Chapter 1:Aelita Schaeffer

Beep! Beep! Beep! Mathis slammed his fist down on the snooze button, but the beeping refused to stop. Agitated, Mathis glanced over at the time on the clock. "4:37 AM," he muttered to himself and grabbed the source of his annoyance. Mathis flipped open the phone and mumbled,

"It's freaking 4:40 in the morning. Couldn't you have waited until I came in to the office."

"Sorry, Mathis, but unfortunately we don't have that luxury," responded the caller.

"So I've noticed. What 's the situation, Grégoire?"

"We just received a priority one alert. Seems a person of interest popped up on the grid. I'll give you the full story when you get here. You might want to hurry. The director wants everyone here five minutes ago."

"I get the picture. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Thanks."

Mathis, rolled out of bed and made his way to the closet. As he was dressing, he couldn't help but wonder what person could trigger a priority alert. All of the cases that his office had been assigned to monitor were cold cases. The only case that he could imagine warranting such a response would be Waldo Schaeffer, but he quickly pushed that thought aside. Schaeffer and his daughter had been missing for over ten years. Why would they suddenly slip up and appear now? It had to be one of the numerous other cases. Whatever it was, he figured that once they investigated further they would discover it to be just another false alarm. What he did know is that he find out when he got to the office.

Mathis ran through the atrium towards the elevators at the far side of the room, cursing the building architects for their poor planning. He was ten minutes late, and he knew the director would have a fit if he didn't hurry. He reached the elevators only to find that they were currently above above the 8th floor. Pondering his predicament, he reached the conclusion that running the six flights of stairs to his floor would be quicker. Two minutes and over two hundred steps later he burst into the office and glanced around for Grégoire. His worried expression faded when he noticed Grégoire standing on his desk issuing orders to the rest of the staff. Mathis navigated his way through the frenzy and playfully shoved Grégoire forward. Grégoire spun around and opened his mouth to issue a threat, but when he noticed that it was Mathis, he stopped, turned back to his original audience and sent them to carry out their assigned tasks. Grégoire stepped down and turned to faced Mathis.

"I guess the director isn't here yet?"

"Yeah, you got lucky Mathis."

"So what exactly is so important?"

"Do you remember the Schaeffer case?"

"Yes, but wasn't that over ten years ago?"

"It was, but now we have a new lead. Last month after the attempted subway bombings, the Prime Minister ordered that the records of all foreign citizens be re-examined."

"What does that have to do with Schaeffer? He was born here."

"Yes, he was. Just let me finish."

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, one of the records that the agency examined belonged to an Aelita Stones. Her record stated that she is a Canadian citizen who is currently studying at Kadic Academy. When the examiners attempted to verify her information with the Canadian authorities, they informed us that there is no 'Aelita Stones' in their records, deceased or otherwise. The agents entered their findings in to the system, and I got an alert at four o'clock this morning."

"So this could be the real thing. Does she even look like his daughter?"

"She has the same first name, same hair color, eye color. Davis is running a facial recognition as we speak."

"So after all these years, we finally have a substantial lead."

"Yes, but there is one slight concern. 'Aelita Stones' is only fifteen years old. If she were really Schaeffer's daughter she should be almost twenty-five."

"Considering the technology that Schaeffer worked with at project Carthage, I wouldn't be surprised if this 'Aelita Stones' is indeed our missing scientist's daughter."

"I know what you mean, and that's why I'm sending you to pick her up."

"'Pick her up?' Don't you mean 'apprehend and return for questioning?'"

"You know what I mean. Just make certain that no-one knows that we are involved."

"Should I retrieve any of her personal belongings?"

"If she has a computer take the hard-drive, but other than that don't worry about it. We want to leave as few clues as possible. Take one of the BMW's, it'll look less suspicious. If you leave now, you should b e able to catch her while she and the rest of the city are still asleep."

"I'll call you as soon as I have her."

"I'll see you when you get back."

As Mathis pulled up to the Kadic gates, he could only help but wonder how her tuition had been paid for the past two years that she was enrolled. He pushed the thought aside and approached the gates. Finding the gates locked and a "guard" sleeping in the little hut on the other side, he began walking the perimeter while searching for alternatives, and removed the PDA from his pocket. As he circled the school he pulled up a map on the PDA containing the layout of the school as well as the subterranean passages that crisscrossed the campus. He quickly noted that a sewer line ran under the fence about fifty yards from his current position and that the sewer also had an access in the woods next to the school. Deciding that this tunnel would be perfect for his needs, he doubled back to the car and parked it ten feet from the sewer entrance. As he removed the cover and climbed down into the darkness, he couldn't help but wonder if any of the students had used this passage before him in attempts to sneak out of the school.