Every Missing Piece

Prologue

The Assembly watched in silence as Josef ended another life. Only the scratching of his pen punctuated the quiet of the conference room. All it took was two diagonal lines, one over the other, to seal the fate of yet another individual. Josef set down his pen and studied the X he had just added to the file, one of many scrawled alongside the list of names. By this time tomorrow, Alexa Barron would be dead.

Josef closed the file and the room seemed to exhale a collective, nervous breath. The Assembly's silence didn't surprise him. Each of the Assemblymen was always quick to offer suggestions until the time came to actually take action. As soon as matters became difficult, the rest of the Assembly was suddenly content to just watch, their uneasy gazes occasionally flitting to the guards stationed at the door.

There was no reason to think today would be any different.

"I still don't like it." A man with graying hair and harsh, angular features rose to his feet. He curled his lips in disgust while he glared at Josef, almost daring him to look away. Josef had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Mathias was the sole Assemblyman who refused to sit quietly for long.

Unfortunately.

Josef cleared his throat. "Mathias, you've already made your opinions very clear regarding this matter. The truth of it is, there are some secrets worth killing for."

"You mean quietly brushing aside your opponents and hoping that's enough to make your problems go away? That's the coward's solution. We have to think bigger."

This time it was Josef who stood, his gaze as sharp as broken glass. "We don't have to make a spectacle to maintain control! At this point, subtlety is our best option. I'm sure your colleagues, at least, can understand that."

Josef looked to the remaining Assemblymen, one by one, for support. They did not meet his eyes, choosing instead to intently stare at their knotted hands, the floor, anywhere but him. Yet Mathias called Josef the coward.

It was ridiculous. Out of twelve Assemblymen, Josef always stood alone.

A knock on the door interrupted their argument before Mathias could respond. His eyes narrowed, but Josef pretended not to see Mathias's irritation. At Josef's signal, a guard from across the conference room opened the door.

A young man entered, pausing for a moment at the threshold as if he was uncertain if he should be there. When no one questioned his presence, he continued into the room to take the final empty seat at the table.

For a moment, the newcomer waited in uncomfortable silence. Josef also waited, eyebrows raised expectantly, at the head of the table.

"You summoned me?" The man fidgeted with the sleeves of his jacket as he cautiously met Josef's eyes.

Josef eased back into his chair and surveyed the newcomer. This boy looked so young in comparison to the Assemblymen: his hair was dark, not gray, and his face had yet to be hardened by time.

"Yes, Mason, that's correct. We realized it is past time that we gave you another assignment, and we believe we've found the perfect opportunity."

Josef slid the file that had recently been the source of so many arguments across the table. As the Assembly watched, Mason picked it up and flipped through the pages.

"You'll find we marked the page containing the relevant case," Josef told him. The papers flew by faster until Mason found one nearly folded in half. There had to be at least a hundred names on this sheet alone, some with Josef's black X drawn alongside them in the margin. Even so, Josef knew Mason wouldn't need to ask which name belonged to his new assignment. Mason wouldn't even need the bright red circle to tell him his worst suspicions were correct. If Josef knew anything about the boy, then he knew Mason could have found that name anywhere, even among millions.

Mason dropped the file as if the ink on the paper had turned to acid. Pages slid in all directions as they hit the table and he looked to Josef in desperation.

"Surprised?" Josef asked, not quite bothering to conceal his amusement.

"But I don't—" Mason paused, shaking his head. "Why Carra?"

Josef sighed. "Mason, there's no need to make business personal. Not when you've been showing such promise."

"But you can't expect—"

"We expect you to remember the conditions we set when you joined us," Josef interrupted. "Need I be any clearer?"

Mason said nothing but grabbed the sheet of paper containing the name circled in red. His hands shook slightly as he gripped the edges of the page.

"I'm just tired of hurting innocent people."

"But we said nothing of harming her, did we? All we need is information and you know how to get it. And if our requirements change and harm must come to her...well, then it would seem Miss Farmorre wasn't so innocent after all."

Mason still seemed ready to argue, but he remained quiet. There was, after all, a reason he was restrained to the Assembly's bidding. Josef had taught him years ago what happened when he fought their commands. Josef smirked as Mason grabbed the paper with Carra's name and left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Mathias leaned forward across the table.  "Mason isn't stupid," he hissed. "He'll learn about your plans for her eventually, if he hasn't already."

"Maybe," Josef agreed. "But perhaps that's part of the plan itself. Or perhaps Carra will turn out to be unsuited after all."

"She won't be."

Josef shrugged and gathered the remaining pages of the file that Mason had left behind. "In that case, we wait."

With that, he lifted his pen again and added one more X to the page.