Headsets For Fear

PRESENT 21 : NORA

Sixty Five days after

It was strange to return to a place where most of the people thought you were dead. They stared at you as if you were a ghost. Which, to them at least, you were.

Alex and I had to do a lot of explaining before the questions stopped. They were obviously suspicious at how I didn't have a funeral, but didn't ask any questions then. Still, it must have been shocking to see me barging right into the office.

The media had not yet been informed about our return. Until Amara was captured, we decided it had to stay that way. After that, we began with the main work.

I figured out that a team of ten was heading for each other the locations. Five hackers, and five officers. Alex and I were going towards one, accompanied by Jeremy and some other officers. Callan was going with Alice and others to the other location.

Before we got into the car, I looked uneasily at my mobile. I had sent a message to Rick, to inform him that I was returning to work. However, since I had no idea when and how I would return, I implored him to not come today.

It was only about 9 in the morning. I looked at the bright sun, the busy streets of New York City. I shuddered a little. What if I never saw it ever again?

No, that wouldn't do. I had to stay calm.

Today was probably the day that Andrew had trained me all these years for. Today, I would finally meet Amara. How does she look like? Is she tall or short, with a kind face or a cruel one? Or was it a kind face that had turned cruel? You could always separate those faces from the ones which had an inherent cruelty about them.

Or perhaps, the arrest would happen so smoothly that I wouldn't get a chance to interact with her personally. Even though that possibility was bleak, I wondered what I would do then.

I checked my mental defenses on our way, while Alex and the other officers discussed some things about evidence and protocol. I didn't pay a lot of attention, as it was quite obvious I wasn't going to be needed in that part.

After finishing the conversation, Alex turned to me. "Hey, I told Elijah that we were going to catch Amara today."

I raised an eyebrow. "What did he say?"

Alex shrugged. "He doesn't care, apparently. He told me how it wouldn't bring his sister back and how he had been betrayed."

"One we find Amara, what will we do about him?" I asked.

"I haven't decided upon that yet. There's a lot of stuff to do today."

I nodded. "I just hope it all goes well."

Alex chuckled. "Well, I'm pretty damned sure it wouldn't go well. But I hope we'll be able to manage."

I couldn't believe how close we had come to solving this tiring case. It had been more than three months since the first game death.

We finally reached the location and got of the car. Then, we realised immediately that it was a trap.

For quite some time, we had been driving through an area filled with forests and hills, without a sign of human habitation. The place where we had stopped was a vast field, with nothing in view except for a few tress. Besides, how could they be here? The place looked as if humans had hardly set foot there.

How the fuck could the base be there?

Alex kicked the dirt. "Let's get the hell outta here," she scoffed. "It was a farce, at least that much is clear."

We returned to the car and started driving back. When we had almost reached the main city, Jeremy got a called from Alice.

"Put it on speaker," Alex snapped. She was still very sour about the whole affair. I had no idea what to make of it. Then again, Amara was smart. She probably faked that location as a precaution for something like this.