Connor was still pensive, unsure of how much this alleged officer knew about him and his case. "I understand your suspicion with me and it is understandable but I don't have the time to get into detail why you should work with me. You do know that city wide disappearances is bound to attract eyes and well I happened to be the one sent here."
"However rather than make my presence public, I wanted to make sure that the police that I was working with wouldn't turn out to be part of the conspiracy so I started to dig into each and every one of you before I ran into you and your case Connor."
Connor let out a sigh, aware that there were people better than him in the game of justice. "I understand why you would take your time but I have to ask, given that you are a professional here, what exactly is wrong about Andrew for the FBI to take interest in him?" Clara pulled up a laptop from the backseat, her tone casual.
"I should be the one asking you why you think he's not exactly humane. I've been watching him for weeks now and it's pretty easy to tell that he's not a regular person. As for his backstory of missing for twelve years, nothing comes up when looked into given his description. I'm talking global illicit human trafficking rings, nothing what he's saying comes up unless what he's saying is even above the FBI. Either way, it's way too flimsy to let a person like him go and give him millions of dollars at that. It makes no sense."
Connor started to feel chills run all over him with the reality of a powerful group of people causing so much chaos making him fear for not just his well being but for Claire's safety as well. "I do have to say adding to the list that doesn't make any sense, can you explain to me why you would use your own niece as proxy to gauge Andrew? What makes it worse is that he knows that she's proxy and went as far as giving her tips on being covert."
Connor's jaw tightened, his fingers digging into his palms. 'I knew that it was a bad idea from the beginning but my curiosity got the better of me. I'll make sure never to use her as bait ever again.' He vowed internally, Maya on the other hand sensing that Connor was regretting his decision. "As for your Kevin proxy, this one should be far more effective."
Hearing Maya's approval, Connor was internally pleased before he recalled the phone call. "You said that you wanted the two of us to work together right, that would mean that you have a plan already, right?" Maya typed her laptop furiously before it came into Connor's view.
[{OPERATION SCISSORLINE}]
"As enigmatic as Andrew may come, we're still forgetting that he's human with limits thus this is an operation that I've been concocting to slowly break him from the inside. We'll watch him, every step he makes, every comment he says and when the charade of apathy wears off, we'll catch him."
Connor took the laptop from the dashboard and placed it on his laps, scrolling through the contents. "What you're planning to do is illegal." Maya's blank face insinuating that she didn't care. "Well with what you have planned here, this should be more than enough to crack an anomaly like Andrew but what if all of this doesn't work?"
Maya let out a chuckle that spoke volumes of her confidence. "I'm sure that this will be more than enough to crack him. And if it somehow doesn't then he's not exactly human and we can bring him in for interrogation." Connor put the laptop back on the dash board, his palm brushing over his face in disbelief with what was transpiring.
What he had thought nothing of a case that would easily lead Andrew to a network of kidnappings easily spiraled out of hand to the point the FBI was involved. 'Sure I suspected that this all could be a human trafficking problem but at a global level was out of my imaginations.'
He adjusted himself in the already comfortable seat, tried to smooth his creaseless pants. "I'm on board." His tone resolute. "Before we go ahead with this, I do have to ask you if you know about Brittany., She's the only person Andrew has shown any form of interest in and certain to be the key in our plans."
'If you want results Callahan then I'm sorry if I breach the contract. Besides having a lap dog like Connor is far more suitable for me as I don't have to move as much and intel is far easier to collect.' Maya mused, bringing her hand to handshake Connor who agreed his firm grip contrasting her soft hands.
"Then in that case I'll tell you when we start. Just keep Kevin open, have him feed us information." Connor's face turned into an ugly scowl. "I know what I'm doing." Maya flashed a nervous chuckle, her hand retracting from the shake. "Of course, I'm sure that you can catch a cab." Maya handing Connor a fat stack of cash to him.
"Of course." Connor;s tone devoid of amusement before leaving the parking lot. Maya watched Connor leave, a playful smile tugging his lips before his eyes darted back to her laptop. Her plan, one she had carefully constructed to slowly tear away what Andrew buried hid so deep inside.
"Andrew Grayson, it's only a matter of time in this game of cat and mouse before your secrets are revealed." Her grin predatory as she packed up her laptop and drove out of the parking lot and vanishing into the night.
. . .
