HEALER

E4: Back to Square One

Julian looked at her, wondering if she meant what she told him. Her eyes didn’t blink a little bit, helping him confirm that she meant what she said. Julian knew he had said something wrong but he didn’t know what it was.

“I’ll leave if that’s what you want but you need to understand simple courtesy, okay? You should have never invited me if you would ask me out like this,” Julian frowned and started to move out.

“Stop being grumpy and get out!” Mia told him firmly. “I didn’t know you were a misogynist. I will never associate myself with such people.”

Now, Julian knew what he did wrong but still, he felt like it wasn’t too much. For him, Mia was just exaggerating. She wanted to act up from the very beginning. The moment Julian went out, Mia almost regretted it. She was on a mission and she shouldn’t have ended it just for Julian’s careless words. It wasn’t her fault though. All she did was being unable to control herself.

Like this had been planned, William called right at this moment. Mia picked it up after looking at it for a while. She knew what William would ask.

“Are you done with him already?” William asked carefully.

“Yeah, he left a while ago,” Mia replied.

“Do you think you got some important information about him?” William asked curiously. He desperately needed to be promoted and anything about Julian would seal the deal.

“I think I did,” Mia replied urgently. “He told me about his family background. His mother is an American citizen by birth while his father is Italian. I presume the information about his maternal family has never been known to the public.”

“Sounds cool enough,” William laughed over the phone. “Send me the information about his maternal family. I’ll take care of it over here.”

“Well…” Mia muttered, dreading what William would say after she said the truth.

“What is it?” William asked. He had not suspected a single thing.

“He didn’t tell me their names. I have no information about them so you can’t go searching exactly. I was afraid I would be compromised over that. The information isn’t such a crucial one, you know,” Mia muttered.

“You shouldn’t have told me about it in the first place!” William exclaimed. “I do not have time for this. You will do only one thing from this moment on. Your job is to go close to Julian and find out everything about him. I don’t care what you use to get the job done. Your main goal is…”

“I am not a field agent, Williams,” Mia stopped him before he went too far. “All along, I have been an undercover agent which has been the best bet for me. If I engage in this mission as you claim, my cover would be blown. I’ll need to remain in the field.”

“Not necessarily, girl,” William replied shortly. “This is what my life depends on, Mia. You’ll do as I say.”

“You keep forgetting that I have a choice!” Mia replied urgently. “I can choose to disobey your order.”

“Then try,” William threatened. “I have always tolerated your grumblings towards me because of our past relationship. I felt tender towards you but you shouldn’t misuse it.”

“Officer Williams!” Mia shouted as she breathed heavily. Their previous relationship that he mentioned always weakened her even though she was supposed to have forgotten about it already.

“Yes, that is what I am,” William replied calmly. “I am an Officer in the division. You are still an agent which makes you under my damn command. That is why you’ll do as I say.”

In the international crimes division, the lowest ranked were called cadets. The middle ranked like Mia were called agents while those in the high ranks were officers. Although officers had different levels, all of them were still in the same grade. William was a level four officer which was the lowest ranked officer. As a level one agent, Mia was only below William by a single rank.

“I asked him out today,” Mia told William shortly. She took a deep breath after. William was shocked on hearing this.

“You fell in love with him!” he exclaimed. Mia, sensing he got the wrong idea, corrected herself quickly.

“Oh no!” Mia told him urgently. “I didn’t ask him out as a lover. I asked him to get out of my coffee shop.”

“That’s a joke, right?” William held his breath.

“It isn’t a damn joke!” Mia said furiously. “He was a misogynist and I couldn’t take how he portrayed and objectified women and…”

“And what has it got to do with your mission!” William cried loudly in anger. “You must be going crazy gradually, Mia. You are supposed to get him closer but you sent him faraway. That is stupidity!”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I think he will want me more and more from this moment,” Mia tried to pacify her boss.

“Only in books and movies!” William shouted. “In real life, humans forget those who do not stand by them. Ever since we broke up…”

“Not again!” Mia interrupted.

“It’s fine, but you need to fix this,” William told her quickly. “You brought this to my office truly but if you fail at this, I will put you properly in your place. You will no longer benefit from the organization.”

“What do you mean?” Mia stood up, panting now.

“You have literally done nothing in years,” William told her carefully. “You went out of our records three years back because of what we were facing then. We needed a secret hacker to intercept the ones against us. You were our secret agent.”

“I still am. It is not in the past!” Mia noted.

“But it will be in the past if you can’t resolve this,” William told her shortly. “For the past two years, all you did was to screen potential threats that had no essence. There was only one hacking incident and our agents on ground intercepted it even before you knew about it. You did nothing so far and you kept receiving your monthly salary.”

“You plan to cut me out of the division,” Mia whimpered.

“Of course not!” William smiled. “The director likes your talent and I obviously don’t have that power.”

“I knew it!” Mia smiled.

“But I do have the power…” William paused and let his words take an effect on Mia. “… to bring you back on site.”

“You have finally gone nuts! No one will accept that. The director won’t take that at all,” Mia said confidently.

“When you fail at this, I’ll have my justification! I would say you are no longer capable of working independently and you’ll become a normal agent. If you refuse, you will need to resign and focus on that coffee shop truly,” Williams told her. “I will give you twenty-four hours. Make it work with Julian. I need vital information on him.”

“And if I fail…” Mia said shortly.

“You’ll get demoted or brought back on site. Multiple cadets would deploy to arrest Julian and I might get what I want when a search and seizure is conducted,” William replied.

“You didn’t think about the other way round,” Mia told him before she cut the call. “You might end up losing it all. Be careful, I do not care for you either.”

***

Right after Julian got to his hotel room, he was unable to sleep properly. He felt as if he would blow up even though he was empty. It turned out that his aide, Gabriel, had been looking for him. When Gabriel finally saw Julian, he heaved a deep sigh.

“You got me worried,” Gabriel muttered.

“Did you find him?” Julian sat up instantly, settling into business.

“Not yet, boss,” Gabriel replied. “However, I have summoned our guys here. They will find Antonio so you don’t need to be worried.”

“He would be looking for me too,” Julian took a deep breath. “I am sure he is influential enough to know I am in the United States with him.”

“I am planning to bring the guys over. You need to be protected,” Gabriel said calmly.

“It could be misunderstood by the government here. I learned they are very strict actually,” Julian stood up and began to move around in his hotel room.

“I wasn’t going to tell you this before but it seems I need to,” Gabriel took a deep breath. “Firstly, I got a wristwatch for you. You should keep it on you no matter what. It isn’t expensive or flashy so you won’t get robbed.”

“What’s in it?” Julian tried the wristwatch.

“A mini GPS chip-set to track your location at all times,” Gabriel muttered. “You will never be lost with this. I’ll find you no matter what.”

“I’m not a kid who will be lost…” Julian replied.

“It was a word used to replace kidnap, boss,” Gabriel said carefully. “The ICD knows about you coming into the country and our source says you are under their investigation. You will be arrested the moment they suspect anything illegal.”

“Who is on the case?” Julian asked with his arms akimbo.

“His name is William, a level four officer in ICD. He is not the real threat though. The real person we should watch out for is a female agent that has been dispatched near you…” Gabriel replied quickly.

“Then she should be killed. I won’t spare those who plan to get in my way of revenge,” Julian muttered.

“I know, but this shouldn’t get more complicated, boss,” Gabriel tried.

“Do you have her details?” Julian asked without any form of emotion.

“Yes, boss,” Gabriel replied. “Her name is…”