Chapter 39

Jean didn't know what happened after that, but she just laid down on her bed for hours. Before she knew it, it was already nighttime. It was hard to describe the emotions she was feeling and what she was thinking.

Could her father really be a terrorist? That was the question that was repeating itself over and over in her head. The Kevin that was with Josh couldn't pick up the phone right now. Her dad didn't pick up the phone... Could it really be true?

Jean shook her in frustration. No! It couldn't be true. She got up from her bed and grabbed her phone and bag. She fetched the keys from within her bag and put them in her pocket before tossing the bag back on the table. She then picked up her tablet and looked at the address she just received from one of her dad's coworkers. After repeating the address in her head a couple of times, she was confident that she had it memorized and left her room. She put on her shoes and left her apartment, locking the door behind her. There was only one way to find out whether or not her dad was a terrorist.

Jean hurried to the elevator and called for it. It was normally very fast, and the speed hasn't changed, but for some reason, it felt like the elevator took forever to come. When the elevator arrived, Jean slipped through the door before it could even fully open and pressed the button to take her to the first floor. "Come on, faster," she told the elevator. The doors were closing slowly and she knew that it couldn't hear or understand her but she was in a hurry. Every second felt like a minute. Every minute felt like an hour. It was as if time slowed down for her.

She could feel her heart pounding loudly as the elevator doors closed and she descended down. All she can do is hope that it isn't true.

***

"Woo! What a chase! What fun! I never had that much fun in such a long time!"

"We almost got caught you buffoon! What the h*ll are you saying!?"

"Hey, you have to admit, it was pretty fun."

"Are you okay?" Kevin gave Josh a confused look like he had lost his mind or something. Actually, Josh did already lose his mind. It was either that or he was born a lost cause. "How did you end up being our leader? It should've been Shirley instead..."

"Shirley... She's smart and all, but is she as fun as me?"

"Shut up," Kevin was fed up with Josh and his terrible decisions as a leader. He sat down and rubbed his head. "Ugh... I'm already tired of having to keep my act up all the time to make it look like I'm just a normal person. I really hate having to deal with you too."

"Don't worry. You won't have to keep up your game of charades for too long. Just for another month, I'd say."

"A month is a long time."

"Well whatever, we should move. I can still hear them nearby." Josh and his partner get up from their position behind a wrecked transporter and start moving again after they see that the agents have passed them.

"Which hideouts do we have left?" Josh asks Kevin.

"You're the leader and you don't know this?"

"Nope. I only know a few of them."

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard for you to memorize them all since we only have two left."

"Wait, really!?"

"Yes. They found the rest."

"Huh... When did this happen?" Josh could've sworn that they still had all their hideouts except for one they were just in. When did all of them get discovered?

"I.C.E. may be slow, but they aren't idiots. They're thawing us out."

"Ha, nice pun," Josh chuckled. It took Kevin a few seconds to realize what he said. *Sigh*

"Anyway, let's go. We can't have them catching up." Josh beckoned for Kevin to quickly come with him. Kevin shook his head in disappointment and just followed Josh.

***

Jean quickly located the building that her dad's coworker told her about and went into it. It looked like any other office building and the interiors were all white with hardly anything in it. There wasn't a person in the lobby to direct her or anything. Instead, there was a giant screen that displayed all the floors and rooms along with their information. But it looked like that it didn't get updated yet as floor two still displayed, "Open For Rent."

She walked to the elevator and looked around for a button to click but couldn't find one. Jean was confused and looked around for a way to call the elevator. After a few minutes of searching, she still hasn't found one and decided to just take the stairs instead. It was only the second floor so she could just walk up there without too much problem.

Jean ran up the stairs and opened the door to the floor. The first thing that she sees is a bunch of boxes all over the floor. She didn't pay attention and missed the fact that there was one on the floor right in front of her foot as she exited the stairway. She was too distracted by all the other boxes around and tripped on it. "Woah!" She crashed into a stack of boxes in front of her and knocked it over. The loud crash and the sound of its contents spilling everywhere was more than enough to attract the attention of everyone on the floor.

"Not again!" someone quickly ran over to Jean. She thought that he was going to help her up, but he just ran past her and started cleaning up the mess she made.

"Um..." Jean pushed herself off the ground and tried to ask the man where her father is. "Can you tell me where-"

"Uh, ask someone else. Sorry, I need to clean this up before someone else slips on it." The man pointed at another person who was coming their way.

"Oh, okay." Jean thanked and apologized to the man and then went to the other one.

"What can I do for you little lady?" the man asked her when he saw her walking up to him.

"I'm trying to find someone by the name of Kevin Rella."

"Rella? Are you his daughter?"

"Yes. Where is he?"

"Oh, you're a lot younger than I thought. But anyway, he's out at the moment."

"Away?" Jean felt a sudden panic arise in her chest when she heard that. "Where is he?" she asked him, dreadfully awaiting the answer.

"He's..."

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