The Board – Part 10
Aidan couldn’t shake the feeling he had after waking up. In some ways, he felt like a veil over his eyes had been lifted, but it still wasn’t clear what he was supposed to be seeing. One thing he now felt was a sense of power and serenity. Suddenly his fears and apprehension about his new position weren’t overwhelming him. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was exactly where he needed to be.
The entire day at the office was a breeze. Aidan felt a bounce in every step, and after lunch, he started having thoughts about what to do next. The strange thing was they didn’t feel like his thoughts. Instead, it was as if someone were implanting ideas or whispering a process into his brain, guiding him. For the first time since arriving on the board, Aidan smiled.
***
Victoria walked home with grocery bags in her hands. She hated going shopping after a long day at work, but the cupboards were beyond bare. She was almost at her apartment building with only one more corner to turn, but as she began the last stretch of her trek, everything seemed to get darker. It was barely 6 PM; there should still be enough light.
Victoria looked around, seeing no one, but it was too peaceful. Too quiet. The city sounds were gone as if sucked into a vacuum. A few more paces and that’s when she heard the faint footsteps echoing hers. When she stopped, they stopped. When she walked, her stalker did, too.
She didn’t want to look, but her curiosity was too intense. Slowly, Victoria turned, and about ten feet behind her was a shadow. Was it a man or woman? She couldn’t say, and she didn’t wait to find out.
Victoria picked up the pace, mere feet from the safety of her front door. She regretted every cigarette she smoked as she jogged. Before scaling the front stoop of the building, she turned to see if the shadow remained, but to her surprise, he was gone.
She turned back to her front door and found herself face to face with her stalker. There was no time to scream.
***
“Cassidy, what’s going on? Why the emergency meeting?” Aidan asked as he sat in his boardroom spot. He knew the reason they were gathered, but he needed to keep up appearances.
Cassidy answered, “I know as much as you do.”
Victoria was missing, and Aidan had to hide the knowledge in his eyes. Catching a quick intense look between Cassidy and Richard, Aidan turned to Horatio as he started the meeting.
“Alright then, let’s get to this. As you can see, Victoria is gone,” the older man began.
Jayna quipped, “Had a feeling she’d crack…”
“We didn’t eliminate her,” Horatio said quietly. Lucien sat up straighter in his chair, a look of fear and confusion taking over his eyes.
“What are you saying?”
“It wasn’t internal,” Horatio explained. “Victoria didn’t do anything to be eliminated from the circle. In fact, this year was her most loyal. And her organization of HR was quite impressive. She’s missing, which is, of course, very disconcerting as you can imagine.”
Keeping his eyes on Cassidy, Richard asked, “Are we sure she didn’t run?”
“We would be able to find her,” Cassidy answered. “No matter where she went.”
“She is beyond our leader’s powers, which means either someone of greater power has her or someone of opposing power has taken her,” Horatio added.
Bailey’s eyes lit up as he said, “Opposing power? The angel!”
“Can’t be an angel. We’d be able to detect an angel,” Cassidy stated.
Aidan looked at her in shock. She rarely spoke, and when she did, she never had this much knowledge.
Horatio continued, “Theoretically, yes. Any power beyond this world should be detectable, especially divine powers. Now you see the issue, my friends. We have a traitor among us that is more dangerous than we had ever imagined. No one is safe. All are assumed guilty. This development also affects our festival. Besides being off one board member, we cannot perform the ceremony with a traitor in our midst.”
“We have to move quickly. The repercussions of having no offering…” Cassidy’s voice trailed off.
“I’ve only experienced this once before,” Horatio said. “Let’s just say I’m the only surviving member of that particular team.”
Suspicious of the older man, Bailey asked, “How’d you get off?”
Horatio grinned and moved closer to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder he stated, “I located the threat that ruined our festival. I showed loyalty and determination where others did not. I was not a coward.”
