Missing Link

by Varun Vashist

  "You will know with time," he said and looked around, "Don't be surprised if they already know that you are undercover. Take my number, it may come handy."

  With that, he passed a slip to her and left immediately.

  "Wait. Who are they?"

  "You will know," he said and continued walking.

  Kiara stood there listless, trying to understand what he was referring to. She looked at the slip once. "Well, what a nice welcome," she murmured and started walking towards the gate.

  As the guard opened the gate, he again leered at her. Kiara did not say anything, but as she was about to get out, she deliberately stepped on his feet making him scream with pain.

  "You are cruel," he shrieked.

  Kiara did not turn around, just waved over her shoulder. The day had not gone that well for her and anyone who was going to come in her way was going to have the same treatment.

  Jake's words were hammering in her head as she walked towards the lake. What did he mean when he said everyone has an agenda? Was something going on in the town that needed to be investigated? But, he told her to refrain from going deep. And, why does an agent go for patrolling inside a factory as if it was a military zone.

  Anyhow, one thing was sure that Harrison had some ties with the Coopers, so he can't be trusted. Also, she needed to gather some more information about Cooper Industries before going after them. This mission was not going to be as simple as she had hoped it to be.

  As she crossed the lake, she noticed something different. The smoke from the factory looked much thicker than what she had seen during the day. The dark sky made the gray smoke look even more prominent. She remembered Paul's words that how they run the factory above the plant capacity in the night. Though, she was not certain, but the sludge coming out of the pipes also looked much more in quantity than the daytime.

  As she walked further, the smell became almost unbearable. She walked as fast as she could till she reached the main street. The effect of smoke was much reduced after she took the turn. She looked around as she crossed the market. The whole street was empty. She looked at her watch. It was merely half past seven. A little further, she could see people closing down the remaining shops. As she walked past them, they stopped for a moment, trying to recognize her under the streetlights. She was not sure, but she certainly saw a couple of older men shaking their head as if she had disappointed them. She thought it to be her imagination and continued walking.

  Kiara tried, but her left foot got inside one of the potholes covering it fully with mud. She grunted in angst as if she did not have enough problems to deal with already. She limped and reached the house and looked it under the light. Her shoe was not visible under the layer of mud. She looked at the doormat and tried to wipe some of it. She put her hand on the door handle for support, but felt as if the door was open. She gave it a gentle nudge making it open with a creak.

  She looked around. No one was in the vicinity. She opened her shoes gently and threw them aside. She slipped inside without making any sound. Once inside, she pulled her 0.38 out from under the T-shirt. Though, it was dark, there was some light from the patio filtering through the tiny opening of the window. She looked around, but no one was there. She took cover under the couch and waited for a few more moments; still nothing. Slowly, she crawled through the floor towards the bedroom. Once near the door, she got up and waited for a few seconds. Once assured, she entered in quietly and immediately scanned all the corners.

  Finally, she switched on the lights and checked the entire house again, but could not find any traces of anyone who might have visited. She screened the living room and the kitchen, but everything was as she had left.

  Suddenly, something struck her. She ran towards the bedroom and checked her bag. It was open and her clothes were lying beside the chest. She collected everything and checked twice, but nothing was missing. She sat on the bed, trying to decipher what were they trying to find. She remembered Jake's words about everyone knowing that what she was doing in Kingston. Maybe, they were here to find my true identity, she thought.

  She was in her thoughts, when she heard a knock. Paul had brought food for her.

  "There was a break in," she said immediately startling him a bit. However, he calmed down immediately.

  "What?" he said, though Kiara was not able to see the words matching his expression.

  "Do you know them?" she probed further.

  "No..no I don't," Paul's face turned red. He kept the tray on the table and left at once. Kiara's guess was right. Paul knew something. There were no signs of forced entry and it looked like whosoever had come here was guided to her bags. There were no signs of any other thing being touched in the entire house.

  She looked around one more time, but there were no clues left. She had to keep an eye on Paul, she thought.

  She sat on the chair contemplating the whole day. Everyone whom she had met was carrying some secret. There was something big going on inside the factory. Paul too had links with them. Harrison's was trying to protect the Cooper's. Probably, he had also links with the same people behind everything. Even Jake could not to be trusted. He was going to share everything with Harrison; and, finally the Cooper's. They were playing another game altogether.

  The more she thought, the more she became sure of some deeper secrets of Cooper Industries. But, why would someone want to check her credentials for that surprised her. She was glad that she had carried the gun and badge with her. It was too early for her identity to be revealed. Well, it was always early.

  She had the dinner, but the whole time she kept thinking about Paul and his mother. There was something that both knew. She had to plan how to get it out of them. It would help if she took it slow for the first week or so to understand a bit about the town and the Cooper Industries. The thought of Cooper Industries reminded her something. She threw the tray into the sink and ran towards the bedroom.

