CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: A SYMBOL, A BREAK-IN AND A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN (Draft 1)

Alexandra was sitting at her desk in her study, staring off into space, wondering about what her sister would do next, when out of nowhere, there was a knock on the door, and she raised an eyebrow. It was 3am in the morning. Who on earth could it be? 

"Come in," she called. 

The door opened and her friend walked in. Her brows furrowed, "Max. What are you doing here?" 

Maximillion Banker appeared exhausted, nevertheless, he wore a serious expression on his face as he looked at Alexandra and said, "We need to talk." 

She suddenly stood up, growing worried. 

 

Silver plugged the flash drive into her laptop and the four of them waited for it to load. Once it finally did, four letters, a symbol above them and a number written below it, appeared on the screen: G.C.F.S. 

Silver's eyes widened, "Those were the initials of the author of that book I told you guys about! Gianna C.F. Scott!" 

Tim frowned thoughtfully, "That's strange... I could've sworn I've seen those initials on one of the books in our father's home office... but they stood for something else." 

Silver turned to her brother, "What did they stand for Tim?" 

Tim shook his head, "I don't remember much, but it definitely wasn't Gianna something. It was Global something." 

Cherry made a face and turned to James, "Global?" 

James ignored his sister and concentrated on the screen, "I've seen that emblem before." 

Everyone turned to James as he continued slowly, "There was this woman. She visited the group home we were staying in when we first came to this p–" 

He paused, "Place. She had dark, wavy hair. Dark brown eyes. Tanned skin. And she wore business attire. She gave me a card with a number on it and that very symbol. She spoke of an organisation that could help my siblings and me. A place that would protect us and provide us with everything we required." 

Cherry stared at her brother, "What happened next?" 

He frowned, "I don't know. I never saw her after that day. The next morning, we got adopted by Richard and Lucinda and finally got a home for just the six of us, so I didn't think about it much." 

Silver paused, processing the information, before asking, "James, do you still have that card?" 

James nodded, "Let me go get it." 

With that he quietly opened the door and disappeared into the hallway. 

 

"What do you mean someone broke into the station tonight?" Alexandra gasped, horrified at the thought. 

"I mean," Max continued, "Someone turned off our security system, found a way into the station, knocked out two of the guards and broke into the file room." 

"The file room?" 

"Yes," he confirmed, "And get this, all the files were in order. They only came for one file in particular." 

She gulped, "Which one..." 

"Ashlynn's..." He answered slowly, looking down. 

Alexandra scowled, "You're not suggesting that my sister did this, are you?" 

Max shook his head, "No. Because out of nowhere, the security system turned back on, and the fire alarm went off. We couldn't get near the scene because there was smoke in the hallway. In addition to all that, someone also had contact with one of the trip wires in the room, setting off another alarm. But by the time we got into the room, wearing protective gear, whoever it was had escaped through the vent." 

She tilted her head, "The vent?" 

Max nodded, "We'll do some more investigating tomorrow morning. But this couldn't have been Ashlynn. They were... inexperienced." 

Alexandra crossed her arms and sat back at her desk, "So do you think you can find whoever it was?" 

He shook his head once more, "No. Although whoever it was might have been inexperienced and possibly an amateur thief, they were also kind of good. The only thing that went wrong in their mission was someone turned everything back on." 

"So, you're saying their hacker betrayed them?" 

"Possibly. Although everything shut back down once, we arrived at the scene." 

Alexandra frowned, "So what you're saying is, if no one turned the system back on, they wouldn't have almost got caught?" 

He looked down, "They would have gotten away with it, and no one would have known until someone went to check in the morning." 

Alexandra murmured, "So, what do you think we should do?" 

Max shrugged, "The only solution I can think of is to contact Detective Wilde." 

Alexandra grumbled, "He's all the way in New York. What makes you think he'll come this far just for something as small as a break-in?" 

Max scowled at her, "Because you and I both know this wasn't a normal break-in." 

Alexandra sighed and reached for her phone before dialing a number. Max had a point, and if she wanted all this to end as soon as possible, she would need to contact Victor Wilde. 

 

James came back into the room, holding a small navy card in his hand. He handed it to Silver who examined it closely and compared it to her screen. It was the same number, logo and name. It seemed connected, but at the same time it didn't make any sense. She groaned helplessly, "What could all this mean?" 

Tim looked down, "I wish Uncle Vic was here. He'd solve that mystery instantly." 

Silver turned to her brother and back at the screen, "I wish he were here too Tim." 

She took out the flash drive and closed her laptop. She opened her drawer and took out a picture of her, her brother, their uncle and their mother. 

James' eyes widened as he pointed at the picture, "That's her! That's woman who gave me the card!" 

Tim and Silver turned to him, shocked, and gasped in unison, "The woman you spoke to was our mother?"