Beneath the Surface (On Hold)

Chapter 28

"I told you, it's not going to work." John said, arguing Dayton's idea.

"This is the fifteenth idea that you've shot down. We can't keep doing this. We're running out of time." I said, looking him in the eye.

"Could we try hacking in?" John asked.

"You mean 'could I try hacking in?'" I said with a sigh, leaning back in me seat, "no. If you want to destroy the virus completely then you need to do it from the source." I said.

"Why? You managed to get shut the power down from a hotel room. Why can't you shut the virus down from here?" John asked.

"Because, the only way to destroy the virus is to destroy it from the place where it was made. I need to do it from the source." I said, making the others groan a how difficult this would actually be. They had thought that when I woke up, I would just be able to turn on my computer and shut it down from there. It's not that easy. Not even close.

"Alright. Well we have some time to get this destroyed. They obviously can't figure out how to get the virus back up today. Why don't a couple of us go out and get us some food and then we can think about it a little more." Tristen said, trying to be the peacemaker.

"Alright. I'm starving." Tyler said, jumping up from the couch to grab the menus.

So we picked out the place we wanted to eat from and Tristen and Jacob volunteered to go and get it.

Jacob....

I looked back at the house as I climbed into the passengers seat of Tristen's SUV. Tyler was talking to Lexi away from the rest of the group. I didn't like it. It used to be Lexi and I that were like that. We would be away from the rest of the group talking.

I didn't really trust Tyler. He seemed to just be a really spoiled rich boy. I especially didn't like his reaction when he found out that he wouldn't really be doing anything for this whole "virus killing" thing.

Tristen started driving and I just sat in silence, staring out the window, continuing to brood in my bitterness at Lexi and Tyler's conversation.

"Hey Jake, are you okay?" Tristen asked, glancing over at me quickly as he drove.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking." I said absentmindedly, looking at him for a second before going back to staring out at the cars that were passing us as we drove.

"Look, I know that this is a lot to take in at once," he said gently, causing me to look at him once more, "And just so you know, none of us expect you to take this in stride and not question anything. You shouldn't have to understand it all. Hell, I don't even understand it all. I know that Lexi seems to be taking this all really well but we all know that's she's really scared deep, down inside. She's scared and now you're the only one who can really help her. You're the only one who knows what she's going through in a way. And she's the only one who can help you. We need you to be there for her. To try and help her get through this." Tyler said to me seriously.

"Why me? Why do I have to help her understand?" I asked.

"Because you're the only two people that have the serum inside of them. You're the only one who knows what's going on inside her head." He said and i nodded in agreement and understanding.

"Have you been watching her your entire life?" I asked randomly out of curiosity.

"Well I personally haven't. But her parents have. Even though she may never know, they never really left her," he said with a small smile, "I've only seen bits of it over the past few months." He added.

"Why? why do you watch?" I asked.

"Because we're partners," he continued explaining without even having to look at my confused expression, "if Lexi decides to stay with the facility and be an agent like her parents, then her and I will be partners. So they would let me watch certain things to start to get to know her in a way. I mostly just saw her at school.

"But we did watch you two when you were trying to figure out what happened to your parents." He said out of the blue.

I raised an eyebrow, "You watched that?" I asked.

He nodded, "A lot of us did. We wanted to see if you would be able to find it. The facility did an almost perfect job of keeping it a secret. But you managed to find it." He said.

I just looked out the window before smiling slightly to myself, "You really like Lexi, I can tell." Tristen said out of the blue after a little bit of quiet.

"What?" I asked, turning my head to him yet again with my eyebrow raised.

"You like her, a lot. It's pretty obvious." He said with a light laugh.

"I do care about her. But I'm pretty sure that she doesn't feel the same way about me." I said with a slight shake of my head.

"You don't know that." he said supportively and it was my turn to laugh.

"No you weren't there at the orphanage. You didn't see the way she treated me. She absolutely hated my guts. It was my blackmail that is the reason she's in this situation now." I said, shaking my head.

"She didn't hate your guts, that much I know," he said, "she may not care the same way you do, but she definitely cares. That much is obvious." He said.

I decided to drop the topic for the time-being, "Do you think her and Tyler's relationship is real?" I asked for probably the 50th time since the people at the facility had all seen the news story.

I remembered that John had been really mad about it and wouldn't tell anyone why.

"Honestly?" he asked before heaving a sigh, "I have no idea. It's possible. They seemed really into it on the news but everyone knows how good of liars they both are. He was really worried when he told us about Lexi getting kidnapped again. He could barely focus. He definitely cares about her and they seem pretty close. But none of us know if they're really together or not." He said simply.

I must have had and unhappy look on my face because Tristen began laughing when he looked at me, "I take it that you're not Tyler's biggest fan?" He asked me.

I shook my head, "I don't really trust him. He just seems to rub me off the wrong way. He seems stuck-up and pretty spoiled." I said.

"Spoiled, yes. Extremely spoiled. But he's not stuck-up. He's sometimes hard to work with when he thinks he's right; which is most of the time, but he's the most loyal person out there. He will always have your back no matter what." Tristen said matter-o-factly.

I merely nodded. That didn't change the way I thought about him completely, but it convinced me to at least give him a chance and be willing to work with him. We would be spending the week together and I was sure that by the end of it I would have a better idea of what he was like.

"Hey, I have one more question." I said, very out of the blue.

Tristen smirked, "Ask away." He said simply.

"When we were all watching Tyler and Lexi on T.V, I saw John get super mad. He was always really weird around her when he got to our school, too. What's up with him?" I asked.

Tristen sighed, "Now, I'm really not supposed to tell you because it's very top-secret. The only reason that I know is because John is one of my best friends. But you need to swear that you will never tell another living soul. Ever." Tristen said, glancing at me seriously.

I nodded, "I swear." I said quietly.

"Okay then," he said before speaking again, "John is-"

But he never got to finish. Because that was when the trailer truck hit the side of the car and everything slipped into darkness.
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A/N: I'm SO SORRY. I know it's taken me forever and I know you all hate me. I've had a lot going on lately. I KNOW that because it takes me so long to update everyone gets bored of waiting and gives up on the story. So PLEASE share this with your friends and tell them about it. I BEG YOU. It would mean the world if you did this for me, though I don't deserve it.
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-Talya