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9

9

The dorm was empty due to the festivities so I had nothing to worry about. As Finn settled himself on the bed, I pulled back the locker. Sliding my hand against the wall, it hit against the sharp edge of the paper. Good, no one has found my secret hidden place. I decided to hide the file here because no one went near anything that belonged to anyone else. You don't have time to root through other people's things if you wanted to.

I sat cross-legged opposite of Finn with the file on my lap. I flicked through the pages until I reached the list I was searching for.

"So, how do you plan on doing this?" Finn asked genuinely.

"This says their name and Sector. We can get Sam to look up anything else we need and then, just go and find them," I said calmly, not looking up.

TATE, JULIAN – MANUFACTURE

"We can go to him first," I decided, pointing at the page.

"Okay, we'll do that. Who do you want to go with you?"

I looked up to see his face with poorly hidden eagerness. Who do I want to come with me? Immediately, I thought of the group of four I am used to. Voicing that to Finn, I could see we were both having the same inner thought. The two of them decided to stay outside when we went to the Science headquarters. Would they want to come?

"We'll get them to go, it'll be fine," Finn said reassuringly. "When?"

Giving him a sly smile, I repeated, "Tomorrow?"

He let out a short laugh before smirking. "Of course."

Finn and I rounded up Sam and Emily and told them of our plan. It was met with a familiar response.

"I don't know about that," Emily scoffed.

"Agreed," Sam said with a raised eyebrow.

Our pleading was met with Sam saying, "If we get caught, do you know how much trouble we would be in?"

No matter what angle we came from, they refused to be swayed. We were forced to come to a compromise. It was agreed that Finn and I would go alone while Sam and Emily covered for us back here.

That's how the two of us ended up walking through calm streets the next morning. There wasn't many other people especially when we stood and waited at the bus stop. It wasn't long before I saw the white and blue vehicle trundling down the road. It pulled into the bay beside us and the door pulled open. Together, we stepped on and scanned our Sector I.D.s. They were small laminated cards with our own personal code that was assigned at birth.

We sat down on set of chairs and Finn pulled out a slip of scrap paper. He did not bother to hide it as the only other people on the bus was three, far away elderly people.

"Sam gave me this before I left." He passed it to me to read.

Julian Tate, works in vehicle mechanics for last 40 yrs, ask for him, say you have been sent about a truck problem.

*****