shook violently as he felt the impact rip through his body, throwing him like a rag-doll around the car. His head smashed against the passenger side window, but still he was glad that he had his seatbelt on. His head injury had almost instantly rendered him unconscious. He could feel darkness coming for him, but he was determined to stay awake just that little bit longer.
The impact had flipped their car upside down and thrown it into a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn. He heard tyres squeal as the van that had just smashed into their car drove away as fast as it possibly could. Owen looked out of the smashed windscreen in front of him as he felt a small trickle of blood run down the side of his head. He was looking back down the road which only moments before they had been driving on.
"Annie?" he spoke into the air, unable to turn his head due to the pain firing through it.
No answer.
"Annie?!" he said again, more urgently this time. But still, Annie didn't respond. All that Owen could hear was the intense sound of the rain on the other side of the smashed windscreen.
Directly in front of him, Owen saw the dark figure still standing there on the sidewalk, with his hostage still kneeled down next to him. Owen watched as the man in the trench-coat mouthed some words to the bound man, before he remorsefully raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
Owen recoiled in horror at the distant sound of the gunshot, and then watched helplessly as the bound man fell face first into the sidewalk. The dark figured turned and walked away, but not before he glanced back to the scene of the crash, and stared right into Owen's eyes.
And right then, he couldn't keep his eyes open any more.
Everything turned black.
Chapter Thirteen
Date: December 15th 2035 (Present Day)
Location: Unknown
“How did you get involved in all of this Mr Archer?” Victoria asked. “It’s not like these kind of jobs are advertised openly on the internet now, is it?”
“That depends on how you look at it,” Owen replied.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ll get it eventually. Shall I tell you about myself?”
“Is it central to the story?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then go ahead.”
Owen nodded at Victoria’s approval and tried to figure out in his head just where to start his explanation from. He figured that like everything else, he might as well just go from the beginning. “I’ve been a part of the PRoGRaM team for almost two years, since the time of its creation. The road into this business wasn’t too strange. I wasn’t put through some black ops training camp. I simply did my regular day to day job and got noticed.”
“What were you doing before… this?” she asked, choosing her words wisely.
“I was a detective up until I turned twenty nine, then I quit the job and became a private investigator.” He watched Victoria’s facial expressions and reactions as he spoke. In his head, he was trying to figure out just how much of this she already knew. Was she as naive to Owen’s life and PRoGRaM as she was letting on? Or was she just a damn good liar?
“A P.I.? At twenty nine?” Victoria asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Young?” Owen answered. “Yes, but I’m damn good at what I do, even if I am only thirty five. With police work, I don’t believe that experience and knowledge come with age. I think that it’s just intuition, and you either have it, or you don’t. I left the police force because of the bureaucracy involved, it was all too official. Everything had to be documented, nothing investigated without just cause. Solving a crime isn’t like that. We may have all the technology in the world, but I firmly believe that at the end of the day, the feeling in someones gut is just as important as any lead.”
“Was it that same gut feeling that got you into this mess?”
“It was. I was warned off by my superiors before it all kicked off, but I chose not to listen.”
“And how did that
The impact had flipped their car upside down and thrown it into a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn. He heard tyres squeal as the van that had just smashed into their car drove away as fast as it possibly could. Owen looked out of the smashed windscreen in front of him as he felt a small trickle of blood run down the side of his head. He was looking back down the road which only moments before they had been driving on.
"Annie?" he spoke into the air, unable to turn his head due to the pain firing through it.
No answer.
"Annie?!" he said again, more urgently this time. But still, Annie didn't respond. All that Owen could hear was the intense sound of the rain on the other side of the smashed windscreen.
Directly in front of him, Owen saw the dark figure still standing there on the sidewalk, with his hostage still kneeled down next to him. Owen watched as the man in the trench-coat mouthed some words to the bound man, before he remorsefully raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
Owen recoiled in horror at the distant sound of the gunshot, and then watched helplessly as the bound man fell face first into the sidewalk. The dark figured turned and walked away, but not before he glanced back to the scene of the crash, and stared right into Owen's eyes.
And right then, he couldn't keep his eyes open any more.
Everything turned black.
Chapter Thirteen
Date: December 15th 2035 (Present Day)
Location: Unknown
“How did you get involved in all of this Mr Archer?” Victoria asked. “It’s not like these kind of jobs are advertised openly on the internet now, is it?”
“That depends on how you look at it,” Owen replied.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ll get it eventually. Shall I tell you about myself?”
“Is it central to the story?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then go ahead.”
Owen nodded at Victoria’s approval and tried to figure out in his head just where to start his explanation from. He figured that like everything else, he might as well just go from the beginning. “I’ve been a part of the PRoGRaM team for almost two years, since the time of its creation. The road into this business wasn’t too strange. I wasn’t put through some black ops training camp. I simply did my regular day to day job and got noticed.”
“What were you doing before… this?” she asked, choosing her words wisely.
“I was a detective up until I turned twenty nine, then I quit the job and became a private investigator.” He watched Victoria’s facial expressions and reactions as he spoke. In his head, he was trying to figure out just how much of this she already knew. Was she as naive to Owen’s life and PRoGRaM as she was letting on? Or was she just a damn good liar?
“A P.I.? At twenty nine?” Victoria asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Young?” Owen answered. “Yes, but I’m damn good at what I do, even if I am only thirty five. With police work, I don’t believe that experience and knowledge come with age. I think that it’s just intuition, and you either have it, or you don’t. I left the police force because of the bureaucracy involved, it was all too official. Everything had to be documented, nothing investigated without just cause. Solving a crime isn’t like that. We may have all the technology in the world, but I firmly believe that at the end of the day, the feeling in someones gut is just as important as any lead.”
“Was it that same gut feeling that got you into this mess?”
“It was. I was warned off by my superiors before it all kicked off, but I chose not to listen.”
“And how did that
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