Carter Bennett Gage (commonly known as Gage) was a fairly normal college boy. He spent his time studying and doing homework, and programming in his free time. He was majoring in computer programming and it was something he loved to do. But other than school, he really didn't consider himself a successful person. He didn't have the social graces of his twin brother William (Will, for short). He didn't like parties, or crowded places, and was entirely oblivious to flirtation and romance. Whenever he opened his mouth unintelligible jargon came out. He was generally just a very socially awkward person. But he was good, very good, at programming. From his very first encounter with a computer he showed a talent for technology, and by the time he hit puberty he was already a prodigious hacker. So, at least there was that.
He sat at his computer, staring intently at the screen. The website for The Roswell Daily Record was open in front of him; the story was of a disappearance. The police weren't even certain that the man was even in danger, or missing, it looked like he had just dropped everything and left. There were no signs of a struggle, or fowl play. He had just simply disappeared. This was the fifth case in as many weeks, and Gage suspected that there were more.
All of the missing people were ones who would not be missed: people new to the area without friends or family nearby, or recluses, or just people that no one liked and secretly hoped would go away. Except for this last one, he had been going on vacation, and just never returned. He did have family in the area, and they were quite concerned about him; that was the only reason it hadn't been buried under a mountain of other news like the others had. But even his family wasn't certain that he hadn't just left on his own; he had seemed like the type to do so.
Then there was the decreasing number of homeless. Gage was sure of it. There were fewer beggars on the street and fewer homeless sitting under bridges and in alleyways. He was the type to notice such things, just like he had noticed the decrease in crime (which he guessed meant there was also a decrease in criminals). Roswell was the 5th biggest city in New Mexico; Gage wondered how many people could go missing before people started to notice, especially when the people going missing were usually undesirables. He wasn't sure that anyone would even care, not until one of their own disappeared, like this latest man.
Gage was certain that there was something going on, that someone was behind this, and whoever it was knew exactly who to pick so as not to raise alarms, except for this last one. They had made a mistake. Were they becoming desperate? Were they devolving? Or was it a mistake at all? No one was panicking. Even the story of his disappearance hadn't made the front page of the news.
No, the leading story was something about a mysterious blue box. Apparently it was an antique police box, straight out of 20th century England, and despite everyone's best efforts, no one had been able to enter or even open it. So in the end, since it wasn't hurting or inconveniencing anyone and was probably just a prank anyway, they decided to leave it in the alley where it was found and try to ignore it. Officials figured that the pranksters would likely collect it once people stopped paying attention to it.
Gage shook his head in annoyance. Roswell was already the laughing stock of the entire United States, and the people seemed content to keep it that way. Long before Gage had been born, rumors of aliens visiting Roswell had spread. Now the city relished in its embarrassing reputation of extraterrestrial encounters and government conspiracies, it even held a yearly alien festival. On the plus side, tourism had always been a fairly reliable source of income. Apparently people the world over wanted to meet a real, live alien.
Gage's friend Peter Ness was one of these people. He was even majoring in astronomy, which, Gage suspected, was just an excuse to spend countless nights looking at the sky through a telescope and writing things down (looking for signs of alien life). Gage wasn't interested in aliens, he figured that they probably existed, but on some distant world, and that even if they were aware of earth, they wouldn't want to waste their time with such a boring place. And even if they did, Gage was certain that he never wanted to meet one.
Peter was the same age as Gage and Will, twenty-one, give or take a few months, and even though he was eccentric and quite geeky he was still a hit with the ladies (Gage figured it was his British accent, apparently women love it).
They were all in different stages in their college careers. Gage was getting ready to graduate, with only a few credits, and a fewer number of months left. Peter was perfectly on track to graduate in a year. And Will was slightly behind, still a sophomore. It wasn't due to failed classes or lack of intelligence that Will was behind, he just simply didn't know what he wanted to do with his life and was continuously switching majors. By his third year in college he had tried no less than five different majors, and they were each in different colleges, encompassing entirely different fields of study. He was growing rather frustrated with school and was considering leaving altogether.
