Chapter Four: The Meeting

February 27th, 2027, 2:28 p.m.
Sgt. Foles’ Office, K47 Training Facility, Atlantic Ocean

Katia was back in Sgt. Foles’ office, the meeting was scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. “Are you ready to retell what happened Miss Managan?” Katia was kind of nervous, “Yes, Sir, I think so,” The clock read 2:28, just two minutes until the meeting started. The hologram projector sat on the table, ready for the other line to turn on at any moment, it flickered a few times, then a man came into view. It was as if General Harris was sitting across from them at the table, he was wearing his uniform and hat. He seemed like he was only sixty or seventy, with a kind face and gentle eyes, but he was deadly serious. “Miss Managen,” he said, “I’ve been waiting to see you for a while now.” Katia smiled at him, “And I too, General,” General Harris took a drink from a glass of aged whiskey on the other side of the line. “Now, we needn’t delay the matter of the meeting any longer,” he said, the plasma version of himself stiffening, “it has come to my attention that you are wondering why I’ve placed you in the K47 Unit. The answer is simple, the government wants answers, and who better to send than the one that was there?” He took another drink, “Now, I want to hear exactly what happened, from the very beginning.”

Katia took the time to explain what happened in as much detail as possible, “He unbound her and… and then it was… it was… I’m sorry,” she tried to choke back tears, General Harris frowned, “It seems you two were… close, I’m sorry for your loss, but we must carry on, Sgt. Foles?” Katia wiped her eyes as Foles took a briefcase and laid it on the table, he opened it and inside were scraps of evidence. “The book if you will,” Harris said, Foles handed Katia the early version of the book Quill never got published, she opened it, and in the front cover were two small notes on paper. “This was found on the ground at the scene,” Foles said, “it was meant for you, it wasn’t considered evidence until you left the medical center.” Katia examined the first, this was more neat and the other was dirty and wrote sloppily. “It has some type of code writing on it,” Harris said, taking another swig from his whiskey “we were wondering if you could decipher it for us.” Katia looked at it closer, “This is written in the language Quill made up for fictional stories she used to send me,” she looked to Harris, “what does it say?” Katia looked again, “the first is just a letter thanking me for my support, the second just a jumble of roman numerals and numbers, it doesn’t make any sense.” Harris scratched his chin, “we have to find out what the second one means somehow, what about the other evidence?” Katia slid the briefcase toward her, it was full of random objects mainly. This included Quill’s pen, a broken inkwell and quill, a crumpled piece of paper, Katia’s gag, and both ropes that bound Quill and her. “I don’t see how any of this could connect,” Katia concluded, “I may have to look at it more later, right now I just want to hear what you know.” Harris finished off his whiskey and looked into Katia’s eyes, “what we know? Miss Managan, that’s the thing, we don’t know, the only thing we’ve found are slight ties between Quill Weave and Special Operations Unit L39, but even that’s a longshot. I wish I could tell you more but this meeting has already gone a bit overtime.” He looked to the side at the clock, “we indeed are out of time, my advice is; try to excel in your training, and do the best to decipher the evidence, but that is all the time I have, good bye Miss Managan, and good luck.” His hologram flickered off and Katia was left with Sgt. Foles, the clock read 4:47, how had it already been two hours? “Miss Managan,” Foles said, “I would suggest looking more into the evidence, I understand if you need some time on your own, but we don’t have any leads on these terrorists. If we don’t hurry the whole damn planet will be overrun, this isn’t the first attack, it may be in America, but there have been bombings and massacres all over the world tied to this guy. We have to find him, we need a lead.” “I need some time,” Katia grimaced, “and some rest, training starts in a few days, I’ll tell you if I find anything… Sir,” she added quickly. She got up from her seat at the table, put the evidence back in the case, and headed back to her room.