~~The New Year's Days Special + Mon/Wen/Fri Double (page 3 of 6)~~
'I wouldn't say it was likely,' said Garovel, 'but Sai-hee has been known to work with the Vanguard in the protection of civilians. The Vanguard typically doesn't spare much personnel for regions with very low threat-levels. It would make a degree of sense if they both stationed some people here undercover in order to monitor things.'
'I got the impression that Sai-hee mostly just stuck to her own territory, though,' said Hector.
'She does. Monitoring isn't the same as actually intervening. Or, maybe she was considering expanding her territory to include Atreya.'
Hector had a hard time imagining that. 'You really think so?'
'No. But it's still a possibility.'
'What I really wanna know is what the hell happened to these people.'
'Looks like they might've just decided to leave on their own.' Garovel pointed at one of the several notes that Hector hadn't read yet. It was still half-covered by the others in his hand, so he brought it out to read it in full.
More trouble than this is worth. Potential value of intel here seems low. Recommend moving operations to Lorent.
Hector cocked an eyebrow.
'Seems like there was someone in Atreya who was aware of their presence,' said Garovel. 'And that someone was making their job difficult.' He pointed at yet another note:
Another asset lost. Poisoned. Operations here are compromised. Recommend immediate withdrawal and mission value reassessment.
'There's your poisoning,' said Hector.
'Indeed. Let's have another look around and see if we can find a name attached to this room.'
'Okay.' Hector sifted through the last few notes first, and though they had different handwriting, they were more of the same. Reports of failure and recommendations to leave the country. There must've been several agents reporting to whoever was working out of this place, he figured.
He moved on to the bookshelves on the other side of the room and spent a while searching through the reading material there.
'It's strange that they left all this evidence behind,' said Garovel.
~~The New Year's Days Special + Mon/Wen/Fri Double (page 2 of 6)~~
What the hell had he just read? His mind raced as he tried to process it, but there were still dozens more notes to go through:
Third cancellation this month. Possible leak. Think someone is scaring them off.
Garovel floated closer. Hector put his flashlight in his mouth and held up the notes that he'd finished for the reaper while he continued reading the others in the stack:
Asset missing. Unable to make contact. Will keep trying, but expect bad news.
The next one read:
Asset still missing. Friends and family uncooperative. Possible domestic dispute, but the coincidence is unsettling.
And the next:
Asset still not found. Expect never will be, at this point. Could have skipped country, but suspect foul play. Don't think it's A. Too quiet. Not their style. Might be local.
Hector stopped to reevaluate those words, especially the last part.
'"A," huh?' said Garovel, having apparently caught up to him in reading. 'Hmm.'
Hector was reluctant to say, but he had to. 'Please tell me that this isn't referring to Abolish...'
'Mm. Yeah. Wish I could, buddy, but I think it probably is.'
Agh.
'On the bright side,' said Garovel, 'the writer is saying that they DON'T think Abolish is behind this missing "asset" of theirs.'
'Except, Abolish DID come to Atreya.'
'Well, yeah, but given everything else we know about this house, these notes are at least eight years old. So I highly doubt this has anything to do with the group that attacked the Queen. Call me crazy, but they didn't seem like the type to make such long-term plans.'
'I guess you're right. But then... if whoever was writing these notes knew about Abolish, then... does that mean these were written by the Vanguard?'
'I'm thinking so. Could also be Sai-hee's group. Or even both.'
Hector blinked at that. 'Both?'
~~The New Year's Days Special + Mon/Wen/Fri Double (page 1 of 6)~~
Hector tried pressing it, but it didn't budge. He tried pressing harder, but still nothing.
Hmm. Had he been wrong?
'Try one more time.' Garovel grabbed his shoulder, and Hector felt the undead strength surge through his muscles.
He did as the reaper requested. The stone resisted still, but only at first. It sunk deep into the wall, and Hector heard a kind of a rumbling click.
Abruptly, an opening in the seemingly dirt floor appeared, popping up like the trunk of a car and throwing a large cloud of dust into the air.
'Well, shit,' said Garovel.
Hector had a pretty good idea why he was saying that.
'That right there is a room only accessible to someone with superhuman strength,' the reaper said.
'Yes, it is...'
'And combined with your clue about the lock, then it's suddenly looking like a servant used to live here.'
'Yeah...'
'It's not proof that they were responsible to the mysterious deaths, buuut...'
'Not looking good, is it?'
'Not one bit.'
They descended into the lower room.
As Hector shined his flashlight around in the pitch blackness, it quickly became apparent that this hidden chamber was not empty like the rest of the house.
There were tables and shelves everywhere. Piles of documents and books. An old, bulb-shaped lamp.
Hector tried flipping the switch on the lamp, but it remained dark.
'I'd be worried if that thing had turned on,' said Garovel. 'That would mean someone was paying the electric bill.'
Hector inspected the nearest table more closely and began sifting through the documents thereon with his flashlight. There were lots of numbers and names, seemingly. Maybe street addresses as well. Hector couldn't really make heads or tails of most of it.
He tried another table, this one larger, and rifled through its drawers until he found a stack of small papers which seemed to have more substantial writing on them:
Citizenry still largely unaware of reaper presence. Recommend renewal of quarantine status.
Hector's eyes widened.
