Prologue
It's done.
That was the message that Link sent to his employer via his cell phone. Behind him was the open door to a hotel room, inside the room a fiery blaze was engulfing everything in sight. The body would be burnt beyond recognition, the mask he wore would prevent anyone from tying him to the crime.
Link felt no guilt in this murder, it was his job to take care of anyone who got too close to the Syndicate. This one had been a young girl, couldn't have been older than twenty-five, but she had been digging around for information and it cost her.
He was one of only two members of the Syndicate allowed to have any identity, almost all agents were completely bald, wearing black shades, carrying the same pistol and dressed in suits. But he was second in command, he was allowed to keep his hair and instead of shades he wore the emotionless mask that hid his face. J had entrusted him with everything, he did all the dirty work on the surface while his boss stayed underground and handled their secret agenda. Truthfully he was more powerful than J, he got all the information so he knew what was going to happen before it actually did happen. No company should've had this much power, that was why the world couldn't know of their existence.
His phone buzzed and he picked it up, noticing that J had sent him a message. If J couldn't wait to give him an assignment until he got back, that meant that the targets needed to be taken care of immediately.
We have been compromised, our information and secrets stolen from us. Recover the flash drive and bring me the thieves, I want to deal with them myself. These targets are going to be harder to erase, make it happen.
The flash drive had been stolen, that was the worst thing that could ever happen to their company. It had all their secrets, everything they'd done and influenced since the creation of their company. If that was leaked, they'd be finished, the government would eliminate them all before the plan had been put into action. He wondered who could have infiltrated the company, hundreds had tried but none had ever succeeded before.
He'd never been shocked in his twenty years of serving for the Syndicate, but he was genuinely surprised at who he'd been tasked with kidnapping. Big Time Rush, the people who'd broken into the company and stolen their most valuable resource were a bunch of kids? It didn't matter, he'd bring them in and J would likely make them suffer for stealing from him. The poor kids probably didn't know what they'd done, but it was the price that had to be paid. Link didn't feel compassion any longer, it would only get in the way of what needed to be done.
As he walked away from the burning hotel room, smoke billowing out of the window and frantic residents calling for the fire department, Link started whistling. Another day, another job, that was all it was anymore.