Chapter 241 - 241 Conference Room

241 Conference Room

I arrived at school, feeling the heaviness of fatigue grab hold of me. I couldn’t sleep all night, twisting and turning, just hoping a little bit that this wasn’t as it seemed.

But there was no way it wasn’t. No one makes friends with an enemy to defeat them. No one!

There is no sort of correlation between this and finding Matthew Lock. None! But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was that we weren’t even doing the actual missions any of the YMPA directors even ordered or approved.

We were doing missions that only helped him! The Xeno, the Armonk, the Cybertron. Who knows what he’s using this virus for?

So then…what is the MSTO doing with the virus then? Maybe this was approved by the directors, it’s just he has his own plans for it.

And I don’t know what type of plans they are, but the fact he’s making friends with the enemy is complete hogwash.

As I was walking, I approached Greg once again, who was this time by himself. I didn’t really care why, but he immediately noticed my presence.

“Oh, Connor,” he said, but then he repeated it again with worry present in his voice. “Oh…Connor. What in the world happened to you?”

“I couldn’t sleep at all,” I said to him. “I was tossing and turning, and completely mouthed into this constant cycle of confusion and anger.”

.....

“Dang,” Greg said, his eyes widened mildly. “I didn’t think it hurt you that much. He was your uncle, well technically our uncle, but more of acted as your uncle for years. You never knew he was your dad. Life was normal. It’s not like you knew him for years or something.”

“I know. It’s just, he’s really been protecting me and looking out for me ever since I got into the YMPA,” I said. “That tends to really grow relationships, fun fact.”

“Nonetheless, this should hurt me as much as it hurts you. But yet, I care less. My mother and father aren’t even my actual mother and father. At least your mother…our mother…is living with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“At least something is real in your life. Your mom. My parents aren’t my parents. So, Mr. Drails shouldn’t bring you down to your knees like this. Mr. Drails should’ve never entered into your life.”

“He didn’t. I did.”

“Huh?”

“I was taking a short-cut home after a terrible day. Remember that day I punched Kirk Jexifan? And we both got sent to the office,” I said. “I saw a fight. And they saw me, and shot at me. I escaped, but then they tried to come back for me during that same day, being that it was prom. Right then, Mr. Drails saved me. It was my fault I’m here. I was just so…nosy.”

“And now your life is upside down,” Greg said.

“My friend is my brother,” I said, but luckily Greg took no offense to that, although it wasn’t offensive in the first place.

“Well, fate obviously brought you here,” Greg said. I shook my head. “I brought myself here.”

Greg sighed. “I gotta get to class. See you for lunch?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, looking at him walk over the corner. Right then and there, I heard my phone ring. I picked it up, and laid it beside my ear.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Connor, right?” September asked.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, it’s me. You did call me, right?”

“Yes, I was saying that once we’re done with school, we’ll meet up in the conference room at the YMPA,” September said. “I think I may have something.”

“Alright, bet,” I said eagerly, before she hung up.

***

I went through the halls, not paying attention to anything. I was too worried about this. We had to stop him, and we had to stop him now.

I reached the conference room, where I found Nikki, Tisiah, Malachi, and September already waiting. September looked as if she was presenting something, which I was already interested in what she had to say.

“Well, well, what have we here?” I asked, as I walked in. I glanced around, and I noticed everyone was looking at me. She chuckled. “Now, we were wondering what his plan was in Saudi Arabia with the virus. Is he selling it, releasing it, destroying it or something?”

Malachi nodded, following closely. “Yeah, and why would he want to destroy it?” he asked.

“It’s a question that’s been bothering me,” September said. “And why release it Saudi Arabia, if you’re trying to affect the United States. Which leaves only one possible idea. Selling it.”

“Exactly to whom?” Nikki asked.

“TSA.”

“Wait…wait, Matthew Lock is their ally. Why is an ally selling something to an ally?” I asked, as confusion raced through my mind. September said as she clicked a different window. “Because Matthew Lock is working for no one but himself.”

“Huh?” I said, as I felt my heart beat a little bit faster. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not,” September said, and I looked at her. She explained more, “The TSA offered him money, and a position there if he did this. They’d offer him way more money, more protection, all of that.”

