In Pursuit Of ✔

The Real Story

Content Warning: Light Violence

Henley really wasn't looking forward to starting the day. She didn't know the status of her personal relationship with Nick and was in serious doubt that they had much of a professional one at this point. Regardless, she wanted to know if he had heard anything from Lela, and it was getting later and later into the morning.

Unsurprisingly, Nick was already up when Henley emerged from the bedroom. He was sitting at the small table squeezed in the kitchen space, but wasn't really doing anything. He left his computer in the Texas house because C.O.D.E. could track it, and Henley thought he looked slightly lost without it.

"Any word from Lela?" Henley asked anxiously, not bothering to attempt any small talk.

Nick got up before Henley could finish her question. "Yeah, actually, she called me early this morning. I was just waiting for you to get up."

"What did she say?"

"Honestly, she sounded really shaken up," Nick said. "She didn't want to tell me anything over the phone. She's here. In New Orleans."

"She's in New Orleans?" Henley questioned in disbelief. "From San Francisco? That's seems fast."

"Yeah, well, she must have found something important, or else she wouldn't have bothered. And she wouldn't have sounded so nervous, she's really not one to scare easily. I'm meeting her in the city in half an hour."

Henley's heart sank. "You're meeting her?" she confirmed flatly. "So what, I'm back to being locked in a house for hours on end?"

"It's the safest place for you."

"Is it?" Henley demanded. "The safest place for me is a place that's run by the people who are trying to kidnap me?"

"Henley, please," Nick pleaded with her. "It's too risky for you to go around the city. I know for a fact that C.O.D.E. can get access to every security camera in existence, so someone is almost definitely scanning for your face."

"And they won't be for yours?"

"You're their target Henley, not me. It's not that I'm not a risk, but I'm less of a risk than you are."

Henley glared at him, mutinous. At Nick's desperate expression, however, her mind went back to the conversation they had last night. He hadn't been wrong about how to keep her safe yet, and there was no reason to think this time would be any different.

She relented. "Fine. But you better not leave me alone for several hours again."

Nick grabbed his jacket. "I'll be as fast as I can," he promised. "And hopefully when I get back, I'll have a little bit more of a plan as to what to do next. Remember the locks." And with that, he was gone.

Remember the locks. Like Henley would forget them. She huffed impatiently as she set the electronic security system before heading back to her room to change out of her pajamas into a pair of shorts and her hoodie.

She had no desire to read, and there wasn't a television in the apartment, so Henley was left to lie on her bed and stare at the ceiling. She couldn't focus on one thing in particular, and instead her thought bounced around from C.O.D.E. to her family to her friends in Berkeley to Nick. That last topic came up far too often.

Less than an hour later, Henley heard the electronic locks clicking open. Eager to know what he found out, she immediately got up from her bed and went into the other room.