A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger. I thought the last chapter was getting too long with too many things going on at the same time, so I had to split it up. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and favouriting! A big HELLO to the new subscribers and a warm welcome back to the lovely existing ones :) It's been too long!
Claire immediately called Leon as he was the first on the missed call list. It was engaged. She felt the panic slowly creeping up her and tightening her throat. Maybe he had spent the night at Chris's after what happened yesterday night. She read the messages. They all contained similar messages.
"Claire, this is Hunnigan, if you've seen Leon or he's with you please let me know."
"Pick up your phone, this is important. Call me back when you get this."-Chris
She called Chris hoping that Leon was safe. She could feel the tiredness vanish and was instantly replaced with worry.
"Chris what's going on?" She spoke as the other person picked up after the first ring. Please God, let Leon be safe.
"God damnit Claire, where have you been? Listen, all I can say is that Leon is missing. Hunnigan isn't able to track him down via his GPS and all his phone signals are severed. Is he with you?" Chris spoke.
Claire felt her head. "No, he isn't with me. The last time I saw him, he got out of a cab he shared with me at Chuck's firing range. I got a missed call from him though at 10pm" she said, regrettably.
Claire paused for a millisecond. What if he had stayed at Chris's apartment because of the events of the night before?
"Chris, have you tried calling your apartment? He could be there." Claire admitted. She didn't know how else she could cover this up.
"Why on earth would he be at my apartment? Did you two fight?" Chris asked after directing Jill off the phone to call their apartment.
"No, we just found ourselves in an awkward situation yesterday. I think he might be there to get his thoughts straight." Claire said. She didn't want Chris think there was any problems between Leon and her because he jumps into conclusions so quickly. But she guess, its better that he knew a little, and was able to figure out where Leon is, as compared to hiding the fact and not being able to find Leon.
"Claire," Chris said, clearly frustrated. "I know it's not my business, but at the moment Hunnigan is frantic, she doesn't want to tell her higher ups just yet because she doesn't know what the hell is going on."
"We didn't fight; we were just caught in an awkward situation, that's all. The next morning, I got up, I told him I had to go for a meeting, which I did, and was already late. Despite his hangover state, he still went on to the shooting range saying that he made an appointment with the owner and wanted to get some practise. So we shared a cab, I dropped him off and that's the last time I ever saw him. I didn't ask him to elaborate on his exact itinerary. Oh, and he said he was going to Dr. Wilkenson's after that." Claire said.
"I didn't know he too, went to Dr. Wilkenson for help." Chris mumbled. He continued, "Did he say anything about staying at my place?"
"No, in fact he told me he wanted to speak to me after work. I expected him to be home." Claire said, running to Leon's room to find Chris's spare key. It was still lying in the bottom drawer.
"Chris, your key is still here. He isn't at your apartment. That's it I'm heading out to look for him." Claire mentioned.
She was the type of girl who couldn't sit still and just be helpless. She needed to do something. She knows that she cares for Leon but being overly emotional over him wasn't really her thing.
"No, you're staying put. Hunnigan is doing all she can on her end to look for Leon, your search for Leon will only jeopardize your safety. Leon's working for the Government. If he is indeed in trouble, which I pray he isn't, the men out to get him have connections. You don't want to risk your life. All we can do now is help Hunnigan. So, tell me was he carrying anything valuable when he left the place, anything worth stealing?" Chris asked.
Claire took a deep breath cleared her mind just a little so that she could think rationally about what was going on.
"He was carrying a suitcase; I guessed that his guns were in it because he was going for target practise." Claire said, pacing the room.
"Hunnigan, do you copy that?" Chris asked. Apparently they managed to hook up the call three-way whilst Claire was distracted.
"Loud and clear. Claire, listen. I want you to go into his room, find any sort of documents that might give us a lead on where he is. Chances are, he might not even be involved in anything that has to do with being a Government agent, but we have to eliminate all causes. Can you do that? I'll be on the line as you search." Hunnigan assured Claire.
