10. The past finds you
Abby arrived at the entrance to see a distraught Rachel trying very hard to press herself to a wall; in an effort to see the street and stay hidden from plain sight at the same time. Abigail was worried, that Rachel's spy instincts are going to undo the decommissioning then and there, as her best friend's expression was one of concentration and readiness to simply cut down whoever is to come through the main doors.
She snapped her fingers to gain her attention, and Rachel's brown eyes reflected relief. She ran to Abigail, who immediately took her baseball cap and lent it to Rachel. The blonde girl tucked away her traitor blonde locks under it.
„I'm sorry I barged in, I know, it's awkward" Rachel started „but I didn't know just what to do, who to call..."
„It's okay gurl," Abby hugged her, and led her up the stairs „You're safe."
They agreed not to stress the boys. Abby thanked whatever deity there is, as Rachel did not ask any further questions, just went with her plan. The girls went back to the bleachers, and Rach nested herself next to Abby, trying to appear smaller, doing as if she wasn't even there.
The training was pretty much uneventful. Aside from a few rough tackles and boyish boasting, the girls could almost find the reason why the men in their lives found amusement in football, but as Maurice was flatted out, even Abby gave up, voicing her concerns about the number and function of Mau's brain cells. This quip caused Rachel to at least giggle for the first time since she sat with her best friend.
The sun was setting as the boys were done with training. Maurice wanted to meet with Abby as soon as possible. Chad agreed to meet up with her, asking who and why was with the braided teen (given the fact, that she should not have been there in the first place), and he was floored when he met with Rachel's brown eyes.
"Is everyone gone now?" Abby asked instead of greeting them. Maurice just nodded, and Rachel visibly relaxed, inching closer to Chad. The subtle movement caused a little flutter in the boy's stomach, and he felt a bit braver to put his hand on her hip.
"Good," the dark-skinned teen said, still looking around.
"What's going on?" Chad asked, hands tightening a bit around Rachel.
"I was followed" the blonde girl rushed out.
The boys looked at each other than at Abby.
"By who?" Maurice asked.
Their minds turned into field-operative mode in an instant, gauging Rachel's answer.
"Two guys, my age. One blond, same height, blue eyes, and a taller one, brown, straight hair, a bit langly, and uncoordinated." she rushed out.
Wait, how could I possibly get this info so correctly?! - the blonde girl thought to herself, but the sudden dark expression on Chad's face made her release this thought, making place to another.
"You know who they were?" she asked.
Maurice looked at Chad, and the two seemed to have a silent conversation.
"Regardless, I'm taking Rachel home," Abby said.
"Is it okay just to leave you two?" Maurice started to voice his concern, but one flash of irritation from his girlfriend (he still needed to taste this sweet word in his mouth) made him backtrack in an instant "Look, I know you're tough and all, but still..."
"I'll take Rach home," Chad said, "We live near each other anyway."
"Won't that be a problem, if..." Abby said, but Chad just shrugged.
"I know my ways, besides, we'll just use my bike. Easier, faster."
Before they headed out, Chad called Maurice away from the girls a bit and told him about his visit to Hoagie. The dreadlocked teen just looked at him if he had grown a second head.
"You hacked into the TND Database?! You know, what could that mean?!"
"Court Marshal, I know, but there IS something in the background and I need to know what that is. Hoagie promised me to get started on it, but I cannot get the intel. Could you get it for me?"
Maurice sighed in defeat.
"not me, but Abby can. They were on... good terms when they were at the KND"
Chad knew, that to Maurice this was like swallowing barbed wire – Hoagie tried to have a shot with Abby, but the girl let him down gently – but at least his best friend accepted Hoagie's professional help, even if the whiz-kid had no idea what he was doing.
They parted ways. Chad and Rachel zoomed away, leaving Maurice and Abby alone on the street.
They took a turn, and Maurice took his first steps to the bus stop, Abby following behind.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To Hoagie's" Maurice tried to act as if it wasn't the biggest pain in his ass right now, and he failed miserably.
