Remnants of Time

Chapter 9

Mr. Lomawu stepped in, clad in a neat blue suit. His eyes fell onto the two agents, then on the empty hall. His smile turned into confusion.
"Where did our office go all of the sudden?"
He came closer, just close enough the notice the two folders on the table. Janet prayed he didn't see anything suspicious. She grabbed her cappuccino that was still half-full.
Neesa smiled back and pointed at the ceiling.
"You're on the wrong level. The office is on the five. We should all go there, actually. Hopefully, Whittaker has some good news for us."
"What were you two doing down here?"
Janet and Neesa exchanged looks, both wrecking their minds for a plausible excuse.
"That must've been intense if finding an answer is that hard. Forgot I asked", he chuckled, "I'm not sure if I'm ready for that much commitment this early in the morning."
The women almost simultaneously sent him a nervous smile and as soon as the lift stopped, seized their opportunity to escape and bring their prized files to safety. Work called and they soon found their way to avoid Mr. Lomawu for the most part, at least until the team briefing.

One shot. One bullet.
Was all it took to drown the world in a deafening silence. Waves of inaudible roars brushed over everyone in the room. Everyone on the floor. The thud of a single body crushing, hitting the ground. The loudest sound of them all, realization. Not the shot. The shot came without any noise, drowned the world in thick, damp sullenness. But realization hit the team like thunder. The realization that, while they had done their best to follow orders, to protect the world, they themselves were exposed. And now, they paid, they sacrificed. Another agent.

Neesa opened the door to the hallway leading to the office, still talking to Colin, reminding him to share their new findings about the Remnant with Janet. As her assistant, Neesa was glad these two had finally found peace. This morning, Colin had smiled at her, even done her a favor. Maybe it lasted only for this operation, but hopefully longer. Maybe they could even figure this hijacked operation out. But who knew how deeply he was involved. And Janet hadn't been the same after the fight she'd had with Colin. As siblings, they should've worked something out, but well, that wasn't really Neesa's job. She wouldn't meddle, only encourage. After all, Janet and Colin had gone through so much, lost their father tragically, and they could be a great team if they would want to find a way. Their new ally, Mr. Lomawu, trailed behind them. He'd attended the briefing with them and had been assigned with a task. Neesa was on edge every time the Wakandan was around, but she took all her professionalism together and didn't let him see behind her façade. Janet and she had worked too hard on uncovering whatever game was being played here. As authority holder of a foreign government, it was none of his business anyway.

Colin nodded at what Neesa said, agreeing with her on the proposed line of action. The dark-skinned girl smiled kindly and opened the door to the office for him. He stepped in and she followed. His senses were on alarm right away. It was way too quiet here and someone was sobbing. What was going on? Neesa, at his side, screamed behind her hand. Then, she began to run towards something - Oh God, that was a corpse - but Colin grabbed her hand.
"Sniper", he whispered. "Maybe he's still out there."
"How are you so calm?" Neesa had tears in her eyes, despite her training, despite her field experience. She'd seen corpses, blood and headshots, but never of people she cared about.
"We need to find Janet. Make sure she gets the team on this."
"Colin. This is Janet." He froze. What? What!? His eyes widened, his blood froze. He'd agreed with Lawrence that they'd have to get her out of action for their deal to work. But he never meant- No. That couldn't have been his friend's doing.
"No", he whispered, to himself, while fighting the emotions to take over his body. His heart beat fast right now and he felt dizzy. Janet. It was her, clearly. Her red hair splayed over the floor. Her beautiful cream blazer ruined, stained.
She was gone. Carefully staying in the cover of the office desks, he crouched closer to his dead sister. No. A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind, bumping into each other until all he heard and knew was a terrible scream, raw and painful. I didn't ask for forgiveness. I still loved you. I just - I'm so sorry. Janet, my sweet little sister. Forgive me. For everything.