Silhouettes of America - Book 1 of The ARMOR Series [Completed]

32.1 Trespass | George

Current Time: Monday, 06:00 EST
Current Location: White House, Washington DC, USA - 38.8977*N, 77.0365*W

"My power is absolute and I am the law in this nation," George said. The Chief Commander of the Naval Force appealed to him that they should send men overseas - to Russia. The aim of the secret visitation is to spy against Russia and check if they were preparing for a war against USA. Leon, the commander of the Air Force shadowed Russia's moves and suspected that Russia has something to do with the bombing and terrorism. Last week, someone who worked in a news company had visited him in his office and said something that shocked him. The person, however, asked him to keep his identity a secret. Leon agreed and the person went on with his claim. He said that 25 people were missing since the day of the San Francisco bombing. They were missing until now and no lead surfaced. No other bodies were found except for the dead and the wounded. "Maybe they burned to ashes," Leon said with nonchalance. As if on cue, the person dug out something from the pocket of his jeans - a smartphone. The person gave it to him and Leon's heart stopped to see a murky video of the bombing. Bombs landed on the ground and the houses blasted into bits. Cars crashed. Infrastructures crumbled. In the 0:18 seconds of the video, a man dressed in a black shirt grabbed a high school student and took him inside a car occupied with 4 other people who were strapped in the backseat. The video zoomed in and an armor tattoo could be seen in the man's arm. The people in the backseat were of different ages and it's hard to tell the motive of the kidnapping.

That same night, Leon gathered the officials of the army ranks. He showed them the video and a variety of opinions were served. Admiral Paws of the American Navy said the kidnapped American people were turned into ARMOR disciples. Commander Mickey of the American Army conveyed a different opinion: the kidnapped guys were put up as test subjects and were deported to Russia. He was referring to the Russian sleep experiment in the Soviet era which is only an urban legend. His claim gained a roar of laughter from his colleagues. "Ridiculous," Leon said. The Marine Corps Commander suggested they were tortured in a faraway place and will be used to blackmail the President later on. "But it's been a week, yet we haven't received threats from ARMOR telling us they kidnapped a number of Americans for ransom," Admiral Paws commented. The Chief of the Space Force remained silent so as the Coast Guard who only listened and nodded as they talked.

"Affirmative, Mr. President," Leon answered on the other line which snapped George out of his thoughts. He ended the call and brashly put the phone on his desk. His chest hurts, he usually feel this at times when he is stressed with the nation's problems. Good thing, Corinne is always by his side to comfort him. When he tells her he's sick of America's grim events, Corinne would take off his shirt and kiss his chest - in the hopes of making him feel better. Her tricked worked, though. She is one fine woman, his ideal wife.

But where is Corinne? I haven't seen her all day, George thought. He walked up to their room and finds it empty. She's not in the bed. The light in the restroom is off. George walked over to the living room and was dismayed not to see her where she usually relaxes and reads fashion magazines. Maybe she's hiding to surprise me; George smiled once more as he walked to the last part of the house he bet Corinne would be. He breathlessly walked over to the balcony and surprise got the better of him to see the back of a tall, slim girl with long, red hair dressed in a black coat and skin-tight jeans, standing on the side.

"You can't hide your identity forever, Hugo Pavlova," the lady said before he could even speak. Grabbing the electrical wires hung on the other end of the balcony and hiding it on his back, George asked, "Who are you?"

The girl turned around and he saw a resemblance from an old friend. Stitches lined her forehead, and her neck was bruised. "Avery Collins, an agent on my own," she uttered, letting out a smirk.

A secret agent is here? In the White House?

"What do you want from me? You're trespassing the President's home!"

"I just wanna ask you a few questions," she said. There was fire in her eyes, like the color of her hair, burning with ire. "But before that, I demand you to get rid of those wires you're meaning to strangle me with."

That was swift. George was impressed of her quick foreshadowing skills. On the back of his mind, he's thinking that the girl could be an ARMOR disciple sent to kill her. She was a Collin's - Jacob's daughter, probably. They looked similar. George remembered seeing the armor tattoo on Jacob's arms that day they clashed in his secret storage of guns. She could be a threat, he thought.

George sought of ways to escape until the girl showed him a faded portrait of a family. His heart raced.

"Talk," the girl demanded. He took a deep breath, his mind battling on whether he should give in to her demand or not. In the end, he decided to get to know Jacob's daughter and learn what she's up to. He smiled at her, coyly. "To my office."

**
They finally met :)