CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle Two: A Captain's Journey

76 ∞ A Bargain Struck

Shortlisted - Day 0003

Gareth pushed back against the pain. He'd been trained to maintain clarity in the face of fear and other emotions-this was no different.

But... somehow it was.

Closing the computer, he focused on the now, reviewing what Mayfine had said. He sat there on the sofa for several minutes before he glanced at the monitor.

His two visitors were still waiting outside.

Time to get himself moving. No problem solved itself without action.

Standing up with emotions in check, Gareth grabbed the case and strode to the front door. Wilkinson and Kempton both turned toward him as he opened the door.

Kempton took the case he offered, then held out a card. "I was notified to give you this."

Gareth took the card and saw only a contact number on it-no name. Not feeling inclined to say anything, he nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"We'll be going now," Kempton continued. "I wish we'd met under more pleasant circumstances, Captain Levant."

Gareth nodded again, and watched the men turn to leave and walk down the hallway. Kempton nodded at him before entering the elevator with Wilkinson. Only then did Gareth step back into his home.

He needed another cup of tea. This time, he sat on a stool at the breakfast bar with his tea seeping and stared at the card. He assumed the number was Harlin's, but with his mind running in circles, he had no idea what to say. What could he say to a man he'd begun to consider a friend, who'd been sent to befriend him under false pretenses? Gareth needed time to think before calling him.

His mind ran in more circles, yet he came up with no answers. He'd finished his third cup of tea by now, and all he had was more questions. All he knew was he had to do something-he had to find Caitlin. Jittery from drinking too much tea, too much stimulant, he found his need to do something was growing into an imperative.

First he needed to know where Caitlin was. If he couldn't talk to her, he couldn't fix what had gone wrong.

He swiped his hand over the countertop in front of him, activating the built-in computer screen. He pulled up their financial accounts to look at them again, hoping something would give him a clue where she'd gone.

Pegging Caitlin's purchases to a mental map pointed him to locations generally north of here. But they were in or near cities kilometers apart. Some as much as several hours apart, even by tram. She'd gone to libraries, museums, historical sites, booked tours, visited parks, and popular geographical landmarks. All over the past two months. Restaurant and motel expenses seemed few, but he assumed she was being frugal. However, nothing gave him a clue of where she'd gone this time-there were no new expenses in the past forty-eight hours.

She had to be staying somewhere, but it would take hours to call all the hotels and motels in the area. Days to check around every place she'd visited and in-between.

Gareth slammed his fist on the counter in frustration, and the card Kempton had given him jumped from the impact. He eyed it. Harlin Quinton was Cyber Corp-he'd have access to resources he didn't.

Deciding to make the call, Gareth touched the countertop screen to pull up communications. He stared at his call logs.

Hundreds of calls answered or blocked by Ancilla.

Astounded, he scanned through them-news agencies, book agencies, movie agencies, people he didn't know, and some he did-all since the Two Hundred was announced just two days ago.