CHAPTER TWENTY: A SPY ORGANISATION (Draft 1)

"So, what is it?" Silver asked once more after a few minutes, "What is the G.C.F.S?" 

Her uncle sighed and smiled secretively, "It stands for the Global Crime-Fighting Society. It's an undercover organisation that works to protect innocent people from, well, crime." 

Tim raised an eyebrow and snickered, "So it's some sort of a spy organisation?" 

Silver scowled at him before turning back to Victor, "So, my parents were a part of this organisation?" 

"Even better," her uncle chuckled, "Your parents and I owned the G.C.F.S. And in addition to that, they oversaw the European division specifically. I, on the other hand, am appointed Director of the American and Asian divisions." 

Silver and Tim's eyes widened, "They owned the G.C.F.S.?" 

James raised an eyebrow, "So, not only were your parents' spies, but they owned and ran the whole thing?" 

Cherry nodded slowly, absorbing all the information, "That's... interesting. So, uhm... what happened to the G.C.F.S. now that they're..." 

Victor shrugged, "I'm in charge around here until Silver turns 18. Then, afterwards, she'll also be part owner and running the European division. 

Silver frowned, "What about Tim?" 

Tim grinned mischievously, "I get to live my life freely." 

Victor chuckled, "He'll be part owner when he's 18 as well." 

"Dang it," Tim muttered under his breath. James overheard him and snickered as Cherry elbowed him. 

Silver took a deep breath, "Even if our parents owned the G.C.F.S., that doesn't explain why she went to visit James in their group home when he and his sisters first came to the city." 

Victor smiled secretively, "We'll get to that later. In the meantime–" He stood up and walked over to Alexandra's desk, before leaning on it, "There was a break-in at the police station last night. I want to know what you lot know about it." 

Tim's eyes widened and he smiled nervously, "Actually... I think Silver know more about that–" 

Victor turned to his niece, who frowned and appeared unfazed. He coughed, "Silver, how DID you get access to Ashlynn Speed's file?" 

Silver took a deep breath, "I wanted to find out how she REALLY disappeared. My only two options were to ask Ms. Speed or hack into the police database." 

Victor raised an eyebrow, "And you decided to choose the illegal option?" 

"Only because I knew Ms. Speed wouldn't budge unless I had at least 90% of the information," Silver explained slowly. 

"And Silver's not entire responsible," Cherry cut in, "I helped!" 

Victor sighed, "Neither of you are in trouble. Well, not entirely. I just want to know if anything weird happened that night." 

"Oh," Cherry drew her breath in, "Well..." 

"There was something weird going on with the security system," Silver answered, "Everything was shut down." 

"Yes, it was," Alexandra frowned, "But it also turned back on, out of nowhere." 

Silver nodded, "That was me... but the other hacker panicked I guess, and they turned it all back off before trying to hack into my system..." 

Victor smiled proudly, "And you scared them off?" 

Silver laughed nervously, "Actually... it wasn't me who scared them off... it was... Sarah." 

Alexandra raised an eyebrow, "Now who on earth is Sarah?" 

Victor took a deep breath, "Silver created her own A.I. when she was 6 and named it Sarah. Over the past 9 years she's been developing it and making it more useful and efficient." 

Silver nodded her head, "But by the time the other hacker was gone, the security system was shut down entirely and there was some sort of... uhm-" 

"Cryptic message," Cherry finished for her. Silver flashed a grateful smile at her sister before turning back to the two adults, who shared confused expressions. 

"What did it say?" Victor asked, furrowing his brows. 

Silver drew her breath and glanced back at her siblings, "It told us not to mess with the friends of the 'Human Glitch,' whoever that is." 

Alexandra winced, "The human glitch?" 

Victor stood up and took out a small notebook and pen from one of us pockets before scribbling something into it, "A possible connection to whoever broke in that night." 

"Was it really that serious?" Tim asked suddenly, "The break in, I mean." 

Alexandra looked down, "Whoever broke in stole my sister's criminal file." 

"So, you think she might be behind it?" James questioned. 

"No," Victor replied, "We think it's a bunch of amateur thieves who are also quite clever. They would have gotten away with it too if Silver didn't turn everything back on. This was probably their first heist anyway." 

"Do you have any other leads?" Cherry asked. 

Victor sighed wearily, "Only a melted framework that was meant to be covering a vent." 

"Melted?" The four siblings exclaimed at the same time. 

Victor nodded, "Only parts of it though." 

James clenched his fists and looked down, "What do you mean by 'parts of it'?" 

Victor smiled, intrigued by James' reaction, "As if it melted due to contact with someone's fingers." 

Cherry's eyes widened and James looked up. He took a deep breath, and made a face, "I'm sorry, but I think we need to leave." 

He grabbed Cherry's hand and stomped out the door, dragging her behind him. 

Tim bit his lip, "Should we follow them?" 

Silver shrugged and turned to her uncle who grinned, "I think we should leave them be. Whatever it is, they'll tell us when it's time." 

  

James and Cherry found themselves in the hallways outside Alexandra's study. 

"James!" Cherry exclaimed, "What are you doing?" 

He stopped and turned to his sister, "You don't think that-" 

"No!" Cherry gasped, "Scarlet would never!" 

"Oh yeah?" He challenged, "Well, before she was Scarlet, she was Ruby." 

"She was fast asleep in bed," she argued back. 

"Come on Cherry, you and I both know she's the only one capable of doing it!" 

"Well-" 

"Cherry, if you're not going to take this seriously, I might as well do something about it." 

With that he stormed off, leaving Cherry in the middle of the hallway.