The Intelligence Director

Chapter Six

Vas had a hard time sitting still in the chair.  

This is it,he thought anxiously to himself. He had finally proven himself worthy. He had done an admirable job with the recovery operation and Raze had recognized his potential.

That had to be what this was about. He could hear it in his superior’s voice. In the ten months Vas had worked here, Raze had never said “please.”

Raze paced behind Vas’s chair, his hands clasped behind his back. “You demonstrated excellent aptitude last night, Agent.”

Vas stared straight ahead, trying to fight back the smile that wanted so desperately to light up his face.

“Thank you, sir,” he said.

He couldn’t wait to tell Jenniver. She would be ecstatic. She would leap into his arms and kiss his eyelids, the way she always did when she was excited about something. And, of course, the baby would only benefit from this promotion, too.

“As you know, Diotech Headquarters has many secrets. Secrets that should never be revealed to the world.”

“Of course, sir. I can be trusted.”

“I know you can. But more than trust, I need people on my team who are willing to do what it takes to protect those secrets. And keep the integrity of this company alive.”

Vas nodded sharply. “I understand. And I am more than willing to put the safety and integrity of this compound ahead of everything else.”

He could almost hear Raze grin behind him. “I was hoping you would say that, Vas.”

Then Vas felt something cold and metallic on the back of his neck, followed by a pinch of pressure. It was over so fast, he almost wondered if he’d imagined it.

The room started to shift, the crispness of his vision slowly dulling. The edges of Raze’s desk and chair were softening. Like he was seeing the world through a soap bubble.

His thoughts were distant and muddled, as though they had been locked in a dark closet in the back of his mind, and now all he could hear was their faint echoes.  

When Director Raze spoke next his voice had a melodic lilt to it. A song-like quality that Agent Vas found incredibly pleasant to listen to.

“Stand up,” came the command.

Vas didn’t even need to process it. He rose to his feet obediently.

“Now listen very carefully,” Raze began, walking around to face Vas. He held his gaze tightly. “The girl escaped because of you. You cut the feeds. You facilitated the van’s exit. And you deactivated my comms so I wouldn’t find out until she was far enough away. You let her escape. Because you are in love with her.”

Somewhere in that dark closet in the back of his mind, Vas’s own thoughts were rebelling, banging against the door, begging to be let out. They screamed about lies and corruption and manipulation. They shoved images of Jenniver and the baby and her brittle, warped bones at him.

But he could barely hear those thoughts, let alone heed them.

Not when Raze’s words seemed to make so much more sense.

He felt his head fall into an obedient nod. Raze was right. He had let the girl escape. Because he did love her. How refreshing the truth felt to him. How freeing.

“You will confess to Dr. Alixter,” came Raze’s next command. “You will admit to what you have done. You will tell him you acted alone. And you will suffer the consequences alone.”

Yes, thought Vas. That is the right thing to do.

All criminals should be brought to justice. And he was a criminal.

“Do you understand what I’ve told you?” The director’s lilting voice massaged Vas’s brain, warmed his soul, made him feel alive.

Made him feel important.

“Yes, Director,” Vas responded blissfully. “I understand.”

THE END

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THE INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR is a short story that takes places within the world of Jessica Brody's Unremembered Trilogy.

When a sixteen-year-old girl wakes up among the wreckage of a devastating plane crash with no memories, she’s forced to piece together her forgotten past with only one clue to her identity— a mysterious boy who claims he helped her escape from a top-secret science experiment. 

Book 1 - Unremembered
Book 2 - Unforgotten
Book 3 - Unchanged