SEARCHING FOR A TRUE IDENTITY

CHAPTER 13

BETA: Hannah

INFO: www.livejournal. com/users/draycious

Emerald brought his cell phone with him, so he could be contacted at anytime by his crew. Even through he did not show it, he was dead scared of what could meet him once he came to the scene, even through he had to go to the headquarters first. He had to meet up with his mentor Darren Harris, and inform him of what was going on. Currently the Headquarters of SL (the one that was located in London) had already been informed of what was going on out in the field, at least as much as they currently knew themselves.

Emerald had to find Darren, who was working undercover somewhere. He needed to find him because if they needed to contact the other Headquarters for back up (which was located in USA) Darren would have to be the one to give the clearings. He was the leader for SL, London, and he made all the big decisions. The last time a big disaster had hit them, they had not contacted USA, simply because they did not want to contact them in vain. This time, unlike the last, they were prepared to contact them even though there might not be a need for their help.

It was better to be prepared, and judging from what he had seen so far, Emerald was pretty certain that this murder case was a minor thing in a huge picture. He feared that this might have something to do with either the muggle government, or the underworlds top leaders. Either way they would not be able to come to the bottom of things unless they got help, or if he, Emerald himself, went out on the field. However, that might not be possible because if he was out on the field he would be gone for weeks and weeks, and he would miss school since it wasn't summertime. On top of that the wizarding world would notice since he was Harry Potter, and that simply wouldn't do. He could not expose himself, Merlin knew what chaos would happen if everyone found out he wasn't so innocent as the tales said.

He went outside the Hogwarts grounds and did his illegal apparating to muggle London. He used many spells on himself in order to disguise himself, his magic and his aura. No one would be able to track him down or follow him to SL Headquarters. Those spells were standard procedure for those who would enter SL. Just in case of still being followed by someone who had received the same training as him (which wasn't very likely) he quickly called on a cab which drove him to the SL headquarters.

He walked inside the very ordinary looking building that went under the disguise of being a lawyer agency. He went into the elevator, and found a hidden hatch which he opened. Inside he dialed the number of his licence and the elevator began to move. He would now arrive to the bottom floor, underneath London. Everyone else who wasn't a member of SL would only have been able to move between the three floors the elevator buttons provided for them. The hatch wouldn't be found no matter what, it blended into the elevator wall and was spelled there by magic. A muggle would have no chance of finding it, ever.

He waited impatiently while the elevator took him down, it felt like minutes when it more likely took only one. The doors opened and he stepped into a sophisticated looking environment with lots of black leather sofas and very dark brown- almost black looking, tree- tables. Usually he loved the sight, but right now he couldn't care less as he walked by the green plants and trees. His hurried steps echoed through the deserted hallway. The walls were painted in pale cream, and the hallway was broad. The whole place was very cool thanks to the air conditioning. The place held a faint smell of jasmine, and something heavier that he could not put his finger on. He turned left at the crossing of four corridors, and he entered a door which said "Jerry Ledger". Once he entered the office room, the smell of male perfume hit him. He immediately recognized it as "Giorgi Armani- Aquardi di Gió". He also knew that it was Jerry's scent. He knew that for a fact since he had slept with the man many times throughout the year. They were friends as well.

"Jerry!" he shouted and looked around in the room. The room was huge, but it still had another room in which where Jerry came from.

"Emerald, fucking hell!" Jerry said and hugged him tightly.

"It's good to see you too, even if I would rather have seen you under different circumstances."

"I thought you were out there in the field, Geez, my fucking heart stopped when I heard the report that most of the guys out there were dead!" Jerry said letting go of him.

"We don't know that for certain Jerry, they might still be alive. Our source was a newbie. His name is Jack and is a first year student. He has no education what so ever and went into a shock. For all I know there might only be one person dead, and one of the bad guys as well," Emerald argued. Jerry looked at him closely.

"You don't even believe that yourself do you? Why are you trying to fool yourself? I've read the report of the noises in the background, and I also know of the fact that something happened to our extra resources, our rescue squad. It's bad Em, and you know it," Jerry said and went over to his desk and sat down. Emerald made a frustrated noise.

"Perhaps so but it won't do to loose hope. We have made a request for another rescue team to be sent out, has it been done?" he asked.

Jerry nodded.

"Of course," he said. "We sent them away as soon as we got the request. It must have been right when you left Hogwarts too. So you mustn't know that something happened to them as well, only minutes ago. The lines are silent, the screen dots are blinking."

Emerald stared at him. "That's not possible!" he shouted. "No one can take us down that easily!"

Jerry sighed.

"I know Em! Hell, everyone knows that! Yet all our forces have been taken down, by unknown enemies as well as by unknown means. If I didn't know better I would say someone has planned this, as an attack against US, and not this bloody drug dealer." Jerry slammed a file down the table with a band and put his face in his hands.

"Are you saying this might be an attack, that it isn't an unfortunate coincidence?" Emerald asked quietly. Jerry looked up tiredly.

"What do you think Emerald? Haven't you come to this conclusion yourself?" he asked. Emerald nodded slowly. "I've thought about it," he admitted. "But I never would have thought it would actually come to be true. This is exactly like the last time, still we can't know anything for sure. I am going to get down there and see for myself what this mess is all about as soon as I've seen Darren, which is the reason why I am here by the way. Do you know where he is?"

Jerry nodded. "I've sent for him, but he hasn't responded. He should have been here by now. Quite frankly I'm worried", he admitted. Emerald too could see the worry shining through Jerry's brown eyes. His blonde hair was sticking up in many directions which meant Jerry felt a huge amount of frustration at the moment. He must have pulled his hair many times since the first sign of the attack had been reported. Usually Jerry was very careful about his appearance, you could almost call him vain at times.

"I see. I'm going to go and look for him. Do you know where he is usually at?" he asked.

"Yeah, he is working undercover as Professor Denver at London University for the moment. Don't ruin his cover even through this is an emergency. I understand that you too have thought about contacting USA?" Jerry asked. Emerald nodded.

"Indeed. We need to do that, and since this last squad was taken down as well, I am not only going to request of Darren that we make the US squads prepared to come here, but I want them here as well. NOW!" he said in a crystal clear voice with little room for arguments. Jerry nodded.

"Precisely my thought and everyone else's too I assume."

"It is going to work out fine Jerry, as soon as I'm starting to take care of it." Jerry looked at him surprised.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I am going to ask Darren to hand over his responsibility for the SL Headquarter in London to me as soon as I see him."

"You are crazy Emerald!" Jerry said with wide eyes.

"It is not that I don't trust Darren, cause I do. However, I want to go on about this matter in my own way, which is the only way that is going to work. This is my case, and I am ready to do a come back. I want to clear this up, hell, I need to do this. Perhaps then I can leave the past behind me," he said in harsh voice.

"It wasn't your fault Emerald," Jerry said quietly with pain in his voice. He had lost his twin brother in the disaster.

"Maybe you don't see it that way, but I still had a certain responsibility for what happened. I won't be able to let that go unless I do this, do you read me? I have to go now, there is no time to waste while my people might be bleeding to death at this very second. I will see you again Jerry, hopefully when all this is over if not sooner", Emerald said and hurriedly left the office before Jerry could say anything else.

All he had to do now was to find Darren who no one had heard from since the attack had happened. He only hoped nothing had happened to Darren, because that would complicate things. He tried not to think about it is he called on a cab outside the HQ' s and ordered to be driven to the University.