The Manifest

Chapter 34

     Jerome was back at the apartment above the Thai restaurant, and had the kettle boiling for yet another delectable serving of Mr. Noodle. Not exactly the most nutritious of meals, but he was keeping a low profile as instructed to by the boss. Keeping low also meant little or no take out foods. He didn't mind eating the hot, watered down noodles, especially since he had his own secret for making them extra special. What he did was pick up a box of those cup-a-soup packages and just dumped one of those into his Mr. Noodle and that made the broth a soup that was just as good to consume. Jerome was rather proud of his creation and took his slice of noodle/chicken soup heaven back to the desk where he was watching traffic on the Internet. He was keeping tabs on emails and what not. As instructed to by Edgar, Jerome was only looking around and not touching or hacking into anything while they were gone. So far things were rather quiet, and he wasn't paying that much attention anyway, he was too busy trying to make sure he didn't spill any of his soup on the keyboards. Jessica was sleeping on the couch, resting because she was too nervous to do anything else that was remotely helpful. Just the thought that Devon and Edgar could be meeting up with her mother today was too much for her to handle. She spent most of the morning running around and talking about what could happen and how things could change. After asking frantic questions and pacing around like a chicken with its head cut off, she finally rested on the couch, which was just fine for everyone else in the building. She wasn't the only one with nerves, but no one else was showing their hands and kept them close to their chests.

     Moth was not a fan of Mr. Noodle or anything else that Jerome had stocked the shelves with so she refused to stay underground and went out for a slice of pizza. She wasn't too fond of the restaurant below as well, so Jerome shrugged it off as Moth being Moth and kept his thoughts to himself. He wasn't her keeper, and not in a position to tell Moth what she could and couldn't do around the apartment. She blended anyway, and there was no way the boys would suspect someone like Moth to be working for Edgar so she had that going for her. He relaxed into his seat and slurped back some more noodles. He was about half way through his delicious meal when Jessica stirred awake for the first time in a few hours.

     "Good afternoon." he said to greet her back to the real world.

     "How long have I been asleep?" she asked as she sat up and began to rub her eyes and focus.

     "Edgar and Devon have been gone for over five hours. If they are not knocking on the lady's door, I'd say they're damn close." Jerome took another slurp and looked back to her after finishing his bite of noodle, "You feeling better?"

     "My nerves are getting to me a little. I can't believe that I could see her later on today." She got up and walked over to the kitchen to get something to drink. There was a pot of coffee on, but she passed on it and moved on to the fridge and took a can of soda, "How much longer should they be?"

     "I'm not sure." Jerome said as he looked back at what he was working on, "But we're supposed to stay put until Edgar gives the all clear."

     "Do you think they'll be alright out there?" Jessica asked, not sure what they were going to find out there.

     "They'll be fine," Jerome said with a confident grin, "When I was speaking to Tuck a few days ago, he informed me that Devon and Edgar have a history that goes quite a ways back. He never got into detail with me about it, but assured me that when they're on the same page, they're a team that you wouldn't want to mess with. Now that they have a common enemy, I feel sorry for the group that has to deal with those two when they're focused."

     "I guess," Jessica inactively acknowledged as she seemed distracted for obvious reasons. She had been distracted and not herself the entire day. Jerome could understand how she felt. There was a chance she was soon going to be reunited with a loved one that was thought dead. Just the idea seemed overpowering so it was only natural to be not only distracted but a little tense as well.