His eyes sparkled with mischief. “You have no idea.”
I gave him my hands back. “Tell me about some of these thoughts.”
He pursed his lips in thought, as if trying to decide how much to tell me. I didn’t care, as long as we were off the topic of Garrick and the case of the single bed. “I think actions speak louder than words.” He pulled me forward and leaned in until he reached my lips. I suddenly wished the stupid table wasn’t between us. With the edge of the table jutting into both our ribcages, he released me pretty quickly.
We looked at each other until the spell was broken by Lochie’s voice. “My grandparents used to have a trailer like this.”
“Did they travel a lot?” I asked as he started to fiddle with something underneath the table.
“Yeah. Ah, got it.”
I was about to open my mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing when the table started to drop down. I swung my legs out before they were crushed. Lochie did the same, smiling like a fool.
“The table makes the benches convert into another bed,” he explained. “You take the cushions off the backs and lay them on the table. And like magic, it’s another bed. You now have two beds in the trailer.”
“And now will you sleep better at night?”
“Not really.”
I didn’t want to get into another argument with him so instead I slid across the table/bed to sit beside him. I took his arm and wrapped it around me. It felt unbelievably good to be snuggled into his side.
“You can trust me, Lochie. I’m not going to do anything to ruin this,” I tried to reassure him. And then I used my best form of defense – distraction. “Tell me what everyone at school is doing. How is Lola?”
“She’s good, but she misses you.” He threaded his fingers through mine, examining our intertwined hand like it was fascinating. “Her and Asher seem to be together all the time now, like they’re glued to each other or something.”
“He better be good to her.”
“Do you really think Lola would accept anything less than the best treatment?” Lochie laughed. I could imagine Lola calling the shots in the relationship. She always was a little on the bossy side, which was one of the things I loved about her.
“And everyone else?” I asked. I settled in for the story, making sure Lochie didn’t skip anyone. I even made him tell me about the classes and what everyone was learning. I missed the routine of going to school every day. I hated to think of everything I was missing. I even missed the terrible cafeteria food.
Halfway through the story, Lochie was cut off as my cell phone started beeping. I hadn’t programmed any numbers into it so I couldn’t tell who it was. I answered anyway.
“Hello?”
“Beckle21, it’s Razor1119,” Hayden said. We had agreed to communicate only by our screen names from the forums. I didn’t really think it was necessary, but Hayden had insisted. “I’ve found someone to help with your computer issues.”
I sat upright, letting Lochie’s hand slide from my shoulder. “That’s great. What do we have to do next?”
“He lives in Portview. I think you know the place?”
“That’s fantastic,” I exclaimed. I had expected we might need to travel to meet with the hacker. If Hayden was physically present, I would have been unable to stop myself from hugging him.
“I thought you’d want one close to home. Do you have a pen and I’ll give you his digits?” I told him I did and took down the number he gave me. I had to write it on Lochie’s hand because I didn’t have any paper lying around.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” I gushed to Hayden.
“No problem, just stay safe and keep me updated. Fight on, warrior.”
“I will, thanks again.” I waited for Hayden to hang up and did the same. “I need some paper. Sorry about your hand.”
“No worries,” Lochie laughed. “What was that all about?”
“We’re hacking into a computer system,” I explained, trying to be as vague as possible. “This is the number of the hacker we’ve found to help.”
“I don’t think the Originals would have their plans stored online.”
No, they probably wouldn’t, but I couldn’t tell Lochie we were breaking into federal computers. “It’s worth a shot, right? We’ve got to try everything.”
I climbed over him to reach my plastic bag purse. I fished out a receipt from the trip to the supermarket and copied the number down on the back of it. At least now Lochie could wash his hand and we wouldn’t lose the only lead we might get.
“I need to tell Garrick about this, we should call the guy and set up the meeting as quickly as possible.” I’m pretty sure I was speaking in fast forward by that stage. I didn’t want to miss another moment so the hacker could change his mind.
“I’m guessing you don’t need me for that,” Lochie sighed. The disappointed look on his face stabbed me through the heart. I leaned across and gave him a kiss, knowing it wouldn’t repair all the damage I was causing him.
“I’m sorry. Hopefully this will all be over soon.”
He pulled me closer, his mouth closing on mine and making me forget all about the hacker and the Department. Another few moments I could have forgotten my own name. I pulled free of his grip, needing to because my resistance was quickly waning.
“Say hi to Lola for me,” I breathed.
Lochie sighed again and walked me to the VW. He held my door open while I got in. As I drove away, I couldn’t get rid of his image from my head. I had to keep reminding myself that what we were doing would only be temporary. I had to keep going so I could be free to be with Lochie for good. If I didn’t, either the Department or the Originals would kill me. It wasn’t an if but a when.
By the time I arrived at Kyle’s place, I was trying desperately to focus on the task at hand. We had to call the hacker and set up a meeting. After that, we could get into the Department’s computer files and see what they had planned. If we knew that, we could work out our next step. We could do it.
