“Sir, we do not act so rashly here.” 

I glanced at one of the many men in suits. Pushing back the urge to curse him out or just slug him - Fiona would have been upset with me since this might be a co-worker - I kept my composure. 

“Normally, I wouldn’t, but this is an emergency.”

He huffed and lifted his head to look at the numbers as they passed by. I swear it took ages to reach the 14th floor. The man grumbled again when the doors opened, and I pushed my way through. 

I stalled at the front desk. I looked at the company name long enough to register the cyber security portion, everything else didn’t matter. The receptionist was on the phone, and every time I tried to get her attention, she lifted a finger. I chose to ignore the fact that the elevator man literally stood in the hall watching me curiously.

“Screw this.” I mumbled, walking around the desk. 

The woman finally hung up the phone in a hurry, trying to chase after me. “Sir, sir, you can’t just walk back here like this.”

I stopped again, looking around for some sign to direct me. The room was too wide, and there were too many cubicles in the middle. I didn’t have time for this. Fiona didn’t have time for this.

“Linda!” I shouted. The room froze as the receptionist caught up to me.

“Sir…”

“Dillan?” I turned toward another woman, one who looked nearly as frazzled as Katia had.

“Where is she? What happened?”

“I don’t know.” She waved for me to follow her and led me to one of the side offices. She bent down and picked up a wrinkled note while telling me the same story Katia had. 

I studied the note carefully. The harsh line at the bottom made my stomach bottom out. I crumpled the note in fury.

“Someone kept her from saying where she was going.”

Linda must have already known this, but hearing it made her collapse into her chair in tears.

“What’s going on?” The man, who had obviously taken up following me, asked. At least this time he seemed more worried than irritated.

I turned to look at him, wondering if he would be of any help. I noticed a younger man looking nervous as he stood off to the side. I pointed at him.

“Chris?” He nodded. “What did Fiona say before she left?”

He repeated it back nearly verbatim, as though he had been reciting it in his head to make sure he got the message right.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the elevator man getting confused. “She went to lunch with a client and was going to check out his system. What’s the big deal? We do this all the time.”

My anger turned on him and he flinched. “Fiona is missing, that is the big deal. She left a trail of clues behind, informing her secretary to get a hold of me.”

“And exactly who are you?” He didn’t seem to quite believe me yet.

“Her boyfriend.” I spat through my teeth.

The man opened his mouth and then closed it, not sure what to say to that. I noticed that Chris looked a little glum. That was telling.