Crossfire ~ {Book 2 in the Emerald of Annihilation Trilogy} #Wattys2017

Chapter 8 ~ Plans reveiled

Lily's POV.

Dylan let me go. The absence of his warm arms left my skin with goosebumps. I looked up at him, confused. this wasn't like him. He was always there comforting me. Telling me he would never leave me, that he loved me. But now he moved back, leaving a 1-foot gap of air between us. 

"Dylan?"  I reached out my hand to touch his hand, which he moved out of my reach. I retracted my arm as if it had become paralysed. "Lily. You need to have hope and trust in yourself. You need to stop doubt yourself!" Dylan's usually playful gaze was replaced by a strict, hard, serious glare. 

I grit my teeth and clenched my fist. He was right. I needed to believe in myself. I looked up, ready to say something, but was met with the sight of Dylan leaving the cafe. I huffed out a breath and fell back into the chair. I had a lot of work to do and I had a little amount of time.  I had to get to work.....ASAP.

Dylan's POV.

I love Lily, I really do. But sometimes she needs to be forced in the right direction. I popped in my earphones and pushed the play button on my phone. Music was my way to rewind. A way to escape the worries and problems and traps of the real world. 

I slipped my hand into my pocket and lifted out the object Henry had returned to me. My jade necklace. I fastened it around my neck and continued walking. The simple stone had caused more problems than one could hope to believe. 

It had caused the death of my father. The poverty of my mother. and ruined my life. It was a simple rock on a chain! What could be so special about it?! I sighed and opened the door to my apartment. I gasped as the sight of overturned tables, pulled out drawers, and strewn papers littered the ground. 

I carefully stepped over a broken vase on the floor, glancing around fearfully. Who had broken into my apartment? What was so important they would turn over everything and tear up the whole house for......?

I instantly gripped the chain on my neck, slipping it under my shirt. The jade is what they were looking for. I sighed and began to pick up the stacks of papers, and documents. So much for early done homework.

suddenly a closed off folder slipped from the stack and fell to the floor spilling its papers out a bit. I groaned and bent down to pick it up, then stopped when I saw the logo of a viper on the front. This wasn't mine. Not even close!

I tossed the remaining stack of papers on the only standing desk and picked up the document. I rushed to my door and locked it, moving to my bedroom where I then locked the door for extra security and opened the folder, spreading out the files and documents so I could read them. They were on some new type of super soldier program called the G.M.O.A (Genetically Modified Organic Arsenal) Human super weapons. 'How did this get here?' I thought, still flipping through the folder.  

They must have dropped it when they were tearing my home apart. I snapped my head up when a knock at my door sounded. Were they back?! Did they know I had come back home and were here to kill me for the jade? I carefully closed the folder and shoved it under my sheets. Grabbing kitchen knife that was on the counter, I stood and crept to the front door where I wrapped my hand around the knob. I closed my eyes and counted to three before swinging the door open, ready to attack the intruder.

"Woah! Dylan it's me! Calm down!" I restrained my flinging arm from whacking Henry in the face. He ducked, and I dropped the knife, leanind back on the wall, breathing hard. "What happened in here?!" He walked in and took a long look around the room. 

"I guess you already know why they really want the jade?" I asked, closing the door. Henry nodded. I took him to my room and showed him the file. "Well, well, well......" Henry  clicked his teeth as he read through all the documents and files in a flash. 

I sighed. "Well, Dylan. It seems I've figured out why they want the jade." I sat up in a heartbeat. "Really? What is it?" He pulled a neatly folded sheet of paper from his pocket and passed it to me. "These are the calculations I made last night for the last three nights."

I unfolded it and looked back up at him with a frown. "I'm not a nerd genius like you, Henry. Tell me what all these numbers mean." He nodded. "Ok, so what I found out was this." He pointed at random numbers as he continued. "The jade is...-was made with a normal purpose......." 

"As a necklace..." I finished. Henry nodded. "Yes. And your father added an extra feature. An imprinted code that is only seen when held under Ultra-violet light. See, I tested the jade multiple times with a handy 3d  that-" "Henry." He stopped rambling and stared at me. "Yeah?" 

I chuckled. "I have no idea what your saying. Just get to the point." He nodded. "Ok." He pointed at a photo of a number of clear, almost invisible numbers, equations, and algorithms. "And I figured out, that these numbers add up to a kind of recipe of you'd like....." 

I was beginning to become impatient. "To what Henry? What?!" He sighed before pointing to  the file on my lap. "A Super Soldier Serum." 

OOOOOoooooooooHHhhhhhhhhh! The reason Viper wants Dylan's dad's jade!!! What do you think?!