Abby grabbed his arm, raised her brow questioningly.
"Why?"
Maurice tried to watch his expressions as he told Abby what Chad did behind their backs.
"I'm going to kill him" she summarised as soon as Mau ended his retelling.
"I'm pretty sure he can get himself killed just as easily as you would do it sweets. However, you must admit, that these two incidents can be linked to each other. Creepy figure in the night, creepy figures at daylight..."
"Like you don't know who they are" Abby shot back.
"One reason more to find out what Infinity is hiding from us, and why"
The bus came, and they scurried to secure a place relatively away from anyone else. The two of them cuddled close in their seats, partly to secure some privacy for their conversation, and partly because it just felt right.
"You think that Infinity won't notice?" she asked.
"Oh, he will. I just hope it'll be too late, and the intel 'll be in our hands by then."
"That's a lotta maybe-s in one sentence, boi," Abby said, wrinkling her eyebrows.
"Yeah, but what else can we do?" Maurice shrugged "It's not like Infinity would want to share any of his precious li'l secrets. Besides, I don't trust anyone in the Teen Ninjas, or the TND apart from you and my dude of course"
Abby pondered their options. Two of their childhood enemies have surfaced again and were after Rachel. And no doubt, if those two shady figures were on the scene, their little family gang was not far behind either. This made no sense at all. Teenagers were those, who work together with Father, not to mention Rachel was the epitome of a well mannered, well-behaved, rule-abiding teenager. Not like the active TND agents, who are normally in the crosshairs, when it came to Adults.
What other thing does Rachel have, that makes her this valuable? Why risk kidnapping or assaulting her in broad daylight? None of this was logical in any way.
The bus stopped, and Abby risked taking Maurice's hand as they walked along the street. The boy just smiled at her, and squeezed her hand reassuringly, taking the lead to the Gilligan household.
Maurice was still a bit weary on visiting Hoagie. Considering the younger boy's ever so present crush on Abby he did not count with a high success rate in getting the information they needed. Of course, this was business and all, but if he wanted to be totally honest with himself, if the roles were reversed, he sure as hell would give Hoagie at least a hard time before he complied. Childish? Yes. But the tech whiz dude was no soldier anymore, just a boy, who was turned down for another dude. The same dude, who is asking for his help at the moment. Who wouldn't bask in this situation?
As he was musing, they arrived at Hoagie's, and Abby knocked on the door. Mrs. Gilligan's bigger frame appeared at the entrance, and she immediately broke into a wide grin looking at the girl.
"Abby, my dear, it is always so good to see you!" the woman said, engulfing his girlfriend into a hug.
"He-hello, Mrs. G" Abby stuttered under the weight "It's nice to see you"
The woman's cheerful smile faltered a bit, as she looked at Maurice, and the boy felt like he was under a microscope being examined.
"I don't think I've seen you around, young man," she said, extending her hand to him.
Maurice grabbed it in a polite handshake.
"I'm sorry ma'am, my name is Maurice, I'm..." Maurice looked at Abby questioningly.
"...he's my boyfriend." the girl closed her hand around Mau's unoccupied one.
Mrs. Gilligan's smile returned, although there was some bitter tone in it, which confirmed Maurice's suspicion about Hoagie's still lingering feelings towards Abby. He was so not ready for teen drama at the brink of a total apocalypse...
"You came to see Hoagie?" Mrs. Gilligan asked as she ushered the two new guests inside.
Abby nodded, thanked the woman for pointing to the direction of her friend's room, and the two teens knocked on the same door Chad did so only hours ago.
"Ayyo, Hoagie!" Abby said aloud, and in a minute the whiz kid appeared, slight pinkness coloring his cheeks. As soon as he saw Maurice however, it was gone in an instant.
And so it begins... - Maurice thought.
"Hey Abbs" Hoagie greeted her "How can I help you and your... friend?"
