Chapter 37

A few days have passed since she was "recruited" into the terrorist group. Ever since that incident, she didn't have contact or receive any messages from them at all. It had her thinking that maybe Jackson had managed to convince them to let her go despite him having told her everything.

Tomorrow is Saturday and Jean didn't know what to do. It was near the end of the school term and she didn't have much homework to do. All she needed to do was study and pass her exams. After that, she had several months off as a break. The problem is that she didn't know what she should do over the break. "Well, one problem at a time, I guess..." For the time being, she might as well focus on her exams. There's no point in worrying about something that she couldn't control.

Jean was on her way home from school and everything looked normal, but for some reason, she had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong. The past few days she has been outside, she has barely seen any people at all. Even though she did live in an under-average populated area, it was completely out of the question for her to see no one else here at all. Just what happened?

Jean went home to her apartment and decided not to think too much about it since she already had enough on her plate. Just as she made it up the elevator and to her floor, she sees someone else standing outside in the halls in front of Jackson's door.

Another terrorist friend? That was Jean's first thought when she saw the person but they looked too well dressed to be one. The person didn't seem like they were aware of her presence or of the elevator door opening, but if they were, they were paying no attention to her. When Jean got closer to the person, she recognized the uniform they were wearing. It is the same one as those two people who were chasing Josh last week... or was it the week before that one. But that didn't matter. What did matter is the fact that one of them is outside the door of where the terrorists live.

When I got close enough to the person, they heard my footsteps and turned their head around to look at me. "Hello there," the person greets me. It was a woman's voice.

"Hi."

"Do you happen to know where the residents of this apartment may be at this time?" she politely asks me with a smile on her face.

A part of her just wanted to answer the question and go into her apartment, but instead of doing that, she does something else. "Um... Do you have business with them?" Jean asks the question back. She wasn't sure what his intentions were when he asked her about their whereabouts.

"As a matter of fact, I do have business with them."

"Oh... Uh, I don't they're home right now," Jean tells the woman in the uniform.

"I see. Do you happen to know a way that I can contact them?"

"No, but I can deliver your message to them if you want," Jean offered.

"Sorry, but I need to tell them this myself. It's a shame but it looks like I will have to come back some other time. Well, thank you for telling me."

"No problem?"

The woman gave Jean another smile which creeped her out a little before walking away. She stops after a few steps and says, "Oh, and stay frosty."

"Sorry, what?"

"It's my way to say goodbye to someone."

"Oh. Bye." What a strange way to say goodbye. Wasn't that a military term or something? Zack is a big fan of stuff like that and Jean remembers him saying talking about it before. Is she a soldier or special forces member?

The woman disappears down the elevator Jean just rode up in and she watches as the doors close before entering her apartment. Jean had no idea who the woman is but she definitely wasn't good news for Jackson and the others.

"Dad, I'm home," Jean calls out to him when she steps foot through the door. "Dad?" She didn't get a greeting back which confused her. Today is Friday which is his day off so why wasn't he responding. "Are you asleep again?"

Jean goes to her father's room to find that it is empty. "Dad?" Where was he? She goes back to the entrance and discovers that his bag and shoes are missing. Did he go outside to do something? Oh wait! Jean facepalm herself when he suddenly remembers what happened.

Her dad had work today. I.C.E. rented out a floor of a building nearby the laboratory while it was under repair. She remembered that he mentioned something about having to go to work this morning but she forgot about it. It looks like she is home alone today.

The first thing that Jean does is drop off her belongings in her room and then go into the kitchen to see if there was anything for lunch. She finds that there is nothing and quickly makes up something herself and eats it before going into her room and crashing on her bed.

At that exact moment, she heard a buzz from her phone and she picked it up to see who was calling her. It was an unknown phone number. She ignored it as it was probably a wrong number call only to have it call her back two seconds later.

Annoyed, Jean accepted the call and put her phone to her ear. "Hello? Who is this?" she asked the person on the other side.

"Hey!" a male voice greeted her. It wasn't anyone she knew.

"I think you have the wrong number," she tells him.

"Hm? Do I? Isn't your name Jean?"

"Yes?" Jean gets scared when she hears him say his name when she didn't even know who the person is. "And you are?" she asks the man to introduce himself.

"I work with your father, He's busy at the moment and he wanted me to tell you where you can find him in case of an emergency."

"Oh." She calms down when she hears this.

"Should I wait for you to get something to write this down or can you memorize it?"

"Uh, give me a second." I reach for my bag and take out of it my writing tablet. I create a new file and then give the man a go signal.

"Okay, it's the building on XXXX street. The address is 000-0000, and we're on the second floor. As for the room, it doesn't matter. You can ask anyone there if you ever do come."

"Got it. Thank you."

"No problem. Goodbye!"

"Bye!" The call ends and Jean puts her phone on her bed and goes over the address again. "Wait, isn't this..." If Jean recalled, the address that the man gave her belonged to the building that was right next to the old-style cafe. "Huh..." That was nice. That meant that the people working there could go down there for a quick meal during their break. It was a nice spot for them to work at.

Just as Jean is about to lie back down on her bed, her phone suddenly rings again. Was it the same person calling. Did he forget to tell her something important? She turns over her phone and looks at the number but finds that it is a different number. Confused, she accepts the call again. "Hello?"

"Hi there!" a voice cheerfully says from the other side.

Once again, Jean doesn't recognize the voice. "Sorry but who is calling?"

"Aww, you don't remember me? That's a real heartbreaker, but at least I remember your name, Jean."

Jean feels a shiver go down her spine as she hears the person say her name. The way he said it sounded really creepy like a stalker or something. A little bit like Jackson to be exact.

"Are you another one of dad's coworkers?" Jean asks the man. She didn't know who else would say something like this. He knew her while she didn't know him. That is the only explanation she could come up with.

"Try again," the person on the phone tells her.

"Look, if you have something to say to me, please say it. Otherwise, I'm just going to hang up."

"Okay, okay, fine. Do you really not remember me?" The person sighs and then pauses for a moment before saying, "It's Josh."

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