Mark sat at his desk, working on a research and development schedule for his department when there was a knock at his door.

“Mr. Prescott, sir?”

“Yes” Mark looked up to find one of his younger lab technicians standing in his doorway.

The younger man faltered for a second, frowning, before forging ahead. “A gentleman rang you. Said his name was John. He demanded I interrupt your work to get you.”

“And you couldn’t have just patched him through?”

The young man shook his head nervously. “No, he said it was urgent and then hung up. There was no call to patch through.”

With a long-suffering sigh, Mark waved him away. There was only one man on his team who'd be melodramatic enough to not hold for a patch through.

John.

Standing, Mark gathered his car keys, mobile, and jacket before leaving the building for his car. If John called and refused to talk to him on the company phone, then he didn’t want to be anywhere near the Luminations staff when he returned the call.

As he walked across the car park to his vehicle, he dialled John’s number, barking, “John” when the man answered the phone.

“Conducting surveillance on a confirmed operative. He’s one of them.” John paused. “And distracted right now.”

Distracted? Those people never let themselves get distracted. “Explain.”

“He is with a woman, sir. They’re in a restaurant, and... he looks like he might be proposing to her.” John snickered.

“Can you confirm if the woman is also one of them?” Mark had no patience for John’s amusement. He had work to do.

“No, sir. Not as far as I can tell.”

Interesting. “Chances of success?”

“Well,” John hesitated. “When they leave, we should be able to isolate them without drawing any undue attention.”

“You know my requirements,” Mark interrupted. “One-hundred percent infallibility or you find a new target.”

“One-hundred percent, sir,” John confirmed. “He is currently very distracted... Request a contingency, though.”

“What do you propose?”

“Clearance to engage the target and use the inhibitor as needed. I am confident his guard is down, and with the inhibitor, we can bring him in.”

“Do it,” Mark ordered. “Don’t let yourself be seen, and don’t leave a trail for them to follow. I don’t want the Order sniffing about.”

“Yes, sir!”

As the line went dead, Mark grinned. Finally, he would have the perfect test subject for his machine.