The Last Lights (H,T)

Helena paced at her desk. Behind her, floor wide windows showed the lit up city skyline behind her. She was anxiously waiting for her assistant and bodyguard to get off the phone.

“You said that the last time you saw her was just past 10:30? She was last seen in a light pink dress? That’s good to know. We’re going to be doing whatever it takes to find her. Ms.Turner and I appreciate you calling us Miss Smith. Would you be able to keep her phone on you in case we learn anything new?” After a pause, she continued. “Thank you, hopefully we hear something soon.”

Hazel hung up the phone. “Ms.Turner?” She said, getting her boss’ attention. “That confirms it. Your stepbrother and everyone he knows outside of work are missing. Should I reach out to law enforcement at this point?”

Helena sat down at her desk. Her laptop was plugged in to three other monitors. The left, as always, showed a rolling display of the firm’s stock portfolio. She had set the right monitor a few hours ago to the news, just in case something turned up. The center monitor, frustratingly, was showing nothing. What it should’ve shown was the locations of Richard and his friends. Over the evening, she had watched the lights blink out until only Aubrey’s remained. Even that one was useless now, being held by a friend of her stepbrother’s ditzy ex.

“Not yet, I want to control the story a bit longer. Could you run through our timeline again?” Helena asked

Hazel flicked through the notes on her laptop, her brown eyes scanning for where to start. “This morning, Miss Lopez put an appointment on your brother's-”

“Stepbrother's” Helena interrupted.

“Yes Ms.Turner, I apologize. Miss Lopez put an appointment on your stepbrothers calendar. The appointment was for 4:15 with a Genet Grant, which Miss Lopez applied her fundraising tag to. During that meeting, we lost tracking on both of their phones.

At 5:30, Misses Sato and Owens arrived at the home of Miss Steward. Around 6:44, we lost the trackers on both Sato and Owens. Less than a minute later, the tracker on Miss Steward went out as well.

At 7, the tracker on his therapist pinged in her office, but went down at 7:22. When I spoke to her secretary, she said that Dr.Petrov didn’t have any appointments tonight. When she went to the office as I requested, she noticed that your stepbrother's file was missing. I asked her to wait on going to the police until I was able to learn more, but she said she’d only give me until noon tomorrow unless she heard from her boss by then. That’s probably going to be our immediate time crunch for now.

Finally, we had our call with Miss Tiffany Smith. Miss Conners had asked Miss Smith to hold Conners’ phone while they were at their party. Smith isn’t fully aware of what time the event took place, but after 10pm Miss Conner ran into the restroom. Miss Smith did not see her come back out and it was empty when she went in herself to investigate. At this point she called us and that’s everything we know about what happened tonight so far.”

Helena sat at her desk, contemplating what her assistant had detailed. “What about that Grant lady from the fundraising meeting. Do we know anything about her?” She asked, searching for any lead.

Hazel shook her head. “I looked into that. The only thing I was able to find was an inactive web domain she bought earlier this week. Other than that Grant has no internet presence. She’s not on social media, and she’s not in the voter records or driver’s registry for this state at least. I’m trying to search wider, but there probably won’t be progress on that before the noon deadline. I just wish we could talk to her to figure out what’s really going on.”

As she said that, there was a knock on the door. “Well that’s fucking perfect. What’re the odds that’s her, just waiting for her cue. Can you go check if that’s her?” Hazel nodded at her before walking to the other side of their large office. Helena watched her open the door just enough to see and speak to the person outside and she was gone. As Hazel opened the door she melted, like a mound of cotton candy thrown into a waterfall. Her assistant was dead. More importantly, her bodyguard was dead. She’d watched everyone her stepbrother care about disappear in the past seven hours, and now it was her turn. She got out of her chair and went as flat under her desk as she could and pressed the panic button under her desk. Even if Hazel was dead, the building had its own security if Helena could just buy time for them to get up here.

“You don’t need to hide dear.” A saccharine, low voice called out to her. Helena could hear the deceit in her voice, like the woman was a spider inviting the broker into her web. “I shut off that alarm of yours before I knocked. Would you like to come sit at this big desk of yours like a big girl, or should I come down to the floor with you?” Helena felt her jaw tighten at the woman’s condescension, but she stood up and returned to her desk, trying to retain what was left of her dignity. The invader stood in front of her,towering over in a red dress. The woman smiled down at her, like she was waiting for Helena to speak first.

Helena tried to compose herself and asked “Genet Grant, I assume?”

Grant’s smile widened, dimples forming at the edge of her mouth. “I usually have to introduce myself. I was looking forward to that level of preparation from you two. Do you have any questions before I take you to meet with the others?”

“The others?" Helena tried not to let the hope bleed into her voice. "You mean they’re still alive then? Hazel is still alive?”

Grant stared at her for a moment before laughing at her. It was a loud, full-throated laugh that didn’t suit her. After calming down enough to speak, Genet said, “I’m sorry, you really had me thinking that you knew what was going on. They’re all still alive. Your brother-

“Stepbrother”

“Thank you. Your stepbrother challenged me to a game, which he can get some help for. He doesn’t get to choose who helps, but I agreed to choose people he trusted for him. I’ve already collected everyone else. I didn’t offer the others a choice. I like you though, so I’m trying to take this slow. Would you like to stay here, waiting for your brother and the others to come back, however long it takes? Or would you like to come with us, and help decide my little contest with him?”

Helena’s anger at Genet spread to her asshole of a stepbrother. He wasn’t being kidnapped. He’d found a way to gamble with his life, roping in Hazel and the others along the way. She wished she could’ve been there to talk him out of it, but it was too late now. Fuck. Genet said he was in some sort of game against her now. Who else was taken? Luna, Hazel and the one woman in his gaming group were clever, but Luna was also a coward that was likely to talk Richard out of the risks he actually needed to take. Aubrey would drag the whole group down, and Helena didn’t know the other three well enough to trust them with her stepbrother.

She turned back to the spider waiting at her desk and said “I’m in. Do I have time to pack a bag first?” Hopefully that would at least give her enough time to get a message out before jumping into the web.

“I can take care of it. Just take my hand, and you’ll be with him in a moment.” Genet said, holding her arm outstretched. Helena’s last plan circled the drain. Fine. If this is what it takes to rescue Richard, then she could work with it. She took Genet’s hand, and the world went dark.