I found Kyle and Garrick in the backyard. The entire lawn was covered in fruit and vegetables growing in patches. Kyle was definitely a farmer, being able to grow everything he needed in a suburban backyard. I was mildly impressed.
What I was unimpressed by was seeing Garrick pop a bug into his mouth as Kyle watched on eagerly. “They taste good, right?”
I fought the gag reflex as I saw him chew. “That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.” Their heads shot around to see me.
“It’s actually quite good,” Garrick mumbled, his mouth still full. I was going to pretend I never saw or heard that and try to erase it from my memory bank. If only it was that easy. You could never un-hear the sound of bugs crunching. “You should try one.”
Kyle held up a fresh bug for me, its legs wriggling around. That was never going to happen. “No, thank you. I prefer to eat things that are not alive. I got a phone call from Hayden, he gave me the number for a hacker that lives here in Portview. I think we should set up a meeting as quickly as possible.”
That got their attention, I was no longer sharing it with juicy bugs. They both stood, Kyle nodded. “That’s an excellent idea. You can use my phone.”
We went inside and I let Garrick make the call. The three of us stood around as we listened in. He jotted down an address before hanging up.
“Captain Roberts, which I believe isn’t his real name, said we can meet first thing in the morning,” Garrick explained. “Do you know where Shrove Park is?”
“It’s just south of the industrial area,” I replied. I hadn’t been to that park myself, but I had driven past it on many occasions. Its proximity to the Originals’ building didn’t help with my unease. It felt like there were traps everywhere for us.
“We should get home and prepare for it,” Garrick suggested. I wasn’t sure what preparing for it meant, but it was better than sitting around eating bugs.
“What time should I meet you?” Kyle asked. I d
idn’t think he would expect to come with us. I wasn’t sure if I trusted him enough yet to join us.
Garrick was on the same wavelength. “I think Amery and I should handle this one. These guys are paranoid and we’ve been vouched for by our friend. He’ll freak out if someone else is there too.”
“I can play it cool,” Kyle insisted.
“I agree with Garrick. This might be our only shot at getting Captain Roberts to help, we can’t take any risks. We’ll tell you everything afterwards,” I tried to reassure him. “You need to trust us on this.”
After all, how could we learn to trust him if he didn’t trust us? My challenge to him seemed to sink in. He started nodding his head slowly, clearly still thinking it through. “Okay, I’ll wait here for you. But I need to know everything you find out. We’re in this together, remember.”
We agreed and left Kyle to his bugs and beetles. The ride home was made in complete silence. When we arrived at the trailer, Lochie’s aftershave still lingered in the air. I wished he was still there instead of just his ghost.
I sat on the edge of the bed and gathered my things for the shower block. Thank goodness the weather was warm, otherwise it would have been impossible to shower in that breezy brick room. There was no way I was going to let this thing drag out into winter. Absolutely no way.
“What happened to the table?” Garrick asked as I made my move. My hand was on the doorknob when he stopped me.
“It’s another bed. Apparently we have two now, who would have thought?” I joked. “Now you don’t have to put up with my snoring.”
“You don’t snore and it didn’t worry me. I take it this was your boyfriend’s doing?” He seemed upset that we now didn’t have to squish together while we slept. I couldn’t see the down side.
“His grandparents had a trailer, he was just trying to help.”
“Yeah, I bet he was,” Garrick mumbled, so quietly I could barely hear him. I ignored the comment and went to have my shower. I was too tired to deal with any more boys for one day. Tomorrow would be bad enough.
CHAPTER 14
“There are a lot of people here today,” I said as I looked around Shrove Park. Being a Saturday, I expected a few kids to be kicking a ball around, but there were dozens of families there. People were having picnics, kids ran around like crazy, and teenagers sat in groups. I hoped nobody would recognize me. The last thing I needed was someone to draw attention to us.
“A computer nerd that wants to meet in the great outdoors,” Garrick shrugged. “That doesn’t really seem to go together. Did Hayden say anything else about him?”
“Only that he had pulled off some awesome hacks in the past. Hayden seemed impressed. How will we know who he is?”
“He said he would be wearing a black jacket with red trim.”
I scanned the crowd, trying to spot someone wearing black. Most people were wearing bright colors as they went about their leisure activities. At least that should make it easy to spot him. I hoped so, anyway.
Through the mass of bodies, a familiar face stuck out. I moved to stand behind Garrick, hoping he didn’t see me. “What are you doing?” Garrick asked.
“I know that guy over there. He’s dating my best friend.”
“That guy?” He pointed towards Asher, I nodded. “He’s wearing a black jacket with red trim.”
“He’s not our hacker. He’s a musician, not a computer nerd.”
“Are you sure about that?” Garrick said, waving to Asher. He waved back and started making his way toward us. Over his shoulder was slung a bag – just the right size to hold a laptop computer.
“Why’d you do that? He’s not our guy, he’s going to recognize me.”
“Maybe you don’t know your friend as well as you think you do.” He earned a thump to his back for the comment. Before I could start protesting again, Asher had reached us. I remained behind Garrick, trying to be invisible.
“Hey, are you Garrick?” Asher asked.
