Steady strides heralded the arrival of Mr Holt.
"You're all here?" Mr Holt strode into view. "Kim, why do you have dirt on your face again?"
"I do?" I turned to Sarden who helped me to brush it off. He also brushed some dirt off my back.
"You really need to stop rolling in the dirt," Sarden muttered at me and I elbowed him in the ribs.
"Kim," Mary Belle pretended concern, "you really need to take better care of your appearance."
"If you really want to roll around, at least let me do it with you," Flint grinned at me.
I threw a stone at him and he caught it with a wink in my direction.
"Behave," warned Big Brother and we all stood still.
Mr Holt looked over us without his trademark small smile that could mean anything. He seemed to examine us individually as if unhappy about something. After a long moment, he spoke.
"We were meant to do some more training today, but things have changed. Since early this morning, at least three of the fugitives we've been keeping our eyes on over here in the villages have been murdered. Other teams are investigating the murderer and trying to find out his motive. Our team is to find Tirion Wolf and bring him into protective custody. They believe that he is one of the next on the murderer's list."
"If he's a criminal, why bother?" Sarden asked. "Tirion Wolf is a serial kidnapper, rapist and homicidal maniac himself. Wouldn't his death benefit the world? Surely he'd at least be able to put up a fight against another murderer."
"They probably want to use him as bait," Flint rubbed his chin, "to find out what the serial killer really wants."
"Tirion Wolf," Mary Belle's eyes widened with recognition and she pointed at me. "Isn't he the criminal who kidnapped, almost raped you and let you go a few years back? Kim, will you be ok?"
I grimaced. It wasn't a pleasant memory. I had only been in my midteens at the time and was kidnapped one day after I got off the bus after school. Even I didn't know why the murderer had suddenly decided to release me rather than rape and kill me like so many of his other victims. I had heard what he had done to other women but never seen it. While I had been captive, he had turned me into his house maid and hadn't touched me. I hadn't seen any other women in the house either.
Then one day, he had blindfolded and left me tied up in the woods at the end of the Gulf to be found by the chasing police. Since then, he had been in hiding on this side of the Gulf. So they had known where he'd been hiding all this time? Why hadn't they caught him before then?
Big Brother glanced at me. Mr Holt gazed at me with contemplation.
"Tirion Wolf is a dangerous man and an excellent fighter with and without weapons," Mr Holt told us. "We are only there to peacefully bring him in. When we get there, I want all of you to be very careful. Especially you, Kim. If he recognises you, he might kill you, so make sure you stay with me or Big Brother. Then again, he may soften if he sees you, since he seems to have had a soft spot for you. We can't predict how he might act. We don't want to harm him if we can help it, ladies and gentlemen," Mr Holt said, signaling us to follow him into a steady trot into the trees where no vehicle could go. "This way. If he refuses cooperation, we may need to fight. Lethal force is only permitted as a last resort."
"Yes sir."
We rushed through the sparse scattered woods to the thicker, wilder region. There we had to slow down to pass through the thickening thickets of leafless trees. It was early winter but the weather was only cold at night so far. The days were still pretty warm.
Mr Holt brought us to an isolated log house with a wide cluttered veranda that ran all the way around the house. The house was built of a mishmash of material, not just wood. There was rusting corrugated iron, tiles, bark, grass thatching and one partially stone wall. Plastic and thick wax paper sheeting covered windows and doors and gaps between places. Loose bits flapped and rattled in the wind. One side of the house opened out onto the cliff edge, giving a view of the mouth of the gulf and the gleaming city on the opposing stony cliff.
Big Brother's palm on my head swept me behind him, but Mr Holt shook his head at Big Brother, motioning for Sarden to follow Big Brother instead. I took up a position behind Flint and Mr Holt, while Mary Belle followed behind Big Brother with Sarden.
We swept the perimeter and closed in on the house.
"Tirion Wolf, open up. City Agents," Mr Holt announced us. "I'm Howard Holt. Tirion Wolf? Open up. We believe your life to be in danger. We would like you to come with us for your safety."
No reply. Only silence.
We didn't make any more sounds after the announcement. We cleared the house silently and I followed with butterflies in my stomach, hoping I wouldn't make any mistakes. I seldom made any big mistakes anymore but I was always worried. What if I didn't react fast enough? What if I missed the timing? What if I didn't notice an important clue in time or my positioning was wrong? What if I wrecked Mr Holt's plan or got in the way?
I had made a lot of mistakes before when I was a fresh rookie. I was no longer as green or needed a good scolding during every debriefing but it didn't stop me from worrying. It was too easy to make a mistake on the field and get injured or nearly get a teammate killed.
Mr Holt had been my teacher for a long time but I felt constant concern that he would regret picking me up off the street. We weren't as close as we used to be and he no longer bothered giving me extra lessons anymore. He always seemed too busy for me to approach now. What if he didn't want me anymore? What happened to field agents who failed their annual assessments? I had never heard of them returning to normal life after having had access to so many secrets.
A fist rapped my head and I started. Mr Holt's grey eyes warned me to pay attention. I blinked and then nodded.
The team reunited back outside the house after finding it completely empty. We examined the ground and yard at one side where there was a wilted vegetable garden. Nothing. No signs. Everything in the house was cold. Many areas had a fine film of dust, despite the signs of someone definitely living here recently. It looked like no one had cleaned for a while.
"Looks like he's gone," Mr Holt sighed, patting me on the head after we had also combed the vicinity for any signs or clues of where he might have gone. "I've got to hurry back to The Edge to take care of some work. You can all take your time heading back. Write your reports by 1800 this evening and I'll submit them together in the morning. Stay alert. We may be called out again at any time these next few days."
"I've got an appointment to get to," Sarden told me. "I'm gonna run off first."
Flint and Mary Belle didn't bother to say goodbye. They just followed Mr Holt.
"Not coming?" Big Brother paused, stroking my head. I looked up at him with bemusement. The cold robot was so strange when he did things like this. He disliked touching people or people touching him but when no one else was around, he liked to pet my head or stroke my back and was much warmer to me. It almost made me feel like he might like me. But that was impossible. Who would like a worthless, useless almost failure like me?
I shook my head at him.
"I feel like I missed something. I want to look around for a bit longer."
"Don't stay too long," Big Brother told me, giving me a short sideways hug, as if aware of my worries. "You did fine today. It's not safe on your own out here."
"I understand, Big Brother. I won't take too long."