Mark Lawrence is an old colleague of mine. He is a specialist in tracking down people. I knew he would be the perfect man for the job. He, in fact, was part of the previous generation of people in the Helix Project. His generation wasn't up to the task of finding any of the magic items. Although it was Mark who originally theorized that the watch was somewhere in Virginia, the boss shut him down since he failed to get it right the first time.
"Thank you, Mark. I really owe you."
"Not a problem, Fredrick. When I heard what happened to Viktor, I was distraught. I will hunt this guy down and kill him. I've already accessed the system database, and I'm looking him up. Is he out there in Virginia with you?"
That's the Mark I knew. Always on top of things.
"Yes, I just don't know where he lives."
"Leave it to me. How's school life going? I was always curious what it was like going to a normal school."
Right, Mark never got this since he and some of the others from his generation went to Dubai in search of the watch. After they got that wrong, they were all demoted. Mark got lucky since he was the smartest by far, so he was able to become an officer.
"It's very interesting, I've become vice president of the student council thanks to my influence over the president. The learning aspect is really boring, but I have ideas to fix that."
"Wow, that's fascinating. Thanks, Fredrick. Remember to enjoy yourself as well."
I sighed.
"I'll try, but I still need to be the perfect human. Emotions are unnecessary in the pursuit of victory."
I could feel Mark's disappointment through the phone.
"I would've thought that I raised my son better than that."
I grimaced.
"I thought we agreed to not bring that back up."
"Well, if you continue acting like this, I will have to fix you myself. Nonetheless, I've got all the information I need on Jeffrey Thompson. I'm going to destroy my computer since there's no need for it anymore. Remember, Viktor is just as much my son as you are."
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat.
Oh yeah, Mark's my father, forgot to mention that.
"Fine, good luck, Mark."
That last acknowledgement felt wrong, but I knew I had to stay detached.
"I'm not hanging up until you call me your dad."
"I could just hang up myself."
"Yeah, but you won't. Listen, son, You've never been receptive to emotions, I think it's time you at least try to feel something normal."
I sighed, this whole spiel again. First Rebecca, now my father. What's next, my mother?
I really hope it's not my mother.
"Fine, goodbye, dad. Good luck."
"I am satisfied with that. I love you too, son."
He said with contempt in his voice as he hung up the phone.
I took on the name of my mother to honor her death. It was really horrible. While she and my father were trying to escape a group of terrorists that ambushed them during the Dubai mission, she sacrificed herself to buy my dad and the rest of the crew enough time to escape. They never found her body. It was assumed that the people who killed took her body and did some horrible things to it. It's one of the things that shook my dad so hard, but he got over it really quickly.
When I met my dad, and he told me about this story, I knew that I had to adopt her name in order to preserve that part of the bloodline. Out of my two parents, my mom is the one I want to be like the most.
Because I know that she's still alive.
…
I arrived at the airport early the next morning to greet Mark off the plane.
He stepped off, already dressed in a suit. Mark was extremely strong, with his bulk very clearly showing even through the suit. His hair was as dark as his past deeds and had a deep brown eye that I ended up inheriting.
He smiled and embraced me strongly.
"Greetings, my son. It's been so long." He said as he let go.
I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Father." I said in a cold tone.
He frowned, but had grown used to my detached nature.
"I expect you to act differently by the time my work is done."
"It won't happen. Just get Jeffrey while I deal with the school."
Mark smiled.
"You're staying in the school even though it's not a part of your mission?"
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Mark chucked slightly, leaning forward slightly. His eyes peered directly into mine, piecing apart my very soul, reading my every thought.
"You like it there. You went out of your way to get me to go find Jeffrey while you play your little games to help fix the school."
I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that I was doing this as part of my mission since Jeffrey was at the school and I had to get close to him. But I realized something.
He was right.
"Maybe you're right, maybe I do. I still need intel from the school to find him."
"No you don't."
I looked over at Mark, who had sauntered away to lean on the wall.
"Elaborate."
"You should've noticed this. If you were paying attention to the mission you claim to be focusing on, you would've noticed that Jeffrey and his buddy TJ were absent from school yesterday. They're getting a head start as we speak. I monitored all flights to and from this state yesterday, and they haven't left the state. If we weren't so lucky, they could've been halfway across the globe by now, and we'd never find them in a million years. They're gearing up, and then they plan to leave here. Tonight. Earlier today, TJ bought two plane tickets to New York. The plane leaves this afternoon. We will wait for them. First, I need to get situated."
I couldn't help but feel mad. He was right, I was focusing on the school life more than finding Jeffrey, although I had noticed his absence yesterday.
"You're right." I muttered begrudgingly.
"You almost seem mad, are you?"
I paused. Yes, I was.
"No."
"Good. Let's get moving then."
I sighed and crossed my arms as I started towards the car.