  She opened the chest at once. She was confused further looking at the report. She had thought that maybe they checked the report she was carrying. This would have helped her to cement her identity as a student and made her life a bit easier, but, the report was where she had left it.

  She took it out and looked at it. As she held it in her hand, she heard something falling out of it. Some photocopies fell out of it that were not there in the report earlier. She picked them and looked at them. Her heartbeat increased once she recognized them. They were the pages of someone's personal diary, may be the one that Carlson was reading.

  She raced towards the living room and opened the report to check if anything else was in it. She shuffled through the pages twice, but could not find anything. She kept the report aside and glanced through the diary pages. The pages were not in sequence as shown by the dates, but all of them were from 2013, January onwards. She shuffled through them one more time and arranged them in sequence. Again, the pages skipped several dates, sometimes even weeks. It was as if someone had gone through the whole diary and picked the exact pages that Kiara needed to read.

  Anyhow, she could think about all of this once she was done with the reading. She got up and looked out the window. Once assured, she closed the window and started reading.

  ‘Monday, Jan 14, 2013

  Diary Dearest,

  I can't express how happy I am about today's success. People say that daydreaming is not good, but, Dad and I do that day in and day out; and today one of those dreams took shape of reality. It is nice to be on top again. Now, again, I have to start dreaming, rather daydreaming from scratch, but it is the only thing that drives me. The rest of the day went on as usual. Shared the whole success with everyone, the only thing which couldn’t share was the pain of mom’s absence. As usual, it’s you with whom I can express that how much I miss her. After her, it’s you with whom I can share what I can't share with the world; my vulnerabilities and all my weaknesses. Thanks for all the support.

  Good Night.’

  Kiara read it once more. She was pretty su
re by now that the pages were from Chris Cooper's diary. Looking at the corners of the photocopy, she was certain they were the same pages that Carlson had but did not share with her. They had similar edges as if ripped from the diary in a hurry. Maybe it was part of the proof with which Richard had threatened the Cooper's. However, there was nothing alarming about what Chris had written, but the thought made her excitement palpable. She was not certain about the intentions of the people who had left the pages with her and what they wanted from her, but, they were surely against the Cooper's.

  The way to find it was to read the remaining pages.

  Tuesday, Jan 22, 2013

  'Some people can't see others win. But, I have a motto in life: never ever give up. And I am not giving up now. No situation is impossible. There is always a way around. What I have achieved is mine and only mine. No one can take it away. Whosoever is behind this will have to try again and much harder next time because this time I am going to make his pawns mine. The game may be set up by him, but will be played by my rules.'

  It was a short note, but one filled with vengeance. These were the words of a man who could go to any extent to achieve what he wanted. But, then all the businessmen are like that; ruthless and emotionless. There was nothing too revealing about the letters. May be there was something in the subsequent sheets. Right now, Kiara was not getting any messages.

  There were three more pages. Kiara read them and was as confused by them as by the earlier pages. All the pages seemed to be either ranting about how the business world is cruel or were about some success achieved despite the competition.

  She looked at the pages one more time; brought them near the lamp to check if there were some hidden marks but nothing.

  She looked at the watch. It was almost half past eleven. She was not getting any new ideas. The best way was to sleep over it and think about it in the morning. Besides, she had nothing to do tomorrow. Jake was going to take her inside the factory the day after. So, she had plenty of time to go over it the whole day.

  She switched off the lights and moved to the bedroom. After keeping the pages inside the report she was about to switch off the bedroom lights when she noticed something. She opened the report in haste and looked at the cover page. There was a red circle surrounding the name of one of the contributors: Sarah Edwards.

  Were diary pages related to Sarah? This made her thoughts go into spirals, but still she was not able to find any connections. She shuffled through the pages of the report but could not find anything.

  She stood there for a few more moments, but could not think of anything. Finally, she took out her laptop and started looking for Sarah on the Internet. Besides fifty profiles on Twitter and Facebook with the same name nothing else was there. She was not even sure, which one she was looking for.

  She struggled for half an hour without any success. The more she thought, the more she got confused.

  One thing was sure; the person who had sent these was someone from the village, but having strong ties with the Cooper's. He was keeping an eye on her and probably knew her real identity. Could it be Jake? Or maybe Harrison?

  Though she was not sure who was behind this; she was sure of how she was going to spend the next day. She put the report in the drawer and switched off the lights.

  Chapter 4

  As the morning rays filtered through the window pane, Kiara came out of sleep. She looked at her watch. It was half past seven. She rushed towards the bathroom and got ready as if she had to reach somewhere.

  After getting ready, she looked at the watch again. It was five to eight. She started walking across the hall impatiently looking at the watch now and then. As soon as it hit eight, she took her phone out of the bag. She shuffled through the numbers, till she reached Bob's number.

  She took a deep breath and then called him.

  "Well, well," a scruffy voice came from the other end.

  Kiara heaved a sigh, "Hello Bob. How are you doing?"

