The metal drawer of the desk rasped open, and the agent reached into a bin of papers inside. He leafed through them quickly before pulling one out. He handed it to Alex without a word.
Alex stared at the signature blocks. The little rat had forged his signature—and done a piss poor job of it, too. His seal imprinted the glob of wax, and the mark was authentic. He kept the seal in a locked drawer in his locked office. When had Lucas taken it? Not that morning. Alex had been in his office. But Alex had used it himself the night before. Lucas must have broken into his office overnight.
Alex took a deep calming breath. He tracked up the paper to the Need/Destination section of the requisition form.
The words were scrawled in clotted ink. “Apprehension of illegal & possibly overpowered Spark posing danger to the community & Council of 9. Agent acting on time-sensitive info regarding location of family members in order to force cooperation of target.”
Alex gave his attention back to the agent before him at the desk. The man leaned away from him.
“There’s only one problem. I’m his senior. And I didn’t sign this.”
“But your seal?”
He didn’t even blink. “Yes. My seal. So we have a junior agent who broke into my office and desk, stole my seal, and drove away in the Councilor’s long-range capable vehicle. Sounds like an idiot going rogue.” He placed the form on the desk and used one finger to slide it back across to the agent. “Don’t worry. I’ll retrieve him.” He tilted his head toward the rack of keys. “Any of the Volts will do.”
The man turned and snatched up a set of keys from a hook.
“You should probably get started on the incident report right away.” He pocketed the keys. “I’ll sign off when I get back.” It would look better if the report had been timed and signed by the man before Alex got back. Since it involved the Councilor’s vehicle and the man would be eager to distance himself from the mistake, he’d likely go up his own chain of command as soon as he could.
“Yes, sir.” Before Alex left the room, the agent gathered sheets of forms from a drawer on the other side of the desk. How cooperative. For every agent who knew Lucas had gone rogue, it would be that much easier to return with Lucas’s corpse.
As he passed through the bullpen, he snagged Fernie Salas’s junior agent, clapping him on the shoulder as Alex passed behind his chair. “Mark, grab Salas and come to my office. I need you to process it for a break-in.”
The man’s eyes widened. He nodded and rose. Alex returned to his office. He stood at the door, examining the lock of the knob for tampering. Inside his office, he did the same at his desk. The evidence at the desk was clear, a scratch veering away from the drawer lock where Lucas’s hand had slipped. Nothing too obvious, though. Lucas had done his thieving well.
He turned at the sound of shoes scuffing the floor behind him. Salas was framed in the entry, Mark hovering behind him.
“Someone broke into your office?” Salas asked. At Alex’s nod, he shook his head. “You’re on the main corridor. Do you know when? How’d it go down without someone noticing?”
“Early this morning or last night. And no one noticed because they assumed he had a right to be in here, I’m guessing. You’ll have to see if anyone saw him.”
“Right to be in here?”
Alex nodded. “It was Lucas. He came in to get my seal so he could forge my signature on a req form. He wanted the Tesla.”
Both men stilled. Salas recovered first. Mark looked as though he’d like to ask if Alex were sure, but not Salas. Alex wouldn’t have said anything unless he was certain.
“If you don’t mind processing the door…my drawer…. Nothing else appears to be missing, but it’d be helpful if we could see if anyone saw him.” He shrugged into his jacket. “I’m going to go find him.”
Salas glanced around. “Mark can handle this by himself. You want back up?”
Alex’s eyes crinkled, and he snorted. “For Lucas? C’mon.” He focused on presenting a confident and trusting face, not a cocky one. It would be more believable that he’d had to take Lucas out after the younger man gave him no choice if he didn’t give the appearance that he was out for the man’s blood. “He’s my partner. He’s not gonna give me any trouble. I’ll bring him back. We’ll figure out what the Dust is going on in his head.” He shook his own head.