Alpha Incorporated

V - iii REDEMPTION FROM THE DEVIL

It is Sunday morning and Lucy is at work. The emergency meeting that was scheduled for Monday became more of an emergency, it seems. But it is starting to make sense for Lucy, ever since Isabella returned last night.

On Friday, Lucy shut herself in her home. First, it was the shock of Isabella's disappearance that knocked her over; the news of Angelo Lord being held for questioning by the police was the second blow; the reconnection with James was the third and final knockout punch. Lucy had, since Friday, been glued to her computer. The messages from James opened the floodgates of emotion, for both of them. It was like no time had passed at all, except now there was Skype. Before long they were sitting face to face, a thousand miles apart, laughing, crying. So many oh my God's and no ways.

Friday night became Saturday. By Sunday morning, the living room was littered with empty bags of potato chips, dusty popcorn bowls, and the remnants of a delivery pizza. Her cat had disappeared at some point over the weekend. She hadn't even noticed until she left for work this morning.

But she does remember that she heard a car door close sometime late Saturday night. She peeked outside to see a cab driving away and assumed that Franny had come back. But when she got a text message from Franny a few minutes later saying that she would be staying in Seattle for the week, Lucy figured she had better go talk to the cops, who were likely creeping through Isabella's stuff again.

As she opened the door to go across the outdoor breezeway to the girl's apartment, she ran into Isabella, running to see her.

"What the hell is going on?" Isabella looked like a mess.

"Oh my dear God, we all thought you were dead." Lucy hugged her like she was her little sister. Lucy brought her in, introduced her to James via webcam, and filled her in on everything that had happened: the police investigation, the news stories, the whole Angelo Lord show. Isabella explained that she couldn't say much, especially about what went on with Angelo. She just told her that, after all that occurred, she took a few days off for a quick breather with a man she thought she was in love with, only to find out that the prick was married. Isabella had no idea that she was considered missing, let alone presumed dead. Her absence from work was supposed to have been 'looked after' by her friend. But Lucy was most surprised that she could get home unnoticed, with all the media attention to the story, and she concluded that maybe no one thought of keeping an eye out for a dead girl on a flight from Santa Barbara. More than anything else, Isabella wanted to call her parents.

There must have been a few people who got wind of Isabella's reappearance, because it wasn't too long before Lucy started getting emails and instant messages. Some were from Alpha, from people she didn't even know. And Pompey, he chimed in a few times too.

But it was the phone call that was the weirdest thing. Someone called her from a blocked number. He said his name was Vincent Duke, as if she would fall for that. But whoever he was, he did know that Isabella was in her apartment, and he did know, before Lucy did, that Monday's secret meeting would be moved to Sunday morning, and that he would see her there. It was imperative, he also said, that she was to bring Isabella to the meeting as well. She would be central to the proceedings, the man said.

And now, it is Sunday morning and Lucy is at work, with Isabella Measures. They are in a building on the outskirts of the Alpha complex. Lucy has never been in here before, in fact, she thought it was part of the wall of the gatehouse. But, deep inside, there is a small auditorium, about the size of a courtroom. It is fitting that this is where they will conduct the hearing into the affairs of the past week. 

Security is tight. Their ID tags checked, their retinas scanned, they are ushered into the hall. Isabella is shown through a door at the back, while Lucy takes a seat behind a panel table, with her name on it. The whole scene reminds her of a Congressional hearing or a Senate investigation into the sexual affairs of a president of the United States. Top level stuff.