Chapter 40

"He's getting lunch I think."

"Lunch?" Jean calmed down a little when she heard that. It was a little late to be eating lunch, but he might have just had a really busy day and didn't get to eat until now. Though it was rare, Jean has seen him eat very late occasionally. "Where?" she asked him.

"Umm... Not sure. He didn't tell us. But it should be close to here. We have a bunch of stuff to do and finish in the next hour so he can't have gone far. Ugh... That reminds me, I still have an entire folder to process..."

"What happened?" Jean saw that the man's hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he had been working nonstop for the entire day. And looking at all the boxes here, that might just be true.

The man sighed and explained to Jean the situation. "We got a bunch of days off work because the building exploded. All the work piled up and now we have to get it done by the end of this week."

"End of this week? Isn't that today?"

"Yes! That's the problem! This is our first day back and management tells us that they need it all done by the end of this week. I don't know if they were trying to sugarcoat it or make it sound less stressful, but they could've just said by the end of today." The man grabbed his hair and looked like he wanted to tear it out. "Arghhh! I.C.E. is trying to kill us or something!"

He took a moment to calm down and sighed. "Sorry for showing you that sight, but as you can see, we're not in the best of moods right now."

"I see..." Jean saw that it would be best if she left right now and let everyone do their jobs. The man had circles under his eyes and reeked of coffee. His hair was all over the place and looked as wild as the jungle. It was hard to imagine that the man has only been working for several hours. Jean thanked the man and left the floor and tried calling her dad again. Once again, he didn't pick up and Jean left the building in search of him.

The first place that Jean checked was the old-style cafe next to the building since it was the closest and found that it was close. After that, Jean walked around the vicinity of the building to see if there were any other places where he could eat at. While searching, she came upon two suspicious persons leaning against the wall of a nearby building and staring at the I.C.E. tower. At first, she made nothing of it since it didn't look like they were up to anything but after passing them several times while searching for her father, she noticed that they were still standing there like they were waiting for something.

One of the men spotted Jean pacing back and forth and steal glances at them so he walked up to her and confronted her about it. "Hey!"

"Ah!"

"Oh, sorry for scaring you, but why are you walking back and forth and looking at us."

"Um, I'm trying to find someone."

"Someone?" The man looked back at his partner and both of them nodded their head.

"I think you're looking for us."

"What? No, I'm looking for-"

But the man didn't give Jean the chance to finish her sentence and grabbed her arm. "Come on, we don't have time to waste. We already waited long enough for you to arrive. Let's carry out the plan."

"What? What plan? You've got the wrong person!" Did they mistake her for an accomplice that they were waiting for?

"No need to keep the facade. We're on the same side. We're no agents. Heh, I don't know how they managed to find someone as young as you for the mission, but it'll make things a lot easier."

"What are you talking about?" The man ignored her and forcibly pulled her inside the building and the other man followed as well. Jean looked around for a way to break free and run away but couldn't find one. The man's grip was too strong and the moment she stepped foot into the door, she knew that it was too late.

The door slammed close behind her and they brought her deeper into the room despite all her complaining. "I told you, you've got the wrong person!"

"Ugh... Okay okay, we got it the first time. You're a first-class actor or whatever. Just drop the act for a minute alright? We need you to talk about the plan."

No matter how hard Jean tried to tell that them they had the wrong person, they didn't listen. They just thought that she was trying to feign innocence (when she really is). "Sit down and let's get started," one of the men pulled out a chair for her. It really didn't look like she could escape anymore so Jean gave up and sat down anxiously.

The other two men also sat down after her and took out something. They put the thing on the table and slid it to Jean. "What is this?" Jean asked the two men. a little afraid of even hearing the answer. It was a small device with a moon-shaped curve. She had no idea what it was used for.

"Comms. Put it in your ear," one of the men gestured tapped his ear. He turned to the side to show Jean that he had the same exact device in his ear already.

Jean hesitantly reached for the device and the two men watched silently as she put it in. "Good," one of them told her after she put it in. It felt a little uncomfortable since it was a little too big for her ear, but she had the feeling that she should probably keep her mouth shut and just listen to what they had to say.

"Now, here's the plan. I think the boss already briefed you in on it a little, but just to be safe, I'll tell you it again." Jean didn't say anything and just nervously nodded her head. "Alright, we need you to get into the building and retrieve something. We'll guide you the entire time so don't you worry about getting lost or anything. Here are the fake credentials and everything you need to get in." The man slid a bunch of papers and cards across the table to Jean.

Jean looked down at the items and saw that they were fake identifications. And in addition to the fake documents and cards, there was also another card that caught Jean's attention. She carefully picked it up and examined it. This was the same card that Josh had given her.

"Good eye. As you might have already guessed, this is very valuable. It wasn't easy to get our hands on this."

"And what do you want me to do with this?" Jean asked the two men.

"100th floor. Get in and show this to them. After that, locate and retrieve an item."

"And that item is?" Jean had a bad feeling about this. Were they going after the same thing that Josh wanted?

"A black folder."

"..."

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