Bor was fidgeting uncomfortably. He had been standing at the agreed upon place for twenty minutes now, and he was beginning to think that this was all a farce, or maybe they wouldn't show up.
Either way, he was very angry that they were late. He had arrived ten minutes earlier, just to case the place and ensure there were no traps. In fact, he'd been keeping tabs on the location and everything around since six in the morning, but he'd not seen anything out of the ordinary.
Being underground, time and day were no longer ruled by the sun. In its absence, the clock dictated everything, and so whichever time, the square he was at was almost always full.
He knew he could spot the movements and machinations of the policing agents, if they were around. He was prepared to bolt at the first sign of trouble, but so far, nothing had happened.
He noticed a tram making its way to his location, but since this was one of its stops, he didn't pay it any mind.
"Hey kid," suddenly, two guys showed up from the crowd, and based on their appearance, Bor could tell they had been monitoring him.
Bor was actually impressed, and a little scared. Not many people could sneak up on him. The way they covered their approach screamed that the two were very well trained.
"Come, board the tram with me," Fancy guy said as he approached the now stopped tram. Some people were getting off, others getting on. The trio got on and rode it for a while before getting off and boarding a shuttle.
"From here, you're going to have to wear a bag," Heavyset said as he pulled out a black stinking bag and covered Bor.
After a series of turns and stops, Bor's bag was finally lifted, causing severe sudden pain on his pupils.
As soon as Bor's eyesight recovered, he found himself in a dimly-lit room with several others. Doing a headcount, Bor found that there were up to nine people in the room. Two, Fancy guy and Heavyset guy, were looking out the window. Another two were keeping a close eye on everyone else.
Bor recognized the two guys as the other two who had been there to surround him back when Fancy Guy and Heavyset guy first accosted him. The other five, he did not recognize. However, they too, like him, did not seemed composed. As though, like him, they were very new to all this.
"Hey kid, whats his name ... Right, Bor! Come check this out," Fancy guy said.
Bor rose and walked to the window, where the two were looking out. "Follow my finger, do you know that guy?"
Bor thought hard but couldn't make out who that person was, so all he could do was shake his head.
"You don't know who you were supposed to meet today? He's been calling your communicator all morning." That threw Bor. He had his communicator with him, and no one was supposed to interfere with calls, so how could these people tell that he'd been calling, and Bor himself didn't even know?"
Checking his communicator, he didn't find any calls.
"Don't worry about that, we've taken care of it. You will not be found as long as you're with us." Fancy guy said as he shot Heavyset guy a look. This guy was taking the whole good-cop bad-cop routine too far, the guy had just uprooted his life, for Christ's sake.
"That's Aelle, her money manager," Fancy guy added, pointing in another direction. There was Susanne, but she was seated with two other people, and they seemed very interested with Aelle for some reason.
"The manager and your skipper made a deal with the agents, you'd be the scapegoat if we hadn't come upon you," Fancy guy said as he patted Bor's back. "Keep looking."
From what he could see, Susanne, who was seated quite some distance from the banking hall, looked quite agitated. She seemed to be defending or pleading with someone, but the female facing her did not seem to relent.
After some time of this, Susanne's two companions seemed to have become impatient. After some deliberation, he saw them roughly grab Susanne and start putting handcuffs on her. On the other side, Aelle was also flanked by three people who seemed to also come out of nowhere. Before he could even think of escaping, he was down on the ground, getting cuffed.
"Seems like today we'll have two for one special," Superintended Charlotte said. "Do you know why the higher ups were so intent on us nabbing that guy? It's almost as if they wanted him more than they wanted these two?"
"He's the real criminal, or rather, the real asset. These others are just placeholders, bureaucrats. Think about it, what use do they have for a money guy?"
"What do we tell them?"
"We are hot on his tail, he can't go far. Its a closed society, no one goes in or out without our say so."
"Well, not everyone," Charlotte added that with a knowing look at her partner.
"If this kid can get out without our approval, then he is well beyond our reach. Not something we can meddle with," the partner added, "But does that kid has that kind of reach?"
Bor did not hear these two talk, as they were pretty far from where he was. He didn't even think he had any value, fully convinced by Heavyset guy's performance and threats.
All he knew was that his close partner had conspired to have him arrested, and now she was the one getting arrested. He cast a long look at Susanne as she was being dragged away, before going and sitting down. He was done with her, done with that life. Time to see what these new fellows had in store for him.
Looking at Bor's visage, Fancy guy had a satisfied expression. Turning Bor and convincing him to come here had been a success, even without breaking him. Now, it was time to put him to good use.
"They lost him?" A voice transmission was heard. This was a dark virtual room, everyone present was a stickman figure. It was different from the site that Bor had used, but the encryption was similarly done.
"Yes sir," A voice answered. There were a total of eighteen stickmen present, each seated in what looked like a fancy stickman boardroom.
"It seems the other side have their jester, time we got ours." The one talking was the one at the helm, everyone else remained silent.
"Sir, I may have a potential candidate for us. The Agent, Charlotte, has checked many boxes on our side."
"Vet her, then recruit her. Time is not on our side."