Syphon Filter: Secrets Within

Chapter 1-Foul

The dark sky stretched endlessly, like a black vale shrouding the Earth. Neither sound nor light penetrated this blackness. Only one soul sat alone in this area of near emptiness, and he might as well have been merely a shadow himself.

Gabriel Logan stood with his back against a semi-rotten tree staring at the god-forsaken ground where Mara had escaped only a year ago. She had been standing there looking at him, when a shot rang out from a nearby building, and gave her the chance to escape. How could he be so blind as to look away for just a split second. That's all it took. She had fled, and took his high spirits with her. It began to rain. First it poured lightly, then the crackle of thunder brought him out of his reverie. Lian was calling his name, but he heard Mara's voice instead of hers. "Gabe, come on. You have a meeting. NOW!" Realization dawned on him, and he looked at her with a drained expression in his eyes. Her voice softened then. "Come on, you need a break from all this." Hegot back in the car, and allowed her to drive back.

Silence engulfed them as the rain came down harder. "Something troubling you, Gabe?" He nodded, and she felt that he didn't feel like speaking his mind at this given point in time. "We'll talk later." She said finally. Gabe had been sitting motionless for so long, and when he finally moved to get out of the passenger's side of the sedan, he nearly fell flat on his face. Lian noticed that he didn't feel like coving just as he didn't feel like talking. "Tell them I won't be attending the meeting. I'll getfilled in tomorrow…" He managed before silence overtook him again. His facial expression changed form businesslike to bleak in a glance. Lian was worried, but failed to say anything about it. "Okay. I will. Hey, if anything's troubling you that bad, talk to someone. I'm always here." She left for the meeting, while Gabe stood there staring after her.

In the meeting, Stone had said that Gabe's absence was unusual. Gabe had of course left Lian a message that Lian was to take over while he was absent. They all agreed that Lian take Gabe's place considering he hadn't shown up at any meetings since he had gone into the depressing slump. He left the building, and hoped that this was the last time he left IPCA headquarters with regrets. At the same area where Lian had found him, He saw a blonde woman standing there, and softly weeping. The second Gabe got there, he heard her mumble the words that stabbed his heart like a knife coated in cold blood.

"God, Logan let me live all those years ago. He could have killed me in the subway He had the means, motive, and not to mention the smoking gun to do o it." Mara had returned.