Selene kept checking in the rear view mirror of her car every thirty seconds. She was making sure no one was following behind her.
Selene decided to meet the person from the phone call earlier. She had to cut short her early morning nap after Keir dropped her off at her home. It was important to make sure that no one was tagging behind her.
She is supposed to meet outside Downtown, a nearby town called Manassas. It takes almost three and a half hours to drive there. It can be late in the afternoon before she drives back to Downtown. Just thinking about all the travel makes her weary.
Selene hardly had any sleep last night. The short power nap she had early in the morning and the two cups of Keir-made coffee she drank, were the only thing keeping her awake.
After a long tiring journey, she reached Manassas. It was a small mediocre town with a pleasant atmosphere unlike Downtown.
Once she was in the town, it didn't take more than twenty minutes to reach the building. Parking her car in an empty spot, she walked inside the building.
The apartment was a decades old three storied structure that looked dilapidated. The cellar and the first floor was abandoned for the dust to pile up and the ghosts to haunt in the walls.
She pressed the button with the number two on the elevator and waited for the doors to close. After much protest the doors closed and went up with the help of the creaking ropes.
Once at the second floor, Selene didn't wait for the doors to open and pushed herself out of those partially opened doors.
There were two buff men standing on either side of the only door on that floor. Selene gave them a mock salute and went inside.
A few steps ahead, another door made of shiny metal blocked her. She stood in front of the scanner on her left, the machine gave out a soft ping when it matched her iris. The door opened, disclosing a modern version of a tech office, a complete contrast to the building on the outside.
"We've been waiting for you for hours!" An old friend of hers, a man in his late twenties greeted her.
Selene nodded, silently asking him to lead the way. They went inside an enclosed cabin on the left, to which Selene was familiar with since years.
"Ah! Looks like Downtown never taught you punctuality," An old man in his mid forties, sniggered when Selene entered the cabin alongside her friend, Wyatt.
"Why did you call me here?" Selene didn't beat around the bush and jumped straight to the point.
The old man chuckled and sighed in disapproval, "Brusque as always."
A young man standing on the other side of the center table laughed along with him but Selene cut it short with a death glare.
"Is it about the dead clients?" Selene asked. The sooner the discussion is over, the sooner she can get going.
"No but we'll come to that later." The old man stood up facing her and leaned over the dustless table. He smoothed out his already ironed tie and crossed his arms across his grey two piece suit.
"We want more information about Haden," He said, finally speaking up to her likes.
"And this can't be talked over the phone, I suppose?" Selene remarked in sarcasm.
"I'm afraid not. You are being less active over the phone these days. You seldom move out of the house. Either that, or the phone is left at the house." He lifted an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to contradict. She knew they were tracking her location through her phone.
"The work was lighter this week, Haden had it under his control. There wasn't much for me to do," Selene explained the reason for her unmoved location.
"What about the dealers meeting last week?" The young irritating excuse of a man questioned her.
Selene narrowed her eyes at him, "As I said, nothing happened. The dealers were upset about the lost million dollar deal, even more upset about Haden's incompetence to seize the golden Rhino."
"All thanks to you. Without your help, we couldn't have stopped them," Wyatt butted in, trying to put Selene on good terms.
"Indeed." The old man agreed, "Anything else?" He gestured to the chair before the table.
This meeting is going to take longer than she expected. She didn't want to come here in the first place, but she won't complain at a change of scenery.
Selene walked towards the table and took a seat in the chair. She opened the bottle of water placed on the table and gulped down its contents.
"I managed to send Brent to Italy, Haden doesn't have his right hand now," She said, screwing close the bottle cap.
"Good, with no second in command, he is weak. We just have to wait for him to slip up," The young man contributed to the conversation.
"You're right, Ashton. We just have to wait for the right time." The old man agreed with Ashton, making him puff his chest proudly.
Selene internally rolled her eyes. She found stupidity in the plan of waiting for Haden to slip up, which he won't. Haden is much smarter than NIA, years of working beside him she knew that. But sadly, they don't.
Selene contributed every evidence she could find from years. But the evidence gathered into a bunch of clutter. It wasn't enough, to NIA it was never enough.
"All the other stats about his business will be forwarded through the email," She said.
Her chief nodded while thinking in a distance.
Suddenly, the door of the cabin opened, making all the four heads turn and see who walked in.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm late." Shana's heels clicked on the tiled floors as she closed the door behind her and walked towards them.
"You know what to do," The old man gave a brief smile to Shana and pointed her to the small room where all the data computers are placed.
Shana nodded and gave a brief smile to Selene before making her way to the data room.
Selene always wondered why he smiles at Shana but not her but then she thought, maybe it's for the best. She doesn't get well with the chief either way. Shana on the other hand is a cheerful girl unlike her, so it's not a surprise that she gets along well with the staff.
"If that's it, I will take my leave," Selene tapped the table and stood up from her chair.
