When Ryan visited the café again, she felt nervous. She wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing. She hesitated a moment in front of the building. Was it wise to befriend a woman who worked with the police? What would she tell Sam if she asked where she worked and what would she do if Sam had heard the rumors about the Facility?
Glancing through the glass door, she spotted Elise and then Sam. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

“Hi!” she greeted them and took off her gloves. Shrugging out of her coat and taking off her scarf Ryan seated next to Sam.

“Hi yourself!” the blonde smiled sincere. "You know, I could've sworn I saw yesterday when I was on the way to our case. You don't happen to have a green Jaguar XR?" Sam asked her.

Ryan mused for a second if she should tell the truth or make something up, but she didn't want to lie to Sam. Looking up from her apple pie she put the fork down.

"Yes, I saw you too. I'd been sent to meet a client and got lost in the area." Ryan knew that her excuse was lame but Sam watched her for a moment and then nodded. “What happened?” Ryan asked innocently.

+++

The Facility

"Shaun." Ryan greeted her cousin when he entered her office.

The resemblance between the two was unmistakable. Shaun had the same thick brown hair and his facial expressions matched hers almost perfectly. He was a bit taller than Ryan, his trained body hidden under an expensive suit. The only difference between them was their eyes. While Ryan's were deep blue, Shaun's were dark brown, almost black.

"I thought you'd be still abroad. What brings you back?" she asked, even though she didn't really care.

She and Shaun had been close at one time. Being the same age and growing up basically in the same house, they had shared many things. Their fathers both worked for the same company and Ryan spend most of her time at her aunt’s because her own mother had died at a young age. They had even attended the same boarding school.

But that had all changed after her father's death. Ryan had withdrawn and didn't let anyone get close to her. She didn't want to talk to anyone and even arranged a transfer to another boarding school.

Shaun had a degree in law had started working for a company joined with the Facility, officially for legal matters, but unofficially the sole purpose of that company was to threaten and spy on people, organisations or public agencies that could be dangerous to the Facility and their businesses. After an incident which involved a federal investigation, he had left the country for a while.

"Things got solved." He said, in a matter of fact manner while he poured himself a drink. "Want one?" he held up Ryan's own scotch but she declined.

"Dr. Newman is in our custody." Shaun took a sip. “Good stuff.” He approved. They still had the same taste.

"And are you going to tell me what he has to say or not?" Ryan didn't like the way he invaded her office, touching everything here and there from the painting on the wall to the letter opener on her desk.

"Sure." Shaun put his glass down and sat lazily in one of the leather chairs. "He claims not to know anything. All he admits to is that he treated Adrian while he was in our care." Shaun accented the word care. “Not sure why he treated him though.”

"And?"

"And we'll see what he says when my guys are finished with him." Shaun's boyish grin looked evil, but Ryan held his gaze, even though she wanted to look away disgusted.

After he had left, Ryan checked her emails one last time before she headed home. She didn't like what she found in her inbox.

Adrian's email taunted her about not being able to find him, and asked if she had even found out that he was involved with two more dead people.

Ryan thought he was trying to be caught or he was plain crazy. She didn't know which she liked better.

Further, he added a couple of pictures he had taken of her. Worst of all, there was one of her with Sam in the café.

Cursing, Ryan dialled Calvin's number and hoped he was still in his office.

“I want the reports from two murders, and try to track back the email I forward you.” She gave him the details and asked the tech to call her as soon as he got them.

+++

Ryan's penthouse

That night, Ryan didn't sleep well. She lay awake for hours and when she finally fell asleep, nightmares haunted her.

She saw herself at age ten sneak out of her father’s office even though he had told her to wait right there for him. But like every kid, her patience ran short and she wanted to explore some of the Facility.

Being curious, she wanted to see those parts of the building she was always forbidden to see. Whenever she and her cousin Shaun would visit, they were brought to their father’s offices directly.

Shaun had dared her to go down to the first sublevel and told her he had been there. Not wanting to look like a sissy, Ryan had taken him up on his challenge.

Waiting for the security camera to zoom into another direction, Ryan stood around the corner to the elevator and held her breath. Nervously she picked at the hem of her purple skirt. Her white shoes didn’t make any sound when she jumped into the elevator and pressed the button.

When the door slowly slid open at her destination, Ryan peeked around the corner. It was a long hallway with many doors to the left and right. The light was dim; one bulb near the end of the hallway was faulty and went on and off all the time. It felt like it was several degrees colder but Ryan couldn’t tell if it was real or all in her imagination.

