The Room and The Coin
Virginia and her assistant, Peter, stood in silence as the elevator raced downwards. Her body tensed as she sensed them nearing their destination – the rhythm of the elevator changing as the entered the subterranean levels. It cool as the continued their descent and Virginia's mind wandered as her posture eased.
Images or Marques Cameron swam through her mind in an odd montage of their experiences together. No one knew her like he had and when he had gone off on a mission without her knowledge she was furious. When he was found dead she almost killed his commander herself. It took several agents to pull her off the other woman and then many months for her to calm.
It had been a poorly run op and, after an inquest, the commander had been found negligent - Virginia was still working to prove that the hapless woman was actually a traitor to the country.
The elevator slowed as they neared their floor and Virginia stepped to the doors, ready for them to open, Peter taking position behind her. She reached for her handheld as the elevator came to a smooth stop. The weight hit her and it was back inside her attache all in one smooth motion.
Peter spoke coolly as the doors opened. "It could just be a group or a mercenary calling card."
She cracked her neck as she responded. "With 'Ego Sum Me' etched on the backside? And.." Her voice lowered dangerously. "..A common mercenary would never have taken Marques, nor tortured him to the point he felt he needed to take his own life." She stepped from the elevator before the door fully opened. "I went through the same training as he did. I can't imagine the torture that broke him." Her voice was filled with anger as her heels clicked across the floor.
"What do you have Mazey?"
Virginia walked to a wall of monitors and stood behind a petite curly head woman furiously tapping two keyboards – she couldn't have been more than 20 years old. She spoke without looking at Virginia. "Boss! How did you make this connection? It's like they are never in the same room at the same time."
"Did you get the images I sent you?"
Mazey – codename Maze Runner – nodded. She tapped a key and one of the many screens changed as an image of the coin Virginia found blew up on the screen then smaller images of the same item circled it with dates and incident names. "I found the same coin at 12 other documented incidents. Eight of them attributed to Anthony Shaw and four to The Pahntom – that is not included the three you originally discovered."
Virginia nodded. "Recommendations thus far?"
"I really think we should go over scenes that we suspect of either but never found evidence. It just seems to coincidental to me."
Virginia nodded in agreement. "Agreed. I know of three that are still sealed. Let's start with those but don't tell them exactly what we're looking for. You can say it is a calling card."
Mazey nodded, the main screen before her changing as she began sending out emails. Virginia turned and moved across the low ceiling space to her office. It was a vast contrast to makeup corporation surrounding them. The walls were a grey color that elicited a sense of sad order. The lighting was subdued and the floors were just as grey and unadorned as the walls.
There were rows upon rows of cubicles in the open area and doors lining the two walls spanning forward from the elevator. The back wall was a conference room and Virginia's office.
As she walked through the cubicles she spoke with an authority all these people knew too well, but that would've thoroughly surprised her family.
"Mazey will start sending out information. Thirty minutes for analysis and then we meet. Be ready! I want viable answers, theories, and solutions."
There was a flurry of typing, paper rustling, and clicking heels as the agents got to work.
The man known as Anthony Shaw to Jessica Lance sat in an unassuming brightly lit corner office in the bustling downtown of a large prosperous North American city. He looked intently at the computer screen before him, encrypted messages flowing across the screen and being analyzed.
A small chime caught his attention and he opened the desk drawer and lifted up a false bottom. An alert flashed across a small screen:
>Identity search pings<
>Identities Anthony Shaw and The Phantom have both been pinged in searches. The identities are being searched together and separately. Deeper pings have not been registered<
>Identities Anthony Shaw and The Phantom have been compromised<
>The Phantom coin has been compromised<
The man known as Anthony Shaw smiled. 'Smokescreen finally found connected dots.' He sighed inwardly as he closed the bottom of the drawer and shut it – listening for the soft click. 'I knew loving Jessica would bring an end to certain things. I did so enjoy Anthony Shaw.'
He looked up at a soft knock. He released the lock on his office door and allowed it to slid open almost silently. His assistants walked in with files and notepads ready for their morning debriefing. The taller of the two men looked up at him with a stern expression. "Mr. Lents there has been activity this morning concerning our target. It seems some evidence has been found that connects scenes. We haven't seen everything yet but an alpha level team feels Anthony Shaw and our target are one in the same."
The shorter assistant clicked his tongue. "You are jumping Evans. Just because they are an alpha team means nothing. Our clearance is much higher and we have access to more information. What can they possibly know that we don't?"
Mr. Lents hid his sneer. He had this buffoon on his team to do just this – sow seeds of dissent and cause the team to wander in the wrong direction or even follow bad leads. He had served his purpose well.
Mr. Lents would allow them to follow the crumbs he left. He just needed to figure out how to keep his one true prize. He only wanted Jessica, whether she saw him or not, he would have her.