HUNTER

16

As soon as we arrived at a building that looked like an old factory I was dragged out of the car and through the door. All I could hear was my breathing and the pitter patter of my feet on the cold floor. The two Agents had one of my arms each. Pulling and pushing me down the corridor until we got to a steel door with a keycard lock. The younger man swiped his card and dragged me through. Suddenly it was as thought someone had turned on a light because the building was entirely different. It had transformed from rusty and stale to bright, elegant and office-like. We were now in an office building. People were working, talking, typing and on the phone at lines of desks as we walked through them all and turn down another corridor. This corridor was lined with red carpet with a blonde receptionist sat behind a large desk. Behind her was a door. A door which made me nervous. One which I had an inkling I wasn't going to like what was behind it.
"Good evening, Agents. Go right in, he's waiting." She said cheerily. I frowned at her. As a fellow woman I was appalled by the lack of empathy. Bitch.
So, I was dragged along and tossed into another room. One which was larger inside than out. The room was bright, clinical, with a desk and walls covered in books and files. Behind the desk sat a man. His eyes bulged when he saw me and a sad smile formed on his face as he nodded at the seat opposite him. His blue suit strained over his beer belly, and his red tie fell limply against the white shirt he wore. Red tie? I did a double take. I was about to ask when the door flew open to show Agent Wolf and Ripper enter to stand at either side of me. Now that I could see clearly I noticed they had red ties too.
"What's going on?" I asked, but no one answered. "Who are you?" I looked at each of them for an answer but none came. "Where am I?" I turned back to the man behind the desk. "Tell me!"
"Please calm down, Miss Picco-Ellis." He said. Pulling a file from under a pile of other files from his right and cooly opening it.
"You know me?"
"I do. I had your information transferred here the day you went missing. We weren't sure at the time whether you were taken by Agent Hunter, but clearly you were."
"Agent Hunter?" I mouthed to myself. Trying to wrap my head around everything. "Who was he?"
"Agent Hunter was originally known as Christopher Maddox, from Glasgow, Scotland. He was convicted of murdering his wife back in 2009, but we offered him a contract in return for good behaviour and using his skills for our needs only."
"Needs?" I probe, looking over the photo of Hunter which the stranger had placed in front of me from 2009. He had a woman on his arm, his wife, she was beautiful with long auburn hair and piercing eyes. They looked so happy. Shame he was so crazy.
"What has that got to do with me?" I asked, moving the picture away and sitting back crossing my legs.
"Well," he sighed, running a hand through his grey greasy hair. "We had suspicions that Agent Hunter had extracurricular activities. Missed appointments and breaches of contracts we were hired for. Then you went missing and he went MIA. We haven't heard anything from him since the day you went missing. So, Agents Wolf and Ripper here," he points to the two men at either side of me. "Watched him."
"When you knew I was there why didn't you fucking do something?" I asked.
"We didn't need to. You did it for us." he smiled, finally relaxing back into his seat. "And that, Angie, is why you're here."