S.P.Y.

Chapter 15: SHOCK

Thud.

The body of papers fell upon the floor inside their white and cardboard crate. Das stood in the doorway, his pupilless eyes wide in the ultimate shock in anyone's life. His hands were wide open and so was his mouth as a voiceless scream escaped from his mouth as an empty exhale.

When Sylis regained his senses, he put down the gun. There were no bullets in that room that day. He took a long, drawn-out deep breath until he was more holding his breath than breathing in. In a sharp movement, he pushed all the carbon dioxide out of his lungs. He was calm. Sylis breathed normally after that.

"Das, pick that up and place it on my desk, then leave." The detective gave the intern the tell-anyone-what-you-saw-and-I'll-kill-you look which made the intern drop down, grab the crate, and messily place the information on the desk. Das couldn't flee any quicker as he darted out into the hallway. Sylis could softly hear Lilin's giggles in his ear.

"Papa, what's wrong?"

Sylis' eyes inspected the room. Every space was scrutinized under the detective's teal orbs. He even scooted backward to check under his wooden desk. "Piper...where are you?"

It took a little while before Piper responded. "I'm at home alone. Mama is working in her black, work clothes. I got bored and decided to watch you with telepathy."

Sylis raised an eyebrow and eased into his chair. "How can you watch me?"

"Using something Mama calls Memory Reading," Piper's words transferred into Sylis' brain. "I noticed that you were very scared. If I focus on someone I can sense their emotions and even read or see their memories. I like seeing Mama's memories, they are cool to watch."

Sylis looked down at the letter on his desk and then grabbed it. "What is so interesting about her memories?"

Another pause in communication. "Well..." she finally said. "I can see myself sometimes as a baby which is cool, but I get to see Mama working. She works a lot and with a lot of people. She says that she massages people, but when I asked her to give me one, she said she could never do that to me."

Lilin as a masseuse? Something about that didn't sound right, but he had nothing against the statement except his gut feelings, but if it was his gut then it was probably true and he should continue digging for more. This special sense of sniffing out the wrong came with the job, but his nose seemed to be going blind.

"Piper," he called while the crate left on his desk was completely ignored and not yet touched by Sylis' hands. "Can you—"

"No."

Sylis stopped. She didn't even know what he was going to say next...no, she can read his thoughts if she chooses to. Sylis sighed.

"Mama doesn't like her work, but it's the only thing she's good at that, and cleaning. I'm not going to spill Mama's secrets. She already told me about her past and about her sister. She said that she had to do what she had to do in order for both of them to survive."

"Sister?"

"Papa..." Piper's voice was small as if she was far away (which she was). "I don't want to get in trouble..."

"Trouble with whom?"

"With Mama's sister. She still works in Germany and does stuff as you do: she protects people and keeps secrets." There was another pause, but this one seemed different than the previous ones. He would have to maybe ask her about the pauses because they never really happened before, but these were different circumstances so he couldn't be sure. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Sylis' nod was slow and so was his speech. "Of course, you can entrust me with a secret."

"Well, Mama's sister and I have secret talks. She isn't a telepath, but I can sense if someone wants to talk to me because they will have a strong enough desire for me to notice." At that moment, Piper didn't seem that young anymore. "The secret is..." The silence was like being cut off the phone. If he focused, he could hear the dead ring in his imagination.

"Peanut?"

"Mamamademeusemytelepathytotrickyouintosigningthecontract!"

Silence. The sound of silence. It contains nothing and yet it holds everything. Like a sponge, it soaks up all the emotion from the words said. It gives one time to think and to question and to drive themself mad with all the what-ifs.

"Peanut?"

"Piper?"

"Piper!?" he roared, shaking the building.

Sylis slammed his fits on the wood, small splinters popped up. He exhaled, resting his head on the back of his chair. Then he clashed his head onto the desk. When he lifted his head, a small trail of blood trailed down his forehead, and both Das and his boss, Richard Meyers, were there.

"What's wrong?" asked Meyers first, his fat cigar placed between his grubby, little digits. The man then proceeded to place the roll to his lips then breathed smoke.

Das waved a hand around to disperse the smoke around his face, tiny micro gags coming out of his mouth. "The whole building heard you screaming. Who was here?"

"No one."

"Have you gone insane!" Das asked, which got two looks for the other men for speaking out of turn. The Indian man shriveled into the darkness.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for why Sylis did what he did." Meyers took a few steps forward towards his desk. Sylis had yet to move much in their conversation, it was also as though he were a statue. Just how a detective should be, impassive and emotionless to people and their actions. "Sylis, please explain yourself."

He didn't know why, but he wanted to kill Meyers so badly. Maybe it was because the man was blowing smoke into his face, or maybe it was because the man tried to be his 'buddy' when Sylis knew all the horrible things he had done permitting a decline of friendship.

His gun was still empty, but that didn't stop him from pulling it out and placing it on Richard Meyers' head. The man put his hands up above his thick head. "Now d-don't go d-do anything stupid-d."

Calmly, Sylis demanded, "I want complete privacy for the rest of my work hours. Tell everyone to stay out of my way."

His eyes did not blink once as Meyers sweated bullets and his eyes watered with salty tears. Sylis pushed the gun a little closer to the man's skull. "Okay?"

"Okay, okay! Just put the gun down."

Sylis placed the gun down but still stared into the poor man's soul until he left the room with Das. Sylis sat on his chair feeling empty.

"I'm sorry, Papa."