The Hunt

Chapter 14 - The Completion Effect.

CARLOS CLARK

"Captain Clark, NYPD." The announcer says. I stand up, the lights immediately on me in the room.

"Mr. President." I bow my head. "How is that American asset coming along?" He asks, right away. I don't even get a breather to think for myself in here.

"He has been tracking, noting, refining their work for months now. There are fragile steps he has to take in order to efficiently arrest them without bringing down the rest of the forest—"

"Not him," He laughs. "The girl. How is she coming along?"

'The Girl' is the one and only Claire (Timber) Alpharo of Arcana, New York.

She has been a running experiment for years now, ever since she moved up in the criminal ranks.

Everett Ballard has had it out for her since she was fourteen. She woke havoc in the city almost next-door to the Red House and he's always wondered why.

"She's progressing. Like always sir," I clear my throat formally. "Alpharo has gotten smarter since Striker arrived in town and it's primarily because she knows she is his assignment.

"Her brain has been almost paranoid; working overtime to try and always predict his next move and it has been working, more times than none."

Ballard nods his head, gesturing for me to go on. "She has figured out the patterns in which he attacks them, and how he phrases things depending on what he wants. Her memory storage has been increasing with time, but it is now at a peak of observation in regards to what is happening around her, so frequently."

"What does this tell us, Captain?" Ballard asks, not looking amused. "That she's ready. Give her a new name, a new occupation, a new personality. Claire Alpharo will not exist anymore."

There's whispers, murmurs under the light. "Why would we pay to support a criminal? Who has put you and your department, even the entirety of New York as a state to shame?" Someone else says, I frown, feeling a little humbled.

"I am only proposing an idea for you to think about. If what you want to follow through with as a Country is still in your head, maybe this is something you consider." I say, carefully.

"Carlos, tell me what you want. Don't use formalities. Lay it out flat to me." Ballard decides, overtaking the rest of the voices as he shifts in his seat.

"I want her in our Military. Put her in the proper training, enhance the work she does mentally and continue with her as an experiment like usual," I shrug. "She will be a killing machine out there. You haven't seen true fear in peoples faces until there's a girl hiding from the world."

"Don't bring gender into it." He comments quietly, still interested in what I have to say nonetheless.

"My bad," I say. "Claire out in the field is one thing, but imagine if we could double it."

"Double it how?" Someone asks for him. I smile. "Raven Louvremont. They are a paired duo; package deal that never goes on sale, even on a black friday!"

"I don't want Louvremont," Claire isn't going to like that if I bring it up to her some day. "She's degrading. She's young and while Claire moves up, she goes down."