We both made it to the car and Mark started the engine as I decided to ride shotgun. Mark was constantly monitoring the roads around us for any car that could be trailing us. I was lost in thought, thinking about how I was going to handle Bob Joel. He was obviously an ally of Jeffrey's, and I would have to battle him to get to Jeffrey. Jeffrey planned all this out, and it almost seemed like he had the upper hand. There was one thing he missed, though.
I could use his ally against him.
"You know," Mark began, breaking my train of thought. "I fully intend to let you continue living that school life. I've got this under control."
I sighed.
"It won't be for long. Jeffrey has an ally in the school that I need to take care of. Potentially feed him misinformation that could lead to an easier time catching Jeffrey."
"Oh, I'm fully aware. That alone isn't what's keeping you. Otherwise, you would've brought it up sooner."
Dammit. He really does know me. I guess I should've expected as much from Mark.
"Alright. I'll still do what I originally wanted to do."
"Oh yeah? What might that entail?"
"I'm going to change the curriculum."
"To the Arcane Syndicate program?"
"No, my own."
"I see."
…
Sent my dumbass son back to school. Well, he isn't a dumbass, obviously. Fredrick might be the smartest person on this Earth. He just has this obscene obsession with perfection and being perfect, thanks to Arcane Syndicate. He believes perfection involves ignoring all emotions and looking at everything objectively. I had this suspicion for a while, but I think I know why Viktor "died".
He planned this out.
Viktor's ability to predict the actions of people is honestly beyond human. I don't know how this man does it. But, I have a feeling this is his approach to get my son to start acting more like a human being.
I dropped him off at school and made my way to the apartment they were renting out. If I'm going to be honest, these apartments were kind of shit. I'm surprised my son and his girlfriend settled for these. Well, I hope she is his girlfriend. Since Fredrick and Viktor are in a rare case where it's just those two who graduated from their class, no females. This means that when it's time for them to get married and continue the Helix Project, they will have to do it with imperfect genes. Not sure how the boss feels about that, but it means they are free to choose whoever they want to be with.
Rebecca is pretty cute, I think she'd be a cool daughter-in-law. Besides, she was pretty intelligent for her age. I don't think the boss would mind either, she'd just have to resign from being a guard. I just hope my son doesn't do something to hurt her and someone else.
Now that my child would be off doing his business, it's time I get to doing mine. I was able to bring an AS certified laptop, which meant it was top of the line tech, never before seen stuff. I also had access to the entire database. Looking at the info I had pulled up, the Jeffrey Thompson fellow was really interesting. His parents died when he was just 10 years old. However, their deaths were marked off as an unsolved murder. This was pretty strange, but then I remembered this case.
They were the people trying to kill me.
I remember this prodigious couple that found out about the Arcane Syndicate and wanted to do their best to stop it before we could find their son, changing their legal names and destroying the documents so we couldn't follow the paper trail. This was before we had such advanced technology, and apparently no one put the dots together.
Until now.
Those two took my left eye in a gun duel. I'd like to repay the favor in kind, by finishing off that wretched bloodline.
I spent some time in my apartment room, reading over all the information we had on the two and also on my son. His files were super impressive, top marks and then some. I'm so proud of my son, I just wish he acted like a son.
Ever since he learned about his mother passing, he was always so distant. His mother was an amazing woman. Tamiya Stevenson was one of 7 other women to graduate from my grade. When we graduated, the boss came out and allowed us all to choose who we wanted to marry, if we so pleased. At first, I was fine with whoever since all of them were very pretty, but she had my eye for a while. I always did have a thing for darker skinned women. The first two pairs made their way to the boss, and when I saw that no one was jumping to her, and she wasn't jumping to anyone, I took it as a sign of destiny. At first, she seemed indifferent to the whole situation, but later she confessed to me, she was just confused at the time. The Arcane Syndicate had a habit of ruining emotions.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck. We thought the clue that was meant for the Glass of Time led us to Dubai, in which we were terribly wrong. Not even the Arcane Syndicate's advanced forces could safely get us out of there. Tamiya selflessly used herself as a distraction while the rest of us escaped. None of us could turn back. I couldn't see my wife die, and they couldn't risk the possibility of being shot. After that, they allowed me to see what my son had turned into while I was gone for those 2 years. He was being raised even before that, but I wasn't allowed to even think of his existence. Having to tell him about the death of his mother ruined me. He changed. Before I told him that, he called me "dad" and seemed like a normal person. After I told him, he became detached. I have to force him to call me his dad or even just "father" now. Sucked the joy out of my life.
I still hold onto hope that one day he'll come back to his senses and act normal, but every day that seems like such a distant fantasy.
My alarm rang in my ears, sending shockwaves throughout my skull. I jolted up from my leather seat.
Shit.
It's 6:30 pm.
Done got lost in my thoughts for too long. I have to hit the gas now if I want to make it to the airport in time.
As I slammed my foot on the breaks, my right hand snatched my phone out of my pocket as I called my son.
