With A Ghost

12. Run, Baby, Run!

North

We did a background search on 'Jack Hudson'. His face, however, did not belong to any Hudson or Jack. Derrick. He was Derrick and lived close to Kota Lee and Nathan Griffin. He had a pretty normal profile. No criminal record. We, of course, had to find out why he was so interested in 'those freaks'.

Sang had confirmed that they recognized Derrick's voice and have identified him with his real name. She also explained their involvement with him. That indicated that whatever Derrick's intentions are, they were not pretty.

Now that Derrick is our only solid human lead, we are putting him on a leash. We know for sure that there is at least one other person involved - the shithead who almost hurt Luke. Derrick may be one of the two who got away. There were no fingerprints on Victor Morgan's cellphone except Luke's. Luke doesn't remember whether the guy in the hoodie wore gloves or anything of that sort. The Academy had to do another fingerprint scan for the Blackbourne team when they got the phone back. They didn't mention Luke's fingerprints.

As Derrick talked to Dr. Green and Silas, Luke casually moved to behind Derrick. It went unnoticed. I knew what he was up to and I gotta give him credit for acting and thinking fast. I got ready to offer a distraction in case anything slips up. Luke glanced at Derrick's jeans for a split second. When Derrick shook hands with Dr. Green, moving forward slightly, he made the pull. He fished Derrick's cellphone out in a flash and moved it to his own pocket. I had to hide my smirk. That brother of mine was a pro.

I sent a text to Sang to pick us up. I don't like Sang going to places by herself, but now she was coming to us. And she's a pretty good driver; always careful on the road. There's no way I was going to ride my bike. It would draw attention.

"You guys okay?" Sang asked as we got seated in my Jeep. Her hair was now away from her eyes and her glasses were removed. What did I say? Safe driving.
"Yeah. Now to your apartment, baby. Corey's tracking chip is in your place, right? Luke just hit jackpot."

"Now you're all set," Corey said through the phone. He instructed us how to set the chip inside Derrick's phone. We also cloned everything from it to Sang's laptop. Corey will be tracking the chip for us for today. This is costing us two favours since it's going to take up a lot of time with constant monitoring. One of us will get our phones set by him for the tracking, and receiving his calls and texts later.

"Let's change," I said, "we'll have to run. There's no way Sang can move properly in those clothes. And if Derrick sees us, he won't recognize us."

Sang changed in the bathroom while Luke and I changed into the clothes we had here in her room. We both checked her out from head to toe after she came out. She put on a pair of white shorts that showed off her beautiful legs, and a baby blue V-neck t-shirt. My eyes landed on her wonderfully shaped breasts and I looked away before a tent was visible in my pants. Fuck. How does she affect me every time?
"Love what you're wearing, Cupcake."

We all had clothes at each other's place, even our underwear. It was normal for most teams. But there was something very satisfying about having Sang's belongings in my trailer and leaving mine in her apartment. It's like we were always there with each other, like we owned each other. Well, I am all Sang's. I belong with no one else. Luke is also completely hers. There was no changing it. But she wasn't ours. Not yet.

We were going to take the stairs at the back of the building, because the Jeep was parked at the back, but we saw that the cleaner had claimed the stairs. "Use the front," she said, "you don't wanna take the fall like the others. Trust me."

Luke, Sang and I instantly bolted the other way, when Sang suddenly stopped and pulled Luke by his arm. Then I heard it. Voices. We approached the connecting hallway that led to Sang's apartment. Before she even got to take a peek, she said that it's the Blackbourne team.
"How'd you- oh wait. You smelled them?" Luke guessed. She nodded. We stopped tiptoeing when we reached the junction. We took a peek. Surely enough, all seven of them were there waiting at Sang's door.

"What are they doing here?" Sang voiced out.
"They're probably worried about you. Checking in on you. We didn't give them a phone number," I presumed. I can see why Sang was getting fond of them. They just showed up at her door themselves. All of them. I can completely understand. I'd have done the same thing if I was worried about Sang. Looks like I was right in leaving her alone with them. There was nothing to worry about.
I realized that Sang was staring at me, with her eyes rolled. I turned to look at her questioningly. She sighed.
"You are approving of them," she had an accusing tone.
"They're Academy," I said, not meeting her bright green pierce-right-through-your-heart eyes that drive me fucking insane. I pretended not to understand what she meant.
Luke sniggered as silently as he could, "Sang, he can totally relate to them."
I cleared my throat, "We just wasted two minutes. Let's think about what we can do."
Luke's eyes sparkled, "We're lucky the laundry room is on Sang's floor."
I was already not liking the plan.

"Whoever's bed-sheet we're stealing," Sang said, looking back at us, "we better get them a new one. I don't think they'll appreciate the eye sockets."
Luke cut out two holes with his pocket-knife so that Sang can see where we're going. We're going to be following her. Yes, we'll all be under the bed-sheet, running like we're being chased by cannibals, but silently. The noise of the environment and the distance will help, but I'm pretty sure if anyone notices, no one will believe the sight. Even if they did, they'd think we're just some kids fooling around. Besides, who'd want to chase a fucking bed-sheet?

"Ready?" Sang called, not sounding too thrilled. I'm not too happy either. I can't believe we're doing this.
"Might as well get this over with," I muttered.
"Be careful not to trip," Luke advised. I can hear the smile in his voice. He's enjoying this.
Sang counted down from three, and we fucking dashed for it on our toes like ballerinas.
Luke and I were pretty much blindly running, following Sang's lead. She suddenly came to a halt, making Luke bump into Sang and me into Luke.
"Easy there," I saw Luke grab Sang's hips in case she lost balance.
"We're at the staircase," Sang said, her voice slightly shaky.
I couldn't hear anyone coming from behind us, but I didn't wanna wait around for someone to come find us. We didn't have any time to spare either. I grabbed the bed-sheet and pulled it off of us.
"Keep running!" I instructed.
Luke and Sang didn't waste any time. They shared a look with each other, and jumped down the stairs, and took shortcuts by hopping over the railings and landing on the next flight of stairs. Luke was as sneaky as a ninja, as he always says. And Sang was as agile as a cat. As for me - I just ran.

Sang and Luke were just about to cross the reception when I stopped them both. I indicated the bed-sheet I was still carrying. They looked at me curiously, not yet comprehending why we needed it again.
"I didn't write your floor number on the paper," I said.
Being quick-witted, they understood instantly that the guys must have talked to the receptionist. She may let them know that she saw us leaving.

With the bed-sheet over us again, we ran, not caring to be inconspicuous this time. When taking a turn around the building, I recognized the voice of the receptionist, shouting, "Did anyone else see that or is it just me?"

"We better hurry. Derrick should notice that the phone's missing by now. I won't have have much time to return it," Luke said, panting as he put on the seat-belt.

No one said a word as I drove. We were a good distance away from Sang's apartment when Sang burst out laughing. It didn't take even a second before Luke and I joined in.
"We did it!" Sang said, leaning her head back, letting out a sigh and then cracking up again.
"Christ! This is the first time I did something like that," Luke guffawed.
"I never even dreamt of doing anything like that," I couldn't stop my own chuckling.

"He has a few suspicious texts sent to and received from unknown numbers. There are also some addresses noted down here. Other than that, nothing interesting," Sang reported. She was checking all of the data we copied. Luke was checking the mentioned addresses on his phone.

We got everything done according to plan. We were waiting for dossiers of the owners of the unsaved phone numbers.

"I think that we'd be interested in a Jade, and a Greg," Sang said, eyes glued to her screen.
"And we better personally check these addresses out," Luke mentioned, "I don't like the sound of abandoned buildings."