So Long, and Goodnight

20. Know Your Enemy

Chapter 20
Know Your Enemy

POV - Scott

    I watched this entire exchange with wrapped attention. It was like watching a Ping-Pong match, but instead of a ball being hit back and forth, words were being exchanged in rapid succession.

    However, when John asked 'what do you need?', I was very confused. He might not have understood what she was talking about at first, but he certainly got it after thinking it through.

    "A laptop or computer, whether it be a holo or not doesn't matter. If we can get two, we'll be able to get the work done twice as fast."

    "Is that all?"

    She thought for a couple of seconds before answering.

    "An escape route would be nice, but the windows don't open enough to let anyone out, and going out the way I came in isn't an option. I could escape through the air ducts. I need to get up to the stars."

    John nodded in confirmation.

    "Scott, can you lend your laptop?"

    "Uh... Sure." I said, not really having any idea what was going on.

    "Great. I'll try and get my hands on another one and meet up with you." John told her, as she pulled a bed into the middle of the room, grabbing my backpack, and climbing onto the bed. How she was going to get into my laptop without the passcode, I had no idea.

    "Don't come alone, and put the bed back." Were the last words she said before she disappeared into the ceiling, and closed the open hatch she'd gone through.

    Before I even asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue, John leapt off his bed and put the one in the middle of the room back in its original place.

    And it wasn't long before I knew, or at the very least suspected, why the rapid-fire conversation had only been facts and essential questions being asked. They didn't have time to relay all the information needed.

    Not even thirty seconds after Jodie vanished into the air ducts, Catrina and the nurse burst through the double doors; both of them sporting the beginnings of impressive shiners and bloody noses.

    "Where is she?" Catrina asked, putting the back of her hand underneath her nose to stop the blood from dripping onto her white shirt.

    John, without missing a beat, replied with, "I have no idea. We haven't seen her since you took her away to ask her your questions."

    The look both Catrina and the nurse gave him were ones of disbelief and suspicion, as he shrugged his shoulders.

    "Why do I have the feeling that you aren't telling us the complete truth?"

    "I don't know. Ask my brothers if you don't believe me, but I don't think Grandma will be happy if you wake Alan up. He'll be bouncing off the walls if you do that."

    I looked over to see that Alan was indeed fast asleep, and Gordon was close to following him.

    Catrina looked like she didn't quiet believe John when he said that, but anyone who has kids or younger siblings knows the truth... When they get up after a nap, it's like somebody has fed them sugar or has changed their batteries to those long-life ones that last about twelve hours.

    "Seeming as, according to the staff, you two are inseparable, I find it very hard to believe that you haven't seen her. She'd have come to you after she bolted from our interview."