"I didn't call you today to talk about Haden," The chief officer, Mr Thindrel, stopped Selene in the middle of her way.
She turned around with a bored expression. Thindrel's 'beating around the bush' way of talking is a real pet peeve for her. She never understood why he never comes to the point first.
"What is it?" She sighed.
"It's a new project Selene, one that is directly sent by the FBI," He paused and nodded at Wyatt.
Selene walked back to the table and waited as Wyatt set up the presentation screen.
Always fancy, Selene thought.
"We have sources that say that this criminal is residing in Downtown," Mr Thindrel gave a pointed look at her.
She gave a wry laugh, "Everyone in Downtown is a criminal. Who are you particularly concerned about?"
He continued, "You will play the keypart in catching him -" She cut him off.
"Wait what?! I already have my hands full with Haden, you can't expect me to go after another one." Selene gritted her teeth in anger.
"You are our only asset in Downtown," Wyatt tried to calm her down.
"Oh yeah?" Selene gave them an incredulous look, "What about Shana?" She gabbled, before she could stop the words leaving her mouth.
Everyone in the room including Wyatt gave her a look of disapproval. Selene involuntarily looked at Shana in the other room through the glass. She glanced back at Selene and placed a sweet smile, oblivious to the discussion that was going on outside.
Selene regretted the idea that came out of her mouth.
"You know that her combating skills are low. This criminal is dangerous, surely you don't want your best friend killed," The chief frowned at her.
Selene looked aside and gulped, "No of course not. I didn't mean that."
"Good. Because you are going to keep an eye on Haden like you've been doing these past six years and at the same time find out about this criminal. Got it?"
Selene exhaled harshly, controlling her rage and muttered, "Yes, Sir!"
Thindrel sighed before turning to Ashton for the slide show. Ashton nodded and started to give details about this criminal.
"Keir Mathew Hunt, twenty seven year old from..." After that everything Ashton spoke faded into distance.
The name Keir went into her brain and got stuck in there. She didn't expect that out of all the criminals in Downtown, she had to go after the one that she already knew.
She foolishly prayed in her mind hoping that this isn't the same Keir they are talking about and somehow there are miraculously two Keirs in Downtown.
"Selene?" Wyatt called her, pulling her out of her hopeless prayers. She looked back to Ashton, he signalled her to the screen before her with the remote in his hand.
With her heart on her sleeve she turned around to look at the slide. She saw a man familiar to the Keir she knew only with much younger and delicate features.
The tiniest hope she had till now was shattered. It was getting too difficult for her to breath in this room. She felt frustrated, scared, sad and relieved all at once and every emotion she felt had its own reason.
She can't let the Chief have a sniff about this charade or that she has already encountered him. It's too risky.
She gulped down her emotions before placing on a blank bored face.
She turned to Ashton nodding with a neutral face, "Can I take those notes with me?"
"Uh-Yeah sure." He handed her the files.
"This man is dangerous Selene, he massacred every single cop stationed at the precinct in 2015," Her chief warned.
Selene looked at the files and then back to him with a confused expression, "Twenty fifteen? Isn't it the cop killer massacre in Fairfax?"
The chief nodded slightly impressed, "That's exactly it."
Selene released a shaky breath through her mouth and nodded.
"Let me go over these records first. I'll meet you soon," Selene said, cutting the meeting abruptly.
"Sure, any queries feel free to ask Ashton." The chief dismissed her.
"Sir," She gave a military nod to him and then to Wyatt and Ashton.
She looked at Shana's room and when she had her attention, Selene gave a quick wave to her before leaving the suffocating room.
She had no idea where she was going, her legs just moved subconsciously and entered the elevator. They stopped right back to the cellar and she walked towards her car. Her breath shredded at every step that she took.
It was already a hell hole working with Haden as well as for the National investigative association. The one time she felt not obligated to, was with Keir but they had to meddle in this affair too.
Now knowing that she had to catch Keir made things worse.
She pulled the car door roughly and slammed it behind her, making the car judder.
How long will life keep screwing up with her? Why should anyone live a double life?
Anger was penting up, she didn't choose for any of this and yet she was neck deep in this quicksand. There was no way to get out of this except giving in and embracing the mud side of the quicksand.
She rolled her hand into a tight fist, her nails dug into her skin. She punched the steering wheel with all her might, it protested with a large honk for it's insult. She hit the wheel again and again and the honking continued till her hands were red and she had no energy left anymore.
"Fuck!" she screamed biting back the tears of frustration. She turned on the ignition and started to drive back to the shit hole of a town.
*****
So yep! You found out Selene's secret. Selene works for NIA and she found a new toy.
What do you think happens next? Let me know what you think about this new shift in the story. Criticism is encouraged.
Oh and btw, you remember Shana right? How many of you don't? Tell me in the comments >>>
Don't forget to vote, thriller chillers! 😂 Gosh I wanted to use that term so bad.
~love you guys! ❤️