Carter's POV, with Nathan and Carter, in Carter's room.
"Alright, I see the resemblance, but we all share 99.9% of the same DNA" I told him. "I really don't think this is you Nathan"
"Okay good. Tell me why" crap.
"Well, for one, you're not missing" I said, gesturing towards him. "Also, like I said, we all share most of the same DNA, there could be a lot of people that look like this, that even closer match this picture than you do. And another thing, is that I don't want to believe it is you" I said quietly.
He stared at me. "Why not?" he asked me, upraised. I shrugged sadly. "If it is you, you'll want to find out who you really are and who you're real parents are and all that, and you'll leave. And I like you Nathan" I said very quietly. There was an awkward silence, and Nathan swallowed.
"Explain this" he tossed me a small, child-sized T-shirt. It was the same one the kid wore in the picture. "Look at the stain on the left shoulder" I looked closely at the left shoulder and the at the picture, and back again before sighing and nodding.
He set his laptop on my desk and opened up the sight we got the picture off of.
I sat next to him as he chose online contact button.
"Stephen Price" he typed in when the online thing asked for the name of the kid. The person on the other side typed: My name is Marisa, I'll be helping you with this case. What's your name? "Nathan Harper" Nathan typed again.
Marisa: Do you believe you've seen Stephan Price?
Visitor: Possibly. Can you tell me more about how he disappeared?
Marisa: What is your location Mr. Harper?
I looked at Nathan, worried. "Nathan, I'm not so sure about this. Why would they be asking your location? Will you please close it?" I practically begged.
We both noticed the green light signaling that the webcam was on at the same time and shut the laptop simultaneously. "Nathan you need to get out of her, now" I said. He looked at me in surprise. "Why?"
"Because the person on the site traced the chat to your laptop and remotely turned on the webcam and I need to make sure your safe. Go home, tell your parents, and don't believe everything you hear from the government" I know I said more than I should have, but I was scared and need Nathan out of there now.
I sighed in relief when he was gone. I started packing. I knew what this meant. He found him, and this means I needed to get him out of there, fast.
I went to school the next day, extremely antsy. I followed Nathan home and stayed hidden. Something big was going to happen; soon.
I got nervous so I decided to call him. I sighed in relief when I heard him answer. "Yeah?"
"Hey! I'm sorry if I scared you yesterday, it's just, everything really freaked me out, you know? Have you talked to your parents yet?"
"My mom just told me. It's true Carter, I'm not really their son" I swallowed thickly.
"I'm so sorry. I'll be over there ASAP. That is… if you want me over there" I said.
He paused for a moment. "Yeah, I'd like that. Come in the back door" he told me before hanging up. I got off my bike and started walking towards the back door without Kevin or Mara seeing me. Nathan needed me, not them.
As I was going to the back door, I saw a man fly through their window, breaking it, right in front of me. Crap! They're here! I need to get to Nathan!
I was frozen as I saw one of them shoot Mara. I saw a glimpse of Nathan standing on the stairs as Mara fell before he ran. I hoped he would get out safely. I ran around to where his window was outside, because I knew that's where he would get out.
I could only hope that Nathan got away. I heard the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked. 'Hey" I turned to see a man in a suit pointing a gun at me. "Get inside"
Instead of fighting him I followed his orders, hoping to buy Nathan more time.
I almost cried when I saw Kevin and Mara's dead bodies, but I kept my face expressionless. The ma kept talking to me, saying how I wouldn't even feel it. Liar. I've been shot before, it's not very fun.
"Hey!" I heard Nathan yell as he threw something at the man holding the gun to my head. The man fell over and then Nathan started beating him up. I quickly stood and grabbed Nathan's shoulders. "That's enough! We need to get out of here"
We both stood. Nathan had tears in his eyes when he saw Mara's body. "Who are you!" he yelled at the man. "Who are you? Answer me!"
"Nathan stop" the man said with too much familiarity. "You killed my parents!"
"Nathan stop. I'll tell you what you need to know. But I'm not dying here. There's a bomb in the oven" I knew only too well that these guys would lie to save their lives, but I couldn't afford not to believe him.
Nathan and I made our way to the oven. We opened it to see a bomb. It's timer said we only had 6 second left. I grabbed his hand and ran for the pool.
We jumped in right as the bomb went off. We resurfaced to see something large headed for our heads. "Duck!" I got a gulp of breath before Nathan pulled me down again. Things were landing in the pool left, right, and center, but as long as we were in the pool we were fairly safe.
The bullet wound in my arm had opened and something had landed on my leg. It hurt, but I was trying to keep it together.
We resurfaced again to see flames all around us. Nathan helped me out of the pool, but I was so weak I couldn't help to pull him out of the pool.
"I'm so sorry Nathan" I said softly. He just shook his head and picked me up, seeing as how I couldn't really walk. He set me down on my motorcycle, seeing as how his was destroyed, and got on himself before speeding away before the cops got to his house. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and rested my head on his back, taking deep breathes.
"How bad is it" he asked me, worried. I sighed. "It's really bad, but we can't afford to stop" I told him. He shook his head. "You're the most important thing right now. I'm taking you to the hospital" I blushed at his first comment. It was the closest I would probably ever get to him saying he cared about me.