"Fredrick. Douse TJ's house with gasoline and light that shit on fire. If these fuckers try to pull something over me, I'm going to make sure they do more than just regret it. I'll text you his address."
"Okay, Mark."
My son said as he hung up the phone. I had to keep my eye on the road, so I punched in the address I had memorized without looking at the keyboard. I glanced at my phone for half a second, then put my eye back onto the road. It was right.
Send.
Once at the airport, I pulled out the pictures of Jeffrey and TJ that I had printed off and my very real FBI badge.
I pulled up to the terminal where their plane was supposed to be boarding any minute now and scanned through all the faces I could see.
They aren't here.
I went over to the gate agent and showed her the photos and asked her if she had seen either of them. She shook her head.
FUCK, it's a set-up. I bet they're watching me right now, laughing and eating popcorn.
I traced the outlines of the terminal with my finger and pictured everything in my head. The best place to put a camera would be…
There.
I looked straight at the camera. I doubted there were mics on these cameras, these children are flat broke, but I wanted to send a message. I assumed that Jeffrey would be able to discern what I was saying through lip-reading anyway.
"You fucked up, Jeffrey Thompson. You better be halfway across the globe right because I will find you. Start praying to whatever God you believe in because that's the only thing that can save you now."
I said as I picked up the camera and flipped off the power switch. There were probably more, I didn't care enough, though.
I walked over to the closest employee I could find, handing them the camera.
"Hello, I'm special agent Mark Lawrence with the FBI, I'm investigating a potential, I need the serial number of that camera, the specific place they bought it from, which is somewhere in this airport, and all the security footage from that store and any cameras from the entrance of this place to that store. If they so much as farted, I want to know. Here are their pictures, if you need them."
I handed the photos and flashed the badge we had forged for me.
The employee gave me a blank look that told me they didn't get paid enough to deal with this shit, luckily I figured this would happen.
I pulled out a hundred dollar bill from my suit jacket.
"If you can get it to me by midnight, 9 more of these will be yours."
I stuffed the cash in his hand and put a card with my information on it in his hand as well.
The man nodded, then turned towards the employee's only door.
"I'll see what I can do."
I dashed back to my car, calling my son.
"Fredrick, I'm going to need you to get me some supplies from a hardware store. I'm texting you the list right now, be ready to get everything as fast as you possibly can."
"What for?"
"Don't question me, boy, just do what I fucking tell you, understand me?"
Being harsh was necessary now, especially because this was a lie. I needed Fredrick far away from the area, in case things went south.
I jumped out of my car once I reached the street Jeffrey lived on, and it turns out I got there just in the nick of time as well, because there he was.
Jeffrey Thompson in the flesh.
"Jeffrey Thompson. A pleasure to finally meet you." He turned slowly, I could see a fear rising as he did.
"Who might you be? A lawyer?"
"Funny. You're really amusing. My name is Mark Lawrence. You know what, I'm feeling rather generous right now. You have 5 minutes. Get as far away as you can. When I find you, I put a bullet in your skull."
I pulled my gun out of the suit jacket and double-checked to make sure it was loaded. Unfortunately, Jeffrey's ability to think was far faster than normal, since it appeared that he figured out I was lying and ducked to my right as I shot and barely missed his hand.
I started my way towards him before he took off down to the road to the right.
"Come on Jeffrey! I just want to play a game!"
Something told me he didn't want to play a game.
The kid jumped down a side street and I lost sight of him for a bit.
I pulled up my phone so I could track his location, to see that the signal had gone dark.
Damn kid, he's good. Broke his phone so I couldn't track him.
No matter, it would only delay the inevitable.
I turned down the street to find that Jeffrey had disappeared. He couldn't have gotten too far, but the street led back into the main part of the neighborhood. I cursed myself under my breath, this kid was good.
I booked it down the street, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of the kid before he got too far away, but when I turned the corner, I saw someone that I didn't expect to see.
"Fredrick?"
"Mark?"
I came face to face with my own son, you know, the one who I told to go get fucking supplies.
"What the fuck are you doing here, I told you to be ready to get me some supplies."
"Yeah, you said that, but you were lying. You never texted me the list, although I thought you were lying before that. You're never that aggressive without a reason. Not only that, but you were pretty easy to see through."
"Damn it, son. You're too clever for your own good. Did you see where Thompson ran off to?"
"Yeah, I was just chasing him. Come on, he went this way."
Fredrick led me back down the road that led to Jeffrey's house.
"He's hiding in his house, follow me." I said, putting pieces together. He assumed we would follow the trail on the streets, since going back into his house would be a horrible idea, which is why he did it.
Damn, this kid is smart. Could he be smarter than my boy?
"He's not in the house. But you should check for whatever you can find there."
My son said as he darted down the street.
I walked into the house and found a note left by who I could only assume was Jeffrey Thompson himself. When I read it, I instantly called my son.
"Fredrick, bad news."
"What is it, Mark?"
"Jeffrey has your girlfriend."