Laying on the cold, wet ground is a body, dead. Sirens flashing and buzzing loudly but Dan couldn't hear them. It was as if he was underwater; he couldn't breathe or hear clearly. Muffled yelling was all Dan could hear as handcuffs were being strapped to his wrists behind his back so tight that he couldn't feel them and his body was pushed violently into the back of a police car with his body slamming against it. That didn't hurt as much as it did to kill someone he was so close to.
---
1 WEEK AND 6 DAYS BEFORE
Dan sat in a large room he had seen many times before; The Assignment Room. He was at one end of a large table that was sleek black, and free of blemishes.
Opposite to him was a man with brown hair like himself, but with less of it and styled differently. He was wearing a suit, grey and black with a white shirt and dark grey tie. Dan wasn't as dressed up and professional looking as the other man with just his jeans and shirt hanging loosely on him.
The man had begun talking a couple minutes ago but Dan had tuned out until he was asked a question.
"Are you ready for your next assignment Mr. Howell?"
Dan answered, "Yes." Like it was obvious that he wouldn't have said anything else.
The older man, Dan's boss, turned towards a screen and clicked a button. On the screen appeared a profile consisting of a person's face, age, name, sex and location of Dan's next assignment. He squinted at the screen because of its bright illumination, dissimilar to the dark room. It read,
Name: Philip Lester
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Location: London, England
Along with that information was a photo of a man with ebony hair styled kind of like Dan's, blue eyes, a prominent Adam's apple, pale skin that contrasted nicely to his dark hair, and a seemingly forced smile.
Dan's boss continued speaking, "He is wanted dead by the government."
"How come?" Dan asked, interested as to what someone could do in this day and age to be wanted dead by the government.
"He snuck into a prison a couple nights ago to release 8 prisoners who all fled quickly, never to be seen again."
"It says he's in London," Dan began, "why wouldn't he have fled too?"
"We're not sure, that why we need you to find out. Then bring him here and kill him," the boss paused before speaking up again, "your mission starts now and you must be back within two weeks but I'm sure it won't take long for you."
Dan had just nodded in response to his boss and left to hunt his assignment down. He had gone to his small apartment and pulled out a laptop that was had scratches and dots which just came over time of owning it. He did research as to where the man could be currently. So far, he knew the man, Phil, hadn't left the country along with the 8 prisoners; that was it. This 'Phil' guy didn't seem to want to be found and even after searching for over an hour, Dan still had nearly no idea where the guy was other than somewhere in London.
---
After hours of research, Dan found out that Phil had been arrested 7 times (for various reasons) he had a website (that needed a password to get into). He was once arrested for attempt of murder, he was arrested four times because of stealing (which included a stuffed toy, necklace, a ring, and lastly a CD), vandalizing a church, and drunk driving. Dan thought he sounded just like an ordinary case that he could finish with plenty of time to spare. Dan was wrong; this would be one of the hardest missions he'd ever have to do. Dan continued on with his research despite it being two in the morning. He found out that Phil had been a patient at an insane asylum. The websites said that Phil had walked into the asylum in his own doing, registering himself. A worker claimed that he said he needed to hide. What did he need to hide from? Dan thought.
He ended up falling asleep while in the middle of trying to decipher the password on Phil's website, hoping that it'd have answers to Phil's whereabouts.
---
After waking up, Dan walked tiredly over to a small coffee pot and making himself a coffee. He wandered back to the computer and decided he'd just helplessly try finding other information about Phil.
Many websites later he found an article Phil wrote. Dan found a particular sentence interesting.
My favourite word is abditory; I hardly use the word but I like its meaning.
The sentence was short and had hardly anything to do with the rest of the article. He highlighted the word and looked it up.
Abditory: noun; A safe repository for valuables; a hiding place (literal and figurative).
He quickly went to Phil's website and typed in the word. A few second of loading and he was allowed access into the website. The meaning seemed to make sense because Phil seemed to like to hide.
He scrolled through, there were a lot of videos. Some short and just him eating something or sharing a thought. Some videos were long and full of talking. Dan watched a couple and he stumbled upon one that had been posted recently entitled: The Nameless Place. Dan clicked on it and it started with Phil sitting in some sort of abandoned theatre. Dan's eyes glowed while watching the screen.
"Hey guys," Phil spoke happily, "this is my favourite place in the world, it doesn't look like much but it holds this vibe of peace and tranquility, I just wanted to show you since I care deeply about it but shh!" Phil rose his finger to his lips, "don't tell anyone, this is our secret." Phil giggled before the video cut off.
The video ended and Dan clicked the most recently posted video.
"Hey guys, I have to be quiet because- well- I can't be seen or heard." He looked around nervously, "I don't know how long I'll be here." Phil looked down, he mumbled something almost inaudible, "why'd I do that? I can't believe I'm so stupid," he looked back up to the camera and a tear rolled down his pale face, "I really messed up guys, I might never see light again if they find me."
With that, the video ended.
Dan searched for a while looking to find the theatre and found 6 abandoned theatres in England. Quickly writing the addresses down, Dan ran outside and drove around until he went to every single one. 5/6 were falling apart and unable to get inside. "One more, this better be the one." He told himself before walking up to a large wooden door, opening it cautiously. The door creaked loudly and shuffling was heard from inside. There was a large opening inside and at the front of the room, a decaying stage took place. There was a balcony where Dan presumed was where he heard the shuffling coming from. "Hello?" he called out. There was no answer, but more shuffling was heard. Dan turned towards the balcony. There was a silhouette that moved. Dan heard a mumbled curse. "I'm not here to hurt you or anything," Dan laughed to himself because that was exactly what he was going to do. The room was dead silent. Even the traffic outside was silenced through the walls of the abandoned theatre. "Who are you?" A deep voice echoed. "Dan," Dan thought there was no need to lie about his name. "And who might you be?" Dan didn't think he'd actually get another response.
"Are you here with the government?" he asked.
"No," Dan lied.
"What are doing here? This is private property,"
"Actually, its abandoned so technical- nevermind." Dan stopped himself from correcting the man. "So, what's your name?"
"It doesn't matter. Even if I did tell you, I could lie and you wouldn't even know it." He stayed in the shadows.
"You can trust me, I'm not threatening," the man didn't speak, "why don't we go out for a coffee, my treat?"
"Fine." The man spoke, but he remained in the shadows.
