Handler XX: Stock Maestro
Chapter 15: The Zero Project

Chapter 15: The Zero Project

"Captain" Theo spoke on the phone

Trent moved to the edge of the room, far away from Marie who was pressing her phone on the bed.

"What’s up?"

"I found—"

"Let’s meet at the house" Trent interrupted, hanging up.

He picked a hoodie from the wardrobe and changed into it.

"I’m heading out—Theo’s place. I’ll be back soon"

"What’s going on?" Marie asked watching as he wore his shoe

"I told Theo to help me investigate the house— I’ll just be with him for a bit"

He gripped the phone tightly. Angela said she tweaked the bug to not give out good signals so they won’t hear but he had to be conscious.

"Alright" Marie scanned him with her eyes— he seemed suspicious but she’d just let it slide.

The mission must’ve affected him and made him tense.

_______

He walked to the receptionist with a smile

"Hi—"

"Hi, Mr. Trent" she greeted raising her head from the book she was reading

"Uhmm.. I was wondering— is there a way I can sneak off and past the reporters?"

Some stubborn reporters still lurked around the hotel, fishing for an interview

"Oh. It’s just perfect—" she chuckled,

"Ed..." She called out to a worker carrying a crate.

Ed dropped the crate and walked to them. He greeted Trent and turned to her.

"Can you give this kind Sir a ride on the truck. He’ll follow you as a worker" she leaned on the counter as she spoke

"I hope you don’t mind—" she turned to Trent.

"No, I don’t. Thank you very much Cecilia"

She smiled, a bit of red flushing through her face.

Trent followed Ed with a crate and entered the truck.

They drove off after loading and he came down when they got to a safe place, boarding a taxi.

_____________

Theo opened the door as soon as he knocked

"Welcome, Cap. Here’s—"

He placed his palm on Theo’s mouth cutting him off.

He released it as Theo nodded, shaking his phone as he walked in.

"What’s up? What did you find about the house?"

He rolled his hand around telling Theo to play along.

"It’s a great place— peaceful and classy, just like you, Boss"

He took the phone from Trent and put it inside a small box.

He exhaled hard, "You’ve been bugged?"

"Yeah— Angela said she worked on it but I’ve gotta be careful, no?"

"You should trust her more— She’s a monster. If she said she did it, she did"

Trent looked at Theo and took a deep breath

"What did you find?"

"Big storage container— some gold, cash and fake IDs with this..." He held a USB drive up.

Trent glared at the drive

"I’ve not looked at it" Theo said sharply

"I had Angela modify one of my laptops so it’s well masked"

He handed Trent the drive, walked towards his desk and brought the laptop

"I’ll be inside the room— call me when you’re done"

Trent nodded turning the laptop on.

What did Yolaf hide in the drive?

He gasped as he entered the folder...

It was well arranged—

The Handlers Program,

United Alliance of Westeron NIA,

Kraven Empire Intelligence,

Exotics...

Information on other countries and...

The Zero Project?

What’s that? Trent entered the folder— it was a project eerily similar to the Handler’s program. Founded 40 years ago by Thaddeus Kravenberch VII

Fuck. Was this why Kraven sought to Kill Yolaf and the NIA wanted him so bad? Trent continued to scroll

Even beggars, street performers, vendors— all the basics were enlisted into the project. Even religious bodies had agents

Trent leaned back, staring at the screen. This was big. Big enough to be killed for. Not information that he should have access to.

If Yolaf had sold this, it would be worth billions of dollars. That’s how dangerous it was at the wrong hands.

Should he report this in?

He shook his head— No chance. He would get killed immediately.

He scrolled through, his memories were now sharp to store as much information as he could see.

"I hope I get intelligence stats next" he murmured

Agents name, background... Everything about the Zero Project. He read through as much as he could.

He did the same for Kraven’s intelligence agents and the NIA.

He stopped as he saw a face— the agent that answered the phone.

"Real name: Meredith Wyler. Codename: Starc"

He closed the folder. Moment of truth— the Handler’s Program

He read through the informatio!n on every agent until he got to Anton

There were some pictures in his file, as with the other.

