Chapter Twenty-Five: Madison

“Everything by the book.”

The last line in my mission briefing. I can understand why Jack threw it in. I’m new. A loose cannon. Untested and untrusted. That’s why he gave me Vicky to help in this case, though, isn’t it? So, I’m not sure if I should find it a snarky remark or just a warning of good faith. Why am I looking so deeply into this? It’s only a sentence, after all. I’m debating whether Jack has any trust over four little words.

How sad is that?

That being said, I don’t know how to do any of this by the book. So, that doesn’t help my own cause here.

“So, boss,” Vicky starts. I can get used to being called ‘boss.’ It has a nice ring to it. “What’s the first order of business?”

She knows exactly what the first order should be. She’s testing me. Trying to prod me and guide me, but I definitely don’t want to be the one to show weakness. I need to at least seem like I know what I’m doing.

“I guess we probably need to find the witch.” I guess? Probably? Did I actually use those words when I know I’m supposed to be showing the confidence of a leader? Well, that’s already a fail.

“Good start,” she chuckles. “But not all of us have been briefed on the intel. That’s where you need to start,” She nudges me in the right direction. We’re in her office. I don’t have one yet due to me not quite being on the books but at the same time being an agent. So, for now, we’re working out of here.

Vicky’s been very welcoming of it. She’s been helpful in it all. A good trainer and someone I could see becoming my friend.

“Right.” She leans against her desk on the left side. For the duration of the mission, she’s given me control over certain aspects of the desk. Letting me take the main seat, closest to documents on the computer I would have or need access to and the respect of someone in the position of authority a case leader would have. Because I’m new, I thought she would grow increasingly irritated with everything I’ve been gifted through Jack. However, this is not the case. She’s only been supportive.

“Well, intel suggests that the witch, Rebecca Sanchez, targets major corporations mainly dealing in government secrets or military-esque hardware. The developments are meant to be beneficial and give the U.S a leg up in various war zones and fights, but Sanchez, for a fee, leaks the information to competitors for a massive profit. Such items include a weaponized mech suit, powered by a nuclear fusion core. Though currently unstable, it has the potential to take great damage and inflict even more. Cryo grenades that put the victim into an icy coma. Thus far, testing has failed and only resulted in death, but they are constantly being worked on. Self-driving vehicles, EMP guns, and so on and so forth. Many of these items were stolen and sourced from the same company – a company specializing in advanced technological warfare for the troops. When caught and cornered, Sanchez showed first signs of her supernatural roots, striking down the force sent to apprehend her with magic. This is where we come in.” Vicky takes it all in, going over the intel, returning to me when she has finished.

“Not bad. You’ve given the necessary details for us to understand what the situation around these events is and what we’re dealing with. Jack’s notes don’t really say anything about it, but if at any point you can tell us what kind of abilities she has, I would assume in this case she’s proficient in illusion magic,” I nod, “and then you can either give orders or ask suggestions. In most cases, unless you have a solid foundation to move on, useful suggestions. Often, people will be able to give you ideas and concepts you would not have considered. For example, you might think following the money trail is a good idea. She’s been in this game for years. She will have her tracks covered. Then you ask me and I could say, we follow the source of her magic. Going to the scene and trying to track her back to her home or next place of business. This also doesn’t work well because energy moves around and she escaped on the outside of the building where they worked. So, the energy would be gone, we could assume. Then we move onto another concept like using a scry map to attempt to find a well of magic within the city. If she’s making this much money and lying to this many people, then there must be a big source to her power. Following down leads until we find something.”

I listen. There are some good points here, but none of them are the one I want to try. They’re all grand schemes, and none of them have a foundation. I know what she said was an example, but to follow the paper trail and to follow the magic are exactly the same. Both will lead to either dead ends or a million separate passes.

“I think we’ll keep it simple for now. Let’s go out and speak with the company and find out her last known whereabouts. I think that would be the easiest way to start, and we might just get lucky.” Vicky smiles and agrees.

We grab everything we need from the supply locker and head out.