Unedited
When Charlie received her new phone from Mr. Seward later that day along with her new debit card, she immediately excused herself and typed in Kate's number.
Kate answered on the second ring.
"Ya better not be a robo-call," was greeting that Charlie received. That was rather polite for how Kate generally answered unknown numbers.
"Not a robot." Charlie replied with a chuckle, "It's Charlie."
There was a very long pause.
"I'm sorry I don't know any Charlie." Kate replied.
"Kate-Monster…"
"Don't you go Kate-Monstering me! Do you know how scared I was when I saw the Amber Alert!? I know you were planning to ditch your phone but seriously? When were you planning to let me know you are okay? Do you know how long it's been since I slept?"
"I just got a new phone and I…" Charlie tried to explain but she was interrupted.
"You ninny-muffin! You waited to get a new phone!? Is there no one you could borrow from? Are there no landlines? I figured I would forgive you if the evil queen was keeping you in lock-up or something but you got a new phone?"
Charlie grimaced. There was a phone next to the bed in the hotel. She knew Kate's number by heart. She should have called her before going to sleep. She really hadn't been thinking. Time to pacify the Kate-monster.
It took close to a half hour of groveling and shameless ass-kissing to get Kate out of her funk. After that it took another length of time to explain the events of the past twenty four hours.
"Charlie," Kate's voice lost all of its normal jovial quality, "Are you sure all of this is legit? I mean the evil queen would do almost anything. This couldn't be another scam could it? Is this Monroe guy the same as Silva? I don't like the fact that they are sending you over seas, it's like they are trying to isolate you."
Charlie listened carefully to Kate's concerned and decided that she was right. Things were incredibly coincidental. But she still didn't think that Mr. Monroe and Mr. Seward were lying to her. It was difficult to explain why, there was no evidence. She sincerely believed that Mr. Monroe had a grudge with her parents. More than that, there was the man in the charcoal suit. It had been almost impossible for her to believe that he would betray her, that was part of the reason that she had felt so despondent. She felt to the bottom of her soul that although he was clearly a criminal, she could trust him.
"You're right of course." She finally agreed, "But see, Tiffany threatened me. She said that if I ruined this deal for them, she would sell me to human traffickers. I don't think she would have bothered if that was what she was actually doing. And seriously, if that was the plan they wound had just tossed me on a plane and I would have vanished."
"You do make a convincing argument." Kate mused, "They could have let you stay a missing person forever."
As their conversation drew to a close Kate made Charlie promise to contact her daily. "If I don't hear from you for 72 hours straight I am gonna go to the cops. Ya hear me?" She threatened.
"Fine," Charlie chuckled, "you can be the one to send in the Marines. I'll let you know in advance if I'm gonna be out of contact. Deal?"
By the time they hung up the lawyer had arrived to go over the contract.
Charlie quite enjoyed speaking with the lawyer. She really hadn't had much experience with legal documents before and for some strange reason it seemed like the way the wrote on those was a completely different language. "Legalese" the attorney called it.
She was a confident woman about forty years old. She seemed to quite enjoy her work and didn't mind answering some questions from a fascinated teen.
"Sometimes I think back on my college days and wonder if it wasn't all learning vocabulary. Heck, back then I had a booklet of flashcards I swear weighed more than my mom's type writer." The woman jested when asked about the legal document and the language used.
"What about international contracts?" Charlie couldn't help but ask. "I mean does every country have their own form of Legalese? What about contracts between people who speak different languages?" An idea was forming in Charlie's mind and she was starting to feel a strange sort of excitement.
"There are translators of course. There are teams that specialize in that sort of thing attached to every single international company that exists. There are some private companies that will work freelance as well I think. In any case, it is really risky because a poorly worded contract can cause massive damages."
Charlie continued to bombard her with questions for quite some time. Eventually the lawyer, Susan Frost, gave Charlotte her card and told her to email any further questions. Charlie signed the scholarship contract as did Mr. Seward as her acting guardian.
The next morning Charlie and Mr. Seward boarded a plane to Country-F.
*****
"The report you requested sir."
Saul looked up from the company financial reports to see his secretary Carl holding folder. He figured he could use a break from looking at numbers. It was research he had ordered on that little Callahan girl. He paused. He should really get her to change her name. He doubted that she was any more fond of 'Callahan' than he was.
The report was well written and evidence was provided for all the confirmed information. It was pretty much as he had expected. It was when he got to the portions of the report that could not be independently verified that things became interesting. Then completely unbelievable and infuriating.
"Carl." Saul demanded sharply, "Get Jones here NOW."
Carl was a very efficient man and he was well used to his boss's moods. Though he didn't think he had ever seen the man quite that angry. He quickly summoned the investigator.
Meanwhile, Saul poured over the report like some sort of holy scripture searching again and again for any detail that he might have missed that could lead to enlightenment.
"Where's the fire?" Jones asked. He sauntered into the room with casual confidence. His hands were in his pockets and he exuded the air of a rich playboy. In actual fact, he was a rich playboy, investigations were his hobby. Only his most trusted friends knew. Jones's identity made it possible for him to gather information from sources that other investigators couldn't touch.
"Can you confirm this?" Saul pointed at the note near the end of the file. Jones glanced and the paper but had no doubt predicted Saul's interest in this particular entry.
"I'm working on a couple of angles but..." he shrugged, "I really don't think any of them will pan out, unless you want me to approach the kid."
Saul's hands curled into fists as rampant emotion coursed through his veins.
"No." He said. Jones opened his mouth to argue but Saul stalled him with a look. "I will have Jon get what we need to confirm. It shouldn't be too difficult."
A moment of profound silence blanketed the office. Both men appeared to be at least temporarily lost in their own thoughts.
Jones broke the silence. "You want me to send a copy to Reid?"
"No, I will call him myself."
"You want to wait until we have confirmation at least?" Jones seemed hesitant.
"No. He would never forgive us if we delayed." Monroe waved Jones out of the room and went to one of the door frames. With a few clicks, a hidden panel opened and Saul pulled out a cell phone. The turned it on and quickly dialed a number.
"Well, this is a surprise," said the voice on the other side of the call. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"I had Jones look into the kid."
"And?"
Saul told him what Jones had found.
"Is it confirmed?" The voice on the other end became distorted with emotion.
"Jon will confirm." Saul stated.
Suddenly the sound of breaking things could be heard through the cell phone receiver. Saul waited out the destruction with a deceptively calm looking face. When finally things calmed down. The voice returned.
"You call me the second you find out."
"I will." Saul replied but the other end of the call had already hung up.
Saul turned off the phone, removed the SIM card and destroyed it. Then he took a new one out of the hidden compartment. He installed it and returned the cell phone to it's hiding place.
He stared at the office around him wishing that he could, like his friend, destroy something. He needed to vent what he was feeling. Saul glanced at the waiting reports. There was no way he could focus now.
"Carl!" He called, "Have Moses and Ten meet me at the gym."
"Training?" Carl asked hesitantly. He had never seen the expression on his boss's face before.
"A spar." Saul replied. He locked the folder with the report in a drawer of his desk. He made a mental note to move it to a safer location when he returned. Then he swept out the door to go vent some of his rage.