Inside Access

Chapter 2: Suspects

Chapter 2: Suspects

As Warren walked in, he saw Jack sit up a bit straighter, Crispin wave in greeting, and Mr. Ozera turn towards him, all out of his peripheral vision.

He had once again been struck dumb at the sight of Brooklyn. Beautiful, simple, graceful, smiling at him peacefully as if not a thing in the world troubled her Brooklyn. Warren felt his heart quiver as his stomach tightened into knots and his tongue got thicker. It happened every time he was around her, he couldn't stop the reaction. He didn't really want to.

But the look on Jack's face, the very presence of Mr. Ozera, told him that it was time to be serious and he needed to focus.

So he tore his gaze away from Brooklyn's dazzling eyes, not without difficulty, as he shut the door behind him and leaned against it trying for casual.

“Alright,” he said, trying to put a smile on his face and not trip over his words, “you got me here Jack. What's up?”

“You took your sweet time.” Jack grumbled but didn't pause to let Warren explain. “We don't have long to talk. We're down to about...how long Ozera?”

Mr. Ozera checked his watch. “Five hours.”

Jack nodded. “Warren, as you know, we have a traitor in MCRC. Thanks to Josh, we know he was high up.”

Warren noticed that Jack's hand tightened just a bit on his pen as he said Josh's name. Jack loved MCRC like it was his own child. The connection he had to the place was almost as strong as Warren's, sometime he suspected it was even more so. He knew Josh had turned at the end back to their side, but that didn't mean Jack could forgive the sin of treason.

“I, of course, find this deeply troubling.” Victor interjected. “I can't have any bad press for MCRC right now. We've had no choice but to release the findings from the Atlantic to the general public in hopes that the last of the remains can be identified. If it gets out that anyone in MCRC had anything to do with it, it would bring all manner of hell upon our heads. No one likes dead infants and everyone hates those who killed them.”

Warren nodded, agreeing. He hadn't personally been there when the bodies of 58 people, 96 when you counted in all the unborn fetuses, that had been kidnapped then disemboweled on the floor of the Atlantic ocean had been discovered. Crispin, Warren knew, had been a survivor of the ordeal and MCRC had rescued him just before he became Jack's assistant. However, he had seen pictures of the aftermath, the quickly evacuated underwater base, the far too many lost souls, and the general sense of horror being so far underwater had brought to the entire thing.

Intrebari, who Ilia had discovered commissioned the submarine that serviced that place, had been behind it. But all they had was their name. Why they did it, why they seemed fascinated with killing so many women pregnant with demi children, was beyond any of their guess. Finding whoever the second traitor was would help in answering those questions.

“And you want me in on finding whoever it is.” Warren didn't have to work all that hard to guess that. He just wasn't sure if he could handle it. He had already lost Josh...

“You are the only one I can put on it.” Jack nodded. “I want as few people knowing of this as possible, I don't want whoever it is knowing we're after him and getting scared away. You already know and your connection to MCRC will help in this.”

“You are extremely valuable to us.” Mr. Ozera chimed in, earning a dirty look from Jack for the second interruption. “Your service and sacrifice-”

“Enough.” Jack cut him off, rubbing his temple like he was getting a headache. “You can stop running for election now, Ozera.”

“No need to be rude, Jack.” Mr. Ozera's polite expression didn't fade but Warren noticed a new stiffness to his spine.