Criminal Activity

Chapter Thirteen

 It's been about two weeks since the last mission. We haven't been able to get any information out of Rebecca. I'm still trying to wrap the whole situation around my head. I can't believe she would pretend to care so much for me, but stab me right in the back without hesitation. I mean, after how close we got, she couldn't possibly want to hurt me? I haven't really been eating much either because I've been upset and when I'm upset I don't have a big appetite.

I look at the clock and it reads 11:30 AM. I have been laying in bed since like 7:00 this morning procrastinating getting up. I just feel so down. I already missed my psychology class which is a college class. I just don't feel like doing anything anymore.

Just as I was about to fall back asleep, Tom walks in. He's been sleeping on the couch since the mission because I wanted to be alone. We've only talked like three times in the past two weeks.

"Hey, Sprint. How are you?" he asked and I laughed at him.

"How do you think I am?"

"Look, I know you're hurt by what happened, but what happened, happened and you need to move on from it because dwelling on the past is only going to make things worse." After lecturing me, he stormed out of the room. He's right. I feel worse and worse the more I think about it. He's right. I need to get off my butt and get on with my life. The people who stabbed me in the back don't have the right to hurt me.

I get out of bed to go make us some lunch. What do I want to eat? Burritos sound amazing. While grabbing the ingredients out for each of us to make our own, there's a knock at the door. I race to the door and get there before Tom does. I open it to reveal Charles.

"Roni!" he exclaimed. "Glad to see you've finally gotten yourself out of bed. Are you ready to work on our next lead?"

I give Tom an unsure look, but nod anyway. I need to get back on track. I'll do whatever I can to stop my parents from creating a war. Why would they want to start a war anyway? I have so many questions, but I know sitting here trying to come up with theories wasn't going to get us anywhere.

"We went through the flash drive. You wouldn't believe what we found. The flash drive had a video that showed us the step-by-step process on how to create a bomb that legitimately sucks the oxygen right out of the lungs. It's astonishing. Then another video showed footage of, what looked like, cannibals. It was absolutely disgusting, but just imagine the damage they could do if they unleashed these vicious people into the world!" As Charles continued on a little bit more on the cannibal subject and coming up with theories. All I could think about from the moment he started talking was how big of a mess this turned out to be. The fate of, not only the United States, but the world, lies in our hands. If we screw up, it could result in the destruction of the world.

"Sprint? Hey, earth to Roni!" Tom said while waving a hand in front of my face. I zoned back into reality.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. If we screw up, this world could be ultimately destroyed. What I don't get is why they would need a butt load of cannibals if they already have a bomb that can suck God's breath right out of a person."

"Well, maybe the cannibals are just there to finish off the people who were unlucky enough to live," Charles said and I give him a strange look.

"Unlucky? You'd need to be lucky as hell to survive that kind of craziness!"

"The real question is, would you rather get the oxygen sucked out of you, or would you like to be eaten alive? I don't know about you Chucky, but being eaten alive doesn't sound too appealing," Tom joked with Charles. I didn't find the joke funny at all. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, so back to business. What are we going to do? We can't just sit here talking about how awesome their weapons are. I think we should send a spy to Syria, North Korea, and South Korea—"

"Woah, Sprint, slow down. How do you think we are gonna get someone in North Korea?" Tom said and I immediately felt stupid. Oh, right. No one gets in or out of North Korea.

"That's right! So how do we know North Korea is involved when no one can get in or out?"

"Funny you should ask," Charles interrupted us. "We snuck a boy in there about your age a few years ago before Roni's parents got involved. That's how we know they are helping plan the war against the United States. He kept us up-to-date every third day, but just a few months ago he stopped communicating with us. We have reason to believe that someone found out he was a spy. Maybe he got to close to someone a trusted them with this sensitive information, but we can't know for sure. We are still trying to find a way to get him back."

We all sat in silence for a good five minutes. I was quite because I was busy trying to figure out how we would get him back. Maybe an exchange of some sort might work. This is all a lot to process.

"Question: Do we know who created the flash drive? Because we are totally screwed if it's North Korea," Tom said.

"We don't think it's South Korea. We don't even know if they have a legitimate voice over the issue. My bet is Syria or North Korea because both have been creating new bombs. I know the Syrian leader though and my best bet is that he created the cannibals. I'm almost 100 percent sure of it. The guy gives me the creeps," Charles replied. Great. Just fantastic! I am so ready for this mess to be over so I can live my life in peace. This case is just way too personal.

"I say we talk about this more tomorrow with the group. See what—" I start to say but Charles interrupts me.

"No can do, Roni. We have to keep this information between us. After Rebecca turning on us, who knows who we can trust."