Bright and early at the National Police Agency, agents were rustling through papers, searching for clues during their indirect conversation with Skylar. A particular agent named Sam spoke up feeling a little anxious, "All of the disappearances occur around the times of two o' clock pm and four o' clock pm according to our reports."
"That information is extremely relevant to hold onto. It suggests given the times of vanishings, our suspect could very well be a student. Based on the fact that the Kidnapper is only purposing a vanishing act, I think that it's safe to assume that he is following a notion of justice. Of course, there is no speculation against this point. Re-examine every assumption that you have, to determine that if it's a student or not. We will consider every possibility in this case for now. That concludes our report for today, I shall be speaking to all of you soon," Skylar concluded through the laptop.
The Chief of the NPA, Josh, walked home tiredly to his apartment that he shared with his brother, Bob. He greeted him at the door since he was headed to the kitchen. "Hey, did you bring those reports home with you?" Bob asked expecting an answer immediately.
"Yeah, they're all right here," he threw them on the table, and sat down in a chair after pouring himself a glass of ice water.
His brother simply replied reading the expression on his face, "You sure look exhausted, how much sleep have you gotten? You have bags under your eyes."
"Ha well I haven't really gotten enough I suppose. This case I'm working is really draining me, we are fighting tooth and nail to gain even the smallest evidence."
"I think you should take a rest for an hour or two since you're back home, I'm going back up to my room to study for some upcoming tests."
"Alright, I think I'll take your offer on that one," Josh yawned a little, and headed up to his part of the apartment, hoping to get some shut eye.
Almost every time Bob went to his room, he locked the door out of habit. It's not that he didn't trust his brother, but what he's been doing the past weeks; Bob couldn't take any chances from anyone. "What to do, what to do?" He muttered to himself as he paced about his small, tidy room. Lying on his bed, facing the ceiling, he pondered the thought on how to confuse the police next, to somehow steer them off course. A memory danced at the front of his mind, reminding him about the rules in the handbook. He could write the exact time that the act would occur, so they wouldn't suspect it would be anyone from the universities. However, knowing Skylar, she would notice it right away. On the good side of that though, Bob wanted to show his dominance in this battle.
Two weeks passed and Bob relentlessly made another twenty-three people disappear, the police got word of it. "You got to be kidding me! Are these confirmed?" the chief stood up and placed his hands on his desk firmly grasping the edge.
Agent Sam answered, "Yes. Except, now he's making them vanish one hour off the hour. Anyone could skip school though."
Skylar interrupted, "You're missing the point. It does appear less likely now that it's a student, but that's not the message he's sending by doing this. Ask yourselves, why every hour? And why are all of these people in prisons, where they are sure to be discovered right away? Why not other people like before? I believe that the Kidnapper is telling us that not only can he make vanishings from a distance, but he can also determine the time that this occurs."
A pause filled the room before she continued with her deduction.
"However, something's not right. When we suspected that he might be a student, the pacing changed. As if to contradict that theory, is it a coincidence? No, too convenient. The Kidnapper has access to police information. It's obvious now; that this is a direct challenge to me. What is he trying to achieve in the end? World domination or an unrealistic world full of peace? Endless possibilities."
The agents in the room soaked in her questions, and began talking amongst themselves. While this is taking place, Bob is calmly walking in the park a few miles from school, anticipating the reactions that the police will get if they have to join forces with the legendary detective, Skylar, and her partner, "If Skylar is to join up with the NPA, than I have a shot at using the handbook. Her and the investigators don't trust each other at all. She'll be determined to investigate the police for any tracings. It'll only be a matter of time before the police start resenting Skylar. It will appear that they are working together to catch me, but in reality, she will investigate the police, and the police will be investigating her."
Back at the NPA, stress was increasing throughout the room like a bubble waiting to be popped. Others moaned to themselves in frustration, while others energies could be felt in the office wanting to leave impulsively due to the tension. Two agents walked up to the chief and breathed, "We have made the choice ourselves to resign from the case, sir. We value our lives and don't want to be killed by the Kidnapper."
"You're excellent cops though! You don't know how much support we need right now," the chief said honestly not looking away from the agents' trembling eyes. Breaking the uncomfortable eye contact, he let out a sigh and waved in his hand to the direction of the exit, "You're entitled to your opinion on your life, I shouldn't have an effect on that for you. I understand; you may resign if you wish."
The agents left without a trace, marching out the door, leaving their badges on the main desk. There were two less agents in the conference room; the officers couldn't afford to lose dedicated agents anymore. They were wasting time, and time meant the lives of others that couldn't be tampered with.
Skylar sat next to her laptop and microphone awaiting a call from her partner who goes by the alias, Marg. These two have been working hand in hand with each other since the very beginning. With Skylar playing detective, and Marg operating the actions for her, they could never lose, as it seemed. A call beeped in on the screen flashing in the detective's young eyes, she answered it, "We brought the NPA to Ohio four days ago. As you requested, I have a complete list of employees and their positions. I'm able to fax it at any given time."
"Thank you, please fax me it right away." The fax machine buzzed out papers listing identities, marital status, rank, and a paragraph of bio for each of the members of the task force. "There are only 141 people who work at the NPA. I'm sure that somewhere in this list we will find our suspect," she said to herself while tapping her fingers between the stacks of pages, categorizing them carefully.
Hours passed until night crawled out of the sky, settling in to watch every movement. The chief received a phone call from agent Sam from the local prison, "Chief, I needed to report to you that another six inmates have been missing for about an hour now, the strange thing is that two of them actually did something before they vanished."
"What do you mean?"
"One drew a star on the wall of his cell with his own blood, and then the other left a note, but it doesn't seem meaningful."
"I'll send it to Marg to transfer to Skylar."
Another set of beeps came through Skylar's monitor, "What is it Marg?"
"Six more vanishings. However, two are different from the previous though."
"What do you mean by different?
"I'm sending you a copy of the letter as well as the pictures from the prison."
"In the letter, it sounds like he was afraid that the Kidnapper would show himself. It's believable that our victim might have taken some medicine in the past, but we know the Kidnapper can control the time of distortion. What if he can also determine their actions? In which case—" She spoke over her synthesized microphone, "Chief?"
"Huh?"
"We can't release details of these people for the media. As far as their concern, these are just missing people. I have reason to believe that the Kidnapper was performing some kind of test using these individuals. And if that's the case, we don't want to give him the results of this information to the public."
"Right, that makes sense. I understand."
Agent Sam blurted out, "So now he's using inmates as if for a chemistry class? That's sickening."
Josh nodded his head in agreement, "He's playing this as if it were a game; it's unforgivable."
Bob sat on his computer hacking into the police files through his brother's name and found what he was looking for, "Look at this, the results. And they're just as I expected. This handbook will work for what I have in mind. Both of them did what I intended. This will keep Skylar and the police guessing, even as I speak, she's probably trying to decipher all the clues I left for her. Especially that little note."
As Bob assumed, Skylar was processing the note that the inmate had written with a pen before he disappeared. Staring intently at the screen she thought to herself, "If the Kidnapper used these people to conduct an experiment of some sort, it means he's about to do something. The F.B.I will notice anyone acting suspiciously. But, perhaps he has a different goal in mind all together. Could the star and the note symbolize some kind of message?" In realization she gasps, "Is this it?"