Angel Face

How Are You?

XXVIII

The weekend came and passed but Duncan didn't come home. I had waited a day, thinking that maybe he would come back. When he didn't, I started calling him but every single time he would decline my calls. I even contacted Herbert to know, if he showed up at work. But they claimed to know nothing about his whereabouts.

By the time Sunday rolled in, my worry had turned into annoyance and anger. So, I just gave up on contacting him. It's not the first time he disappeared. He is going to be okay and so will I.

"Angie, do you have a minute." I looked from my latest subject of examination, to see Nick heading my way with a determined look. After Duncan stormed out that night, Nick too left once we had our dinner in silence. Therefore, we never really got to talk about the betrayal, Nick was talking about.

"Nick, sure. Um, would you like to talk here or in the office?" I asked before taking off my gloves and glasses. He stopped and glanced around. "Well, I just needed you to sign this document." I looked at him confused as he handed over a file to me. My eyes widened when I saw what was in the folder. "I didn't realise we are already finished with three fifth of the bulk." I mused as I signed the document after reading over. "Tell me about it. Time really flies when you're having fun." He smirked taking the file from me. "Now that, this is out of the equation. How about lunch?"

"Nick, I need to finish this. Plus, don't you have Julia to have lunch with?" I said as I got ready to get back to work. "Ange, look around yourself." I shot him an annoyed look before looking around to see the lab completely empty. Where is everybody? "Do you see anybody?" He asked. "No." I shook my head. "You know why?" I again shook my head. He grinned as if he had just won a prize "Because, they're human and humans need to eat when it's time to eat or when they're hungry." He pretended to check his watch before looking back at me with amusement. "And right now is lunch time. Not to mention the last time I checked, you were human. Which brings us to the conclusion that you need to eat. So, let's go eat."

"As much as you're good at drawing conclusions, I'm still going to ask you, what about Julia?" I asked trying to suppress my amused smile. "I'm taking out Julia for dinner. For now, we need to talk." His voice grew grim by the end. I look up at him to see him watching me with a serious look. "Fine." I caved. "Let me just grab my bag first."

"Good."

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"Okay, talk." I pressed as we sat inside Burger King with our meals in front of us. Nick stopped nibbling on his french fries and sighed.

"Fine." He dropped the fry back on the tray. "I noticed it for the first time a little over a month ago. I was going to meet Liz from lab three to discuss about one of the pieces. That's when I felt someone move behind me. I turned around to see a shadow disappear down the staircase. I found it weird considering this was after hours when most of the people have left. I followed down the stairs to see a guy in black hoodie entering Storage 5."

"But to access Storage 5 one needs to have an access card." I pointed out.

"Exactly, that's why I dropped it and left. But later when I checked with the tech guy, to see who had accessed that room. The result said it was Debora Jacobs." But didn't he say it was a man? "So, obviously the person I saw wasn't Dobora. Not to mention, she was on a leave at that time. But the more alarming part is that, it has been more than a week since her leave came to an end and she is neither back nor can she be contacted."

"You really don't think that... do you?" I leaned in and asked him lowly, so that no one else could hear us. I was coming to regret doing this during lunch since this was making me lose my appetite. "I don't know. I don't want to but it's a possibility." He muttered gravely. "But that's not all." He huffed. "These past weeks I've noticed a few things. Firstly, some of the other group members seem to be acting out of normal. There are murmurs, sneaking arounds and people acting too secretive and edgy. It's unsettling. Just last Wednesday, I caught Eddy from group four, looking through Luciantra folder."