Carter Bennett Gage and William Bennett Gage, twins though they were, shared very little in common. Their appearance was one of these things: both of them had the same face, hazel eyes, and brown hair. The only difference was that Gage's hair was always messy looking and left down, brushing the top of his eyebrows, and Will kept his hair up in a neat, spiky style. But, other than their appearance, they really did have very little in common.
Carter, from a very young age, decided that he really didn't like his first or middle name and insisted on being called Gage. While William liked his own name but disliked the name Gage, and only consented to his name being shortened after everyone had decided to call him Will anyway, despite his protests. Neither of them particularly liked the name Bennett. Gage, who was slightly younger (by minutes), was the more focused of the two and already knew what he wanted to do with his life, more or less. He was also not as athletic or socially competent as Will, who was every bit as intelligent as Gage, but lacked any clear purpose or passion. Oddly, it was Peter that had more in common with Gage, both of them being obsessive and driven in their pursuits, and more than just a little eccentric. At least Peter could hold a conversation without it devolving into strange mumbling, usually.
Whenever Gage thought about Will or Peter, or anyone else really, he couldn't help but compare himself to them. He knew it was a bad habit, and he tried to forcibly pull himself back each time he caught his thoughts wandering into that unwinnable territory. He forced his attention back to the computer and the notes he had written about the disappearances. Before he could get back into his work he was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.
Answering the door, Gage was met with the peculiar sight of Shui Ruan Jin, his brother's closest friend. His parents had come to the United States (along with his grandmother) before Shui had even been born. Now he was twenty-three years old, had recently received a degree in fine art, and was a well paid, well respected tattoo artist. He was a very strange sight: one hoop pierced his lip; one silver stud was set beside his eye and another just lower than that; he also had one black stud set in each ear; and a strange black, clip-like piercing wrapped over the very edge of one ear. He had several well placed, elegant tattoos drawn onto his skin. And his hair, which was of average length near his head, had been grown into very long bangs, which had then been swept to one side, partly covering one eye and some of his face.
Other than looking very strange, Shui also claimed to have a very unusual name. He said that his name included a strangely placed 'Jin', which was supposed to be a personal name, but had been conjugated with Ruan into his surname (Ruan being a normal family name). Apparently there was even a story behind it, but Gage had never been interested enough to ask. And there he was, standing in the hallway, wearing his usual style of black and white clothing, carefully selected and arranged to show as much of his tattoos as possible.
"Shui, what are you doing here?" Gage asked, surprised.
Shui looked at him curiously, raising an eyebrow, and continued looking at him exactly like that until realization dawned on Gage.
"Oh right, Jin," Gage said, remembering that he preferred being called Jin, "So… what do you want?"
"A client asked for a tattoo of an authentic replica of an X4 computer chip, can I borrow one of your books?" he asked.
"Oh, uhm, sure" Gage replied, going to his desk and finding an old book filled with pictures and descriptions of the inner workings of computers. He gave the book to Jin.
"Thanks" Jin said.
"Uh, no problem" Gage said, expecting Jin to leave, when he didn't Gage asked, "Was there something else?"
"Hmm...? No" Jin said, turning to leave. He seemed more distracted than usual.
"If you wanted a reference, you could have just looked up a picture of the chip online," Gage said, trying to coax out the real reason behind Jin's visit.
"Yes, I suppose so…" Jin replied.
And they stayed there like that for several moments, Jin standing half inside, half outside the room while Gage tapped his foot in frustration, pushing up his glasses.
"There's something going on," Jin finally admitted. "And it may be serious."
"What happened?" Gage asked.
"A close friend is missing," Jin said. "It hasn't been 24 hours yet so the police haven't even started looking. And then, when I tried to find clues where she might have gone, I didn't find anything. Not the slightest indication that she was taken against her will. But I can't shake this bad feeling that I have, I'm sure that something has happened to her."
A cold ripple went down Gage's spine. It sounded just like the other cases, but so soon? Gage felt like there was an ominous cloud creeping closer, and all he could hear was the distant sound of thunder. But, he had to be certain.
"How do you know that something didn't come up?" Gage asked. "If it was important enough she may have just left in a hurry."
Gage sat on the chair beside his computer desk, and Jin entered the room, closing the door behind him.
