One Color At A Time

Chapter 19

The midday light bled into the evening hours. We sit around the room just going through files and files. Copying ones that have anything to do with Madi and anything else that will help us. My eyes feel dry and itchy from how long I have been staring at the screen without any breaks. I guess at some point one of the twins messaged the girls and got them over here because I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Let me take over a while Jonathan. You've been at it for a while." I look up to see Sally standing over me. I know that it was best not to argue with her.

I stand up from my desk chair and hear a series of pops and cracks coming from various joints in my body.

"Jesus man, you sounded like fucking bubble wrap," Travis says looking up at me with mid-disgust and amazement.

"Oh trust me, I've heard worse from that one over there." I point to Tyler who holds up his middle finger at me. I laugh before flopping on my bed and let out a deep sigh. "So, did anyone figure out where The Division placed Samantha and Nathanial?" I ask after everyone is quiet for a few minutes.

"I can't find anything about them transferring to another branch or another ongoing mission that they could possibly be apart of," Tyler says not looking up from his screen.

"When did you have time to look that up?" Travis asks looking over at his brother.

"While we were first setting up. It was a quick search since we are legally allowed into their systems."

"Do you think that they just didn't show up?" I ask

"Both of them at the same time? No, I don't believe that for a second." Sally pipes up from her spot at the desk.

"Why?" Travis asks

"First of all, I never liked Samantha to begin with. She just showed up one day and was immediately placed as a head branch leader. She had no prior history with The Division. Plus, she always distanced herself from everyone. Never really trying to grow close to anyone. Trust me, I was alone with a while when I first started and it was miserable. In that place, you have to have at least someone to lean on when you aren't doing well. The Division takes a lot out of you mentally and physically." Sally stops talking to give me a pointed look. I mouth sorry at her since I knew she was talking about how I let myself get too lost in trying to find Madi.

"I get why you don't like her and yeah that's kind of weird about her distancing herself but that doesn't really mean anything," Travis says 

"Usually I would agree with you but I heard her on a call once," Lacey says from her beanbag chair that was placed next to Clarabell.

"What did you hear?" Tyler asks

"Well, I didn't catch all of it. My guess is that I showed up around halfway through the conversation. She was arguing about something. She didn't know I was there, I had pushed myself against the wall around the corner. It was a more secluded part of the building, so I guess she thought she was safe to take the call but I was going down there for archives."

"What was she arguing about?" Sally and Travis asked at the same time.

"Something about her doing the operation alone taking too much time. I thought that maybe she was talking to another branch leader but that was quickly pushed to the side. when I heard her say that no one suspected a thing. She called everyone in The Division dumb her even thinking they could try and change the government and that she would find a way to make it impossible for us to do anything."

"And you didn't tell anyone about this?" Clarabell asks, her voice quivered with hurt laced through it.

"I'm sorry love." Lacey leans over and gave Clarabell a light kiss. "But I have to be sure about my suspicion. I was able to dig into her background and found that she, at one point, was part of the All Seer science branch when she was in her twenties. I think she is still part of it and they only made it look like she wasn't anymore."

"So you think that she was placed into The Division as a mole." Sally stands up from the desk chair and begins pacing around.

"Yeah. I also think that maybe she recruited Nathanial at some point. I was friends with him when he first joined but after Samantha came, he distanced himself not enough to be suspicious but enough for me to notice."

"I saw him once with Samantha. They got really quiet when I walked by," Tyler says looking around at all of us.

"Do you think they knew we know about Madi most likely being in the city?" I ask

"I wouldn't doubt it but we have to keep in mind, anything we do outside of The Division building, they can't track. We all have our own private logins, you have a private connection, and if they tried anything everything would lockdown. These are countermeasures that The Division took so that if someone tried to use someone else's logins without authorized clearance than we would know who it was before they took anything." Sally doesn't stop pacing as she speaks. Slightly biting down on her thumbnail.

"If they knew anything, it's not enough to really act on it unless they want to be caught. They both may be good but they are nothing compared to The Division alone." Clarabell moves closer to Lacey as they just hold each other's hands.

"Well, all the files are now copied over. I've implemented a tracker on Cole's screen so if there is any activity I will be alerted and can look to see what he is doing. I'm going to start going over the files once I make it back to The Division tomorrow. There isn't much else we can do." Tyler stands up stretching and helps Travis up.

"Let's go get some food and try to get any school work done then. We still have to keep everything here under control so no one gets suspicious." Sally stops pacing and grabs her things.

"We can all work on it together. Let's meet up back here after getting some dinner," I say getting up from my bed.

All of us grab our things, Tyler and Travis put the screens in their room and we all make our way across the campus and into the dining hall. It's quiet with very few people dotting around the large dining room floor. I catch Chris in my line of sight and he gives me a nod and I return it. The others and I sit down with little words exchanged between us as we eat.

"What are we going to find on those files that could help us? What are we going to do with Samantha and Nathanial? Is Madi okay?" A thousand thoughts run through my head as I slowly eat my food. The others are all quiet, probably thinking some of the same questions I am. God we were all just normal college students just a few months ago. Well, I guess the twins and I were but still. This is taking up everything from us just because our government is selfish.

I let out a sigh and look out the large windows adorning the dining hall. It's late and the sun is setting casting pinks and purples across the sky. As much as I was happy to see the sun sets and rises that had the oranges being able to see more of this. More colors that paint our world, that make it beautiful and different just makes everything so much better than washes of greys with occasional oranges.

"We'll find you Madi. So, that you can show others like you have shown me."

~~~

"Please, anyone...find me." The young girl softly cries out as she looks through the tiny sliding window that looks out to the guards lining across the hall she was being kept in.