Isabelle

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Tuesday 27th April 2010

00:43

David Oswalddoes not wear a big badge telling the world what he does for aliving, but he doesn’t have to. The grey suit that he wears hascome to symbolize something amongst the enemies that he fights. Itstrikes more fear than similar suits of different colours.

He is sippingon a glass of water when he turns around and sees a man wearing ablack suit – staring at him.

There is alook of recognition on David’s face and he smiles, putting theglass down on a desk. This is a much warmer smile than the one heused to greet his previous visitor.

Still, hisquestion is a strange one. Not “How are you, old friend?” butinstead, “What do you want?”

The man putson a good show of faking shock. “Is that any way to talk to an oldfriend?”

“Would you like a glass of water?”

The newcomerfinds this amusing for some reason. “You’re funny do you knowthat?”

David picks uphis glass and takes a sip. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“You don’t trust that Kevin is going to let this lie do you?”The man asks.

Now it isDavid’s turn to fake shock. “You were listening into myconversation?”

“Naturally. Things are slow right now and it is alwaysentertaining hanging around here.”

“You haven’t been around for a while. Things beenbusy?”

“It’s been so-so!”

He walksaround David’s office, as if this is the first time he has takenthe tour. He pays particular interest to the painting. The man init has an identical black suit to the one he’s wearing.

“It is a fantastic likeness of him.”

He turnsaround and raises his arm, pointing a thumb at the picture behindhim.

“I’m very surprised that Kevin doesn’t bring him up in yourconversations. Surely that would sway you?”

“No it wouldn’t, and he wouldn’t dare.”

“Anyway, I just stopped in to warn you that I’ll have businessaround here soon. A lot of it.”

David’s smiledisappears at the implication. “Is it anyone I know?”

The manshrugs. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

Just then, thephone starts to ring. The man turns to walk out of the room.

“You really should get that. It’s important.”

And then he isgone.

Tuesday 27th April 2010

00:45

For somestrange reason, Alice Cuthbert wakes up with the smell of bacon inher nostrils. Maybe it is from a dream that she was having. She canthink of no other rational explanation. Whatever her dream was, itis gone now. They occasionally come back to her when there is amemory brought on by a sight or a sound… or a smell.

She hasnot been asleep for long. It has been another late night at work,so maybe she hadn’t even gone deep enough to dream yet. She hadread somewhere that the average person takes four hours to go intodeep sleep but that sounds wrong. She can't remember the last timeshe slept four hours straight through, but the memories she has ofdreams that do return to her prove the theory wrong.

She has becomeso used to the phone ringing in the dead of the night that she isusually running out of the room to answer it before she is evenfully awake.

Thisthoroughly annoys her boyfriend. He cannot understand why she hassuch a devotion to work. When the phone rings, it is always workrelated.

Alice,like Gary, has never told her partner what kind of work she isinvolved in. There is just no easy way to do it.

She wasthe first person to join David’s group. This has caused her to beone of his more trusted employees. She is almost the second incommand, although she would never claim such a thing. Everyonereckons that she knows what David is thinking, but the fact of thematter is that she has just about as much of a clue as everyoneelse. She only fakes it sometimes, and pretends that she knows whatis going to happen.

Rightnow, David has a plan that involves her and they are going to makethe move very soon. She is very nervous about it, but does not letit show. This is the first time she has ever had to infiltrate agroup. There is a company that she and David have beeninvestigating for some time now, and they need someone on theinside.

She ispretty sure that this is what the phone call is about. She justknows that David needs her to do something tonight. Can she nothave a break for just one night?

She hadmet David for the first time, a few years before when he had cometo her University to do a presentation. He had started ProgressionSoftware and worked for himself and had managed to make it a hitsuccess. She had always wanted to be a computer programmer, andthis was her last year in Uni. She was sure that the jobs wouldcome thick and fast as soon as she left.

There had beena Q and A session and she had asked him a lot of questions. Davidseemed to take careful note of what she was saying and asked hersome questions in return. At one point, it was almost as if therewas nobody else in the room and one of her friends later on askedif she was interested in him.

“Of course not!” She had said.

But whowouldn’t be? He was intelligent, and very attractive. He just hadto loosen up a little more. Those clothes, for instance. He coulddo a lot better but they seemed to be as much a part of DavidOswald as anything else.

