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She raised a brow and checked her computer monitor, “The briefing started twenty minutes ago.” Her tone had a little bite to it as if she were scolding me for being late.
“Well aware of that. Can you tell me where it is?” I rolled my eyes, agitated. I didn’t ask her to check on the briefing itself; I just needed to find the right room. This whole interaction was unnecessary and took longer than it needed to.
She sighed, as if I was being a royal pain in her ass, and gestured over her shoulder, “End of the hall and to the right.”
“Thank you.” I nodded and followed her direction down the hall. Was that such a hard thing to tell me? She should have just started with that; it would have saved us both the headache.
The office was sleek and modern. The center of the main floor was full of cubicles, and along the outer edge of the floor were private offices and meeting rooms walled off by frosted glass windows.
After approaching the briefing room, I slid through the door and fell into the empty chair at the back. Deputy Director Conrad continued his briefing, “—and now that we are beginning to see a trend with these recent kidnappings and murders, we are finally able to narrow our search down to three potential suspects. Of course, the current details we have on them are very vague.”
He stood at the head of the long meeting room table, palms on either side of a stack of files, looking down at the briefing document sitting on top. With his positioning and attention directed elsewhere, I assumed he didn’t see me enter the room.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Agent Jensen. I hope tardiness is not what we are to expect from our newest transfer from the Washington, DC Unit. Especially someone as highly regarded as you.” He lifted his head, raised a brow, and leveled me with a glare. Shit.
“No, Sir, my apologies. It won’t happen again.” I wanted to crawl under a fucking rock.
“See to it that it doesn’t. I have zero tolerance for those who can’t follow orders as simple as ‘be on time.’” Just as I had suspected, he was every bit the hard ass that he was rumored to be. I might regret this transfer in the end.
I cleared my throat and nodded in response, then sank back further into my chair as agents around the room started whispering to one another. Fan-fucking-tastic. It was my first day showing up in the office for this case, and I've already received more attention than I wanted. I could tell this was going to be a long and drawn-out day.
Conrad continued, “If it wasn’t already known to those of you in here, Agent Jensen comes to us from the DC Unit. He was an Agent there for five years, and in the last two, he has been recognized as the top Agent in his division.” A pointed look, “I hope the skills and experience he brings will help us finally apprehend those involved in the recent threats against Roman Atwater and his employees.”
As he spoke, thick manila folders were slid across the table to each of us. I picked up mine from where it had slid to a stop within arm's reach on the table and quickly glanced at the documents inside. The folder contained limited information, indicating a lack of substantial leads. I would have to start this case from scratch. Already, we were off to a rocky start.
Roman Atwater. I learned a few details about him and his business dealings from passing conversations when I was back in DC. His case here is roughly six months old and escalating quickly, which is why I was transferred on short notice. The Minneapolis Unit needed someone with more experience in kidnapping and murder cases, and that was one of my specialties. There was speculation that this could potentially evolve into a serial killer case.
Atwater, a prominent figure in the pharmaceutical industry, has recently faced allegations of stealing a drug from a private lab in Europe. It is rumored that he plans to introduce this drug to the US market by the end of the year. The drug is believed to be revolutionary and could significantly impact the pharmaceutical industry once it is released.
Atwater has made millions by exploiting the pharmaceutical industry to his advantage, and it is clear that his decisions are starting to bite back at him. I can’t quite remember the specifics of the drug he is accused of stealing—and nor do I really care—but I do know that in the past month, multiple employees of his have been kidnapped and murdered. The only evidence left behind is a scene of brutality and gore; never has a whole body been found. Leading us to believe that someone is out for blood and they have no intention of stopping—and whoever these guys are, they are twisted as fuck based on the scenes they have left behind.
The main challenge in this case is identifying the motive. We currently have no clear idea as to why the suspects are engaging in these actions and what their ultimate goal is. The two main possibilities are the drug itself and Roman Atwater. Several months ago, something spooked him, and he promptly left the city; he hadn't been seen since. It was around this time that the kidnappings and murders began, shortly after he disappeared.
“I’ve already selected the team of agents who will investigate this case further. It will be your job to find the suspects and either bring them in or put a bullet in their heads if it comes down to it.” Conrad picked up his briefing document and floated it in front of him. He wasn’t messing around with this case. He knew how badly it had escalated, and now we just had to stop them at all costs before their body count climbed any higher.
“Agents Jensen, King, Avery, and Holt,” the four of us stood at attention as our names were called. I looked around the room to see who each individual I would be working with was.
“The four of you will be working closely together, so get to know each other after this meeting. You need to take a deep dive into the documentation I’ve provided you and figure out their next move. We need to stop them before they take their next victim—or worse, kill them.”
“Do we know anything more regarding those who have been kidnapped with no body found?” One of the Agents inquired as they flipped through the pages before them. There weren’t many; most of the scenes all showed significant signs of the victim being mutilated and murdered; however, with the last two, we haven’t been able to find a body or anything to show they were potentially harmed in any capacity.
“As far as we know, they are all determined to be deceased, and there will be no additional search for them. There has been no evidence of those we haven’t found being held anywhere long term, and based on the brutal scenes of the previous victims,” He scratched the back of his neck and blew out a sigh, “these suspects have no intention of leaving survivors behind.”
The room fell silent for a few minutes, and photos I had seen previously of the crime scenes briefly flashed across my mind—a shiver ran down my spine. They primarily utilized warehouses for their work, and when we managed to find where the victim was held or taken to, we were always greeted with blood and gore.
“Everything we know, you will find in your folders, so if there are no additional questions regarding this case, then you are all dismissed. We will reconvene in a month; that should be plenty of time for you to make progress on this case.”
At his words, everyone stood from where they were seated and exited the room. I moved to follow when the last two agents had exited. A month was a long time, but not long enough for a case that had no concrete leads and vague details; this was going to take significantly longer unless the suspects were to screw up at some point.
“Agent Jensen,” Conrad called over my shoulder as I reached the doorway. I stopped and turned to face him.
“Sir.”
“I expect you to have made significant headway by our next briefing. Do not disappoint me.”
I gave him a single nod and continued out of the room, closing the glass door behind me.
One of the stipulations of my transfer was that I was to be assigned a private office rather than a cubicle. I was not going to uproot my life of five years for nothing but a small and cramped space on the main floor.
