the metal detectors with a giant shit eating smile on his face. He was a bald man dressed in an immaculate grey suit and purple tie.

"Ah, Agent Creed," he said as he extended a hand to shake, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

I ignored his hand, and stood up. A deep primal part of myself grinned manically when I realized I was taller than him.

I gazed into his eyes with an unflinching calm. Even I could tell that I was holding myself unnaturally still. Most people move ... simply as a by-product of being alive. People breath. They fidget. They blink.

I stood stock still. Like a statue.

My outward stillness was a mask. I was like a thin bed of ice, over an endlessly cold sea of water. One slip, and my flat surface would break ... and then there would be nothing to hide my dark, biting anger.

"Where is she?" I asked emotionlessly.

Connors blinked once. He seemed shaken. Like he had been thrown off his stride.

"Uh ... right," he said, straightening himself up to his full height. "Well, the lady in question had already been through my office by the time you called. I had cleared her submissions to go ahead and be given to the acquisitions department."

Zero percent.

Connors eyed me closely, "I also called your branch office. I asked if there was currently a warrant for Carol Pearson's arrest. There wasn't."

I could tell he was feeling back in his element. My mind was already reeling with new calculations and algorithms. I still needed to relocate Carol. The Bureau would need to know of this information breech.

Connors was still talking.

"I also asked about you Agent Creed. Apparently, you are currently using your vacation time, and are not currently acting as a member of any FBI field mission."

He was smiling now, clearly enjoying his shining moment of defeating the big bad Federal government.

I didn't have time to take him down a few notches. I was too busy focusing on Carol. My mind was drudging up everything I knew about her, attempting to figure out what she would do next.

In the eye of my mind, I could envision every detail of her person ... as if she were standing directly in front of me.

Then, I felt a small moment of awareness flash brightly in my mind.

"You let her out some sort of back entrance," I said aloud without meaning to.

Connor's eyes widened in momentary shock. Then they narrowed suspiciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "Now, since I think we are through here ... I would suggest that you vacate the premises until you return with a warrant."

I was listening to him anymore. He was halfway through his sentence, and I was already busy striding back out the glass door to the parking lot. I was following the little small dot of awareness that I could feel moving through an alley way next to the building.