The Agency

LIX. inquiry

Robert had never done anything like this before so he was a bit nervous. But he was more excited than anything. He had never seen his father so happy from something that he did. He couldn't wait until he received what Father wanted. He would forget all about his precious Yves.

Robert dialed the number that Father gave him with shaky fingers and waited for it to ring.

"Hi, you've reached Reno Technologies Incorporated. Please dial the extension of the person you are trying to reach or wait for the operator," a cheery woman said.

Robert dialed the extension that his father had given him, but there was a strange message that followed. "We apologize for the inconvenience, but the Players are currently out of commission. We are not taking any requests. Thank you and have a nice day." The line went dead.

Robert was left staring at his phone, wondering what went wrong. Similar things continued happening with all of the places that he called. None of them wanted to hunt down Alex Stroud.

It seemed that the reason why the Players were not available was that someone put a hit out on a person who worked for an agency and their people retaliated by kidnapping and torturing their leader. After they did that, the Players had destroyed their headquarters and computers. Nothing was left of them but an answering machine. Now all of the other agencies were afraid to take on missions with people who used to be in their world or innocents. Robert was getting declined left and right. He was so frustrated.

He was so desperate that he ended up calling the Agency, a place that was well known for only taking cases that were against criminals. The man who was in charge of the Agency was an ex-police chief with a guilty conscience, so he refused to harm any more people who didn't deserve it. He created the Agency to make sure that justice could be served to the rich and powerful. Robert was precisely the kind of man that they would target. But he was so desperate that he tried anyway. The worst thing they could say was no.

He said the pizza order of the week and was put through. It had taken a considerable amount of bribing, but someone managed to give it up for $10,000.

"You've reached the Agency. Please state your name and business."

"My name is Robert Chavez and need the location of a certain someone."

"Please wait."

Aren't they going to ask me who referred me? Maybe knowing the pizza order is enough because it changes weekly. Because of their exclusivity, they don't have to worry about referrals. With bated breath and sweaty palms, Robert listened to the waiting music and hoped that they would able to make his dream come true.

❦

"Sir!" A panting subordinate ran into the boss's office, looking completely bewildered. "I don't know how you knew this was going to happen, but Robert is on the line right now, asking for a location for a certain someone."

The boss leaned back into his chair with a smug smile. He was always right. After looking into Robert and Yves's backgrounds, he knew how Robert was going to react to not being able to find out who took his girls. He was a desperate child trapped in a man's body who never got to make his father happy because he was always being upstaged by the ghost of his talented brother, Yves. He now wanted to get Yves so he could bring him to his father and finally be seen as a success in his eyes. Yves hadn't even been there while Robert stayed with their father. But it seemed that their father thought Yves was better and would never let him forget it.

But today was Robert's lucky day. The boss was going to give him exactly what he wanted.
"What can I say? I know how people operate." He twirled happily in this swivel chair. "Connect him directly to me. But don't tell him who I am."