"She isn't the type to do that," Jin replied, shaking his head. "Besides, she would not have left this behind" he held up a small, ornate hairclip shaped like a crescent moon. "It is very important to her."
"What do you expect me to do?" Gage asked, thinking of the enormity of the task. He couldn't find her, it was impossible; and he couldn't help but think that Will would be a better choice for this. Will would be busting down doors, putting up fliers, demanding that the police look into it. Gage didn't even know where to begin.
"I don't know," Jin finally admitted. He stood in the middle of the room, his hands clenched and his eyes downcast; his frustration was palpable.
"What's her name?" Gage asked, feeling like he had to do something, and the very beginnings of a plan were just starting to work their way into his head.
"Natsuko Mori," Jin replied instantly. "And here, this is her picture," he took out his phone, found Natsuko's photo, and showed it to Gage.
Gage took the phone, and then pulled out one of a multitude of cables from the desk drawer. He connected Jin's phone to the computer and downloaded the picture. Then, he started typing furiously into the computer until two different programs were running simultaneously. To Jin, the words and images were meaningless, passing by too quickly to see.
"What are you doing?" Jin asked, staring intently at the screen, trying to make sense of the endless jumble.
"I'm simultaneously running a facial recognition program and a database search," Gage replied, then, seeing the confused look on Jin's face, he elaborated. "The program on the left is going through the city's video footage and comparing the faces to Natsuko's. I programmed it to search all the video feeds since yesterday, and it'll probably take awhile. The one on the right is going through the city's records, tracking her credit card uses, and trying to find a paper trail."
Jin raised one eyebrow in amazement, and asked, "Is that even legal?"
Gage didn't respond. Instead, he continued looking intently at the screen. Then there was a small *ding* and Gage turned towards the left, he started typing things in and when he found what he wanted, he pulled up the program, filling the screen.
"Wow, that took a lot less time than I was expecting," Gage said with some surprise.
"You found her?!" Jin asked, kneeling beside Gage and trying to see what he had.
"Yeah, this camera picked her up outside a convenience store late last night," Gage said, playing the recording. "It was time stamped at two in the morning. What was she doing out so late?"
"She's getting her Master's degree in chemistry, she often stays late at the university," Jin explained, then pointed at the girl exiting the convenience store with a soda and a bag of chips. "It looks like she was on her way home"
Natsuko took a sip of the soda and turned left, walking off camera.
"She lives in an apartment just off campus, and doesn't own a car," Jin explained, the tension coming through in his voice.
"I'll try to find the nearest camera," Gage said, typing commands into the computer. "There, got it. This video is from a bank, they have a 24-hour surveillance system. She walked right by it, and it looks like the feed picks up right after she left the convenience store."
The video showed the girl walking across the street from the bank, barely in the camera's line of sight. She dropped something and bent down to pick it up. Then three masked men jumped out of the alley behind her and whisked her away, kicking and screaming (or so they presumed, as the video feed didn't have sound). A nondescript black car pulled up beside them and the three men climbed in, throwing Natsuko into the trunk.
"She really was kidnapped," Jin stated, amazed and horrified at the development. "But her family isn't rich, she doesn't have any money or property, so what do they want with her?"
"I don't know," Gage admitted, also stunned. "But I don't think she was their first victim. I was just looking into a theory about that when you arrived."
"More people are missing?" Jin asked, "But there hasn't been anything about kidnappings in the news."
"Whoever's doing this is careful, always taking people that won't be missed and leaving no trace of fowl play. Well, until yesterday. Two people in one day, both of which have friends or family in the area. They've changed their MO, their mode of operation, and they made a mistake. Now we have proof of what's going on," Gage said.
"I have to send this video to the police, they have to know what's going on," Gage muttered to himself. "Even if I send it anonymously they won't be able to ignore it."
"Gage, look," Jin said, pointing at the screen. "Pause the video."
Gage paused it, looking closely at the space where Jin was pointing. "A witness," he said, his voice almost a whisper.
"We have to find her," Jin said. "She saw everything."
"Yes," Gage said. "And she may be in danger."
The video was paused just after the kidnapping, the picture was still and dark. At the very top of the image, a white haired girl was peeking out of an alleyway, almost invisible in the grainy footage.