The Mystery Of Elizabeth Matthews (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 4.

As the morning progressed, the atmosphere among them became light and cheerful. The autumn wind blowing across the park made the climate even more pleasant. They all talked about anything and everything, teasing Brian most of the times. Full blown laughter echoed in the air.

Soon it was lunch time and Elizabeth was long gone till then, leaving the group to talk about more important things.

"Are you ready for today's meeting, Jack?" Trent asked.

Jack looked at him and nodded. "Yeah! Talked to dad about it and everything."

"Dude, you are finally getting the company. Your dream is becoming a reality, isn't it?" Brian congratulated and patted him on his back.

Jack smiled and thanked him. They knew that this was important to him. From the early age of childhood, he had been taught to become a leader.

Evening came and went. It was finally time for their late night meeting. These meetings were held once or twice in a month depending on how work progresses. Every meeting was the same, really. Discuss the missions, report about anything suspicious, prepare for further missions, etc. However, this time it was different for Jack. He wouldn't be sitting as an agent in there, but as the owner. His dad had suggested taking over the role before he officially took over. And moreover someone important was going to attend the meeting.

Mr. Asher

A businessman (for real, of course), Mr. Asher was ruthless, may it be in business or just people in general. If people feared Mr. Sanders, then they were terrified of Mr. Asher. Even Jack was a bit intimidated by him, not that he was going to admit it to anyone. At the age of 30, he was the most successful businessman out there. His company 'Lisa Corporations' (Nobody had the courage to find out who Lisa is, if any Lisa did exist, that is) was a multi- billion company just like SKB, but five times richer and stronger than SKB could ever be.

He invests in "The Group" and attends the meetings whenever he feels like it. He, attending today's meeting is saying something.

"Welcome, Mr. Asher. We were just waiting for your arrival." Mr. Sanders voice snapped him out of his thoughts for the third time today. He sighed.

Elizabeth was proving to be a bad influence.

"Jack?"

He looked at his dad and nodded and went to formally greet Mr. Asher.

"Jack Sanders" he shook his hand with a firm grip.

Mr. Asher just smiled at him. Cold and cruel.

Hell, his smile was scary as well.

"I know" Mr. Asher said in a hard voice.

Okay then...

Mr. Asher's eyes bore into Jack's as he stared at him with so much intensity, it made Jack uncomfortable. Maybe it were his eyes or his voice, void of all emotions or maybe it was him in general, but something didn't settle well with him. Jack just shrugged it off.

The meeting went on smoothly and Jack became more and more confident as it continued. Though he was aware of certain someone's eyes constantly observing his every move. He wanted to end this meeting as soon as possible. All this staring was becoming border - line creepy.

Jack sighed in relief when the meeting was over. He almost ran out of the conference room. He met with Brian and Trent outside of the office building and together they started a brief walk towards their houses.

"You did well." Trent broke the silence.

"Yeah! Keep it up, man." Agreed Brian "Where was Ryan by the way? He didn't show up." He continued.

Jack tensed as soon as he heard Ryan's name but didn't show it.

"I sent him on a mission yesterday after I arrived. Don't know when he is coming back though." He answered casually.

More like never. All thanks to green eyes.. or violet eyes.. Urgh. Whatever!

"Huh? That's strange. Didn't he already have a mission?" asked Trent

All thoughts about Asher and Green eyes flew out of the window as soon as he heard that. Now, Jack was just plain confused.

"What do you mean?"

This time Brian answered. "Yeah. He bumped into us at the bar yesterday evening, saying that he had a mission to kill someone who is apparently dangerous to human kind." Brian laughed "In fact he was going to meet his target at night. He must have completed his task then, if you sent him to another."

"Yeah. He seemed happy about finally getting to kill whoever he was going to kill. Said he got big bucks for it." Trent said as they reached Jack's house. They said their goodbyes and left quickly.

Jack, however, was another story. He was unable to move. He froze despite his mind running overdrive. His thoughts were running wild.

Ryan was completing a mission which was supposedly going to make him rich? But he didn't have a mission for a while. He himself had refused to go on missions. He was going to kill his so called target yesterday night.

His heart stopped beating for a moment.

Is that why he was with Elizabeth yesterday? Was she the target? Does that mean that someone out there is offering a pretty good amount to kill her? She didn't seem that dangerous to him, did she? Yeah she killed someone but so did he. Was it self - defence? Did she know what was happening and why? Why would someone want to kill her? She is 18 for God's sake!

His thoughts were driving him crazy. He sighed and took out his phone to look at the pictures Nicole had clicked at the park. Looking at her in the photo, "Who the hell are you Elizabeth Matthews?" He said in the silence of the night.

Meanwhile Elizabeth woke up gasping for air, tears streaming down her face. "It's just a nightmare." "Just a nightmare." She kept repeating to herself. This has been happening for years now but she never learns her lesson of not falling asleep, does she?

MATT!

His words kept playing in her head over and over again.

Find him Em. You have to find him. Please.

His eyes pleading her to listen to him.

She took deep breaths to calm herself down. She can't break down now, not when she was this close.

She opened her bedside drawer, removed a photo and stared at it. Two boys were standing next to each other. One, wearing a yellow shirt and the other, wearing a green one. They looked around five and seven respectively. Both of them were grinning from ear to ear. She caressed the one in yellow for a while. Looking at him brought another round of tears. She cried silently and then looked at the boy in green. His blue eyes showed so much happiness.

"Where the hell are you Jack Sanders?" She whispered in the silence of her room.

Please vote and comment about your thoughts on Jack, Elizabeth, Ryan?

Next update, next week.

- DS