Investigation

As soon as he received the message from Prof. Xander, Agent Victor started his work on getting his hands on the communication devices of his crew. He and his team have to legally go through the calls and messages of every one of them, all while without making a fuss.

The surveillance cum enforcers team consisted of members from two fields, the intelligence agency and The military and Victor was the head of that. He was so used to getting orders and acting on them since he was from the military, but the members of the intelligence agency questioned their task that violated their own privacy- they didn't mind doing it with the townsfolk though.

"Are you telling us to go through our own devices?!" one member snarled after hearing Victor's order.

"Ridiculous!" the other yelled.

Agent Victor sighed, "Yes and it includes mine as well, it's because there's someone among us working against this project by helping the subjects leave the town"

"And why would they do that?"

Everyone fell silent for a brief moment, it was Selena Moir, from the intelligence agency and second in command to Victor.

"Well, Selena you're here!" Victor blurted out not paying much attention to his words as he was busy looking at her mesmerizing eyes.

"I don't remember us being on a first-name basis," Selena told Victor sternly. "And why is this task assigned to you 'the enforcers' head' and not me 'Surveillance head'?"

"No! Sele- I mean Moir, you got it all wrong! I'm not actually in charge--"

"Then let me handle this," she cut him off.

Victor did not say another word, he knew he cannot mess with a top-ranked Crustanian IA personnel but he had more than that as to why he kept quiet.

"Everyone, Just check up on the messages or calls that seem strange--" she said as she eyed everyone in the room curiously.

"- You don't need to use this chance to peek into others' personal matters", she arched her eyebrow as she said that, and a wave of chuckle resonated through the room.

"And you may do so with each other's permission," she finished.

She gestured for everyone to come near the hologram screen that was lit in the center of the room.

Everyone on the team scanned their eye-prints to grant access to their devices, including Selena and Victor.

The AI, Sarah which scanned their eyes to grant access to their devices, made sure to lock up their devices for them in order to prevent anyone from erasing or getting rid of evidence.

Everyone started their work, to be safe from others the identities of the files from devices are all encoded in numbers that only the AI knew and only will reveal at the end of the operation. The command was given by one of the IA agents in the team.

Selena turned toward Victor as everything was set, "Anything else?"

"What?", he once again struggled with his words as Selena gave him an intimidating look.

"Oh yes, prof. Xander told us to check on the agents who were on duty in that forest area," he added.

"Which lane specifically?" She questioned.

"Oh right, the video!" Victor pulled out his phone and swiped it open.

// access denied//

He had forgotten abt the lock that was set up just now, he looked up at Selena who was staring at him blankly.

'crap' he muttered.

"Umm, If you would follow me to my office, I might show you that clip" He added awkwardly.

Selena nodded and followed him closely, eyeing everyone who was immersed in checking the info.

"This is it," Victor said as he tapped on his workspace, as the hologram lit up showing the video clip of the trespassers.

"Have you identified the kids?" Selena asked him looking curiously.

"Yes, they are Miron Golubev and Ivan Fedarov-- They've already attempted something like this before and got blacked out" Victor answered.

Selena remained unfazed, "So we're looking for that person in our uniform, right?" she added.

"Yes, that's right," Victor nodded.

"Oh well, We're supposed to check up on the agents who have patrolled near the forest line," he added anxiously.

"Absolutely" Selena agreed smirking.

Victor started scrolling through the video for locating the forest line, after a while he asked AI Sarah,

"Sarah, can you help me locate the agents who patrolled the forest line in this video"

After a moment of silence, the AI replied,

//Of course, Agent Victor//

// Enforcers Team, Rank 53 - Agent Morozov //

// Enforcers Team, Rank 192 - Agent Smirnoff//

// Surveillance Team, Rank 30 - Agent Volkov//

// Surveillance team, Rank I - Agent Moir//

Victor's eyes widened at the mention of Selena's name, contrary to that Selena remained calm.

"Well..." Victor spoke up reluctantly.

"What is it, Victor? Got your tongue tied?" Selena looked at him staring into his soul, he quickly broke the eye contact.

"Ahaha No, Not at all" he added nervously.

After a moment of silence, Selena swiftly moved and walked out of the room.

"Wait, Selena" he called out, after her glare he corrected himself, "Agent Moir."

"Yes?" she asked him, looking composed as ever.

"You should be present for the investigation process," He blurted out summoning all of his courage.

"Why of course I will, you make it sound like I'd run," she replied.

"Does that mean you suspect me, Victor?" She added, her blue eyes making him uncomfortable now.

"Not like that," he denied hastily.

Selena smiles at him before leaving him all alone in his office.

The four who patrolled near the forest lane were called upon for the investigation.

They all looked nervous except for Selena, who was the only high-rank member among them. Victor walked anxiously toward them, trying to avoid looking Selena directly in the eye.

"So, you might have heard about the situation" he spoke up to the four members.

"It wasn't me, I swear to god," a measly weak man cried.

"Anything isn't settled yet Smirnoff, please cooperate," Victor told him coldly.

"What were you doing that night?" he asked generally.

"I was sleeping!" Smirnoff cried again.

Victor eyed one of the guards and he understood the signal, he walked forward and grabbed Smirnoff by the arms.

"If you don't wish to cooperate, you are welcome to be a part of the lab," Victor told him threateningly.

"Your turn Agent Moir," he asked looking down at his tablet, his voice filled with unknown guilt.

"I was drinking my hot cocoa and doing my own stuff--guarding the lab and monitoring the subjects," Selena shrugged, her posture was such that she didn't seem to be the person who was under investigation.

"You, Agent Volkov," Victor asked.

"I was organizing the data collected, and I slept for a while after that before coming back to monitor the subjects," Volkov replied.

"And you?" he asked Smirnoff, who looked paranoid.

"I-- Uh " he stuttered.

"SIR!" one of the agents barged in, looking both triumphant and distorted.

"What is it?" Victor questioned him.

The agent took a big gulp, before saying, "We found a text from our agent that's encoded with the passcode to the shield."

"WHAT?!" Victor stood up causing the others in the room to startle, Selena slowly got up and walked toward Victor.

"Let's go," Victor gestured to Selena as he eyed the guards to take care of the rest of the agents under investigation.

"Who is that agent?" Victor questioned as he took the tablet from the agent's grip.

"We don't know yet sir, you're the one who can ask Sarah to reveal it," he replied.

"The thing is, the code wasn't even that hard, it was too lame," he snorted.

"Are you kidding me? the kids used that to escape!" Victor snarled at him.

He went near the AI hologram, placed at the center of the room.

"Sarah, grant access to the devices and let me know whose is this device," he asked the AI sliding the text in his tablet to the AI hologram.

//Access granted//

Everyone's devices pinged at the same time.

//Processing your data....//

//The device belongs to the head of the surveillance team- Agent Moir//

Victor couldn't believe his ears, he looked around at Selena who seemed unbothered by the AI's revelation.