He had beenwaiting for her outside in the hall after her final exam. She hadbeen surprised to see him. He asked her flat out if she wanted ajob.

“I thought you enjoyed working alone!” She said.

He shrugged.“Things change. I have a massive workload right now and I need somehelp with it.”

“I don’t know if I’ve passed or not.”

“Oh, you’ve passed.” He said.

“How do you know?”

“I only want the best working for me!”

And she hadjust passed, but she had accepted the job offer long before she gother results. She had the best mark in her class and that had hardlysurprised David. He had done a lot of research on her. Alicewondered if he knew her better than she knew herself sometimes.

David soonintroduced her to his “extra workload!”

Out of all ofDavid’s employees, she was the most enthusiastic about the work.She had taken to it like a duck to water. She had hardly seemedsurprised when she was faced with the creature in the basement ofthe dead couple’s flat that they visited that first night. It wasguarded; they always were before they reached full strength in thisworld.

Alice hadbeaten David to the punch in killing it. The… thing’s demise ruinedher clothes but she had to admit that she had a really good timedoing it.

And, like adrug, she had become addicted – just like everyone else, with thepossible exception of Edward, who still seems to be wary of thewhole thing. He is not scared by any stretch of the imagination buthe is always slightly on edge about things.

She is onlyhalf listening to what David is telling her on the phone. She tellshim that she will get to the office as quickly as she can. It isonly while she is getting dressed that it dawns on her what hasbeen said in the phone, and she tries to speed up.

ChristopherHarris watches as his girlfriend gets dressed for work in the earlyhours of the morning. He does not like the power that David Oswaldholds over her. His friends have told him that this will soonchange, but he does not believe it. Alice looks more besotted withthis man than she was with him. That isn’t right; it isn’t right atall.

“What can be so important that you have to go into the officeat…?” He looks at the clock and sees the time, “f**k’s sake you’veonly been in for an hour?”

Alice shrugs.“We have an important job on right now and we have to jump toattention whenever another programmer comes up with asolution.”

The lie soundsimplausible in Alice’s head as she says it.

“Are you having an affair with your Boss?” Christopher asks,in a joking manner to try and cover the fact that Alice is lying tohim. He knows that she isn’t having an affair and, truth be told,also knows more about her job than he lets on.

Alice laughsat this, and nods. “Yes, but we have to have group s*x so the wholeworkforce is coming in.”

“Is Gary Ingalls going to be there? I bet you’d have an affairwith him.”

Christopherhas only met Gary briefly, but took an instant dislike to him.

Alice’sdemeanour changes immediately. She hopes that Christopher will nottake that the wrong way – after all, Gary is the reason she isbeing called into the office at this time.

“No I wouldn’t. Anyway he’s got a girlfriend and you’ve mether.”

“Yes, so I did… Isabelle wasn’t it?”

Alice nods andkisses him lightly on the lips, before running out of the door.“Don’t wait up.”

Christophersmiles and lies down in bed. “Isabelle Simons. She was nice. Idon’t know what she saw in that prick.”

He flicks theside lamp off and falls back to sleep, almost immediately.

Tuesday 27th April 2010

01:03

Belinda didn’tbother trying to look her best, something that she could be accusedof quite often, and, since she actually lives nearest to theProgression Software building, she reaches David relatively quicklyafter his phone call.

There is stillone member of the group Belinda cannot get through to, and that isRobert Alloway. Yet, she keeps trying to reach him.

After a fewtries, she slams the phone down with great annoyance and makes anincomprehensible noise to show her frustration.

David sees herfrustration and decides to try and calm her down a little. He walksover to her, knowing the smile on his face is full of concern butunable to do anything about it.

“Still no luck?”

Belinda isrenowned for her sarcasm, and so many replies come into her headbut she manages to resist the urge to say any of them, and merelyshakes her head.

She forgetsabout her own frustration for a moment when she sees Gary walk intothe office, a glazed look in his eyes. He appears to be completelynumbed by the shock of the whole situation.

She wants togo over and tell him that she is sure that everything will be okay,that Isabelle will probably turn up at any moment. She would belying to him if she does, though. Something about this situationisn’t right. Feeling her anger and frustration build, she feels theneed to take it out on someone.