Claire scuttled into Leon's room and went through the most obvious places. She hated the idea of invading his privacy but she has to separate her personal feelings with professional ones.
She found various bullet magazines, clothes, travel documents which seemed very vague, probably due to his working status. Neither the time nor date of the return or arrival slots were filled in on the tickets, they were just printed with the acronym "n/a".
"I can't find anything out of the ordinary." Claire spoke on her phone.
"Keep checking. We've got some people knocking on Chuck's gun shop now to check if it might be open at this time of the night." Hunnigan confirmed.
In the background, Claire could hear Jill telling Chris that she still can't locate Leon. Claire felt suffocated by the minute.
She searched franticly around Leon's room to uncover anything. Half an hour went by without any luck and all every piece of Leon's belonging was thoroughly checked. She finally sat down and heaved a sigh. She can't go on with such haywire thoughts.
"Chris."Claire spoke out, whilst sprawled on the floor, helpless.
"Did you find anything?" Chris asked, fumbling back to the speakerphone.
"No." She said, feeling her throat tightening up even more by the second.
Chris could sense Claire's anxiety. "It's going to be okay, Claire. It's okay if you can't find anything. Hunnigan is doing her best to track down everything she can. Hang in there. Whatever you do, don't get out of the apartment. He could be just hanging out in the bar across the street, and his GPS might have run out of battery." He said.
Claire went to her study to see if he had left anything there. Surprisingly, she found a black file on top of her terra safe documents.
She opened it and checked it out to make sure it was Leon's. Glancing at the signature scribbled on the bottom of the pages, she knew instantly it was.
"Guys... I think I found something." Claire mentioned.
"What is it, Claire?" Hunnigan asked.
"It's a... dossier. A complete profile background... on Sherry." Claire said, whilst examining the documents in the black file.
"It contains everything about Sherry Birkin. From her date of birth to who's care she was under last. I thought she was under the Government's care, why does she have specific caretakers?" Claire asked.
"The Government approved a few foster homes so that those under the Government care can live in them." Hunnigan clarified.
"So Sherry isn't completely safe. " Claire said, disgusted at the Government's lack of responsibility.
"The Government noticed that she had not changed or mutated after her 13th birthday and deemed her fit to live in a foster care, approved by the Government." Hunnigan said.
Claire slid the papers back into the file and realised something was amidst. The file was on top of her Terra Save work which she had laid out meticulously the night before. He definitely wanted them to find it.
Claire immediately told Chris and Hunnigan the new information. "Maybe someone was looking for Sherry and knew Leon had full access to Sherry's files."
"I'm going to try to track down anyone possibly linked to Umbrella in Chicago. They're the only ones I think of who would be interested in Sherry Birkin, given her condition." Hunnigan said.
Claire took the file and rechecked everything in it, again. After all, that's all she could do. Pictures of Sherry were in it, with her growth chart, each recording signed by various government members, Sherry's weekly growth recordings were mostly signed by Leon when she was 11, as Claire identified his famous squiggle. She remembered him telling her how he had taken Sherry under his care for a while when Claire had gone to find Chris.
The black file also contained a section where Claire was mentioned in it, alongside with her involvement with Sherry. Not much was written about Claire, as compared to the entire file which was about Sherry. However, whatever information they had on Claire was spot on. The file wasn't kidding when it stated it was Government Property.
"Maybe we can track down Sherry. She could lead us to Leon. Claire, whose care was Sherry under last?" Chris asked.
"The last two foster cares she was placed in were in Milwaukee and... Chicago. I'm texting you the exact addresses and phone numbers now." Claire said, switching the phone to speaker so that she can text them the details.
"I've got the texts. I've sent our men to the following addresses. Claire, stay put and don't go anywhere. We've got this taken care of. In fact, you can go to bed whilst we get this sorted out. Just make sure your phone isn't on silent." Hunnigan said.
"It's late, Claire. Go to bed. We've got this." Chris tried to rationalise with her.
"Yeah, sure." Claire said half- heartedly, and hung up.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep until she knows Leon is safe.
a/n: Will update the next chapter a lot quicker than this one, I promise!