Tais-Toi

Chapter-Thirty Four

When I arrive in the computerlab, I quickly scan the whole room, searching for a familiar face. I only find the man I'm looking for, but that's enough for me. He's working on the same computer he was working on when I first saw him. So, I walk up to him, full of confidence.

Hello, can I ask you a question? It'll only take a minute. I ask him after I caught his attention.

"You're Green's granddaughter, aren't you? Yeah, of course. Shoot." Wauw, I've been here less than a day and he already remembers my face.

Yeah, do you want to search something for me or explain something to me? I don't quite understand the file.

"Sure, what is it?"

I would like to know what Visioned is. I've never heard of it before. Is it some kind of organisation?

"You really don't have to search that." He laughs, but he doesn't mock me for not knowing. "This HQ, it's all about Visioned. Visioned is the reason all of this exists. In all missions the agents here over here do, Visioned is involved. We fight them without the citizens' notice. Luckily, the tides are turning around here."

I still don't know what it is. I say slightly annoyed.

"Actually, I'm quite busy, but I can call someone for you who can tell you all about it. And he can use the practice in sign language." He turns around in his chair like a pro and dials a number on his phone. And two minutes later, another agent is standing next to his desk.

"Agent Peters, you called me?" He asks, ignoring me. He looks young, probably still in training, maybe freshly graduated. I do estimate him about five years older than me. And wasn't he at agent Talin's table this morning?

"Agent Lewis. I assume you can use the practice in sign language?" Agent Peters grins.

"It's not fluently and it can use the exercise." You can see he's afraid of what's about to happen, but he also tries not to let it show.

"Well, meet Willow Green. She will help you while you help her. And be very careful, she's Heather Green's granddaughter." Is that a bad thing? Should he really be careful because of that little fact? "She's mute and she needs help understanding Visioned." Agent Peters briefly explains.

"Oh, hello." He decides not to ignore me anymore. Well, hello. I think. "Well, if you'd follow me, we can talk in the cafeteria." I follow him like a little puppy and take place in front of him at a table. It feels like he's about to interrogate me. "So what do you want to know?"

I know literally nothing about Visioned so what about everything? I try to be as casual as possible, but on the looks of his face, I'm not doing very well.

"That's a lot." He smiles awkwardly. "Ok, so, it's a government-funded organization that recruits young people with troubled backgrounds, sometimes directly from prison. Visioned erases all evidence of their past lives and moulds them into efficient spies and assassins. The recruits don't have the freedom to leave the agency." What? So, they leave prison to be imprisoned? "They are often warned that they might be 'cancelled' if their progress is found to be unsatisfactory or they behave badly. In simpler words, they'll get killed if they aren't good enough or if they don't behave. Visioned also implants tracking devices in their necks, along with kill chips. The kill chip kills them when something goes terribly wrong."

He pauses for a few seconds and I take the time to let the information sink in. Then, he shows some pictures on his phone of agents who worked for Visioned. The photos are all headshots of people who have died. They aren't much different from an agent working here. Or from a normal citizen...

"Having broken away from our government, Visioned now performs operations for their own gain, hurting their country if needed. They just kill everyone who hurt them or stood in their way in the past, present or future. The government is unknowingly protecting and funding their illegal activities. They have assassinated countless people, most of whom have political ties. Visioned used to be under the control of a group of US government officials, but went rogue after all the members of Sightsover were assassinated by Roberto's guardians.

Roberto's guardians? Like Alejandro Roberto? I've seen his name in the documents.

"Partly, yes. Alejandro and his girlfriend killed themselves seventeen years ago. That was the base of their new slogan: love is a weakness... Anyway, Alejandro Roberto chose the guardians and they never changed after his brother, Fernando, took the whole thing over. He died too. Thirteen years ago. He got killed by Layla, you'll come across her name in your mother's documents too."

So who's running Visioned now?

"Anissa Smith."