  "What do you want, Davenport?" Bob asked. He had the annoying habit of calling her by last name.

  "Why do you think I called for help?" Kiara pretended to be surprised.

  "It has to be for some Intel. You know I will turn you down for a date," Bob said with a smirk, "Women only want two things from me; either good time or some classified information."

  Kiara pressed her hand hard against the table. She knew Bob was not an easy nut to crack. But, he was the only person who could help her. Finally, she thought of playing along.

  "Yes, Bob. You are right. You are too good for me. So I will go with the second option," she conceded in a low voice.

  "OK. And what will I get in return?" he asked unashamedly.

  "Whatever you ask," she said in a low voice, knowing beforehand what it was going to be.

  "A few words of praise may be," he said and paused for a second, "And an apology."

  "Bob, I did not mean when I said you were a slob. It just rhymed with your name," she pleaded.

  "You are insulting me again and I am going to disconnect."

  "Wait…Ok..You are the most efficient and resourceful person in the whole department. Without you, our field work would be like shooting in the dark," she said with great difficulty.

  "Well, I would have gone with peeing in the open when the wind is blowing towards your face. But, then it would sound nice from a man's perspective."

  "Eww Bob," Kiara said with disgust.

  "What do you want?" Bob asked the question she was waiting for.

  "I need some information about someone," she replied immediately.

  "Give me the name. I will see what I can do," he said with an air of confidence.

  "I am sure you will get me all the details," Kiara tried to inflate his ego further.

  "No need to remind me how good I am," he said firmly," Give me the damn name."

  Bob took the name down. Kiara disconnected the phone hoping for some important information that would help her in the planning. If the first part goes right, the next steps will be much easier.

  "Are you going out?" Paul inquired while Kiara was locking the door.

  "Thought of having breakfast at one of the Café's," she said with a smile, "Can you suggest one?"

  "Sure." Paul was a bit confused, "Elmo's place is pretty good."

  Kiara nodded and checked the lock one more time; an old habit. Though, there was no point after yesterday's break in.

  "See you, then," she smiled and left.

  Paul was utterly confused. It was as though she had forgotten about yesterday. On the other hand, Kiara had different plans and confronting Paul was not one of them.

  After walking for some time, she took off down the street to the café. The day had come up beautifully. The weather was also soothing. The only icing on the cake would be if she could find some clues. With that thought she started walking on the sidewalk that led to Elmo's Café. It was around nine in the morning. All establishments had opened and there were quite a few people in the marketplace. There was a bus with Cooper industries logo on it. People wearing uniforms were waiting for it to start. She scanned all of them. There was more of a chance of her pursuer among them than anywhere else. She stood at a fair distance from them, from where they could easily see her. A single reaction from any of them was enough for Kiara to read through their minds. She took her phone out and pretended to talk loudly, trying to gain any attention from them. Some of them turned towards them. The only reaction she got was them checking her out. She glanced at all of them, but could not find anything that could have helped her. Finally, before it got any creepy, she left for the Café. As she turned around, her phone beeped. As she started reading it, her face lit up. Her first step had been a success. She locked the phone screen and looked towards the café.

  The Café looked old with windows covered with flower boxes. An old man was setting up bistro tables outside. It was too early in the day for Kingston. May be she should have come in the night; she thought while reaching out for the doo
r. As she pushed the door, she could sense people noticing her. There were only five- six of them, but all went silent while looking at her. She stared back at them making them go back to their business. She looked around one more time. A waitress was taking orders at one of the tables. As she walked near her, the waitress turned around. She looked in mid-fifties and had an affable smile.

  "You must be Kiara," she said with a warm smile, "Please have a seat. I will take your order in a moment."

  Kiara rolled her eyes. Here she was thinking of finding someone who was following her; but it seemed the whole town was interested in her.

  "It's like finding a needle in a haystack," she murmured and walked past her.

  As she crossed the table, she happened to glance at the table the waitress was taking orders.

  "Jackpot!" Kiara mumbled as she noticed Jake. "Can I Join you?"

  Jake looked at her and heaved a sigh. "What do you want?"

  "Can't I have breakfast with my co-worker?" Kiara gave a genial smile.

  "Who said we are co-workers?" Jake smirked while Kiara pulled the chair.

  "Well, if we are not now; we may be in the future," she said and looked at him for his reaction.

  Jake raised his eyebrow, trying to understand Kiara's intentions. Kiara was about to say something when she was interrupted by the waitress.

  "What would you like to have?" she asked while looking at both with suspicion.

  "I will have what he is having," Kiara said hastily trying to get the waitress off her back. The waitress nodded and left.

  "What is in your mind?" Jake asked again, but more firmly this time.

  Kiara leaned forward. "I need your help with something."

  "Forget about the report going out without Harrison's review. I won't help you with that. I don't want to pick a fight that could pose a threat to my career," he said while sipping coffee.

  "But, as far as I know you love picking fights with your superiors,"