System Nullification

Chapter 8

 Next thing I knew, I was sitting with my team and Sebastian in a meeting to discuss a slightly eerie case happening in the northwest area, around where Avery and Dylan lived. "Over the past week, people have mysteriously gone missing. They work for the computer company named Technical Co... and they never called to take days off of work," Sebastian began. "For that duration of time, it's been assumed that they were just ditching work for no reason."

 "Why didn't you inform us earlier?" Austin grumbled.

 "Hey, now, I'm kind of an idiot. I'm still young, mid-20s and such," Sebastian said. "Anyway, the boss was deciding whether to fire them or not, and he kept calling their house and cellphone numbers. Nobody answered. He wanted the public police to investigate why his employees weren't picking up his calls. When they got there, they found nobody... at least nobody that was living."

 "Oh gosh, what happened? What did they find?" Austin asked.

 "According to the reports, the bodies were under the house," Sebastian said.

 "They found that and not the culprit?!" Austin said, frustrated.

 "Now, this must've been done in secret, and there were no security systems set around that neighborhood until today," Sebastian said, sighing. "We suspected that it was more of Cameron's henchmen, but they never took lives before. Only slightly harmed innocent people, and those innocent people were brought to the hospital by them afterwards. So it can't be him."

 "What should we do?" Charlotte asked.

 "Well... I'm starting to feel like this string of murders within the same company has me thinking someone wants to mess up that company. So I set up security cameras and increased the surveillance within those areas that the workers reside in. Hopefully we'll be able to catch the culprit in that fashion, or at least see what they look like and track him down from there," Sebastian sighed. "This is the first murder in about, what, half a century. Yes, the last murder case was about fifty years ago. I don't understand why someone would want to ruin that."

 "False. The last murder was ten years ago," Austin said.

 "Whatever," Sebastian sighed, but chuckled a bit. "For now, just try to relax yourselves. We'll definitely get the solution we need as soon as possible."

 "Wouldn't most people play it smart before killing more people?" Dylan asked. "Security cameras are set up now... so..."

 "We're a top secret government agency. We're the Officials," Sebastian said. "He has no idea. Everyone only knows about the public police, and we know how inefficient they look."

 To be honest, I don't think I've ever smelled blood in my entire life, and here I was, in some kind of secret military system. Something in my heart sank, and I felt as if I wouldn't be able to handle the unknown pressure of a murder case. "You guys can handle this, right?" Sebastian asked, turning away from Austin and to the rest of us. "You're all young and all, but this is a good way to take the next step."

 Of course, I wouldn't admit that I probably wouldn't be able to take the heat. "Of course," I said, and the rest of the team silently agreed.

 "Alrighty, just preparing you for the worst," Sebastian said. "You're all dismissed. Oh, but there's food in the cafeteria. You all just got back from school, right? You could go eat there."

 "Alrighty, might as well," I said. "Let's go, guys."

 As a small group, we all made our way to the cafeteria. The food there is basically some of the greatest things ever tasted. It consisted of all the necessary food groups every time, but they were always prepared creatively and deliciously. The dessert was great too. The red velvet cake was something I was definitely attached to. Unfortunately my whole team knew that all too well. They always joke bribe me. "I'm going to be completely honest right now," Charlotte came to our usual table last, carrying steak, mashed potatoes, an apple, juice, cheese, and a slice of cheesecake. "The whole murder thing? It's creepy."