Chapter 3 - The Meeting
My head is still throbbing, and my eyes are becoming sensitive to light. Great I'm getting a migraine while I'm stuck in this elevator with Mr. Chuckles himself. The elevator stops, sh!t I forgot to remember what level we stopped on. Oh well. I walk down the hall to the conference room. He opens the door for me, I hope he's leaving this meeting. Nope, guess not. I sit down and rest my wrists on the table. I turn toward the man at the head of the table. "Jack Bristow I presume?" The man nods as he reaches for his sock. He pulls out a lock pick, and in a few seconds he has my hands out of the cuffs. I rub each wrist and then try to feel the lump on my head.
"Do you need any immediate medical assistance?" His tone is not of concern, just procedure. I shake my head no. "Good, we need to figure out what happened in Libya immediately." I look up into his eyes. There's concern in them now. It's not for me though, he's worried about something. I rub my temples.
"Haven't you heard from the rest of the team?" The man sitting across from me lowers his head, and Eric clears his throat. I know the answer before it is spoken. Jack opens the folder in front of him and takes out a stack of photos, and tosses them to me.
"These were received about thirteen hours ago in London." I look down. He speaks of them as objects. They aren't objects, they were my co-workers. The first few photos are of James, he's covered in ash. He was in the van with Salene, the woman in the next few photos. I flip through them then I see Karna. She was meant to be the lookout down the street. How could they have gotten her too? I swallow the lump that's building in my throat. I flip the last few photos slowly hoping they will only be those three. I stop. There he is, Calvin. Two shots to the head, and a few through his chest. I bite the inside of my lower lip to stall the tears. I can feel all the eyes in the room on me, but the discomfort from them is nothing compared to the photo. I knew we should never had split up. If I had been there I could have saved him. I know I could have. I look back at Jack.
"Continue." I mutter trying my best to hide all of my emotions.
"Well Officer Adurea, I need to know how you escaped." I sit in silence.
"Well honestly, I didn't really escape." My head rushes with the last images of Calvin and I, "Officer Trager and I had successfully retrieved the data files from the computer and were heading out of the compound, when out of no where a fleet of guards open fire on us. We both turned around and started to run, when another groups of guards cut us off. Cal..." I clear my throat. "Officer Trager motioned for me to run with the disks, while he tried to stall the guards. I made it out of the main complex only to be captured at the main gate." I pause again, my head is swirling with emotions, I need a few seconds to control them. I continue, "At the gate I was knocked out by the butt of an automatic rifle. Then next thing I know I wake up in a room tied to a chair. I wasn't even really tied though, they used duct tape. There were no cameras in the room, just a table, a chair and me. I was able to break through the duct tape and get out of the chair. I got to the door and opened it. It wasn't locked. There were no guards and no cameras in the hall. I walked out of the building to find myself in the middle of the business district of LA. I called the dispatcher and here I am." I look up at the other two men. Eric is sifting through my file. The other man has his chin resting in his hand and a confused look on his face. He turns to Jack,
"It's a trap Jack. I think we need to secure her and send her down and have her eyes scanned for the protein. She has to be a trap." Jack just sits there. It's obvious he's calculating my story, but there is no sign of what his conclusion is.
"Dixon. If I thought she was a trap I would not have let her out of the handcuffs. Sloane is up to something. There is some hidden message in all of this." The phone in the middle of the table rings and Jack picks it up. "This is Jack... Syd?.. I want you and Vaughn out of Libya now... I'll fill you in when you return." Jack hangs up the phone. He turns to Officer Weiss. "Will you escort Officer Adurea down to the medical center and have her checked out. Dixon and I need to call London and see what they make of all this." Great Mr. Chuckles again. I stand up and walk to the door and wait for Eric. I open the door and follow him out. He leads me back towards the elevators. Great another elevator ride.
My head is still throbbing, and my eyes are becoming sensitive to light. Great I'm getting a migraine while I'm stuck in this elevator with Mr. Chuckles himself. The elevator stops, sh!t I forgot to remember what level we stopped on. Oh well. I walk down the hall to the conference room. He opens the door for me, I hope he's leaving this meeting. Nope, guess not. I sit down and rest my wrists on the table. I turn toward the man at the head of the table. "Jack Bristow I presume?" The man nods as he reaches for his sock. He pulls out a lock pick, and in a few seconds he has my hands out of the cuffs. I rub each wrist and then try to feel the lump on my head.
"Do you need any immediate medical assistance?" His tone is not of concern, just procedure. I shake my head no. "Good, we need to figure out what happened in Libya immediately." I look up into his eyes. There's concern in them now. It's not for me though, he's worried about something. I rub my temples.
"Haven't you heard from the rest of the team?" The man sitting across from me lowers his head, and Eric clears his throat. I know the answer before it is spoken. Jack opens the folder in front of him and takes out a stack of photos, and tosses them to me.
"These were received about thirteen hours ago in London." I look down. He speaks of them as objects. They aren't objects, they were my co-workers. The first few photos are of James, he's covered in ash. He was in the van with Salene, the woman in the next few photos. I flip through them then I see Karna. She was meant to be the lookout down the street. How could they have gotten her too? I swallow the lump that's building in my throat. I flip the last few photos slowly hoping they will only be those three. I stop. There he is, Calvin. Two shots to the head, and a few through his chest. I bite the inside of my lower lip to stall the tears. I can feel all the eyes in the room on me, but the discomfort from them is nothing compared to the photo. I knew we should never had split up. If I had been there I could have saved him. I know I could have. I look back at Jack.
"Continue." I mutter trying my best to hide all of my emotions.
"Well Officer Adurea, I need to know how you escaped." I sit in silence.
"Well honestly, I didn't really escape." My head rushes with the last images of Calvin and I, "Officer Trager and I had successfully retrieved the data files from the computer and were heading out of the compound, when out of no where a fleet of guards open fire on us. We both turned around and started to run, when another groups of guards cut us off. Cal..." I clear my throat. "Officer Trager motioned for me to run with the disks, while he tried to stall the guards. I made it out of the main complex only to be captured at the main gate." I pause again, my head is swirling with emotions, I need a few seconds to control them. I continue, "At the gate I was knocked out by the butt of an automatic rifle. Then next thing I know I wake up in a room tied to a chair. I wasn't even really tied though, they used duct tape. There were no cameras in the room, just a table, a chair and me. I was able to break through the duct tape and get out of the chair. I got to the door and opened it. It wasn't locked. There were no guards and no cameras in the hall. I walked out of the building to find myself in the middle of the business district of LA. I called the dispatcher and here I am." I look up at the other two men. Eric is sifting through my file. The other man has his chin resting in his hand and a confused look on his face. He turns to Jack,
"It's a trap Jack. I think we need to secure her and send her down and have her eyes scanned for the protein. She has to be a trap." Jack just sits there. It's obvious he's calculating my story, but there is no sign of what his conclusion is.
"Dixon. If I thought she was a trap I would not have let her out of the handcuffs. Sloane is up to something. There is some hidden message in all of this." The phone in the middle of the table rings and Jack picks it up. "This is Jack... Syd?.. I want you and Vaughn out of Libya now... I'll fill you in when you return." Jack hangs up the phone. He turns to Officer Weiss. "Will you escort Officer Adurea down to the medical center and have her checked out. Dixon and I need to call London and see what they make of all this." Great Mr. Chuckles again. I stand up and walk to the door and wait for Eric. I open the door and follow him out. He leads me back towards the elevators. Great another elevator ride.