Stephany hit ‘send’ on the message. She then prepared everything before the anticipated response.

Less than two minutes later, Agent Solitaire practically stormed into her office. “Tell me,” he demanded, slightly winded. A bit less expected was another senior agent following him, in significantly worse shape. Agent Kirgin, was it? He obviously had something to say to Agent Solitaire, but needed a minute or three to catch his breath first.

Agent Solitaire chose to ignore him, so she did the same.

“Kinsley’s cell phone connected to the network nine minutes ago.”

She pointed to the map on screen that she had already prepared.

“Triangulating the signal between the available stations gives us an indication on the signal source. While the radius of the area is still pretty large, it should shrink as repeated triangulation attempts lead to better accuracy.”

“Scramble a team and a helicopter,” he interjected, “I will personally join them.”

“I sent out messages before you arrived, sir. They should be ready in about twelve minutes.”

She suppressed the desire to smirk. It did not look good in front of her boss.

“In particular, I have requested Agent Willow and Agent Gotan for the team. Just in case.”

Agent Solitaire nodded. “Very good.”

He turned to leave, only to be stopped by Agent Kirgin. The poor man was heaving for breath between words.

“Wait, the … incursions… need a plan.”

The look Agent Solitaire sent him could have caused icebergs to shiver.

“You already have several teams. If you require additional resources, file a request. Agent Morli will process it.”

“No, you don’t… understand. We need… you.”

“Me, personally? If so, I will give you a hand as soon as I am free. Now, make way.”

Stephany had yet to see Agent Solitaire get physical with anyone. Agent Kirgin had been there longer than her, so maybe he knew something she didn’t. At least his actions would suggest so. He moved out of the way with no hesitation. Agent Solitaire vacated her office with long, hurried steps.

Agent Kirgin dumped into the free chair in her office.

“Can I help you with anything, sir?” she asked him.

“No, no,” he answered between breaths.

She got up and fetched a glass of cold water from the dispenser. Agent Kirgin seemed pleasantly surprised and quickly emptied it.

“What is the urgent priority case he’s working on, anyway?” he asked when he had rested for a bit.

“He’s chasing an escapee of the Alarm Clock Purge.”

She knew for a fact that the senior agent had the clearance to ask, but not how much he already knew.

“One that was brought in? That’s pretty serious, I guess. What went wrong?”

“No, no one has escaped our facilities. This one escaped directly from the location of the purge, with neither of our sensors even noticing.”

“Really? Then I can see why he’s so fired up. I hope he can quickly finish it, before we have another invasion to deal with.”

Unlike Agent Kirgin, she lacked the clearance to ask him him more details. She hoped he would offer some details for free, but he just thanked her and left. Oh well. She’d focus on her own job instead. Curiosity killed the cat.