The Strays

Chapter Twelve

Leo was standing outside waiting for me when I arrived, his hood drawn as he lurked in the shadows. I turned off my board and picked it up, securing it to the skateboard strap on the back of my rucksack. Upon seeing me, he cautiously stepped into sight and pulled down his hood to greet me with a smile as I embraced him in a hug, my eyes tearing with joy.

"I'm so glad to see you."

"It's great to see you, too." His words were soft, a hidden melancholy beneath them. He'd changed over the last few months. Whatever happened to him had turned him into someone else. His optimism had faded, replaced by a paranoid scepticism.

"We don't have long. Somebody will eventually notice I'm missing." He sighed. I looked at him with concern.

"Why would that matter? It's not as though you're intending to go back there."

"Actually, I am. Delilah trusts me. I have complete freedom, access to all their files, everything they're planning. They think they're using me, but they've given me an in. I can use this Indie. We can get the information you need without any risk." He explained as he handed me a USB stick.

"What's this?"

"Everything I could get off Wraith's personal network. It's every plan in the works, every piece of research they've done and, most importantly, a complete dossier detailing everything he knows about you and every person you've ever been close to."

I shook my head in disbelief. How could he have been so reckless? "What did you have to do to earn that kind of trust and what does it have to do with Drew claiming to be Liberty, as he declares his intentions to help our enemy? I scrubbed the broadcast and the only code was yours. Every word Drew said was true. It was his voice, his phrasing, but it wasn't him."

 

Leo took me by the hand and led me further into the shop. "Initially, Delilah wanted me to put me to work training new recruits, then she changed her mind and placed me on a special project. I was given research documents and schematics for some sort of bomb or disbursement device for some sort of aerosol. I think she’s looking for a way to distribute some sort of chemical agent.”

I paced the room anxiously, not knowing what else to do. This was so much worse than I ever thought. 

“What’s the deal? What aren’t you telling me?” He sighed. 

“I think she wants to recreate the virus, the one that wiped out the adults. If anyone has the resources and the means to do it, then it’s her. That’s why she’s looking for me, that's why she wants his research. My dad was studying the virus during the outbreak. She's trying to find the sample he was working from.”

“We’ve been friends all this time, and you didn’t think to mention any of this stuff before now?”

“My dad died before my mum and aunt. I don’t know what happened to his work. The only person that might have known was Sean, spoiler. He’s dead as well. I left the city after the car accident. I tried to find Miles first, but social services had already taken him and I was declared dead, so I did what I had to in order to survive. I haven’t even thought of my dad’s work since, but it makes sense why Delilah has been so eager to find me.”

“Well, I guess the positive aspect is, if she needs you, she doesn’t have what she’s looking for, meaning you still have time to find it.”

 

I heard a stone hit the floor behind us. "Leo, I need you to take this and run. I think you're compromised. Ty is waiting at the safe house. Get him the USB, then both of you should get out of the city." I passed him my bag and the drive. "Go."