The Fall

Chapter Three

JANET-SANDRA-_ _ _ _

Her last name was replaced with four spaces, deemed too classified to reveal. Peter wondered, amused, if it was "Tuff." One day it will be.

The top secret meeting had started, the file being handed around the table.

"How did you know her before?" Number One asked Travis.

Travis looked down at his hands. "She and her brother were part of my team. They were rescued from the Russian mafia, where they'd been held prisoner since before they could remember."

Rita frowned. "This must have been before I joined you."

"Long before," Travis agreed. "I-I can't believe she defected, though... to the Triad of all things."

Number one checked her watch. "Our last two guests are late... as usual." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "This Janet has to be found. There's no doubt that she's in danger now. The Triad will want the information from her at any cost."

Peter raised his hand timidly. "What exactly did she see?"

Number One looked up at him with her sharp eyes. "You will be killed if you tell anyone outside this room."

Travis raised an eyebrow.

"They were blueprints. Very detailed, for new structures our organization was getting ready to construct but never use. These structures dig deep into the ground and make energy by extracting nutrients. However. .. the drawback is that, after thirty years of use, there would be no nutrients left on Earth."

Peter frowned, remembering what Janet had said and why she defected. She couldn't take it anymore.

"The Triad doesn't care who gets hurt; they're in it for the money."

Number One nodded.

"Excuse me," Rita suddenly cut in. "How could one girl MEMORIZE all that?"

"Extremly sensitive photographic memory," Travis answered quietly. Everyone at the table was staring at him. "It's not clear if she was born with it. The Russians probably did something to her while they had her captive long ago..."

"Number one?" A man to her left piped up. "What if she saw the ED list?"

Peter sat up at the mention of ED again. "Executive Deluxe?  The hotel management?"

"They are much more than that," Number One answered. "Hotels, planes, boats, they are everywhere. Always watching. Extortion, blackmail, espionage, murder... they do it all."

"ED's a criminal organization?!"

"Yes. Their motives are never clear and they are highly secretive.... we haven't gotten any government back up with them because we have no specific names or evidence. That code you were supposed to retrieve... it held the names of many important ED operatives." Number One sat up in her chair, reaching out for her cup of coffee. "This Janet probably saw it..."

Suddenly, the doors opened and two bickering men came inside. One was yelling in a heavy british accent, the other In a southern accent.

"-you have no manners!"

"How am I supposed to be polite when I'm mad!"

"Many mem manage to do it every day, ya wanker."

Peter frowned. "Who-"

"CIA. MI6. Finally," Number One greeted them with a deadpan voice.

The American put his hands on his hips in a manner that could only be described at sassy. "I'm not here long. I'm here to discuss what happens to the girl when you're done with her."