The killer detective

8 - Meiko speaks up

Ever wondered why the clouds that cross the sky are so white while the sky is azure blueish? That's the first and the last thought that appeared in my head after the door opened. I saw a series of tables put into a rectangle shape, just that the middle and the part towards the door were empty. Only one chair prepared. Other than that nothing. There were a couple of people sitting around the table. The whole room was gloomy about the same as the corridor, but it felt like complete darkness has swallowed it up. The atmosphere was very dense.

Meiko went to sit behind one of the desks into an empty chair, which was prepared for him. I stood there completely dumbfounded. There were no chairs left for me around the tables. Only the one in the middle. It felt like I was some sort of a criminal, who was put for the last trial before being sent to be killed.

"Second lieutenant Serapheim, please sit down." One voice out of the people, who were sitting behind the desks, invited me to sit down. No emotion in it. Just a routine thing to tell someone, who was supposed to sit on a chair in the middle of nowhere while being swallowed up by the desks around with people sitting behind them. Like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

After taking another look around the room I finally realized how many people there actually were in the room. Five on each side, three in front of me at the head of the whole layout. Quite a lot of people, who would want to question me. But why? I didn't do anything. Maybe I shouldn't have seen anything, either. And I would be able to be at home, in my bed, after shower. That would be so good! Cold sweat was slowly forming on the back of my neck and inside of my palms.

Someone cleared their throat to let me know that I was taking too long. I went and sat down on the chair. There wasn't anything else I could do unless I wanted to be either seated or brought down by force. And that surely wasn't my cup of tea. Still wearing my military uniform I sat there and felt like things would turn even more South by my every inhalation of the air in the room. The silence was so thick! If it was a fog, you wouldn't even see the tip of your nose in it.

"So, second lieutenant Serapheim, we went through all the records we could find and were available to us..." This is starting to sound like a deep s**t. I should thank Benuard and Isaac for dipping me in it! I didn't do anything! A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! So let me get home and rest after such a long trip! I was just silently listening and awaiting whatever their decision was going to be. I was in no position to say anything against it anyways. Since I didn't do anything wrong, it was just probably a routine thing to do, to make sure that there is a log in the system on what happened and that I wasn't a part of it. Or at least that's what I had been telling myself to calm myself down. Because this wasn't looking too easy. There wouldn't be this many people if it was just a small thing. I gulped.

From the looks of it, the inhabitants of the room comprised of high-ranking officials, some of them were probably even on the board at the headquarters. Their decorations were probably the only shiny things in the room. It was even surprising they were able to see what was written on the papers lying in front of them. It was really quite dark.

Meiko was silent this whole time. He couldn't speak up either. It would cost him his hard-earned position and the only source of his income. And the biggest part of my income as well, since he was giving me separate side-missions for giving me a lot of points each time instead of posting a WANTED notice in the Register system. In this room, there was nobody who would be able to help me. Even if Meiko wanted to help me, there was no way he could. He had probably only been called here as one of my supervisors. I knew the military did have a few bugs, but this is a bit too off, isn't it? I should file a report to the Register later on, so they check things out...

"It looks like you managed to infiltrate the system while being on your mission." A coarse rough voice spoke up. I didn't catch, who was speaking, but one of the officers was keeping the papers up to see the letters better.

"Sir, I had no access to any electronic devices at the time but the ones commissioned for the mission itself. You can even retrospectively check my positioning on the GPS sys-" I was trying to stay cool and calm to get out of here unscathed.

"No one asked you." There it was. No matter what a person did, as long as they decided that something was supposed to green, there was never a chance for it to turn purple. They didn't even let me explain the situation. I wasn't even allowed to speak up for myself. This was also one of the reasons why I had decided to serve in a civil. I could always argue with my boss at the office. But there was no arguing in here. You had to listen till the very end, keeping your mouth shut.

"Your entry logs are right on this paper." They passed the paper for me to read. The times were between 4 am and 8 am back for the mission station. Even though I indeed was in the same building at 4 am soundly sleeping, there was no way for me to be there at 8 because I was out point hunting. But there is no way they could know that because I left my GPS in the building. And I was point hunting with Meiko's rifle. Damn it. Isaac knew what was always going on as he had to be informed, so he let it slide each time...

