“I’ve always loved a good story,” Shane quips drowsily. Noticing the scant files in Chris’s hand, he perks up, leaning forward. “That’s strange. I was pretty sure I put more files than that in the cabinet. Was that all there was?”
"Yeah." Chris shrugged, laying the files down on the table in front of the group. They bent down to remove their heels, chucking them by the door as they knelt down in front of the table—may as well be comfortable if they were going to be there for a while. "Where shall we begin?"
“How ‘bout at the beginning? I think it’s a very good place to start.” Shane leans his cheek against his hand and props his feet up on the ottoman.
"Okay then." Chris raised one eyebrow skeptically, and picked up the first file of the pile, throwing it onto Shane's lap. "Quit being smug and read."
"Oh yes, love me a good story, start with the tortuous and the hare why don't you?" Davie asks with a snort, leaning back in his chair.
Shane flips through the first few pages of the files, his expression growing more and more confused. He starts paging through them faster and faster, frantic energy speeding his movements. “How!? How could this have happened!?”
"What now??" A groan left Chris' lips as they pulled the file from Shane's hands. They too flicked through the pages, and to say they were confused would be a understatement. "I don't understand.. I thought you put all the info you had into it?"
(What did I miss?)
(They are looking through files, I think the files are empty which has left room for confusion)
“I did! I swear, I did!” Shane cried. “This wasn’t me, I promise. Someone else must have messed with the files.” He leapt to his feet and began to pace back and forth, twirling a brown curl of hair around his finger.
Chris tossed the empty file to the other side of the room, and leaned on the table with their head on their palm. "Do you at least remember the general gist of what was inside the file?"
“There were dozens of files in that cabinet, covering almost 12 years of activity. I wasn’t even there for most of that time. The documents were supposed to record operations like robberies and murders, as well as business transactions and acquisitions. That’s pretty much all I remember,” Shane explains, frustrated. He presses his face into his hands and sighs. “Goddamnit, how could I have messed up this bad?”
Davie crosses his arms, "How….convenient" he says, quirking an eyebrow.
"Sounds like our mole's been busier than we thought," Tam mumbled, meandering up to peek at the empty files. "We should probably check the vault too. Make sure Bear's valuables aren't missing."
He looked at the others before shaking his head. "There must be a reason why the files are missing. I remember looking through them." He looked around, his eyes searching it desperately. He dug through the papers.
"What reason could there possibly be?.." Davie asks, his breath and words heavy with alcohol, "Something someone wants to hide?" he tilts his head, "Maybe…but who's been in reach of the files lately…?" he feigns a questioning tone
“Hey, watch it, Davie. We’re all on the same side here,” Shane says defensively. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I just don’t understand. The files were all there a week ago. I checked myself.”
"Davie, honey, now isn't the time for that." Chris narrowed their eyes dangerously on Davie. They got up and sat on the arm of Davie's chair, their slender legs laid across him as a kind of barrier. "Give the guy a break already. We get that you're suspicious of literally everyone here, but you've been drinking. I wouldn't go making implying comments now if I were you."
(Le bump?)
Shane plops down on the ground, a dejected look on his face. “This is it. This is where I die,” he says mournfully. My one use to this organization.
Gone. I might as well start fixing my will.” He removes a sheaf of papers and pen from his jacket, and starts scribbling.
"Stop it." Chris' voice was harsh, a lot colder than it should have been when talking to Shane, but for the most part they'd had enough of all the crap. "You're not dying, you are going to do what it is that you do best. You're going to put together information to create a plan." They swung their legs off of Davie and ran out of the room, back up to the study, and rummaged around for a black box they knew The Bear had kept. Once finding it and checking to make sure the contents were still sealed, they darted back to the living room and threw it down onto Shane's lap. "Inside that box is every report I have ever written for Bear over the years I worked for him. Every mission I was sent on, ever little job I completed, every time I had a suspicion concerning enemies or the like, I wrote about. The guy never once opened them, so they're all yours. Please keep in mind that I have been doing work for him for six years, you're going to have a lot to work through."
“Thank Christ on a goddamn cracker!” Shane leapt to his feet. “There’s bound to be loads of good shit in here! Thanks Chris, I owe you one.” He began to rummage through the box’s contents, organizing the files by year and location. When he finished, he looked up at Chris. “Alright, I’m gonna need you to help translate these here texts. You spy people use a lot of lingo and shorthand that changes fairly frequently, and I don’t want to miss a single word.”
Chris smiled sheepishly as they sat down next to Shane, looking over the files that they hadn't really seen since the day they were mailed. "Okay, make a start, and when you reach a bit you need translating just shove it in my general direction. I will warn you that the files regarding my missions in Eastern Russia and North Korea," they gestured to the two chunkier looking files that seemed to be over-filled. "They will take a little longer to go through. I had to write those ones in Russian and Korean, as well as using the codes. Hard times those were." A soft chuckle floated out from Chris' lips and they ran their hand through their hair to fluff it out a bit. "It'll be fun!"
Davie sat up, shaking his head to clear it, "Look, I'm not trying to personally attack anyone, just…always be suspicious" he nods, "But, good on you for finding that info"
“I’m sure it will be.” Shane began to scan the first document, but stopped only a few lines in. “Hey, Chris? I think I’m gonna need a little more assistance here. I took Russian for a year in college-“ He pauses suddenly, as if something stole his breath away, then slowly lets out a soft sigh. “Anyways, all I really understand is the basics. And this is far beyond the basics.” Shane looks at Davie. “I can get that, but your constant finger-pointing is starting to get on my nerves.”