Alone

Chapter XXII (22)

-Luis POV-
Risse and I ended up staying up till six in the morning when Caleb walked into the drawing room and asked us how long we had been up. Eventually after lots of convincing he managed to get us to go back to our rooms and sleep for a few hours.

It was the first time I had fallen asleep and not had a nightmare or a night terror. "Luis it's 12:30 already! Ryder told me to get you ready, so get the hell outta bed!" Risse screeched out from behind my door while also banging on it with her fists. "Okay okay! I'm up! God damn..." I grumbled as I rolled out of my warm bed and into the cold air of the on coming winter.

I quickly got dressed in some comfortable cloths and opened the door to a frowning Risse. "Are you secretly a girl? You took forever to get ready!" She smirked at me as I closed the door and started to walk down the hall towards Ryder's office. "No I'm not Risse. You're just impatient." I said while looking down at her only to see she was rolling her eyes at me.

We talked back and forth as we made our way to the office and soon enough we where there. 'That was a lot faster than before... having legs that work probably help...' I smiled at my thoughts and opened the door after hearing a 'come in' when Risse knocked. "Hey Luis. Risse. I'd like to talk with you about our little rat problem today. Since Luis has been doing quite well I figured we should get into the important stuff as soon as possible." Ryder said, his normal happy personality now turned serious and cold.

Risse and I took a seat in front of Ryder's desk as he pulled out two thin yellow folders, ones you'd seen at a police station or in a court case on a TV show. "Here, these hold all the current information we have on the people, places and contacts. Along with a few other bits and pieces." Ryder explained what they were as we both opened them to find only four sheets of A4 paper.

"Th-There's nothing... how can this be all we have?" I stuttered out, not out of fear but out of surprise and shock. "It's worse than I thought..." I heard Risse mumble as she flipped through the sheets. "This is it. This is all we could gather since I first thought something was wrong. I have had Caleb checking and double checking everything but he can't find anything more." Ryder sighed and fell back into his chair with a stressed expression while pinching his nose.

"Could I have a look? I mean... Not to put Caleb's skills down but I am more experienced in the field of finding things, I've been doing it for years. I bet with my skill set and your equipment I could whip something up in a few hours." Risse had put the folder back down on the desk and sat with a incredibly determined look on her face. "I'm willing to try anything here and it be a greatly appreciated if you could lend us your abilities."

My mind was in overdrive and was definitely not going to slow down for a few hours so I used it my advantage. "Benjamin is on here... and Flynn... I think I have a lead for us." I let my thoughts run around in my brain to the point I didn't even know I was muttering them aloud. "Flynn had been talking to that man at the diner... Risse could get the CCTV footage from the store and ones close by... then we can follow him... and find the rest!"

"Wait-Wait slow down! You were mumbling and talking way too fast for either of us to understand what you just said." Ryder spoke, snapping me out of my trance. "Oh sorry... heh... I was thinking back at the diner... Flynn had been talking to another man there while he was ordering us food. If Risse can get the CCTV footage from the day at the diner than we can follow them to their hideout." I told them, though this time I spoke clearly and slower than before.

Ryder only nodded with a smile tugging on the corners of his lips while Risse grinned at me. "Eh-What is it?" I asked slightly nervous, 'The hell are they smiling at?!'

"I told you Luis, you'll be a great leader." Risse said and nudged me with her elbow. I let out a small laugh along with Ryder, "Okay, well you two need to go find Caleb and get to work! Come on chop, chop kiddos!" He smirked at us as we jumped out of our seats and ran out the door after grabbing the folders.

"I'm going to grab something to eat real quick." I told Risse as we jumped down the stairs two at a time to see who could get down the fastest. "Ahhh! Now you made me hungry!" She replied while running to the kitchen where she took a hard left turn and slammed into a wall. Well it wasn't really a wall, more like a really tall Maxwell with a plate in his hand a pout on his face. "You could have made me drop my croissant!" He yelled in faux panic.

I looked at him and then to Risse and then back at Max, the fucking height difference was hilarious causing me to start cackling like some witch. "The hell you laughing at!" Risse glared at me as I tried to breath but it was way too funny. "B-But! Yo-You're so fuc-fucking small a-and he's ju-just so big!" I tried so hard to form a full sentence but eventually I had gotten what I wanted to say out.

"I'm not that short Luis! You're only 5'11 anyway!" She yelled back at me which only caused me to laugh even harder. This whole time Max was still sulking over his now 'dead' croissant but I could tell he was trying to hold back a laugh at Risse's last comment. "Whatever! I just want some food so move you big oaf! Wait where's your brother? We need his help for a bit." As Risse rambled on about her hunger and that we were looking for Caleb I had finally calmed down enough so I could breath properly again.

"He's in the Tech Lab right now working on getting more information. I see you got the folder... we have nothing on them." Max's happy tone became an annoyed one. "Yeah... do you want to come with us after we grab something to eat? We'll probably take something up to Caleb too."

Max nodded slowly, a small pout still on his face though he had amusement in his eyes. "Okay then I dibs the last chicken wing!" Risse yelled as she ran forward and into the kitchen with Max and I charging in behind her.

I knocked on the door to our makeshift Tech Lab and waited for a response. "Come in!" Yelled Caleb from the other side so all three of us piled into the room. "Hey there lil' bro, we brought you some food." Max said, sitting down next to his brother so he could hand him the plate full of pasta.

"Oh thanks guys, is there anything else you all need? I'm assuming you all didn't come here to drop me off some lunch." Caleb asked us while he started to eat his food. "Yeah actually there is." I replied as I took a seat next to him.

"Well Risse offered us her assistance in looking at our rat problem." Max continued on for me. Caleb slowly nodded while finishing a fork full of pasta, "Honestly I couldn't be more happy right now! This shit is more than I expected... there are so many fire walls and corrupted data that I couldn't save." Caleb sounded desperate for Risse's help.

"Well then, let's get started." Risse said, standing up with her hands on her hips and a smile on her lips.

HEYO! Thanks for reading peeps! As requested by a few readers I have put the number next to the Roman Numerals so y'all know what chapter y'all are at! These next few chapters are gonna be tame but I think Luis needs the brake with all the shit he's gone through! Don't forget to comment and vote!