Uncertainty

Jessica Bangs was sitting at her new desk, in the typically cold and stale offices of another Foggistani outpost in Econometric Elation. These were the temporary quarters of the Physiological Engineering and Improvement Program—but the program was on hold until further investigation could be conducted into the cause of the explosion at the original headquarters. Meanwhile, Jessica drummed her fingers impatiently on her desk.

She had just gotten off the phone. Peter was out of harm’s way for the time being, up in the Space Disk. As for Latvia, nobody knew of her whereabouts. Jessica had tried to have the message sent to her—the false message reporting Peter’s death—but had failed. Latvia wasn’t picking up her phone. And when Foggistani officials visited her house, they found the roof caved in. It looked like there had been an attack, but the only areas damaged were the old house’s roof and a strange old attic. Everything in the attic had been turned over, like someone was searching for something. Jessica had a pretty good idea what they were looking for, and she was also pretty sure they hadn’t found it. The investigation into the attack was still underway. The incident was kept under wraps. It wouldn’t be wise to have the media all over the disappearance of a widely-read political columnist.

Jessica pounded her fist on the desk—ran her fingers through her straight blonde hair. She needed to get the message to Latvia. Trying to contact Latvia through Estonia had been equally useless. Estonia’s apartment had also been attacked. Shattered glass everywhere—even fractures along the floor and wall. It was like there had been a miniature earthquake. Another situation to keep under wraps. This wasn’t Jessica’s job. She was a scientist. But had it not been for her, the wrong person might have found out about the two sisters’ disappearance. Now she had to make sure the whole deal was kept quiet. All three Starr sisters were missing. That was the sign of the beginning. Or so she had been told. And if it really was the beginning, then all the more reason for her to get in touch with Latvia, and fast.

She ransacked her brain for everything she knew. Anything that could prove useful. Without realizing it, Jessica was clawing her hair out. She had memorized the full history—spoken with everyone she needed to speak to—but she felt like parts of the story were still missing. Unless… Unless they had expected her to figure things out along the way. “Of course,” Jessica spat, pounding the desk again. That was typical of how they worked. Of how things worked. Knowing too much information was always a risk. Sometimes not knowing enough was precisely what was necessary to make things pan out the way they should.

Still, she would’ve liked a heads up. No one ever told her she’d have such trouble getting a stupid message across. But the balance of everything depended upon it. And the fact that Peter was up in space was proof that she had accomplished her mission. So why wasn’t she accomplishing her mission?

Or maybe she had accomplished the mission, without knowing it? Jessica thought back—tried to remember if she had told anyone. No. No she hadn’t. But if things were as they should be, then Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were together in LusciousLocks. Which meant that their powers had received a supercharge. Which meant that the map-out was still underway.  

So then, had she missed her chance? Had she simply moved too late? She knew she wasn’t supposed to do this, but there was too much at stake. After all, maybe doing something she wasn’t supposed to do was all part of the plan anyway.

She picked up her untraceable phone and dialed another untraceable number. She raised the receiver to her ear. She waited. “Who is this?” came a man’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Jacob Martin, it’s Bangs. We need to talk.”