Too Much Clickbait - Sequel to Clickbait

35

     I coughed wildly after I used the inhaler Gabbie had handed to me. She shook her head, frowning. "I know you're worried, but you need to see a doctor." I went to say something when she cut me off. "Whether you are looking for her or not she's missing and will be for a while... Just go and get checked out. Please."
     I shook my head, pushing myself toff of my knees to stand up from the couch. I spoke low so only Gabbie would be able to hear me as I pushed passed her to get to the boys. "If anyone is going to find her, it's going to be me."
     "So we found footage of Katie leaving the elevator." Matt said, hanging over his laptop like he was in the C.I.A officially. "Heath... I don't know if you want to watch this."
     I look over his shoulder, smacking the spacebar to play the security footage as I felt everyone exchanged worried glances. The video showed Katie exiting the elevator and immediately walking up to our door. Out of the corner of the screen, a black figure whips out what appeared to be a knife and point it at her back. They have their hood up, though you can tell they speak as Katie backs away slowly from the door. The camera angle changes to show both of their faces and I could see the other person had long, scraggly, black hair with a white ski mask on. Katie was mouthing something at the camera as she slowly reached into her pocket, throwing out the penny, causing me to pause the video. "There! Right there! She is saying something!"
     "She looks like she is saying 'help me'." Kam pointed out.
     "She's smarter than that, she wouldn't say shit to the camera if she didn't know it meant something to help us." I shook my head, looking down at Matt as I backed away from him. "Did you show this to the cops?"
     "They said she was saying 'help me', but they would look into it." He rolled his eyes. "It's Big Red all over again."
     My phone rang and I picked it up, seeing it was Amber. She looked worried, seeing everyone behind me as I walked away from them. "Heath, what the hell is going on? You didn't find her?"
     "We aren't going to find her that fast." I shook my head, sighing. I began to cough, my chest tightening harder with each release of breath. I saw Amber's face and shook my head. "I'm fine. It's just a cough."
     Amber mumbled something before speaking up. "Well if you need me, I'm here. I spoke to Kevin and Connor and they're going to be on the lookout. The entire police force is going to help them. I promise you."
     "Thank you, babe. I-" I heard Matt calling my name urgently and quickly hung up. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll update you!"
     "The cops have an update... Look." He pointed towards the television, turning it up.
     I egan to watch the news in horror, my stomach beginning to feel like it had yesterday morning. "Police have discovered what appears to be the remains of nineteen year-old Alana Jacobs. She was last seen two months ago when she was leaving her job at the Los Angeles IKEA. Witnesses say she was confronted by a female wearing all black with a ski mask on who threatened her into her vehicle. Witnesses also say the reason they didn't come to her aid was because they couldn't identify the weapon and did not want to take any chances. Police have stated she appears to have been murdered, however... It appears she may have had a connection with a string of murders in the downtown Los Angeles area. We will update you more as this story develops. Back to you, Jimmy."
     "That can't be connected." Gabbie shook her head in disbelief. "No shot in hell."
     "We need to check her phone records." I ignored Gabbie, attempting to stay on track with everyone. I let out a cough, feeling myself turn red as I held back another one before finishing my sentence, letting it explode.
     I took the laptop from Matt, earning a laugh from Zane. "I guess we can all thank you being up each other's asses for three years, huh?"
     I logged onto Sprint with her account information, getting told that the password was incorrect. "Not anymore, we can't." I looked back up at Gabbie. "Do you have any idea what her password could be?"
     "She chooses simple shit for her important stuff because she can't remember hard things." Gabbie shrugged. "What about Charlie?"
     I typed it in, being denied again. I was then told I had two more tries to guess the password before I was locked out. Kam shrugged, giving me a nervous look. "Ugh... What about her grandparents?"
     I used their names, getting denied yet again. Zane grabbed the laptop from my hands, sitting down on the couch and away from us. He typed in a few keys, swiveling the keyboard on his lap to face me. "You're welcome, baby."
     "What was her password?" I asked, taking the laptop back.
     "Heathhatesgays." Zane shrugged, causing us all to laugh.
     I began to look through her call logs and texts, wishing she had set up iCloud like I asked her to multiple times to make this process a thousand times easier. I got to a set of texts from Brennen that caught my eyes. "So... If they haven't spoken... Why did Brennen feel the need to call Katie thirteen times this morning?"
     The room went silent as I looked around at everyone. I closed the laptop quickly, handing it back to Matt as I began to walk to the door. I grabbed my keys off of the hook on the wall, turning around to ignore everyone's pleads. "Gabbie and Zane, start driving around and see if you find anything weird. Kam, tell everyone else what's happening and have them start looking. Matt, keep being Agent Cody Banks."