Never Look Back: A New Dawn

21 Questions - 5

"You wanted to see me?"

I peeked my head through a small crack between the door and the wall next to it, peering into the spacious office. I spotted him writing diligently into a journal, where its pages were flimsy along the edges. I nervously examined his stern exterior that glowed warmly next to the dim, yellow light of his desk lamp. His hazel, gleaming eyes flickered to me, and for a moment appeared soft, but his gaze quickly turned back to its normal, cold stare.

"What are you doing? Come inside, sit down! You want a drink?" he offered.

I stepped into the office, the air felt dense and weighed heavily in my lungs, and with the slam of the door, I took a seat and fixed myself up in a comfortable position. "No thank you, I'm okay," I replied.

"You never were much of a big drinker... So, do you have any information for me?" I was silent, hesitant to bring out the bad news before the good. My silence only seemed to aggravate him more than any bad news could've, so I swallowed my fear and took in a deep, but shaky breath.

"Actually, yes," I started. "Last week a group of our men made an attack on Logan McCoy. He was with other men, all on the Blacklist, and he survived, but he was injured. That is, at least, what I had heard. I had no knowledge of the attack until yesterday, which is why I came here so urgently."

He looked at me puzzled like a confused dog while he meticulously swirled around the whiskey in his glass.

"Why?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Why did you come? To tell me this? This means nothing to me, Liam-"

"Seth you want that man alive so he can deliver the girl from Zone 12 to you! You said he was part of the plan!" I exclaimed. My raised tone startled him, but more in shock of the fact that I had the audacity to speak to him like I was scolding a child. That's all he really was deep down. He was short tempered, jealous, selfish, and complained as much as a small child would when they wouldn't get their way.

"It is the plan, but he didn't die! So he got a few scrapes, big goddamn deal! Am I supposed to feel bad over a stranger? Am I supposed to be... upset? I don't feel anything, Liam."

Empty. That's all he was every time I looked at him. He was the type of person who can look a man in the eyes while he slowly kills him and not feel an ounce of remorse. He's only a shell.

"You feel nothing?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"Does it matter? Just make yourself useful and find the people responsible for the attack so I can fill them in on the plan. They probably don't know the importance of those individuals. I'm sure once they're informed, they'll do all in their power to play a part in my plan. They'll at least ask for immunity from the virus. Other than that, do you have anything else for me?"

"One more thing," I replied. "The girl from Zone 12, she wasn't there. She hasn't been in school for the past two weeks, no one knows where she went. What's even more bizarre is that she disappeared the day after her entire family was murdered."

"What? What do you mean she disappeared? How?" His numbness to every living thing around him had now shifted frantically to the mysterious girl he'd become so engrossed with.

"I don't know how, it's just what I heard!"

"So go find her!" he snapped.

"Zone 12 is in Manhattan, do you honestly think I can find one girl in that city?"

"The purpose of the zones are so trackers can congregate in sections of these cities and 'work' without the public knowing. There are only a few blocks in Manhattan that we use for Zone 12, and we know that only trackers live there, so it can't be as difficult as you think! Surely someone knows where she is, where she went!"