Chapter 10- Where Is Smith?

I paced up and down the hallway outside the lab, trying to think of where to look for clues. Dad. I called Broyles the instant the thought came to mind. "Do you still have a track set up for Smith?"

"Yes. It's right in front of me."

"Has he made any more purchases?"

"He made one at a gas station across the street from Massive Dynamic."

"How long ago?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Thank you." This was exactly the information I needed. "I'm going to see if he's been to Massive Dynamic recently."

"Before you go, I'll call Nina and ask her."

"I'll start driving there. Call me when you find out."

"Good idea."

I got the call when I was just hopping onto the freeway. "What did you find out?"

"She says she hasn't seen him. Sorry."

"I'm going to check anyways."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Bye."

I had to park along the farthest side of Massive Dynamics' parking lot, so I jogged up to the front door. I walked straight up to the visitors table and was greeted by a friendly young man. "Hello Miss. What can I do for you?"

I held my badge out for him to see. "Hello, my name is Olivia Dunham. I work for the FBI. I need a list of everyone who has checked in this building over the past day."

"May I ask why?"

"No."

"Yes ma'am. I'll have it for you in one moment. Excuse me." He entered the room behind him and returned with a stack of ten sheets of paper, which he handed to me. "Is there anything more I can do for you?"

"Not right now. Thank you." I slid off to the left as I scanned the list to make room for the next person in line. The most recent times were on the front pages, so I began there. I was surprised to not see his listed in the most recent hours, but I continued to look, just to be sure. His name was not on any page, which made me curious as to why he would come all the way to New York just to go to a gas station. There had to be some other reason why he came here. I walked back up to the young man I had talked to a couple minutes earlier. "Excuse me." I got his attention.

"Yes."

"I need to know if a man named Trevor Smith has come in anytime this week." He began typing into his computer.

"He has. He came in yesterday around one in the afternoon."

"Why?"

"If you will step around the counter, I will show you. I cannot say it out loud. It's classified information." I stepped around the counter and read the open computer file.

"What is this?" I pointed at a name on the monitor. He opened an attached document for a drug called Dryloxilitine. It was a drug created for transmogrification, severe genetic mutation. Theoretically, this drug could transform a human into a completely new species. My father had been treated with this drug yesterday, and, with its 24 hour potency time, he would've been completely transformed by one o'clock this afternoon, the same time I had confrontation with the strange creature. "Thank you." The words were hard to push out. I whipped out my phone and called Peter. "Peter, is you father around?"

"Yeah, you want to talk to him?"

"Yes. It's an emergency."

"Hey Walter!" Peter yelled with the phone still next to his ear. "It's Olivia. She needs to talk to you."

"Oh, yes, hand me the phone. Hello, Olivia, I found something else."

"What is it Walter?"

"This creature is not what I originally hypothesized. In fact, it is a human, a man. We have just completed a blood sample analysis. He has been treated with Dryloxilitine."

"Yes, I know."

"You do?"

" He's my stepfather."

"Your stepfather?"

"Yes, and I killed him." I heard Peter in the background and soon I was on the phone with him.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"As of right now, no, I'm not alright. But I'll be fine, eventually."

"You sure?" he didn't believe me.

"No."

"When you want to talk about all this, I'll be here to listen. Just call me."

"Thanks. Right now I need to focus. Someone else has my father's credit card and I need to find out who and why. I'm going to see if the credit card's been used again."

"Alright. Talk to you soon."

"Yeah, bye."

I hung up and called Broyles. "He checked in yesterday, but he's dead now. Someone else used his credit card."

"It's been used again."

"Where?"

"A bowling alley in Illinois. We've got a team heading there already. They should be there in less than an hour."

"A bowling alley?"

"Yeah, but that's not the part I don't get. I don't understand how he could already by in Illinois."

An idea popped in my mind, so I spit it out. "I think it's Jones."

"Could be. Right now, let's just focus on finding whoever it is. I'll call you when they get there."