A Mind To Kill The Average Joe

No Fooling Around

"Shawn? You're my friend, what have you been doing all these years?" Christopher asked him, exhausted propped up in a corner of the training room. He brushed the blood off his face poorly. "Rating me out? Man handling me? Reporting to them?"

"Why didn't you try to escape?" Frank answered calmly. He took a good look around then stood over him waiting for an answer.

"I don't know where I am. I, don't know how long I've been here." he stated. "But I definitely know you're not stupid enough to let me run off."

Frank tossed him a damp towel to wipe off the blood. "Clean this mess up Christopher." he ordered before leaving, referring to the scene he made with Joe.

"Ding..." he uttered under his breath to calm himself before doing what Frank instructed.

                                  *

Joe had gone to retrieve the file they had on Jada. He passed Betty on his way there. He knew that there were at least two people, specifically residential, assigned to each facility at a time. And that she was one of them. He had a second to consider it and decided to talk to her, "Hey...do you know where the file on 'Samantha' is?"

"Yeah, Deril's making a soft copy out of it right now..." she said a bit panicked, "He's, almost finished...so..."
There was an awkward silence that Betty felt took forever to break.

"Okay, thank you..." Joe responded to the uncomfortable aura she Ave off. "Where exactly is that?"

"Yeah, first door at the end of the hall." she answered quickly before walking away, "You can't miss it."

Joe made it to the room. He knocked before entering. Deril was sitting at a desk with a file open. He glanced at Joe and remained unbothered. "What do you know Joe?" he said charismatic yet still engaged with his work.

"I need the file on my girl." he requested sternly as he looked around.

"I can't give it to you now, I'm using it." Deril pointed out casually. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Well, I need it now. You'll get it back later." Joe demanded carelessly.

"Are you in a hurry?" he countered mockingly, "Is it a 'on a need to know basis'?"

"You'll get it back. Frank's only checking one page out...". he proposed
to an uninterested Deril, "I'll even type it out for you."

"Okay, give me one hour and I'll take you up on that deal." he compromised.

Joe guessed that Deril wanted to at least make it look like he was further along than he was. But he felt something was off, he wasn't as annoying as three days ago. "Okay, it's a deal."

                                  *

"What's wrong her? Can you tell me that now?" said Joe as they looked up Jada's file on the laptop in an inpatient act to find an answer.

"She's mentally unstable, if you didn't notice that already. Carnelian isn't a 'sleeper cell', she may be a completely different identity." Frank explained while looking over what Deril typed up so far, "And the person who attacked you might be as well, from what I comprehend."

"What makes you think that?" Joe said coming in closer to see the file on the computer. Frank started to scroll back up the page when, 'Error, file does not exist' showed up on the screen. "I didn't do that."

"Of course you didn't. Don't be so oblivious." Frank spoke as he tried to refresh the page. "You're allowed to know this. There isn't some ninja lurking in the shadows waiting to press a button the moment you come into contact with what's classified to you." He sighed then stated, "This means nothing.  Don't jump to conclusions. Deril's probably updating the file." Frank retrieved the page and started to scroll through again. Joe was relieved and was prepared to leave him alone to do what he does. "Joe, go get me her file before he disposes it, now. And I mean it this time."

"Is something wrong?" he asked a regaining a panicked undertone.

"No...But if you see him with it, take it without hesitation." Frank didn't want to get Joe panicked but he could see it on his face that he already thought the worst. "I, just prefer it on paper. It's easier for me to figure things out if I see the whole thing in front of me."

"Okay..." he said before leaving.

                                *

"So do you know where he is?" Joe asked Danish in the safe room. Deril wasn't where he left him and he couldn't go around shouting his name.

"Nope, it only monitors the exits and holding rooms...cells." he answered bordley, "If he's done with the file, then check the incinerator."

"Okay, thanks man." Joe said before closing the door.

"Your welcome." Danish replied sluggish.

It didn't make sense to him. Then again, he thought he might of been generous with the deal while not knowing how far he actually reached with the file. Joe bumped into Frank again.

"You're moving slow." Frank said sternly, "Did you get her file?"

"No." Joe uttered, "But I might know where it may be."

Frank took a second to think over what Joe said. He asked him a bit concerned, "Did you lose it or something? Who had it last?"

"I'll find it. But I can't do that if you're stalling me here." Joe responded, "Relax a little."

"Joe, someone's trying to cover their own ass." Frank confessed, "Get that file now and arrest whoever's 'disposing' it."

Joe was baffled. He didn't say anything and left right away only glancing at each low priority door. And though it was for a second, he could of sworn he saw a distorted image of a person inside Jada's cell. Frank notified Danish and assigned him to look out for Deril. After he gave the order, he headed for outside to secure any vehicle that could be used to get away.