Virtual Gambits: Detective Lydia Schreiber's Mission

The office was sparse, save for a few floor mats, some weights and dumbbells. Some of the equipment I recognised from my time in the gym, others I had no clue what they were.

"You're the one who's been trying to bring us down, right?" He spoke slowly, deliberately. He'd have been a good actor - or a politician. Or both.

I didn't say anything, just looked him up and down. He seemed like he was dressed for a day at the office: pressed shirt and suit pants, with shiny shoes and a thin tie. His hair was slicked back, and his face looked as if it had never seen stubble. He had the look of someone who cared about their appearance - but not quite enough to be vain.

He smiled at me - that same warm smile you'd see on the face of someone who wants something from you. I could smell something then - a faint odour that reminded me of my childhood days in the dentist's waiting room. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant - just familiar.

He turned around and walked over to one of the mats placed on the floor. He picked up something small that I couldn't make out before returning to me and extending his arm towards me expectantly. I took it from his hands without thinking twice about it, bringing it up closer to my eyes for inspection.

It wasn't a gun - that much was obvious from its shape - but it didn't seem like any kind of weapon I'd ever seen before either. The object itself looked like an elongated oval with several holes in it, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out what their purpose could be. There was a small button at one end, which I presumed would be used to activate whatever this thing was supposed to do when pressed.

I felt slightly uneasy holding this strange device in my hands, but quickly brushed away those feelings, refusing to show any apprehension in front of him. After all, he did have me at gunpoint - more or less (I didn't think he actually had any guns on him).

"What is this?" I asked him sternly, as if he frightened me into doing so by pointing a toy gun at me instead of an actual firearm.

He gave me another look of amusement before responding nonchalantly: "Just hold onto it." Then he held up his own palm facing towards mine, showing me what looked like another one of those devices attached to his hand by two small straps on either side of his wrist. "Go ahead - use your device." And as soon as he said that last sentence, there was a flash from his device and a sharp pain jolted through my brain as I fell unconscious to the floor...

A soft breeze caressed my skin as waves lapped gently against each other against the rocks below them; where I stood now on a balcony overlooking the sea with its crashing waves and billowing clouds above...