Beneath the Surface (On Hold)

Chapter 22

Two weeks. For two weeks Tyler and I traveled from city to city, campaign party after campaign party. Tyler and I, pretending in front of the entire country. Holding hands, "sneaking off", hugging.

Two weeks. For two weeks, Tyler and I didn't hear anything from the man about our mission or what we were supposed to do.Two weeks.

 After two weeks of waiting and wondering, we found out what we were supposed to be doing.

"Lexi, Tyler. Come with me." The man said. He had revealed his last name to us a week before; Johnson.We followed him into an office that had just a table, two chairs, and a file folder lying on the top of the table.

"So, are you going to tell us our mission now?" Tyler asked, cutting right to the chase as soon as the door was closed.

Johnson smiled, "First, I need to make sure that you two are ready and willing to go through with this. Once you start, there's no going back. Do you understand that?" He asked and both of us nodded.

He smiled, "Alright. Let's go." He said, picking up the file folder and walking out of the office room.Tyler and I looked at each other, confused, then followed him out of the office and down the hall, into the elevator.We followed him all the way to the parking garage of the hotel and into a waiting car. We got inside as the car began moving.

The ride went by in silence, the only noise was the driver mumbling curse words under his breath as he tried to navigate through the traffic. We pulled up to what looked like a college campus. Johnson got out of the car, us following. He led us into an empty classroom and closed the door. We sat down in the front row as Johnson pressed the button that pulled down the projector screen.

We waited for the projector to turn on and for the image to be displayed on the screen. Once it was, Johnson pressed a button on a remote control and an image appeared in front of us. It was a picture of what looked like a bunch of codes scattered across the screen.

"This," Johnson said, gesturing to the screen, "is what will most likely send the world into utter chaos. Unless you two can stop it." He said.

"A bunch of numbers is going to destroy the world?" Tyler asked, unimpressed.

"It's not just numbers," I said, shaking my head, "it's a program. A virus or something, isn't it?" I asked and Johnson nodded with a smile.

"This is a virus. Created by our biggest enemy. Quadrigis Mortem." Johnson said.

"What does that mean? I've heard it a few times at the Facility but never known what it was or what it meant." Tyler exclaimed.

"It's a group of people that used to work at the Facility but ended up leaving, or, going rogue as we call them. Quadrigis Mortem means-"

"Group of Death." I said, looking up.

"Yes. How did you know?" Johnson asked me, astounded.

"When Jacob and I were at Reginald Pierce's house and he found out that I was who I am, he started mumbling about people that were going to come and get him or something. When I asked who they were, he said that name. I just knew what the translation was. That's all." I said with a slight shrug.

"Anyway, what does the virus do?" Tyler asked, changing the subject now that he knew what he had wanted to.

"Right. The virus was created accidentally, but they thought they could use it to their advantage. The virus is going to be put into the newest smartphone going on the market, The IPhone 6s. It operates so that when someone uses their fingerprint on the phone to unlock it, the virus sends a pulse through the phone so this it will constrict the heart, killing the victim,

"So, unless you two can figure out how to disable to virus or buy us some time to get the phones discontinued millions of people will be dead within a matter of weeks." He said

"But why are they doing this? Why kill millions of innocent people?" I asked.

"Because, what the Facility does is help people. We help as many people as we can. That's how we're raised. And they know that if they do this, it will get to us. It's the best way to hurt us." Tyler said.

"I'm afraid he's right. The best was to get to the Facility is to hurt people, innocent people so quickly, that they can't do anything to stop it before they've done enough damage." Johnson said.

"Why are Quadrigis Mortem the Facility's biggest enemy, anyways? What happened?" I asked.

"This is classified information. Not many people know about this. So this doesn't leave this room," Johnson began, looking at us seriously, "the leader of Quadrigis Mortem, the one who started the group, was the other scientist who developed the serum with your mother." He said, looking at me.

"When they discovered how powerful the serum actually was, he wanted it for himself. So, your mother destroyed the list of ingredients and took the entire serum herself, five times the intended dosage, thinking that it would go into her system." He said.

"But it didn't," I continued, interrupting him, "it went into me. She was eight months pregnant with me." I said quietly.

Johnson nodded, "When you were born they had you tested for traces of the serum. The test came back positive. The serum inside of you was five times more powerful than expected. So your parents left you at the orphanage so the man who wanted you would never be able to find you." He said.

 I could feel Tyler's gaze burning into the side of my head but I kept looking forward.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" I asked, changing the subject.

"We want you and Tyler to go into the factory where they are manufacturing the phones. There is a room inside where they develop all of the electronical features of the phone. Find the program that has the virus on it. Destroy the virus or bring it in to us so we can figure out how to either wipe it from the phones or disable it. It will be difficult but we believe that you two can do it." Johnson said with a smile, though it wasn't very convincing.

"You leave for the factory in Philadelphia tonight and start tomorrow. Your father will create a cover story for the press. And I need to add, it is imperative that you two stay away from cameras as much as possible. If the press finds you two, the mission is failed." He said, his face stone.

I nodded, feeling like I was an actress in an action movie that everyone wastes their money on. You do this; you die. You do that; you die. It was kind of like we were playing tag. And death was "it".

I didn't really know much then. Just going with whatever was thrown my way no matter how crazy or insane it really was. The only thing I knew was that I should've been scared. But I wasn't. The venom coursing through my veins that everyone called the serum was pushing away the fear, blocking it from my mind. It should've been a good thing, shouldn't it? Because if you're scared you're vulnerable.

That's what Johnson had told us. Fear is a weakness. Fear is for the quitters. He said that we can't get scared and that if we do, we might as well give ourselves up because we already lost.But is being scared really a bad thing? The way I see it, it's good to be scared. Because when you're scared, that means you care.