Metà (COMPLETED)

29. Here Comes The Sun

The rest of the day was pretty much orientation and we were free to head home right about now. The 20 of us agreed to meet Monday to go over how we'd approach finding who was responsible for the missing files.

Fortunately, I already knew who it was. Cane told me Mariam was Lucas intel but failed to tell me she was the Director of Interpol. She knows any and everything. No one is going to reproach or bring her down and risk their job.

And just like she was bought, they could be bought too.

Why the hell would she let a group of intelligent individuals try to, essentially, ruin her? Unless, the 'trail' she wanted us to find led to someone else... a scapegoat.

Poor them.

I moved through the crowd of people and followed the signs to the fifth floor. When I stepped out of the elevator, a receptionist greeted me.

"Hello, do you have a meeting?"

"Um... no but I wanted to talk to Director Russo."

"I'm sorry. She's not in her office right now. I can reschedule. Would you like that?"

"Actually, it's a bit urgent. It's in regards to a case I'm working on. When will she be back," I asked, looking at the door that had her name on the side.

"Let me see... she's in a meeting for the next two hours and the office closes soon so unless you're willing to wait, I can—."

"I'll just come Monday it's fine. Thank you," I said. She nodded and went back to work. I had to do this today; it was my only chance. Cane had said that the plan was supposed to be set in motion in two weeks but with his escape, the plan was now unpredictable. Anything could happen.

My bet was that Lucas would try to get a hold of Mariam in the next few days— if he hadn't already.

"Do you have a sticky note I could borrow," I asked. She opened her drawer and gave me a pad along with a pen.

"Thank you," I said and sat in one of the waiting seats. I simply wrote a message saying, 'I'd like to see you on Monday to discuss the Case presented to us today.'

"Here you go. Thank you again," I told the receptionist. She gave me a warm smile.

"Of course. Have great day."

I walked back towards the elevator and when the doors shut I used the railing to reach for the latch of the small window in the ceiling, then pulled myself into the elevator shaft.

I closed the latch and looked up at the never ending darkness that was interrupted every so often by LED strips. My nose tingled as I fought the urge to sneeze.

In waiting for time to pass, I'd fallen asleep but was awoken when the elevator moved for 100th time. I counted the floors until it reached the fifth. When I adjusted myself to peer into the window, the person that was in there had already stepped out. I looked at my watch, noting that it was closing time, and just a few moments later, Mariam and the receptionist walked in.

Okay. Get ready.

I put myself in a crouched position and watched Mariam click the lower floor button. Her and the receptionist picked up a conversation about Monday's work as the elevator started descending.

I gripped the ledge of the fifth floor doors with one hand and shoved the pen I'd taken into the closing door. I quickly grabbed the ledge with both hands now and slowly lowered myself and placed my feet onto the barely-there edge.

I wiggled the jammed pen and sure enough the doors opened. The area was still well lit and I knew I'd have to get a hold of the security footage to erase my after-hours appearance.