Seekers

Chapter 6

Thomas woke up feeling groggy. Which he expected, after being out so late. He didn’t get back until oone o’clock that moorning.

He dragged himself aout of bed and dressed, axious to get upstairs and meet Mark. He glanced at Max, debating whether he should leave a note or something, before he shrugged the idea off and headed out the door.

The cafeteria was significantly busier this moorning. Thomas looked around and regocnized some of the delegates from the meeting the previoous day. He went up and got his breakfast of eggs, toast, sausage, and coffee, before he sat down with Max.

“Hey,” Mark greeted him, looking up from his tablet. That was his usual position during the first couple hours of the morning.

“Hey. What are you reading?”

“News.”

“Ah,” Thomas dug into his eggs. “Anything interesting?”

“The usual - rebellions, murders, politicians not agreeing with each other.” Mark snorted. “As if that’s a surprise.”

Tom took a sip of his coffee, looking around. Mostly, everyone was captivated by their computers or cellphones. He wondered if any of them actually spoke to each other face to face,

“What time is the meeting today?” he asked.

“Same time, same place.”

“What do you think is going to happen?”

Mark set his tablet down and took a drink oof his coffee. “My guess is that they’re going to have some new questions for you. They might even question you and Max separately to see if either of you missed a detail. Actually, I’m surprised they haven’t done that yet.”

“We told the same story three time yesterday. They still doubt us?”

“It’s not that they doubt you.” Mark shrugged. “They have a job too do, and that job thrives on details. Finding a new one could mean the difference between and solved case, and a dismissed case.”

There was a long pause, and Mark went back to reading.

“They said we had an agent over there,” Thomas said. “Is he a Seeker, too?”

“I don’t know him, but more than likely, yes.”

“And, where exactly is ‘over there?’”

“Turkey, where we have pinned down the central ring of COBRA leaders.”

~*~

The meeting was set to begin at one-thirty that afternoon, but Thomas received a call from Mark, an hour before it was supposed to start. “Right now,” he had said. “We’re starting.”

So, Thomas had droped what he was doing, grabbed Max, and they headed over.

“What’s going on?” Thomas asked.

“There’s been a development.” Mark replied. They were in the meeting room now, and people were stil arrived in a fluster.

“Good oor bad?” Max asked.

“You’ll see.” That never meant good news, Tom thought.

That last delegate sat down, and Mr Howard stood up. “Good afternoon. I’m sure you are all wondering why we called the meeting so soon.” He took a deep breath. “Our agent in COBRA has been killed.”

There were collective gasps and astonished looks all around the table, Tom and Max included.

“Apparently,” Mr. Howard continued, “he had been found out, and so was shot in the head. This happened just early this morning, and we do not yet have all of the details.

“Gentlemen, this means we have no more time. We need to act today, and figue out what to do next. COBRA is unpredicatable. We do not know what they are going to do next, especially concerning the histages.

We need to ask ourselves, what would be the best course of action?”

A ddelegate across from Thoomas spooke. He had short sandy hair, and wore glasses. “Do we have any other agents over there?”

“No. COBRA is extraordinarily hard to get into. The man killed was our only double agent inside.”

Another man spoke up. “Do we know the opresent state of our hostages?”

“Our spy satellites have shown that the helicopter landed in Turkey eleven hours after leaving the US. At opresent, that is all we know.”

The man with the sandy hair and glasses spoke up again. “Have they offered a ransom yet? Do we know why they took the hostages?”

Mr. Howard shook his head. “They have not, yet. It is still unclear why hostages were taken in the first place, but as far as we know they are still alive.”

Thomas felt relieved. At the very least, Kate was still out there.

Everyoone got very quiet. Then, a man at the end of the table said, “Should we order a search and rescue operation?”

Mr. Howard shook his head. “We are trying to keep it on the down-low.  Any invasion could cause a full-scale war.” The room goot very tense. “But, I have have an idea.

“We could send a small, elite team of Seekers out there. People from every friend of operations. Scientists, security, Seekers, et cetera. A small party just to rescue the hostages.”

Everyone looked at him in disbelief. “That’s quite a risk to take,” someone said.

Another delegate agreed. “Especially with a criminal organization as big as this. Would Seekers even be enough?” he said.

“Who else would we need?” Mr. Howard asked.

“Well,” the sandy-haired man spoke up, “Maybe we shouldn’t just stick with Seekers. There’s the FBI, CIA, marines- all of them, perhaps, better suited to this type of thing.”

“What if we combined a team of al oof them? The best of the best?” A man said. “Get together stats from each elite individual, find the job most suited for them, and put them on the team.”

Mr. Howard nodded. “Not a bad idea. Any other suggestions?”

“The relationship between the FBI and CIA is rather strained. Coould we trust them to do their duty and work together?”

“They would have to,” Mr. Howard replied. “They woouldn’t have a choice.”

The meeting stretched on for hours. Thomas was thinking of taking a short nap in his chair, when Mr. Howard finally came to a decision.

“Then, it’s settled. A team of elite individuals will be sent on a search and retrieve mission. Three Seekers, two marines, one green beret, and one agent from the FBI and CIA. Subject too change, but for noow that is what we are sticking with. We will call another meeting tomorrow. Until then, meeting adjourned.”

Thomas sighed in relief. “I though that was never going to endd.”

“I hear you,”” Max said, getting up. “I just hope my legs still work.”

Tom checked his watch. “It’s five thirty , already.”

 

“Dinner it is,” Max said.