Z.E.R.O (Wattys 2016)

Ch 2 - Surveillance

"Haven't picked up anything," Nigel and Aziel replied.

I sighed in frustration. "Neither have I."

"You're not going to pick up anything. Whoever has her messed with satellite frequencies for a good ten minutes, and they made sure that anything that belongs to Cypher or Franco isn't picked up by the surveillance," Karr informed.

"How is that possible?" Franco asked.

"I just decoded the instruction sent to the satellites, and it was done from a place in Poland. That's as far as I can go with detecting the place," he explained.

"I know where that is. It's one of my command houses, which means whoever is behind Elle's abduction, is dragging me into things," Franco said thoughtfully.

"What could you have possibly done to be dragged into this?" Aziel asked.

"You mean besides pissing off dangerous criminals around the world?" Franco replied, deadpan.

I rubbed my face with my hands. "Karr, can you find out the origin of the instructions?"

"I'll get on it, but this thing is like nothing I've ever seen before. Whoever was behind the coding is a fucking genius. I can't remember the last time I was this challenged," he replied before the line went dead.

And this is coming from someone who was coding for NASA at the age of nine.

"Does my son know that Elle's missing?" Franco asked.

"I highly doubt anyone knows. At this point in time, they probably think that Xander and Elle have gone away for their romantic weekend," Nigel replied.

I was about to say something when my phone started ringing. "It's Nick."

"Don't answer it," the three of them told me.

"That's easy to say, except this is Nicholas we're dealing with. He's relentless, especially when it comes to blossom's safety," I pointed out as my phone continued to ring.

"So you answer it and tell him what? That his sister is missing?" Franco asked.

"What other choice do I have? Her father is the Director of the FBI. They're going to find out soon, and with Margaux refusing to help us, I don't see how we'll have any cover," I said.

Franco sighed before typing away at something. "You leave Sergio to me."

"What are you going to do?" I asked him.

"It's better off you don't know," he replied, still typing away.

"So what do we do now that we know that it's pointless to look for her through surveillance?" Aziel asked.

"The three of you are going to head downstairs to the gym, and the two of you are going to fight him. Make sure he gets all his anger out because I need him to be clear headed for the next part of this plan," Franco instructed.

I scowled. "Why do I need to be clear headed?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You ask a lot of questions. When the hell did that start?"

"Blossom," I mumbled.

"Just go and do what I've said. I'll catch you up when I'm done devising a plan here," he dismissed.

His dismissal only added to my bubbling anger. I do not do well with orders in case you haven't noticed. That's why it works better when I'm in charge, though I'll admit that I trust Nigel to lead me when necessary.

We reached the gym, and much like the gyms that Cypher provides, this was exactly the same. I guess despite being away from the organization, Franco still likes the perks they have to offer. We took off our shoes and shirts before stepping onto the mat.