“Robert’s probably out at a nightclub or somewhere. He’snothing but a kid. He’s not reliable David. You really have to havea word with him.

David frownsat her argument. “He has to have a life outside the office.”

Belindagets angrier, if that is possible. “Why? I don’t have a life. Iknow you don’t have a life. What makes Robert sospecial?”

“Look, it doesn’t matter”, Gary finally says. “Thanks forcoming to help, but we don’t need everyone here.”

Belinda wantsto say something, but doesn’t. They all wait for the others toarrive.

She does notlike to think about the situation that has led her to be David’ssecond employee. The only people who know the story are David andAlice, and, truth be told, she would rather that it was only David.Sometimes, she still cries herself to sleep.

It is the notknowing that is the worst. She knows exactly how Gary feels rightnow, but can’t voice this. Maybe one day she can tell them… but notnow.

David seems tosense what she is thinking and puts a hand on her shoulder. Hewants to grab her and hug her, pull Gary over too. Hug them both,tell them it is going to be okay, but he can’t, no more thanBelinda could tell Gary that Isabelle was going to be okay.

Not countingthe AWOL Robert Alloway, Edward Davis is the last member of staffof Progression Software to get there. They have no idea that theyoungest employee is, as Belinda has theorised, enjoying himself ina nightclub.

Edwardapologises to everyone for being late but, like everyone else, hehas managed to get here in the record time. Everyone in the roomhas had their fair share of being woken up in the dead of night, bythe telephone.

Like all theothers, Edward has been briefed on the phone of the situation –Gary’s girlfriend was missing and nobody has any idea where shemight be. David reiterates to them all again that they are herethat it might be nothing. But now the phrase hangs in the air likenobody actually believes that this is a possibility any more.

David handsout assignments to aid in the search for Isabelle.

“Belinda, Edward, I want you two to check out the local hauntsto see if there’s any clues about a kidnapping for ritualpurposes.”

Belinda,Edward and Alice are all very surprised that David has made thatcomment.

“Alice, you come with me. I have a couple of ideas I want toplay around with.”

There is nosurprise there. Alice and David were virtually inseparable when itcame to things like this.

“Gary, I want you to go back home, and wait to see if Isabelleappears. You can get us on our mobile phones if shedoes.”

The firstgroup to leave is Edward and Belinda. He is secretly glad that thetwo of them are doing this together, despite the fact that he stillfeels uncomfortable visiting the haunts. He enjoys working withBelinda and feels that she is maybe the only person in the officethat he really gets on with.

It has been onthe tip of his tongue a dozen times to ask her out for a drink. Thereason he never asks is because he is certain that she will say no,and that it might spoil the friendship they have. He also reckonsthat is one of the reasons why he likes her. Insane as it sounds,there is safety in a woman who will refuse you.

He also knowsthat she has faced some kind of personal tragedy in her life, andthat is why she is working with David, but he has no idea what itis and he has never felt there was a right time to ask. Maybe oneday he would find out, but now definitely isn’t that right time –not when you are looking for the missing girlfriend of one of yourco-workers.

Theirmission is to head for one of the local attractions. The haunts areplaces where, for want of a better description, peopleless-than-human hang out. Both of them have been to these placesthrough the course of their time together with David, and in factEdward’s first night on the job in Progression had taken him to oneof these unholy places. They didn’t hold the same fear for the twoof them that they once had.

They get thererelatively quickly by car, the nearest haunt not being too far awayfrom Progression Software. Edward wonders why they don’t movesomewhere else. This is always the first place that David comes tohassle people. But tonight it is just the two of them. This is thebar where he had first fought the Brethren.

Whenthey walk in, the place there is completely silent. It is as ifsome of the people in this really seedy-looking dive have beenexpecting them to walk through the door all night. They feel eyeson them, staring at them but it must have been a trick on themind.

The placelooks like your average bar, except there are bloodstains on thewall and none of the people look like normal patrons of thedrinking scene. Edward scans around the place in distaste.

“I don’t like this!” He says to Belinda, who smiles sweetlyand walks towards the bar.

“I don’t like this one little bit!” He mumbles, despite thefact that Belinda can’t even hear him anymore.