One word

AN: You are going to have to ignore the mistakes that I am bound to make, considering the time difference between America and England. Sorry.

AN2: Updates for this and my other stories are going to become slower (If that were possible) I know that I'm not the quickest updater on the planet so I'm afraid that you are going to have to bear with me.

Anyway…

Day one, part one

CIA building, USA, 6:32am

"ARC? Are you sure?" Alexa asked as she made her way down one of the many corridors in the CIA building. The voice on the phone became defiant.

"Yes. ARC. That's what it said, how can you not know, everyone knows. It's like a virus. It's practically everywhere. Look, are you on your way in?"

"Yep, just making my way to the door now."

The phone went dead.

That was the seventh call that Alexa had received that concerned that particular word and it was only half six in the morning. She shook her head, what was the world coming to?

She gently pushed the door open, nearly knocking a man out as he passed. The two shared a look before the man straightened his suit and mumbled a quick apology before rushing of again. She let the door close and looked around her; the room of operation was bustling with life, as always, but something was different. Not one person looked cheerful; in fact, they all looked quite the opposite. People were rushing around, carrying folders and equipment, each person neatly dodging around another. Every computer was on, with men in neatly trimmed Italian suits, or women in pencil skirts and stilettoes hovering over the keyboard and typing violently. Classified papers and other sorts of folders lay strewn across desks, and even on the floor.

It was mayhem.

She managed to push her way towards the front of the room.

"ARC?" She questioned, staring intently at the main computer screen that had the word in capitals printed across it. She brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face and hardly registered when Jake Maxwell came to a standstill behind her,

"Yep." He sighed heavily, "We were called in this early for that." He gestured to the word on the screen with his pen. He looked as tired as the rest of the people in the room, although the perfectly ironed navy blue suit did him justice. Alexa raised an eyebrow,

"So, what is it? Some religious thing?" She guessed.

Jake sighed again, "We don't think so, it just appeared and now, no matter what we do it just doesn't go away. The president's going nuts!"

He turned to a young woman with red hair, "Get me a cup of coffee would you."

"Caffeinated sir?"

Jake rolled his eyes, exasperated, "Yes of course I want it bloody caffeinated."

The woman hurried off in search for the kitchen. Alexa glanced around again.

Yes, the CIA were for once, completely clueless.

"Alexa?" Maxwell's voice penetrated her thoughts, she turned to him.

"Yes?" She managed to smile through the yawn that had been slowly making its way up her throat for the past couple of minutes.

"Do some digging will you?"

Alexa grinned, "Consider it dug, sir." She clicked her fingers behind her shoulder as she walked away, "Mark? I need your help."

Mark; a tall, dark haired, tanned man, in a brown suit turned and jogged to catch up with her.

()()()()()()()()

CIA building, USA, 8:39am

Two hours later, and Mark groaned and hit his head lightly on the desk for what seemed like the hundredth time. Maxwell walked up behind him and tapped the back of his head with the tip of his fingers. Mark immediately sat up straight. Maxwell sighed as he spoke,

"Anything?"

Alexa turned to face her superior, "It's been as hard as pushing jelly up a hill, but we got something."

She stretched across the table and picked up an extremely thin folder,

"There's only one article in there but…"

"Mmmm." Maxwell scanned the sheet of paper in front of him, "This is it?"

Mark then cut in, "Well there was plenty on the bible, but we didn't think that you'd wanna hear that."

"Quite right. So all we know is that it's some top government facility-"

"- based in London."

"Yes Alexa, thank you. I am perfectly capable of reading." He rolled his eyes, before a look of realisation fell across his face, "Y'know, I never got that coffee."

And with that, he sauntered off.

()()()()()()()()()()

CIA building, USA, 11:06am

Alexa sat, or rather slouched in her seat. Her painted black stilettoes had been discarded under her desk a while back and now she sat with her feet resting on her desk and her ankles crossed. Lazily trawling through files that had been found in the archives, anything that contained the word "ARC". She had read more bible references than she cared to count, and had even come across old mafia gangs that were long since deceased. She hadn't been this bored in months; it had been several hours since the word first appeared, and it still looked as though it was going to stay put. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, desperately wanting to fall asleep.

"Coffee?"

She opened her eyes, startled at the sudden voice that had so rudely interrupted her almost peace and quiet. She looked up to see Mandy, the woman she had spoken to earlier on the phone, she was standing over her holding a pot of strong looking coffee and a mug. She almost seemed heaven sent. Alexa nodded silently and watched intently, like an eager puppy waiting for a ball to be thrown, as Mandy filled the yellow china mug. Mandy spoke again as she handed Alexa the mug.

"I know how grumpy Maxwell will get if you leave your desk." She laughed half-heartedly. "Anything new?"

"Nope." Alexa said shortly, taking a grateful gulp of coffee and almost choking at how strong it was, and hot.

