The Initiative (A Sleeping Beauty Remix)

Twenty-Six

"No way Aria does anything other than what she wants to do," Marlee shook her head with a minuscule grin.

Wes' brain assaulted him with images best left unimagined. Images of torture, of threats and violence, of finding nothing but a glassy-eyed shell of Aria.

They had no way of tracking her. Wes knew it. And from the dark look on Leonger's face, he knew it too.

The large stone in Wes' stomach solidified further. His Destined was missing and he had absolutely no way to find her. And no way to find the people who'd taken her.

He forced himself to think, to fight past the cold stream of panic and work through it. Had Aria been their target all along? And if so, what did that mean for her? He didn't want to head too far down that twisting path because his brain would torment him with more images of what could be.

Instead, he took a deep breath, unclenched his fists, and yanked out a chair to sit back down. The Circle had Aria, but she couldn't possibly be their end goal. They'd started this testing--if that's what it truly was-before they'd even known about her.

So what made her different than the rest of the victims? Other than already having abilities, nothing. That, and she knew Brayden who was part of the Circle.

Assuming she was not their intended target and instead one of the next in line for them to test, then that meant the Circle would still be out looking for additional subjects. Especially if Aria was meant to serve a purpose for them.

"We need to go back to the victim pool," Wes declared, completely cutting off Tony who'd been babbling about some system or another. "And find out why they were chosen. What makes them different than other people?"

Leonger's lips thinned. "There's no obvious link. Victims are from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different areas, and were not in any similar location prior to their death."

Wes tapped a finger against the tabletop, the wood smooth under the pad of his finger. "Let's throw out the ones from 16 years ago. What about the ones since his resurfacing?"

"Why even stop at that time?" Eva asked, "not like your other Initiative team found him or anything."

"Over a decade later he comes back," Marlee muttered, "lots of things change in a decade. Trends, maybe culture, technology."

Tony's face paled. "Musetunes."

Leonger grunted, "I'd say that's both a culture change and a technology advancement."

"You can find out so much from a profile. Even down to where a user lives if they share it," Tony pointed out.

"Even if they're using Musetunes as a way to pull in victims," Marlee said, "how is he choosing them? Out of all the users?"

"We have no way to tell. The victims with a profile had had theirs wiped. No message board posts, no community engagement posts, nothing," Tony shook his head, his fingers swiftly clicking over the keyboard. "If Anna gives me access, I could-"

Wes slammed his fist on the table, making Marlee flinch. "She won't." He knew Anna. And Anna's top priority was keeping Musetunes secure. Even above keeping users happy. It was listed in her contract that the security would be her main focus.

But Wesley owned her contract. And right now, he wouldn't give two shits about Anna's contract.

He'd rip it up and then create a whole new one once he got Aria back.

He made himself take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Calm. He had to keep calm. Emotions only caused mistakes in this business. He would fight Anna if he had to. Whatever it took. "If Anna gives you access," Wes asked Tony slowly, "can you run a search on our victims and their Musetunes profile activity? Or their inbox messages?"