“Yeah, you’re the computer guy?”
He nodded. My heart fell, I didn’t want to get another one of my friends mixed up in my mess. If anything happened to Asher, Lola would never forgive me. I stepped out from Garrick’s shadow and revealed myself to Asher. “Hey, Asher.”
He did a double take as he saw me. “Amery? What are you doing here? Lola said you were staying with relatives for a semester.”
“I was, I’m just visiting Portview.”
Garrick stepped in, seeing my web of lies extend further. “I’ve asked her to help me out with my problems. She’s just here for the weekend.”
“Oh. Does Lola know? I’m sure she’d love to see you.”
“I probably won’t have time to visit her so I didn’t want to get her hopes up. Can we keep this between us?” I asked. From what I knew about Asher, he seemed to be a nice guy and I knew Lola thought the world of him. With any luck, he would also be true to his word.
“Okay, but she misses you, so you might want to check in with her sometime soon.”
“I will.”
“So, computers, huh?” Garrick interrupted our reunion. “Do you want to talk about it here, or do you have somewhere we can go that’s a bit more private?”
Asher pulled his satchel around and started opening the flap. “It’s best if we do it here. Out in the open, it’s harder to track a signal.” He looked around, surveying the park. “Over there will do.” He pointed to a flat piece of lawn, partially shaded by some tall trees. It was out of the way of the families but couldn’t guarantee any stray balls wouldn’t come our way.
We crossed the park and sat on the grass. I couldn’t help but remember when Lochie and I had spent the day together in a similar place. Hopefully this one wouldn’t end the same way.
Asher pulled his sleek laptop from his bag and booted it up on his lap. He moved across the keyboard with the same deftness he used to play his guitar. I wondered if Lola knew of his extracurricular activities of the illegal kind? I couldn’t imagine her slumped for hours behind a computer screen. She wouldn’t be able to sit still for that long.
“So, Hayden said you wanted to hack into the federal government database?” Asher asked as he typed. I tried to keep up with what he was doing by watching the computer screen. He was typing too fast for me to watch too closely. I was quickly lost.
“We need details on a specific project,” I replied. “It’s called Project Integrate. Have you tried to access their database before?”
“Once, on a dare. I got in fine but I didn’t take anything, I didn’t need anything then.”
“You can get an internet connection out here?” Was my next question. I admit, I wasn’t the most technological savvy person in the world. As long as I could buy stuff online and check emails, that’s all I needed a computer for.
“I’m piggybacking off someone’s unprotected wi-fi. They don’t even know I’m using their internet connection.”
All those invisible waves in the air, I was surprised they hadn’t done some serious damage to us all by now. I pretended to know what he was on about. “Will it take long for you to get into the database?”
“Give me about ten minutes.”
Garrick and I settled in for the wait. Garrick paid more attention than I did, he stared intently at the screen over Asher’s shoulder. I trusted him to be all over the supervising, I wouldn’t have to do it too.
“I’m in,” Asher declared. “They have a hell of a lot of encryption but they couldn’t keep me out.”
Now, I was a little more interested. We huddled around the computer. The image on the screen had the logo of the FBI at the back with a search button at the front. “You said Project Integrate?” We both nodded and he typed it in with lightning speed, clicking the search button.
“You are amazing, Asher,” I gushed. I wouldn’t think badly of him again. Unless he hurt Lola, then there would be no holds barred. “I had no idea you were even into computers.”
“I try to keep it quiet, it doesn�
��t go well for my reputation.”
“I would think your rock star image is pretty solid.”
He grinned but didn’t take his eyes off the screen. He clicked on a file and a Downloading box appeared on the monitor. The percentage seemed to move up at a snail’s pace.
“Can you make it go faster?” Garrick asked, I understood his impatience.
“No can do. It goes as fast as it goes.”
We watched it climb higher, I was sure time slowed down for us there in the park. The file seemed to be downloading at one percentage a minute. That would mean we were in for a wait if we wanted it all. And we did, every last bit of it. I guessed after so many years, the file was probably quite full of information.
When the percentage reached eight, the timer suddenly stopped. In its placed was a red box screaming Authorization Denied. The screen went blank.
“That’s not a good thing,” Asher stated calmly. It sounded like the understatement of the century.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.
“They booted us out of the system.”
“Can we go back in?”
“I wouldn’t risk it,” Asher warned. “Someone found us in there so they know the file has been compromised. Right now, they would be setting a trap for our return. The moment we got back in there, they’ll start tracing like crazy.”
“You said they can’t find you, right?” My voice was starting to get screechy, as much as I didn’t want it to. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be surrounded by Agents at any moment with their guns all pointed directly at us.
“They can’t with their usual computers. However, they have all kinds of crazy programs they can activate to find me. It only takes one spiderbot to pinpoint our location.” It was enough to convince me.
“Can we open the partial file we downloaded?” I asked, hoping to salvage something from the mission.
Asher nodded, starting to type again. “You should be able to see everything that makes up that eight percent. Some documents might be only partial though, the remainder being downloaded when it was cut off. You should be able to see a fair bit.”
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