Alone that last word contained so much masked jealousy, that Mau just wanted to bang his head into the wall. Eventually, he thought about the possibility, that any head will do, and he should try to do it with Hoagie's instead. This was no time for things like this!
Then again, Hoagie has no idea why this was so important, so he tried to cut him some slack, allowing the younger teen to flex about the situation a bit.
"Chad left you his laptop this afternoon," Mau said "We're here to collect it"
Hoagie's face scrunched up with tension, and Maurice was glad, that whatever he found out was worthy of getting over his petty shit. That meant it was either really good, or they are in deeper goo than they originally thought.
Rachel got off Chad's bike at their driveway.
They walked up to her front door, both silently thinking. She did not feel traumatized by the events per se, and she found it really odd. Shouldn't she at least be a little bit more freaked out? Chad walked beside her, not saying a word, and he was silent through their whole ride home.
"Hey..." she started, to which the boy looked at her silently, eyes still appearing to be lost in thought.
"Hm?" he managed to say out loud.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked bluntly, wanting to get it over with.
Chad wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion.
"Why would I be?"
Rachel rolled her eyes.
"You didn't talk to me before we headed home, you appear to be so far away from your body as one can be, plus if looks could kill that poor woman in an SUV at the red light would be a murder victim by now..."
The boy could not stop himself from letting out a small chuckle. He took Rachel's hand, pressing a kiss on her knuckles.
"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the situation you were in, and that I wasn't there to help you"
"You couldn't have known, what was happening," she said, somewhat relieved, that there was no issue with her going to his practice.
I could have - Chad thought.
This was the exact reason he was so mad at the world right now. As a TND agent, he should have known about the Delightful's every move in every second, they have a spy in Father's house just for these exact moments. No one said that the hellbound group was targeting any former Supreme Leaders, especially Rachel for all people. Why her? Why has no one increased her security? Infinity had to know about this, yet he didn't do anything...
"Still..." he clicked his tongue "But I'm glad you chose to come to us," he said, lacing their fingers.
"It strokes your ego?" Rachel teased.
Chad snaked his arms around her waist. He was using her as a distraction from his anger about the situation, and damn, it was working. She leaned into him.
"Well, it just might" he murmured, kissing her temple.
"I take that as a yes" she managed to whisper before their mouth met in a soft kiss.
Chad took pride in his initiating abilities, but Rachel managed to surprise him yet again, as she rose to her tiptoes, leaning into him more. He could barely catch the soft groat escaping him, but Rachel's giggle gave him away. Her hands played with his hair on the back of his head, that made goosebumps spread from the nape of his neck. He hugged Rachel's waist close, turning Rachel's back to the wall, still kissing.
The front door opened, and someone cleared her throat, making them break their kiss. Chad thought his life came to an end as Mrs. McKenzie looked at them with amusement.
Shit.
"Honey, it's getting dark," the woman said without an ounce of annoyance or surprise. It was more like the tone in which someone would look through the window into the rain, and commenting on the weather.
The redness of Rachel's cheeks must have been cute but at the moment, Chad was preoccupied with not being outed right then and there.
The first logical question after their introduction would be why Rachel introduced her childhood friend to her mother againwhen she already knew him, and why was he absent from Rachel's life in the last four-five years, when they live on the same street...
"Uh... uhm... mom, hey, let me ah... this is..." Rachel stuttered, but Chad took charge extending his hand to Mrs. McKenzie.
"Chad Dickson, Mrs. McKenzie."
"I know who you are, young man." the woman's expression was unreadable, as they shook hands "Your house is down the street, not so far."
No confusion was evident, and Chad tried to understand, why she did not ask anything regarding his and Rachel's former friendship and childhood playtimes.
"Ah... yes..."
Way to go, Chaddie, you word-wizard you... - he thought, mentally slapping his forehead.
"Mom, Chad wanted to walk me home..." Rachel started.
That made Mrs. McKenzie chuckle with amusement.
