Betrayed ✔️

Chapter 27:"Stick figure"

ADA

"Well, it's confirmed," Zaza said, tossing a file to Jay who barely managed to catch it. "I officially can't kill this man."

"Don't sound too upset about it," Carter mumbled, flicking through the pages. "Or I might think you don't like me."

"We're really siblings?" I hastily cut in before Zaza could go back on her statement.

"Seems so." She shrugged and rocked on the balls of her feet. "What's the plan now?"

"We find Ezra," I said immediately. "We keep digging, try to find evidence of Keen's wrongdoings. Then we go back and prove our innocence to the Agency."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Jay sighed and tossed a piece of scrunched up paper into the bin. "There goes the Maldives plan."

"What else can we do? Remember the kill order placed on our heads?" I placed my hands on my hips and began pacing. Against everyone's advice, I'd discharged myself from the bed. I'd gotten changed into fresh clothes and then immediately started planning our next moves.

"Yes, but we don't even know where Ezra is!" Jay spread out his hands. "All you've told us is that he might have visited that place and he might still be alive!"

"That's all I need." I grinned and leaned on the table, dragging the laptop towards me. Feeling the familiar keys under my fingers sent a jolt of excitement through me.

I dived into the world of information, my mind numbed and absorbed the numbers and snippets of information. Fortunately, my name hadn't been taken off the Agency register- probably courtesy of Aliana- so I was still able to wade through the red tape and access certain places.

There were no security cameras available in the building, they'd all probably melted, but there might have been some on the perimeter. Knowing Keres, he probably put some up to make sure none of us could escape.

"Hey." Jay gently placed a hand on my shoulder and I flinched. Ever since we'd found out about my identity, he'd avoided calling me by my name. "You need to take your medicine."

I nodded, my brain still in a slight fog as I swallowed the small pills and chased them down with a glass of water. I dove straight back into the work. It was a lot harder since I was very far away from the cameras, but Zaza's technology was state of the art.

"Okay!" I clapped my hands and drew back from the hauntingly beautiful screen. "I've done it! I have a plan."

Jay stared at me. "What?"

"I have a plan," I repeated slowly, wondering if the sleep deprivation was rotting his brain.

"So quickly? Surely you must have missed something?" he protested weakly.

I shrugged, a little concerned now. "No, I'm quite sure I didn't. Yeah... Anyways, step one of the plan is to find Ezra. We will break his step down into smaller parts. First of all, I got security footage of him entering that place. Why was he there?"

"According to the mission report," Jay said slowly, inching his chair towards the table. "Ezra was looking for Samuel Diaushin. He must have some connection to that place."

"Samual Diaushin?" Ryder thoughtfully chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"He's a criminal," I explained. "So you might have heard his name in the networks or on the news."

"No," Ryder shook his head, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth, and looked at Zaza, "I'm sure that's not it."

"Anyways," I continued on. "I managed to dig up the old files on Diaushin. I got the ones from his first capture, and the ones the Analyst made before they- before they died."