“So he was forced against his own will?”

“No, he just chose to betray us. Simple as that,” September said with a nod.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Nikki said. “If he’s just doing this to gain more money and power, why sell it to an enemy?”

“Because he’s not doing this to gain power or money. He’s doing this to gain information. That’s what the TSA wanted,” September said. “We need to stop the meet, and in that way, we stop the TSA from ever, ever releasing that virus.” Malachi smiled at this, and I could already tell the excitement pumping inside of him, like a kid that just got a new toy.

“But how do we stop it?” I asked, as I began to think of a plan.

“We stop it by killing the man in charge of it, and that’s Matthew Lock. And we’re going to be the ones to kill him,” September said, and I felt a cold shiver go down my spine.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. “He could give us very valuable information.” September paused for a moment, processing the thought before she quickly answered. “We’ll question him, then kill him.”

“Well, dang,” Nikki mumbled, as we all looked at each other. “That’s cold.”

“We don’t have a choice. He’s the only one that can pull this off,” September said. “We need to stop him, because he can cause catastrophic damage.”

“Well, we can’t just shoot him. We can’t risk it,” I said, as the room was silent.

“No, we can’t,” September said. “We’ll try and take him alive, then interrogate him. If he gives us the information, then we’ll kill him.”

“Well, we have to tell this to Mr. Drails first, unless you want him to yell at us with his rant,” Tisiah said, which I can’t say I don’t agree with him.

“We’ll just tell him that we got the information. It shouldn’t be a problem, but I will let Mr. Drails know,” September said, and then she motioned for the door. “I’ll be back,” she said, before she closed the door. Silence instantly took control of the room, and quick stares were taken across the conference room. “I still remember the Fillmore Center,” Tisiah chuckled. “When we were chasing that convoy.”

“Mhm,” I chuckled. “I haven’t been there since then. I wonder what it’s like now.”

“Probably nothing,” Nikki said, which caused laughter to fill the room.

“All those TSA members probably evacuated the second they heard that we were coming,” Malachi added, which caused more laughter to erupt, and even more people joining in.

“It’s been a while since I’ve laughed like this,” Tisiah said, as he leaned back in his chair. “But I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen these guys laugh. It’s kind of refreshing, isn’t it?”

“I agree,” I said. “Usually the stress would consume me, but I think a laugh right now is what I needed.” I sighed, not only swallowing the fun, but also remembering the intense, terrible parts of the past. I felt my body relax a little bit, but I didn’t feel like I was ready to let loose. Not yet.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Huh?” Tisiah asked, confused.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You sighed.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” Tisiah said, with a chuckle. “I felt a bit nostaglic for a second. This place has been so empty lately, and I miss the old days, when I was just here with you guys.”

“I can see that,” I said with a smile. “I miss the old days too, especially the nights. We had so much fun back then.”

“Yeah, we did,” Nikki agreed. “We definitely did. I remember when I saw Connor for the first time,” Tisiah said, pointing to me. “The man was nervous!”

“I was,” I said with a laugh. “I was so nervous. I mean, I knew you all would welcome me into the family, but I never really believed that you all would accept me as one of your own.”

“Well, we did,” Malachi said. “And you proved us right.”

“And we love you for that,” Tisiah added. “Well, techincally we all got put in a team so I guess, we were all put in the family. And it was the right one.” I couldn’t help but smile, and memories began to flow through my brain. I was able to relive all of our adventures, and how I came to be here. I remembered the times we spent together, and I even remembered the bad things, like the times we fought, and how I lost my temper. I smiled, as I thought about how I got over that.

“I’m glad I could come back here and find the same thing. And I’m glad I could get to know you all,” I said, as I stood up. I walked around the table, and I looked at everyone.

All of a sudden, September banged through the door, her eyes widened and excited like fireworks. “Okay I told Mr. Drails, and he said he’ll set up the meeting immediately. But in a different way.”

“How?”

“We pretend to be the TSA.”

“I’m sorry, what?!” I shouted, my voice shuddering from the sudden rise in volume. I was standing in front of September’s computer, staring at the words that had just appeared.

“It’s a great plan, trust me,” September said with a grin.