He looked happy in some— with a woman. Who was she?

"Name: Anton. Age: 53" his eyes skimmed through, "lover?"

"Wanda Kravenberch?" What?

The woman on the picture, that made him so happy was a Kravenberch? What the fuck?

Anton... Was he a— he stopped his mind from wandering.

No, no, no... He shook his head cancelling the thought. Not Anton.

He was the one to tell them about the spy. Wait— what if...?

He read through the other folders quickly and shut the system.

"Theo!" He shouted

Theo ran out of the room, "what’s up?"

"I’m through. Do you have a microwave?"

Theo walked him to the microwave and they burnt the drive.

"Thank you" Trent placed his hand on Theo’s shoulder.

"It’s no problem, Cap. Just get me a new microwave" Theo chuckled

"I need to check someone’s background... Deeply"

"Angela can do that" Theo replied

Trent took his phone back and they left the house.

_____________

They took Theo’s bike and rode to Athens Autos

"Is Mikhail in?" Theo asked one of the staffs. The shook their heads.

"What about Ange?"

"She’s at the back" the staff answered turning to his work

They walked to the room at the back of the place and knocked

"Who’s there?" Angela asked sluggishly, opening the door

As soon as she saw Theo, she shut it back and clicked the lock.

Theo stood there in surprise with Trent chuckling

"What was that?" he muttered

"Nothing, dumbass?" Trent laughed.

Angela opened the door again and invited them in

"W-welcome" she stuttered glancing at Theo as they walked in.

"The place’s a mess" Theo said as he walked in, picking the snack wrappers littered on the floor.

She took it from Him and rushed to put everything back into place.

"We need your help with something" Trent spoke as she arranged the couch for them to sit

"Can you help me check for someone?— intelligence level deep"

"I can— as long as it’s available" she replied turning to him.

She walked to her laptop and sat on the chair besides the table.

Theo sat on the couch watching them. He saw Trent glance at him and snatched one of Angela’s headphones, putting it on.

Angela looked at him and turned to Trent, "Are you sure I should be hearing this?"

Trent exhaled, "Yeah— you’re the only one I can meet"

She looked at him for a moment and opened her laptop, "Details"

"...The Handler’s Program. Anton"

Trent clenched his fist as he said it. He didn’t want to suspect Anton as a spy but he was too curious to let this off.

"The Handler’s Program, huh? I’ve seen that somewhere..." Angela replied as she typed.

"What?" Trent gasped, "You’ve seen that?"

"Yeah... There’s this Intelligence agent that I was trolling and spying on— they’ve got a really weak security for a whole Intelligence body"

"He mentioned it on one of his conversations"

The Intelligence agents were talking about the Program?

"Do you remember what they were taking about?"

"No... I didn’t pay it mind but it seemed interesting so I remembered the name. Ah— there we go"

A file displayed on the screen, ANTON (HANDLERS)

"There’s a lot of lock on the files" she said as she tapped on it.

Anton’s information showed as she tapped on it.

The hospital where he was born,

His Parent’s name...

Wait, he was sold to the Program? Was that what happened to him too? Trent’s jaw tightened as the thought crossed his mind

"Wait— there" he pointed at the screen as she reached a point

"That woman— I need information about her"

Angela scanned the face of the woman and pulled up the data available on her.

"Wanda Kravenberch... She’s a Princess of the Kraven Empire. She died 26 years ago due to an accident"

What? So Anton wasn’t the spy? Was this just a tragic love story? Trent exhaled. No need digging farther.

Ah... Newton had been acting strange.

"There’s one more— Handler’s Program, Newton"

Angela typed it into her search and the data came up.

"Damn..." She muttered as multiple information pulled up

"This guy’s got a lot of ties— he worked for the NIA before joining the program"

Trent leaned in to look at the information... He saw some pictures.

"Aren’t they foreigners?" He pointed at the picture of Newton with some people.

"Yeah— this was taken last week by a satellite" she pointed at the date

Trent’s eyes widened as the scan on their pictures finished— Kraven agents.

Newton met with Kraven Intelligence agents?