SATe [✔]

[18] lacuna

[ D A R W I N ]

Alexandria shrieked out a sound of joy as her hands banged against the keyboard, causing me to walk to the IT suite instinctively. Her emotive expressions tended to need a person-sized outlet.

I had headed up the IT suite stairs just in time to hear her speaking on the phone, "There's a relatively catastrophic emergency that I'd like your assistance with as it suits your area of expertise. Are you willing to help?"

With a few muffled replies on the other side of the phone, her face had gotten brighter, her hands clenching onto the plastic intensely, "Yes, thank you. I'll send you the details."

As I watched her put the phone down, I realised she'd completed her task far quicker than the rest of us anticipated, which also meant I was more likely to be abandoning the research to a more skilled individual. We'd shared a glance before she spun around in her chair and began clicking files on her screen; mostly pertaining to our Avvon knowledge, but more specifically I'd assume what had occurred to Marie; which had become our top priority in the past couple of days for obvious reasons.

Similarly, to me, Franklin had heard the undeniable excitement escaping from Alexandria's mouth and had appeared from the top platform of the base, shuffling down the stairs as quickly as he could manage. He'd approached carefully, a face curt between Alexandria and me. It's that face he always uses when he's going to ask us something ridiculously off-base and unfoundable.

He'd stopped between our two chairs. I regret deciding to continue my work here to figure out who Alexandria would find. For two reasons. Now not only did I not find out, but now Perry has found us both at the same time; a sure way to keep his confidence up.

"You're not going to like this but..." He began, and I found myself sighing. There was no room to deny him of his request. Often, we'd resort to sarcastically shuffling the responsibility to other members of the team, but there weren't many I could call on right now. I'd have to speak to him about expanding the team again.

"Hit me," I mutter.

"I need you to visit Monroe Hospital with Smith. We need some more information on the doctors and nurses there. As much as we've discovered from Cavendish and Bastian, we don't know anything further from their operation pertaining to the staff at large. Miss Georgia Watson informed us that several staff members went missing but didn't divulge further than that." I could hear Alexandria's hands flatten against the keyboard as she realised this operation would include her too.

"Why us?" She questions, spinning around to meet his gaze between us. He shakes his head slightly, crossing his arms.

"A husband and wife is an easy cover to fulfil. I can't ask Priestley because she's not in the correct headspace for undercover work currently, and technically Marie and I have both been in the hospital in some part. Plus, Bastian has been in the hospital before, and he's easily recognisable."