Glass [James Bucky Barnes]

Chapter XLII

⚠️⚠️ Next Monday will be our last update! ⚠️⚠️

****

A buzzing sound similar to a beehive could be heard as soon as you stepped foot in the sixth floor's hallway.
The FBI had put together a task force of experts, the best the agency had to offer, all focused on a single objective: assembling what looked like an impossible puzzle. The pieces were scattered all around the states and the world, making it difficult to even know where to start. They were trying to end a job started many years before, and none of them was sure they would succeed. What made it so hard was that they were searching for something that almost didn't exist... a head.
An acephalous organism that at the same time, was a Hydra. Many heads, more ready to spawn as soon as one was cut off.
And that's where James Barnes came in. He was one of the oldest heads still standing, and much information was stored in his head. Enough to kill the creature.
Marc Anderson and his team knew they had to be quick before his head became one of the many. They had kept an eye on the criminal scene, watching out for any visible change they had to worry about and they had already witnessed a shift in the control over different parts of the states. New leaders were emerging, and they were either recruiting or pulling apart the pre-existing groups.

A large whiteboard was used to keep track of everything. Pictures were placed on the board with magnets, names, dates, and arrows all around in an attempt to create a map, a hierarchy of some kind.
Politicians, businessmen, and even some clergy members were listed on the board. No field was spared.
The death of Theodore and Logan Cox had left a hole in the entire picture, but it was being quickly filled. So much power and control could not go to waste, but no one was quite cut to step in. Except for one man, who was too busy in his personal matters to actually try to claim it.
A young agent was running down the hallway toward agent Anderson. "We've lost him!" He shouted before reaching Anderson, who immediately understood what he was talking about.
"Son of a bitch..." he muttered, running into the control room.
There another agent was standing in front of a computer, a headset over his head. "How the hell did you lose him?" Marc fumed, slamming his hand on the table.
"His phone is off and he's not using his car. The agents after him lost him almost immediately, he must have noticed he was being followed." The guy explained, glancing at his boss for a moment.
There were a few seconds of silence, a thousand thoughts running through Anderson's mind. Where is he going? What is he going to do?
He had noticed he was acting weird, but why?

Then something clicked in his mind, and his eyes widened. "Ivy Hayes, track her down. Where is she?" His body language gave him away every time Ivy was mentioned.
The tech guy started typing quickly on his keyboard. "Her phone has been off for a while now... the last time it was on she was here." He pointed at the map with his finger. It had been hard to get a precise location because it was in the middle of nowhere, but that was something.
"Check Barnes too." Anderson urged, staring at the screen.
"They were together."
He crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing his chin. "The question is where is she now?" he muttered. "Send someone to Barnes' house, check her parents and friends too." He ordered the agent that had found him in the hallway.
If Ivy was the reason behind his delayed collaboration maybe she could also be the solution to their problems, maybe convince him to cooperate. Or maybe another bigger problem was lurking.
Anderson thought about it for a moment, shaking his head at the end. No, he had risked too much to have done anything to her.
He had to find her.

****

James checked his watch, anxiety devouring him. He was still driving, checking the rear mirror once more, making sure he had thrown off the car following him. Maybe Carter wanted to make sure he was doing his job, but why not from the very start?
A patrol drove past him, the cop in the passenger seat gazed at him for a few seconds before looking away, and it made James' stomach twist. Maybe it wasn't Carter.
His knuckles turned white as he held the steering wheel, tight.
He decided to drive back to his apartment, but his breath hitched when he saw a car parked in front of the building, and men in black suits came out of it. He recognized them.
He pulled next to the sidewalk and turned off the engine. He had to figure out what to do, and how to do it.
His eyes went to the glove box, and after a moment of hesitation, he opened it. A silver glock was stored under a black cloth, and next to it, a phone. James had memorized Anderson's number and rushed to dial it as he reversed the car.
It didn't take long before the agent picked up, and James didn't even wait for him to speak. "I'm not going to ask you twice, Marc. Stay out of this." He said.
On the other side of the city, Agent Anderson was signing the tech guy to track the caller ID. "What are you doing, Barnes?"
"That doesn't concern you," James stated.