Chapter 22: Profiling

 The following day Marla woke up next to Jason at around 6 in the morning. She woke him up with a kiss on the cheek. After they had woken up and taken breakfast Marla was given a new set of clothes that were acceptable according to the mode of dressing in the office. Deep down she knew that she felt something for Jason, though she knew very little of him she could feel a spark in her heart. Marla was willing to take it slow so that she could get to know him better. Her heart was delicate,this being the first time that she was willing to start a relationship with a guy. She had for long been scared of being hurt by a man but at the age of 23,she was at her prime. She knew that the window for courting is a small one and if she does not snatch the chance,she would soon end up with no serious relationship and would either make decision of marrying any man that would come her way or just have to stay single for the rest of her life and end up adopting twenty cats.

After wearing their work clothes Jason led her out of the house and headed to the yacht at the shore of the island while they engaged in small talk

"So,how does a young man like you who works for a mere salary of hundred thousand dollars annually manage to be such a silent millionaire? It doesn't add up" she said as they walked

"That will be story for another day. I'll be sure to tell it to you just when the time is right" Jason replied

"Take your time. Let's do this,I get to ask you a question and vice versa. Just one so make it count" she said

"Okay,I'll go first. If we get to take what we have now to another level,not just the next level but like boss level,to what extent would you go with me even if it means risking all that you have now?" He asked

"Well that's a heavy one. I do believe if I'm with the right guy,maybe that's you, I am willing to go with you to any extent. And don't get me wrong,I don't mean it like in the way girls are into toxic relationships such that they say yes to anything without reasoning, I'm not stupid so I'll be willing to go to the deep end with you only if there's a good reason to it."she said

"Words of wisdom from such a young soul, I'm impressed" Jason said

"Yeah yeah,now my turn. Describe your childhood in not so many words. Just a few will do. I know it's not exactly a question,but it still applies"she said

"Well,how do I go about this,give me a minute."Jason said as he tried to think of the best way of putting it.After a few seconds of thinking he finally found the perfect way of phrasing it.

"I know how to answer your question,but it's unorthodox. What is it that you fear at night?" He asked her

"You haven't answered my question" she protected

"I know,but answer mine"Jason said

"Okay. Im afraid of the dark" she answered

"Perfect answer. Now think of my childhood like this,I was born and raised in the dark. It moulded me into the man I am today. It has taught me to use any means necessary to get what I want. No emotional attachments,no feelings. It taught how to be cold to the touch but warm as the devil." Jason said as they came to a stop at the shore and he helped her board the yacht.

"What's this darkness?" She asked

"Pain. The darkness is pain" Jason said as he gestured Peter over.

Marla looked at him as he talked to Peter and gave thought of about how those words carried a lot of meaning and carried his emotions with them.

"Are we ready to go?" She heard him asking Peter

"Yes sir,in a couple of minutes we'll be ready. We're just waiting for the ride to come" Peter replied

"Uuhm Jason,I don't mean to poke but,we need to be at work in about thirty minutes. And last night your boat took about an hour and a half." Marla cut in

"Who said we are going to use the boat? There is our ride" Jason told her as he pointed to a helicopter that was in the distance coming towards them. Marla immediately turned to him and asked him

"Wait a minute! Who are you?"

Fast forward to about nine in the morning,Ray was in his conference room with some of his most trusted companions having a meeting.

"Have you received any report from any of them?"he asked no one in particular

"No sir,they went radio silent from the moment they were on the water and since then, nothing" one of the guys in the room responded

"How long has it been?" He asked again

"Almost ten hours sir"another person responded

"Those were supposed to be some of the best field agents we have,how is it that they suddenly go radio silent and no feedback,not even a message that the mission is a success" Ray said as he slammed his hand on the table." What was the success rate for the mission?"

"Around 95% chance of success" one of them responded.

Immediately this was said,one of the companions caught everyone's attention by pointing them to the TV that was mounted on the wall.

The headline read, "BREAKING NEWS!!!! Three bodies of unidentified men were discovered on the shores of Sin City's River. The three are said to have been armed with guns and other military gear such as bulletproof vests and smoke bombs. It appears that they all died from gunshot wounds, two of them having two bullets lodged in them while the other one had only one single gunshot wound on the head. Authorities are supposing that this might have been a bad deal gone sour with the three men involved" the news feed then died off

One of the colleagues in the room couldn't help and keep their mouth shut,he finally said ," Well,at least now you know where your so called best agents are" a small giggle was heard in the room before Ray the hit the table again and shouted at them.

" You do realize that the person we sent these guys to most likely killed all of them. This means we're dealing with a high profile son a bitch who has experience." He said." Please tell me we have a positive ID on the guy"

"Unfortunately we don't. We have a reason to believe that he was not working alone." Another member said

"What makes you say that?" He asked

"The fact that we got two positive locations and almost immediately one of them goes bouncing everywhere like a firecracker and the other one,the ID disappears into thin air leaving us to work with only the tracking option" he responded

"Great,so do we have a profile on our guys?" He asked again looking at his criminal profiler

"Currently,I'm looking at two guys, possibly male. One of them might be a hacker,so possibly IT guru. Still young or slightly aged. Introvert and knows how to avoid any public places. The second guy, extrovert and still young. Highly trained in military tactics,knows his way around the city but know how to keep a low profile." The profiler said as he read the report

"That's a start. Now we have two profiles of two guys in a city with a population of at least five million, leaving us with 4999998. Just perfect." Ray said. "I need more than that!" He shouted as he left the office

Marla was at her working post when she saw the breaking news on her phone. The first thing that came over her was fear,second was tons of questions and the third was to call Jason. She dialed his number and called him

"Hey you"she said as he picked it

"Heyy, what's up?" He asked

"Nothing much, just checking up on you"she responded

"Well,I'm good. How you holding up?" He asked

"I'm better than yesterday. I just bumped into some news about three bodies found in the area we passed yesterday,what exactly happened?" She asked

"Ooh that, I've also seen it. Well when we received the warning call we contacted coast guard officials. And after firing our warning shots the crooks disappeared into the night. It was only later when you fell asleep I received a call assuring me that they came across the coast guard and after a short gunfight they were all killed. I didn't want to stress you more." Jason answered calmly

"Well I'm glad that didn't go south" she said

"Me too. How about this, we'll talk later when I'm done with work" he said

"Sure,laters" she replied as she ended the call