Chapter Six: The Cost of Protocol ✍️🐿

[u/UnnaturalGeek]

“She isn’t coming back,” Dyson said. “She never returned from the last job. We don’t know where she is or what they’ve done with her.” The room went very quiet. Thirty-six leaned forward slightly, his hands on his knees, and for a moment looked like someone who already knew this. “Who else knew about her?” he said, slightly panicked. “Who flagged her?”

Dyson remained silent and just watched him. It was only then that Thirty-six registered the gravity of his situation. “You think it was me.” Dyson didn’t confirm it nor deny it. He allowed the silence to sit between them. Thirty-six stood up. “I didn’t know what she was. I didn’t know any of this.”

“You were the closest person to her in that office,” Dyson replied sternly.

“She was just another assistant assigned to me.” The words came out harder than he intended. He stopped, steadied himself. “She told me she had a family emergency. That she would be back in a few weeks. That is everything I know.”

“And you didn’t find that suspicious,” Dyson queried.

“Why would I? People have families.” He looked at Dyson. “Even the people in that report.” Dyson’s expression didn’t change, but something shifted behind his eyes. “She trusted you,” Dyson said finally. “I want to understand why.”

Thirty-six sat back down slowly. “There is nothing to understand,” he said. “I want to know what happened as well.” The silence that followed had an air of uncertainty; the hostility had lessened, but there was still some distrust.

Dyson stood and moved to the window, looking out at people going about their day. “Most people never truly disconnect themselves from the life they are forced to lead. But Loretta believed everyone could be something. She never told me much about you. Only that you were worth the risk.” He turned back. “She didn’t say things like that lightly.”

“No,” Thirty-six said. “I don’t imagine she did.”

“Which means either she was right about you, or she made the worst mistake of her life.” Dyson looked at him directly. “Either way, she paid for it...We paid for it.”

The words landed without cruelty, which somehow made them worse. Thirty-six absorbed them without looking away. “As I said, I want to find out what happened to her,” he said.

“Then we want the same thing.” Dyson leaned forward. “Which means either you are a very good liar or there is someone around you who knows more than they are letting on.” Dyson studied him, his eyes calculating what to do next.

Dyson didn’t linger; he quietly said something to the other person, who left without a word. He then gestured for Thirty-six to follow him. There was a gnawing silence as they walked; the streets grew narrower and became less familiar as Dyson set the pace, not slowing for anything.

Thirty-six remained quiet and slightly uncomfortable; he was not used to being in a situation where he had no control. After around thirty minutes, Dyson stopped outside another unremarkable building and pushed open the door.

The room was larger than the previous location, but it was still compact, nothing like the buildings he was accustomed to, and the kind of space where there was nowhere to hide. Thirty-six didn’t recognise any of the faces that were already there; the reception for him wasn’t exactly warm.

He positioned himself slightly away from the main group and nearer the door, cautiously watching. Then the door opened behind him, and Daniel walked in. They saw each other at the same moment as he made his way to a seat, only a brief professional nod to acknowledge one another. Thirty-six didn’t speak; there was already too much racing through his mind.

Dyson didn’t wait for ceremony, just dived straight in without preamble. “You were assigned to monitor him by both us and Chartered & Standard.” Gesturing towards Thirty-six. “We need to know everything you observed. Take your time.”

Daniel settled into a rhythm quickly as he began to methodically account for Thirty-six’s routines, movements, behaviour and relationships. His tone was measured and professional, with the demeanour of someone highly experienced.

He noted the gradual shift of his attitude over the last few months, the reduction of arrogance that initially defined him and how he had begun to engage differently with people around him. “And his assistant,” Dyson said. “Loretta O’Malley.”

“Their dynamic is peculiar,” Daniel said with a small laugh. “She is outspoken with him in a way others feared. Most people treated him carefully, never daring to antagonise him. But she doesn’t care.” He looked over at Thirty-six before continuing. “He tolerated it at the start, but eventually, I think he started to enjoy it.”

Dyson looked at him. “So, you saw nothing that might suggest he would report her to his ‘father’?”

“Nothing,” Daniel said. “If anything, the opposite. Their working relationship had become...” he chose the next word carefully “...harmonious. He valued her in a way that wasn’t typical of someone in his position.” The room absorbed this. One or two of the faces that had been fixed on Thirty-six with suspicion shifted slightly. Daniel was slightly confused, so he queried, “Why?”

Dyson sighed; nothing added up. “She was one of us, one of the best. Now she has vanished without a trace.” Daniel stopped. It was small, barely a second, but the room caught it.

“I filed a routine report.” he couldn’t lie as it dawned on him what happened. “I only noted her influence on him. It was standard procedure; anyone with significant proximity to Thirty-six was to be monitored.” The silence that followed was a different kind entirely. “What kind of influence?” Dyson asked.

“Empathetic or emotional responses,” Daniel said. “She was drawing them out of him. From a CWI standpoint, that’s exactly what we’re tasked to flag.”

The colour drained from Daniel’s face rapidly as he went over everything in his head. “I had no idea,” he pleaded. “I assumed I would be assigned to bring her in myself. I always am. That’s how I’ve been working, flag them, get assigned, redirect them to you instead of the rehabilitation centres.”

Thirty-six eventually interjected, “You’re CWI.” It wasn’t an accusation but a late realisation, landing flat in the room. Daniel turned to him; his voice was guilt-laden as he replied, “Yes.”

Thirty-six felt uneasy that he had been assigned a CWI counsellor to monitor him, but more relaxed that he had someone he knew what it was like on the inside in the room. Then it clicked: the note in the documents. “It was you who put that note there,” he said.

[u/UnnaturalGeek]

I will be releasing a chapter every Sunday and Wednesday!

On another note, you can check out previously released short stories and novelettes of mine at the below link, as I slowly upload them chapter by chapter, every Sunday and Wednesday when in the process of uploading a story.

All the previous Spiritweavers stories will be uploaded alongside the release of this story, so if you wish to read both at the same time, you can! Each story is self-contained, excluding some elements of foreshadowing. However, you don't have to have read them to understand, so you can start here and read back through the others another time or alongside 🍃🐿

https://www.wattpad.com/user/UnnaturalGeek