"Someone has gotta know something." Mandy sighed as she perched herself on the desk next to Alexa's feet.

"This word has apparently spread almost all over the world. I mean, we've had reports from China! You'd think that someone would come forward."

"Any news from England?"

Alexa looked up at the woman, "The government over there is staying silent. Not a word is coming out of London." She paused before adding quietly, "Not one single statement. Gotta mean something."

"Securities tight?" Mandy guessed.

"What? So tight that the name of a secret organisation is planted firmly on every computer screen in the world?"

"Okay, maybe not so tight."

The two young women laughed before Mandy set of in search of anyone else who needed a pick-me-up via coffee.

Alexa gave a small exasperated laugh and ran her hand roughly through her hair.

()()()()()()()()()

()()()()()

()()()()()()()()()

Somewhere a long way away and a long time ago.

He gazed at the now dwindling ashes of the fire as he stretched and stood up.

The final few stars that filled the darker area of the dawn sky were slowly dissipating as the sun rose from behind him. He found it quite beautiful. Danny stared in awe at the sight that that was in front of him. I t would seem that this hellish place he was in would be as safe as it was beautiful, but no, danger lurked around practically every corner, and he knew it all too well. His days now consisted of dancing and dodging around the threats that appeared more often than not. After losing sight of Patrick in the Jurassic his days had been the same; eat, drink, and survive. It was all getting rather dull now, he longed to see his brother again, he wanted to talk to him, even if he wouldn't listen, mainly though, he wanted to know he was safe. He had no idea whether or not Patrick was still alive, let alone whether he was okay.

And it killed him.

It killed him to know that he could no longer protect his little brother.

Sighing deeply, he stood up and walked to the opening of the small cave that he had called home for that night. He stretched once again and surveyed his surroundings; a shrubby wasteland stretched far into the horizon and beyond. The blazing sun seemed to burn his eyes slightly and he raised his hand to shade his face from the blistering heat of the early morning sky. He desperately searched for an indication of which direction he should walk, he knew that there would be nothing. He would just have to walk, walk and pray that he would one day see that tell-tale glisten of an anomaly somewhere in the distance, to feel that relief washing over him as he walked through to find himself home.

Finally making the decision that he would walk with the sun behind him. Danny set of.

()()()()()()()()

()()()()()()

()()()()()()()()

The ARC, London, 12:32pm

"SYSTEM BREACH."

Those two words filled the air of each room, the loud automatic voice continued to repeat itself as Lester launched his pen across his desk in annoyance. He glanced over at the ADD through the glass windows of his office, Techies surrounded the piece of equipment like a swarm of locusts, and in the midst of the utter panic was Jess, trying to stay calm and clearly failing. Her manicured nails skimmed over the keyboards as she tried to get a grasp of what was going on, her face was red and flustered as her eyes darted from one screen to the next.

Lester stood up and surveyed the young girl as she worked, she was quite remarkable, especially at her age, but this seemed to have stalled her. She had stopped moving and was now just staring at the screen in complete confusion; she clearly had no idea what to do next. Lester calmly stepped out of his office and made his way towards the ADD.

"What is it?" He asked, coming to a standstill behind the group of techies. Naturally, all of them began to speak at once. He held up his hand and silenced them as Jess whirled around to face him,

"I need Connor." Was all she said before calling for him through her ear piece. Connor gave his confirmation that he was on his way and the nineteen year old let out a shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair before turning to Lester once more.

"Something has happened. We're everywhere. Every city, every country-"

Lester stepped forward, "Calm down Jess, what do you mean?"

The young girl took a deep breath and spoke as evenly as possible, "The word ARC, it's on practically every computer screen in the world, I don't know how it happened." She shook her head, partly in dismay and partly in fear.

"Jess, focus." The girl in question nodded, "Now can you turn this alarm off, it's giving me a migraine. Focus on doing that, turn the alarm off."

She turned back to her computer and after about thirty seconds, the ARC was quiet. Connor chose that moment to burst through the doors, his hair was wayward and he looked as though he had been running,

"I heard the alarm and was on my way when you called me, what's happened?"

Jess then explained all of what had happened to Connor, who seemed to remain calm as he politely pushed the techies out of the way and made his way to Jess' side. He scanned the screen and confirmed,

"Every person in the world is now reading the same word; ARC. How the hell did it happen?" He asked himself.

Lester took that moment to take charge, "Everyone, at your desks, do what you do best; convert calls, cancel calls, and figure out how the hell this happened! Not a word about the ARC gets out!" He sighed, "I'm going to speak with the minister." He turned and walked back towards his office as he mumbled, "Bloody hell."

He sat back in his chair and dialled the number, a woman answered,

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, get me the minister, tell him it's important."

"Putting you through now."

He mentally prepared himself for the long discussion he was about to have.

So this is chapter one, I will be working pretty hard on this fic so hopefully it will come out as good as planned and hopefully chapters will be a little longer. Please review and tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it.