Colin's posts

"I know." Hal replied.

"Heaven and Hell help me, I know." he said.

"But I'll have to do it." he told her.

"...and I'll have to do it alone." he said further.

"I don't know if I can trust anyone in my own Unit right now." he went on, the weight and severity of his tone telling her this hurt him to say.

"So I'll have to do this myself, and make sure nobody knows that I'm doing so." he continued.

"And then an internal review will need to be done, in terms of my position, and whether or not I'm keeping it, but that... comes later." he muttered further.

"For now, I have a Unit to search, where every single person is a suspect."

Hal wouldn't admit it right now, but he was terrified.

He was absolutely frightened of what Hollie would do to him. He'd let her down in a very big way, and he knew that the consequences would be dire.

"...then we are on very little precious time." he responded.

"Whomever has it might not even know what it is they're dealing with, which is even MORE concerning." he admitted, trying to think as hard as he could.

"....I wonder if that Encrae woman is tied to this." he then said.

"I recall a pair of my agents pursued one of her lackeys about a week ago..."

"I could." Hal responded.

"But I won't. It would be a lie." he told her.

He then made his way to the wall, opened up the safe, and showed her.

The tome was gone.

"I don't know how, I don't know when." he told her.

"I had it with me earlier, and it has not left this room unless it went home with me. And there is NO footage of anyone coming into my office on the cameras." he went on.

"For all intents and purposes, it has disappeared." he told her further, internally bracing himself for what might occur.

She noticed that Hal looked distressed.

And stressed.

In fact, to her, he looked like a nervous wreck.

And all he said was two words.

"....it's gone."

Sharp just leaned forward, and put his hands in his face.

"I don't know." he admitted.

"I don't think there's ANYTHING you can do." he said.

"Just... just contact her." he told her.

"Get her here as soon as possible." he went on.

"....and prepare for the worst."

She went back and told him of this, which really did not make him happy.

"Damn it all!" he cursed.

"This is impossible." he growled.

"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" he cursed, slamming his fist onto his desk.

"Nobody knew I had it!" he went on.

"...........I have to tell her." he realized and vocalized.

"I'm going to die."

"Depends." Hal growled.

"Can you find the dead man that decided to break into my office and somehow steal an artefact that I was holding onto for Hollie Remmington?" he asked, venom in his tone.

"Hollie is going to have my HEAD on a platter if she finds out that it's gone." he told her.

"And I have no explanation as to how it's happened. My office is one of the most secure locations in this building." he said further.

"Damn it, check the security camera!" he then ordered her.

"We need to see if anyone came into my office!" he said further.

'...when the tome was actually IN my office, while I wasn't there, which is practically impossible.' he then thought.

"Of course." Illias responded.

- - - -

Hal sighed as he stretched out his arms, and got up from the desk.

"All right, time to go home." he said.

"I'm pretty damn tired." he mumbled, before making his way to the wall safe he had.

'...need to get the book, first.' he thought.

It was about that time, that his secretary heard his voice emanate from his office... loud and clear.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

"Well, fair enough." Illias responded as they ate.

"That WOULD make sense." he admitted.

"We just need to remember that we're not there to fix the issues, just bring them to light, and propose possible solutions." he then said.

"...sorry, just reminding myself." he quickly told her.

"Need to remember not to be TOO ambitious." he chuckled.

"We just need to scan the place, looking for trouble areas." he shrugged.

'...and find whatever it is in there that I NEED...' he finished internally.

Illias raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"Slightly weaker to the left?" he asked.

'Hmmmmmmm... interesting...' he thought.

"Weird." he then said aloud.

"Poor workmanship, do you think?" he asked.

"But that seems unlikely... top dollar was paid for this facility, I'm told." he went on.

"Regardless, that IS weird." he admitted.

"We'll have to see if there's any reason for it."

Illias accepted the folder, and looked over the contents.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"......hmph." he then muttered.

"From what I see, his office is pretty damn secure." he said, trying to hide his disappointment, before he noticed something.

"Wait." he then interjected.

"His windows seem a bit... unprotected." he commented.

"I mean, yeah, he's a number of stories up, but that's maybe a place where the security could be lax." he reasoned.

"Unless there's something there we don't know about." he went on.

"Which... is possible. I'm admittedly hardly ever in Sharp's office, and even then, it's not for long." he said further, as he poured over the files again.

Illias just nodded when she said what she did.

"All right then." he replied.

The two of them made their way to her office, shut the door behind them, and then Illias sat down in front of the desk, while Kiah sat down behind it. It was hers, after all.

"Eat while we talk?" Illias suggested.

"The gyros, anyway." he clarified.

"They're best while hot. The salad can be eaten anytime." he chuckled.

"Oh, and any ideas where to start?" he asked her, getting to business.

"You got it." Illias replied, before heading to grab the food.

A little bit later, he returned with Greek salad, a variety of gyros, and some soda for them.

"Here we go." he said.

"Brought back a bit of a variety pack." he chuckled.

"The cafeteria's being mopped up right now, so I figured it'll be easier to just eat here, as opposed to disturbing them." he reasoned further.

"Though you probably already planned to eat here." he then laughed.

Illias just smiled.

"All right." he said.

"You want something to eat as well?" he asked her.

"And I know it wouldn't be the first time getting into the journals for you." he then said. "Just figured it'd still be exciting." he went on.

"It should turn the scientific community upside down." he chuckled.