Hunted

Chapter Twelve: Suspicions

Ben said goodbye after that, and the next morning, we planned in the park so we could discuss how we were going to help Sam. I waited on the park bench for him, because he was late. It was a foggy morning- you couldn't see more than a hundred meters away.

I looked down at my phone. He hadn't texted. I was starting to worry.

"Olivia." he said, appearing around the corner of the path.

I almost jumped up off of the bench and spilled my coffee, but I managed to tone it down to a flinch. "You scared me, you arse." I muttered.

He smiled. "Sorry."

He sat down, and leaned against my shoulder. He kissed my cheek, and smiled.

"Ben, I'm still not comfortable with you being part of this." I huffed. "If you get hurt, I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself."

Ben shook his head. "Olivia, my mind is made up. I'm going to help you find Sam." he stated.

"I love you." I said quietly, shaking my head.

"I know." Ben replied. "So, how should we go about finding out who's after Sam?"

"Well... I think I already have an idea. That's why I was calling you last night." I started.

"What?" Ben asked.

"I was calling from Principal Whitney's phone. I was driving home, and I heard him yelling into his cellphone about finding someone, and he was talking to Warren." I said.

"Warren?"

"Danielle's boyfriend." I explained. "I remember seeing him before, a couple weeks before Sam disappeared. It was in Sam's kitchen, and Sam seemed absolutely terrified of him. I was suspicious before, but when I heard Principal Whitney talking to him, it only made me think more."

"So you think they're involved?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. I called you from Principal Whitney's cellphone so I could see his recent calls, and it was Warren." I confirmed.

"This is big, Olivia." Ben whispered. "But why would Principal Whitney and his son be after Sam?"

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out. I could talk to Danielle, but I'm worried that she might be on Warren's side." I said. "But if she isn't, she'd probably know more than anybody else would."

Ben chewed his lip, like he always did when he was thinking. "We could try finding out more about her, to start with. I mean, she dropped out of NYU, right? Maybe this has something to do with that." he suggested.

"That's true. It would take something major to make someone drop out of such a good university." I agreed.

"The university has to have some online records and stuff, right? I have a friend who's good with computers. Maybe we could find out when she dropped out." Ben said.

"You mean you know someone who could hack into a university database?" I asked with disbelief.

Ben blushed. "Eh, grade nine was a weird year." he admitted.

"Okay then." I huffed. "You should give this friend of yours a call."

Ben pulled out his phone, and scrolled through his contacts and stopped on someone named David Pyle. He clicked it, and brought the phone to his ear. I heard the faint ringing sound, and we both waited, until someone picked up.

"Hey, Dave? It's Ben." Ben said, then paused. "Yeah, it has been a while. Listen, I need a favor. Do you think you could hack into the NYU student records?"

I looked around, making sure that nobody was watching us. "Keep your voice down." I hissed.

"Okay, yeah, we'll be over in about twenty minutes." he said. "Yeah, we. My girlfriend and I. Okay, see you there."

He hung up, and smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"We have an appointment with an extremely skilled computer hacker." he said.

"So where are we headed?"

"Downtown." he replied.

"Downtown? Really? Ben, who is this guy?" I asked.

Ben laughed. "You'll see." he promised, and stood up, taking my hand as he did.