"Where's my dad?" Virginia said, crossing her arms.
The frantic man, looked to be in his twenties, stepped into her apartment without asking, shutting the door behind him.
"We need to talk quietly," he said. "I think they're watching me."
Virginia wanted to beat the information out of this guy because he was taking so long. She realized it had only been about twenty seconds, though, and decided to calm down.
"Want coffee?" she asked.
"Yes, please."
"Have a seat on the couch," Virginia said, gesturing to one of the two couches in the decent-sized living room in the center of the floor plan.
Virginia went to the kitchen. She knew she'd never met the guy before. He was about her age. Perhaps an intern or young co-worker for her father. Certainly not a senator. She'd never seen him at any of her father's parties or fundraisers, though, and she attended nearly all of those.
Her father liked when she went, liked to show off his successful daughter. In his circles, people knew what USI was and how difficult it was to gain entry, especially for a woman. Well, there were plenty of women in the tech offices for USI, but very few were field agents. USI didn't discriminate, but they didn't lessen the physical tests required to be a field agent for women, which meant women had to be able to perform the same physically as men. Run the same amount of miles, hike the same distances, carry the same amount of weight on their backs, survive for the same amounts of time, perform the same amount of pull-ups (a number nearly unbelievable). All of that good stuff.
She took a seat on the same couch as the guy. The guy had long hair, but she could tell that he usually kept it slicked back. Currently, it was falling all over his head, messy as could be. Leftover product making it look a little wet, a little messier, and a little crusty.
"How long have you been like this?" she said.
It took him a moment to get the meaning. "Oh, I haven't slept in two days."
"My dad?" she said.
"I can't find him, but I think I know what happened to him."
*****
"Virginia!" Jake yelled in her face.
It made her eyes flicker open, and she saw his face clearly for a moment, but then everything went blurry and the headache felt like a migraine.
She faded out once more.