Inside Access

Chapter 7: Shadows

Chapter 7: Shadows

 “Really, it's nothing I don't already know.” Jack said, looking over the information Crispin had brought him. When he had been promoted to head of Criminal, he had done a cursory check on his colleagues that had turned up pretty much the same things. There was a few new dropped assault charges here and there but nothing he didn't know about.

“But it's a start.” Crispin said. “Warren is just being thorough.”

“I know. It's why he's doing this. He's thorough.” Jack sat back in his desk. He didn't want to rush his people, he never intended on doing that. For once, though, he really would like some immediate results. Knowing there was someone around him that was responsible, at least in a small way, for the atrocities he had seen made his stomach turn.

Jack was a good man at the heart of it. He had a set of moral standards, codes he chose to live his life by. While he didn't wish to impose those same codes onto others, he did expect them to live up to the codes society provided as a whole. They were in place for a reason, they separated the sometimes complex sides of right and wrong into clear, definable laws and regulations. Without them, society would fall apart and the world would fall into chaos.

Besides, having a daughter of his own, the knowledge that anyone would knowingly and maliciously choose to kill innocent unborns made him furious.

“I'll just go back to the library and keep working.” Crispin signed with a smile. “Warren is probably walking Brook to her car again but I plan on staying a little later and finishing up a few things.”

“Good.” Jack nodded, approving. “I'll be in here if you need anything. And Crispin?” he stopped his assistant just as he turned to leave. “How is Warren working with Brook so far?”

Crispin shrugged. “They don't really do anything together right now. She mostly keeps busy in the library while we work in her office. Every now and then, he'll stop and just kind of fade out for a moment but he always comes back to himself. But I don't think Brook is the cause.”

“You don't?” Jack asked, looking serious.

Crispin shook his head. “He looks...angry sometimes when he does it. Other times, he looks sad. It's hard to explain. But it definitely isn't Brook.”

Jack made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat as if Crispin had confirmed something he had suspected. Before Crispin could ask about it, Jack waved him out of the room and, being the loyal servant he was, Crispin followed the silent order without question.

XXXXXXXXX

Brooklyn's body had grown cold, she was pretty sure her limbs were twitching. An ancient evolutionary instinct trying to kick in. Her heart had begun racing, her body spitting out adrenaline, a series of primal survival mechanisms turning on that she had never needed before this moment. Her entire being was tense, ready to fight or run for her life.

However, her mind felt strangely calm. She was staring at this strange man advancing on her slowly, as if even he wasn't sure why she wasn't moving, and she was analyzing him.

He was taller than her, but then most people were. He wasn't as big as Warren, but he was a bit taller than Crispin. He wasn't overly muscular, instead he was lean but there was definitely power in those long limbs. He was left handed, his eyes were a deep shade of brown behind his black ski mask, and, so faint she wouldn't have noticed it were it not for her body kicking into survival mode, she could make out the edges of a scar just under his right eye.

All of those things, Brooklyn noticed and took note of, her mind still strangely calm, as the parking lot lights glinted off of the metal of his blade.