The 4th Subject

Chapter 35: Where the Tracking Device Stops

Matt was explaining our plans to the audience. Sam and Woods were discussing it along with him. Quinn was on the rig today, pointing it at the three of them. And I was on the couch. Honestly, it was my new favorite spot.

I had come back the following day and apologized for my outburst. Not for the point I made, just the outburst. Matt had also apologized for focusing on my dream sense too much, but the apology felt kind of shallow. At this point, I didn't care. I just needed to do what Deb told me to: be the glue. Hold this team together.

I felt tension throughout the conversations and as we gathered our stuff. No amount of my presence seemed to eliminate that.

"You know what still bothers me?" Woods started as we drove down the highway.

"What?" Matt said.

"Why didn't you tell us you planted the tracker?"

Here we go.

"You know what bothers me?" Matt responded. "That you can't just sometimes trust me. That you can't for a second think that "maybe let's just trust him" because of everything that he's done for the past year of just constantly sticking my neck out. For this entire team, for this entire company. We're all still here, aren't we? It's just a conversation; sometimes we don't need to deliver it, we just need to move. We just need to act."

"What were you planning on doing?" Woods asked.

The images from that car ride flashed in my mind. There's a lot that could've happened.

"It doesn't matter because we didn't catch him."

"But why didn't you check the tracker?" Sam piped up from her spot next to me.

"I didn't check the tracker because that thing takes forever to initialize. And we had him in sight, why on earth would I check the tracker when I can see him, when he's right in front of us? It takes time."

A moment of silence hung over the group. The tension alone made me want to shrivel up.

"You guys act like I ready screwed up here. I planted the tracker. That's where we're going right now!" Matt cried, motioning to the road in front of us.

"Exactly," Sam said, "I just——I personally am not used to seeing you act a little bit more in the moment. And this was one of the first times I feel like we weren't really on the same page, and I think that's really important. Especially when we're on a mission together."

"I understand, but would it kill you to just trust me?"

Ironic Matt wants trust when he can't seem to fully trust me.

"We do trust you." Woods said.

"At the end of the day, we all want what's best for the team."

"It just happened fast; I thought we lost him."

"I understand that you wanna get him, I do too." Matt said to Woods. "So let's do that."

The rest of the drive continued in silence. The tension was still thick in the air, but I pushed my discomfort away as we pulled up to the location. We parked a little ways away, setting up the drone to scout out the area. The Phantom's car was sitting next to a warehouse. We decided to stake out until the we saw movement. After what felt like forever, we did.

The five of us slowly pulled up, still a little ways out. We put on gloves and grabbed some bats and evidence bags.

"I swear," Matt's voice cut through my thoughts. "I swear if you didn't get the right gloves."

I looked over to Matt, struggling with the latex. Woods and I fought back laughter as Sam reassured him they were larges.

"Oh, it's just caught on my ring. We're good."