For the Grale family, they remained oblivious to the deals being made in the dark aimed at Andrew who looked outside, the air around him otherworldly. 'Andrew, at first I thought that it was jealousy eating me but now it's a matter of justice. If I can't make sure to see you be brought in then I'm failing my duty as a responsible citizen!' Kevin kept regurgitating such thoughts in his mind, slowly letting jealousy and justice blend with each other.
. . .
"Where, where am I?" Lara asked, surveying around she had expected to be met with a dimly lit cell, a rodent infested cage or a flea ridden mattress but rather a cozy king sized bed. She looked around, to the left a balcony came into view and to the right a door. Making her way, she tried to open the door which opened with no resistance.
'Where is this place? Who kidnapped me?' She would constantly see on television about incidents of kidnapping. She made her way down a hall and went down the flight of stairs where a man and a woman sat casually, chatting about nothing in particular. With her emergence, the conversation quickly dipped, the eyes of the pair falling on her.
"Who are you people and why did you kidnap me?" The sounds of another man grew louder before entering the scene. Lara focused on their faces, sure that these people were about her age if not more likely to be within her brother's age group. "Kidnap you? We saved you from your abusive relationship with Jasper, don't worry about him finding you, he's dead."
The casual air that was present rubbed her the wrong way, it felt like she was hysterical with their light laughs and banter. "I want to go back home, go back to my mother!" Her tone laced with fear, her hand gripping the stair handle. "We can't let you leave at this moment in time but your stay here will be luxurious. That is until we're told to give you back."
"Give me back? What makes you think that you won't sell me off overseas?!" Lara didn't wait for a response as in a sudden jolt, she tried to reach for the door however halfway her head grew light and collapsed on the ground.The people around her didn't seem all that hassled with her body. "Hey, carry her back to her room." An order from one of the man mused assumed to be the leader. A lackey executed said orders and Lara's figure was picked up and headed up stairs.
"I can't believe that we have to keep an eye on her for the rest of the year. Had the pay not been as alluring, I would have already quit." The leader murmured, his words resonating with another underling of his that sat adjacent to him slowly sipping the wine that came with the house.
. . .
Days quickly melted into weeks and weeks becoming months. What had been half way through the year began to tick till it was September. Kevin kept chatting with Connor about Andrew, be it his grades from his tests, every time he would go out to meet with Brittany or Claire. As for Connor, though unwilling to be second to Maya would intentionally keep some of his intel from Kevin to himself and Maya as much as she accrued more and more information out of Connor, it did little that spoke about Andrew as a character.
"It's been three months already, what are you waiting for?" Kevin urged, his rage evident shot at Connor. "We will get him when I say we get him Kevin so keep your cover intact and make sure to relay anything from Andrew." Connor cut the call as he killed the engine and made his way into a familiar locale, Freddie's Diner.
Inside business was slow and at the end of the row was Maya, her back facing the hall as she slowly drank coffee and a croissant. "You're late." Her tone serious as she slid Connor a cup of coffee, he pushed it back. "It would seem that he's proven to be a tough nut to crack. Most of what Kevin spouts these days is more of the same."
Connor spent as he ordered his own coffee from the waiter who was teased by Charles back then, Olivia Bennett. "A black espresso coffee and nicely toasted bread, anything else?" With Connor shaking his head, Olivia retreated back into the kitchen.
"This place has gotten quite the upgrade. Don't you think?" Maya mused as she looked around. Changes had been happening to Freddie's Diner, small ones that she could pick up. Be it the chairs being replaced with newer models, the crockery and cutlery being far more elegant and high class, unfitting of a diner and their quality in food had gone up as well as a variety of foods added to the menu.
"Yeah, it is rather odd for a place like this to suddenly change like this overnight. And the excuse of business being good doesn't stick either given how people are still of leaving their houses." Maya urged as Connor thanked Olivia who wore a smile, brighter than most days. "Money landering perharps?" Connor posed as he drank his coffee, better than the last time he was there. "Possibly but if so it's a bit obvious, no?"
Maya shot back as she finished her cup. "Did you call me to talk about the diner or the case?" Connor inquired, his face flat. "Right, the second step of the operation is about to commence so I just wanted to make sure that you were ready is all." Her words nearly making Connor choke on his croissant. "It's a bit too sudden, don't you think? After all we still haven't gotten all there is to about Andrew."
Maya placed a dollar bill under her cup, her tone distant. "We've collected enough data on Andrew, a person like him isn't someone you beat with patterns but rather pressure and this, this next part should be more than enough to send him over the edge. Make sure that Claire is ready on your side. After all you've come so far for you to give up now."Patting Connor on his back, Maya took her leave.