I gave the papers back to the person, who passed them to me. I kept my mouth shut and kept waiting for what else they would come up with. I couldn't just say out loud that Meiko keeps giving me side jobs. It wasn't really kosher to be doing this thing in the military, yet so many people still did it.

It wasn't me. I'm happy with my current detective job. Even though it gets dangerous sometimes, it's not monotonous and gives me the thrills. I have a decent place to stay, don't have to go cheap on food and I'm just doing well. Why would I want to do anything against the system? I am working for them! I work so hard to make sure everything is going according to the guidelines and rules... But the officers couldn't see inside of my head. I was in a bind. 

"Major general, did you check if it was done from the IP of one of the computers they took with them?" Meiko finally spoke up. He was usually as sly as a fox, so he could always come up with things. He wouldn't openly back me up, but he would at least try to help. Though, it wasn't sure how much of a help that would be to me at that point.

"It was done from the exact building location as they were staying at. There is no way that captain Isaac or his subordinate would have done this. She is the only one working in civil," the major general replied.

Oh, so that was it. Just because I was working in civil I had no right to even defend myself. This organization is seriously doomed to not change at all. Good thing I have decided to quit on time!

"But that doesn't mean it was done from the computer IP addresses. Someone could have just altered the location..." Apparently, Meiko didn't care as much for his post as I had thought until now.

"Have someone from IT go through the computers." An order. Short, clear, precise.

"Already been done." Meiko presented the major general, who was sitting in the middle, right opposite of me, with some papers. I could only hope they didn't contain anything, which would put me in a more bitter spot than I already was.

"All right, you have the permission to speak, Colonel Shim." The major general decided and informed everyone in the room. Guess he doesn't speak much, really. There weren't many thoughts going on in my head. Partially it was thanks to the training I had overcome in the past at school. Thoughts were very powerful in critical situations like this. They could make one collapse from all the stress if not handled well. That's why most of the students were taught how to turn their thoughts off. How to not think about anything, not overthink, and just be in the present moment.

"Our IT department together with another one in area 92 agree on this information, which you can see in the papers. The IP was not one of our computers and our computers' encryption had not been broken. They are unsure about the source of the attack, though." Meiko finished his small short speech while standing up. It had to be short, otherwise, nobody would care to listen until the end.

"I see. All right, dismissal is out of the question at the moment. However, we need more information to decide on the length of suspension. It looks like someone had to know about the mission and the exact location of the post. Check the entry logs in the mission archive to see, who entered it between the times when the mission was decided on and until it ended. I also want you to check the personnel behind the mission and assigning the missions at that time." Many people started taking notes on their papers. That was quick. So I got out with a suspension? For not even doing anything? Great! Now let me go, so I can take a warm shower and enjoy my short vacation before going to work!

"Major general, if I may say one more thing..." Meiko put the papers gently down.

"Go ahead, colonel Shim."

"Since this was definitely not done by any member of the group sent for the mission, which in the end turned out well, I suggest we use all our currently available resources to work on this case, so we can prevent any further security breaches. Since the incident involved a disappearance of a high-grade rifle, it would be better to just make sure the second lieutenant is not given any missions until this incident clears up. Just in case she was even an unaware accomplice of the incident." Meiko looked like he was the whisperer of the major general. Or his shadow advisor. He didn't look like he wanted to be known for saying any of this, yet he was saying everything out loud. Sly fox!

"Agreed."

"I suggest we keep her reporting weekly." Another person from the beefed-up group spoke up. All the men in this room looked like the clothes were too tight for them to even fit in. Only Meiko looked slim. Slimmer than your average soldier.

"To whom?" The major general asked, giving strict stares around the room.

"Since colonel Shim came up with the plan, why doesn't she report there?" This person's voice was a bit squeaky, the tone was quite high for a man. Too many steroids for those muscles, eh? I wanted to chuckle, but I had to keep a straight poker face if I wanted to get out of this room quick.

"Agreed. Colonel Shim, I want you to report directly to me together with the paperwork marked top secret about the case." End. I can go! Yes! Thank you, thank you everyone for participating. Now... I squinted my eyes. LET-ME-GO-HOME! I shouted at everybody in the room inside of my head. If I did that in reality, I wouldn't only end up with a stupid suspension. I would probably be sent to a detention cell straight away.