Shaun had told her to bring something so she could prove she had been down there. Watching around for camera’s, the little girl waited for an opportunity and ran over to the empty helpdesk.

Hiding behind the counter, out of sight from security, Ryan opened a few drawers to find a souvenir but they were all empty. Turning around to look into the next drawer, Ryan screamed.

Right behind her stood a smiling man. He was tall and lanky. His teeth almost reflected the dim light. “Hello little girl.” He stretched his arm out and Ryan jumped back and crashed into the counter. “Don’t be afraid.” He was talking calmly but everything in Ryan screamed danger.

That was the moment the security camera zoomed in on the man with a white patient’s suit and the alarm went off.

Ryan had used the moment of distraction and had started to run around the counter and towards the elevator but the guy was faster. He stood in her way, his eyes looking wild now. “Why do you run?” he screamed. “I wasn’t going to hurt you!”

Ryan’s heart was beating fast now and she started to sweat. But instead of being paralyzed, she started a dead run towards the end of the hallway while the alarm rang in her ears.

Tears started to run down the little girls face. She tried every other door but they were all locked. Ryan let out a scream when a face appeared behind one of the glass windows in the door. She jumped back and looked towards the guy who was chasing her. He slowly walked after her, his bare feet making squeaking sounds on the grey floor.

Now, Ryan was paralyzed. She was trapped, cornered and afraid. Her little body started to shake when the guy bend down on his knee and stretched his hand out once more. “What’s your name, pretty girl.” He asked but Ryan had lost her voice.

He took her hand in his just when the elevator as well as another door at the other end of the hallway opened and a dozen security guards lead by Ryan’s father stormed in.

“Peters, let her go!” the tall man shouted but the guy didn’t even turn around. And Ryan was too afraid to look anywhere else but her hand in his. With one swift motion he scooped her up in his arm and Ryan screamed.

“Let her go!” another security guard shouted and pointed a gun at him.

“Daddy!” Ryan cried now, sobs shaking her little body which was held tightly.

Ryan tossed and turned in her sleep. The dream felt so real, like it was yesterday.

Peters held her in a tight grip with one arm when he pulled something out of his pockets.

They guards and Ryan’s father kept moving forwards but halted when they saw Peters hold a fork to Ryan’s neck. “Stay away!” he screamed. “Or I’ll kill her!”

“Hold!” One security officer ordered his team.

“Let her go and we leave you alive.” Ryan’s father was dead serious. “I swear if you hurt her, you won’t live long enough to regret it.”

“What makes you think I want to live like this any longer?” Peters shouted back, the veins in his neck swelling and his head turning red. “I don’t have a future.” He pressed the fork deeper in Ryan’s neck and blood started leaking out in drops.

“Daddy!” Ryan kicked wildly with her legs but she just wasn’t strong enough to help herself.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her.” Peters’ fury changed to desperation.

“Like you didn’t hurt those other kids?” Tim Ryan asked with clenched teeth. “The judge didn’t think so and you’ll rot here ‘til the end of your days!”

“No!” Peters pushed himself back further to the locked door. “No!” he repeated and pressed the fork even further into the child’s neck. He looked like he’d have a nervous breakdown any minute.

Tim knew if they didn’t do anything soon his daughter would suffer serious damage so he decided quickly. Giving the chief of security a signal, a bullet hit Peters in the arm first so he let go of Ryan and she fell to the ground screaming and holding her ears when a second shot hit her aggressor in the chest.

“How the hell did he get a hold of a fork?” Tim barked and picked up his crying daughter. Bringing her a few feet away he watched as the team secured the body and signalled that Peters was indeed dead.

“I want you to turn the quarters upside down. I want to know how he could unlock his door and how he got a hold of this fork!” he ordered and left with Ryan for the doctor’s office.

When they entered the elevator, Ryan still clung to her father. Tears were running down her cheeks and onto her father’s shirt along with blood drops.

“Everything’s gonna be alright.” He tried to calm her.

+++

When Ryan woke the next morning, her hand went to her neck and traced the four tiny scars. She had repeatedly scratched the scars open the following weeks after the attack and so it had left scars. Back then, she hadn’t cared, now, she hid her scars under make-up and scarves.

Shaking off the memories of the attack and getting started for the day, Ryan was ready to leave for work when the phone rang and a guy who claimed to be her bank’s manager informed her that her accounts were frozen and asked her to come by the bank.
When she got there, it turned out that an anonymous source had reported her to the IRS who were reviewing her finances now.

Cursing, Ryan had called the Facilities lawyer and ordered him to sort that mess out. Not giving the manager another glance, Ryan left his office and the bank.

She had a pretty good idea who had staged that.