Flashback

7. Trust

    Trust.

    Who should I trust?

    James acts so strange around me, almost like he thinks I shouldn't be here. Maybe I shouldn't. All that matters to me is destroying the Circle and finding what family I have left.

    So here I am, outside of the Director's office, waiting for her to open the door. I wonder what she'll think of my story of last night.

    I knock again. Just then she opens the door and motions me to come in. "Hi, I was just organizing some files that I had. Have a seat." I sit in the chair across her desk. "So what is it that you want to talk about?"

    I clear my throat. "Well, I know your not going to believe me, but I think James is a spy." She raises an eyebrow.

    "We're all spies, in a way, Alan." I lean forward. "No, you don't get it. He was snooping around in my room last night. I think he's from the Circle."

    She frowns. "The, Circle? I mean, just because he was in your room doesn't make him mafia."

    "You've all seen the way he acts, like he's hiding something. He snuck into my room but I was awake and out of bed. He came in and looked around my bed for something but he didn't see me."

    Her eyes get wide. "And...?"

    "I...I pulled a gun on him. I didn't know it was him at first, but when he spoke, I knew right away. Besides, he's like the tallest one here. Probably '6"5 or something."

    She stands up and starts stacking papers on her desk. "Well Alan, he only acts weird around you, and he could of had a good reason to be in your room. I mean, maybe he suspects you of something."

    I wrinkle my forehead. "He did call me traitor on the way out.... Look, all I'm asking is that you keep an eye on him, okay?"

    She smirks. "Sure, but you're more the one for me to keep an eye on. Besides, he been with us for almost four months now, and he's gotten us out of a lot of scrapes, including shooting his way out."

    I frown. "Nice, but I still think the Circle sent him. Oh, I wanted to ask you, can I have someone drive me out today to go pick up my car? You do have some kind of parking garage, right?"

    "Yeah, we do. I'll have one of our pros get you out of here without anyone getting suspicious. But when you get back, my men will have to check the whole car out for safety reasons. Then, we can install one of our 'fake' license plates on it. We make up a plate number, then our guys hack into the state files and put it there, so the police don't notice anything different. If they put something on one of the records, like say, 'this car was fined for going 200 miles per hour', then we just make a new plate."

    I raise my eyebrows. "You guys go 200 mph?" She laughs. "Not usually."

    "Ok, I'd better get ready to go." I walk toward the door. She points at the wall where the rack of weapons 'is'. "You're armed?"

    I nod.

                                            **************************************

    I walk briskly through the parking garage toward the running car Jackson told me to get in.

    The driver is clothed mostly in black, which doesn't make sense to me, because don't you want to blend in? I'm just wearing street clothes so I can run fast if I need to, but this is just a simple trip. Nothing's gonna go wrong.

    My arm brushes against my side where the two 9mms are in their secret holsters on the inside of my waistband. Just in case. Jackson thought I was silly to carry two, since they would 'just slow me down'. I don't know why, I've always enjoyed fighting with two handguns. Probably the ability to aim with one, turn my head and fire as I'm aiming the other one. Bang, bang.