He walked into the hospital carrying me, again seeing how I still couldn't walk, and calling for a doctor. Eventually one came to see to my arm and leg, leaving Nathan alone in the waiting room.
Nathan's POV
I dialed 911 as the doctor went to take care of Carter. I was really worried about her, I cared about her a lot.
Eventually I heard someone pick up. "Hello? Hello?"
"911, what's your emergency" a monotone voice answered the phone.
"My parents were just murdered and I think the people who did it are after me too" I told them, a lot calmer than I actually was.
"What's your location?" she asked me.
"I'm at a hospital, Vaster Brother's Hospital, but my parents were killed at 2009 Clearwater Drive" I told her.
"Please hold" she said. What? Since when did 911 put you on hold? "Hold? What do you mean, hold?"
On the news was what happened to my parents, but the facts were wrong. It said that no one was killed, that we were all out of town. That's not true.
"Nathan? Nathan, are you there" I heard someone, a man, say on the phone. "Yes?"
""Are you okay?" the man asked me.
"I'm shaken up a bit, but…wait. How'd you know my name?" I was getting scared. That, plus my worry over Carter, was really getting to me.
"My name is Frank Burton. I work for the CIA" the man told me.
"The CIA? Why am I talking to the CIA" what is going on here?
"I need to know if you're okay" Burton told me.
"Am I okay?" I asked sarcastically. "I just saw my parents get murdered in front of my eyes"
"Have you spoken to anyone since the incident besides Carter Mason?" Burton asked. I got more worried. How did he know about Carter?
"No"
"Good. Don't talk to anyone. Don't contact anyone, stay right where you are. There'll be two men coming to find you shortly, one's wearing a red flannel shirt, they're there to help you. Nathan, you have to trust me"
I remembered what Carter said about not believing everything I was told by the government and Mom telling me trust needed to be earned.
"Trust needs to be earned" I told Burton before dropping the phone and walking away to find Carter.
Carter's POV
The doctor re-stitched my bullet wound and patched up whatever had happened to my leg. I could walk, though it was with a limp. I've had worse. "One of the ER doctor's will come check o you soon" the nurse told me after she had cleaned me up.
I had called Bennett earlier, so I knew she was on her way.
With Nathan
Nathan was walking down the hallways, trying to find Carter. A person holding enough balloons to cover their pace started walking next to him.
"Put this on" a familiar female voice said as she handed him a sweatshirt. "What?" he asked, not able to put a face to the voice. The person relieved themselves to be Dr. Bennett. "Dr. Bennett?" he asked in disbelief "What are you doing here?"
"There's no time to explain Nathan, we've got to get out of here" she told him. "put that on, walking behind me, and cover your face from the cameras" she instructed.
"What do you have to do with all this?" Nathan asked her. Was no one who they said they were in his life?
"I'm a friend of your father's" Dr. Bennett told him. "My father was just killed" Nathan told her, suspicious.
"I'm talking about your real father" she told him. Nathan paused in surprise.
"Wait" they both stopped. "Carter"
"There's no time. She knew what she was doing, she's been training since she was thirteen to take care of you, no matter the consequences" Bennett told him. Nathan stared at her, hard. "I'm not leaving without her" he said firmly. He cared for her, almost loved her, he wasn't leaving without her.
Bennett was about to say something when she paused, listening. "They're here already" she told Nathan.
Carter's POV
The curtain was pulled aside to reveal Nathan in a hooded sweatshirt and Bennett using a bunch of balloons to hid her face. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "It's not safe, you were supposed to get him out of here!" I quickly whispered to Bennett. "He wouldn't leave without you" she said flatly, helping me stand. I looked at Nathan, who wouldn't meet my eyes and was blushing slightly.
"Go fast" Bennett ushered down a hallway, probably away from some thugs.
"Faster" she said, grabbing onto me. Nathan, on my other side, also grabbed an arm as we started sprinting.
Nathan and I slid to a stop at a fork in the hallway when Bennett called, "Take the exit!" we veered right and headed down the stairs. We finally got out in the parking garage. "Where is it?" Nathan asked Bennet. Bennet led us to her car.
I climbed into the back while Nathan got into the passenger's side when Bennett let go of the balloons. "I hate balloons" she said before getting into her car, causing me to giggle. Bennett threw me a fond smile before speeding out of the parking garage.
"Nathan, there'll be time for you to deal emotionally with all of this, but right now you have to get your shit together" Jared Bennett told him. "Jared, he's new to this, give him a second" I told her. "He doesn't have a second, Carter!" she almost yelled at me. I knew she wasn't really angry with me, ever since my parents were killed she was like a mother to me.
"Who are you, really?" he asked Jared, but I knew we would both have to answer. ""I'm one of your keepers Nathan, we've been put in place to look after you"
"'we'" Nathan asked, glancing at me. I nodded. "I completed my training at age thirteen and have been assigned to follow and watch over you when you were not with your parents since then" I told him.
"That was part of the reason I was always near you" I added. "Part?" he asked me with a small smile. I blushed, but didn't answer. Jared smirked before getting back in task.