"I see that," she said "Now that he did such a good job at it, why don't you say goodbye to each other? I'll be watching TV in the living room really loud..."
The door closed, and Rachel buried her face into her hands, stifling an embarrassed groan.
"I am so-so-so sorry!" she squeaked "This was awkward as hell!"
"Could have been worse" Chad produced a somewhat convincing grin, masking his utter confusion about Mrs. McKenzie's reaction "I mean she could've just cuss me out and banish me forever for even touching you, so..."
"No she would never, I mean, she didn't say anything about Nigel either, and he wasn't her favorite person..." her hands flew to her mouth, eyes round in embarrassment "Forget I've ever said that please"
"Uh-uh" Chad grinned, happy for his small triumph over the KND's Shining Star.
Rachel's face scrunched in mock-irritation.
"I think I've stroked your pride enough for today to let you go on your merry way," she said.
The boy just rolled his eyes, kissed her goodbye and waited until Rachel was gone behind her front door. As soon as she went inside he rushed back to his bike, strapped on the helmet then rushed to Maurice's place to share everything with his best friend.
Maurice prided himself because of his chill and laid back attitude, but his nerves were pulled tight with anticipation. As they got into Hoagie's room the tech whiz made sure to close the doors and pull the curtains, so no one could see them, but Mau knew very well, that it was almost useless, if the radio signals are not jammed. He quickly pressed a small device hidden in his wristband which did just that and looked expectantly to Hoagie.
"Well, could you get the extra repairs done?" Maurice asked, trying not to sound as impatient as he felt.
"You know about whatever this is?" Hoagie retorted, looking at Abby "And you also brought her into it?"
"Into what?" she asked, looking at Maurice, who seemed equally as lost as her.
"I don't know, what your two 'friends' are up to Abbs, but the thing is, I didn't ask enough for it from Chad Jock Dickson."
Abby and Maurice looked at each other then back to Hoagie.
"You could crack the system just in four hours?" Maurice asked disbelief evident on his face.
This took Hoagie by surprise, made him forget his anger.
"Cracking it took me like forty-five MINUTES. Lousy security, really. But there were folders and case numbers, all marked, all in numerical order, each with its own encryption. It took the rest of the time to crack those, copy the contents and hide my digging. And this" he took a pendrive from his desk, dangling in front of Maurice's face "Contains everything you need."
Maurice wanted to take it away, but the younger boy snatched it from him with a quick motion.
I don't have time for this! - Mau screamed mentally.
"Thank you for your help" he managed to press out of himself, reaching for the device again, only to see as Hoagie hides it in his pocket.
"Nothing to thank, literally. I won't give this to you, or to anyone for that matter. Maybe to the police, when I report you two for spying and stealing personal data"
What?! No no no no no! - Maurice thought frantically, looking pleadingly at Abigail for help. She seemed also to be in a panic at this turn of events.
"Hoags, please, don't do it!" she said somewhat calmer, fighting her rising blood pressure "It wouldn't end well ya know, it wouldn't."
"There were thousands of folders with unique IDs, and individual encryptions, don't tell me, that your business is not shady as hell!" Hoagie said "I've come to accept stuff like this from them" he gestured to Maurice, who felt personally offended by the remark "But not from you, Abby!"
The girl looked also a bit baffled by this outburst but recovered quickly.
"You need to trust me when I say, that it's not a good idea. Trust me, please!" she said calmly "The less you know, the more honest can you be when you say you have no clue, what this is.
"Yeah, well this doesn't help your case, Abbs!" the IT-teen scoffed.
Abby contemplated digging a hole for Chad somewhere in the Nevada desert, where she could bury him alive. How could he come up with such a stupid idea, and go through with it without even consulting with them first?!
"Okay, let's do it this way" Maurice stood in front of Hoagie.
There was not so much height difference between them, but Mau managed to look somewhat threatening and made Hoagie step one back.
"You either give the pendrive and the PDA to me now, or I take it by force. Your choice. But believe me when I say that if you tell anyone, and I do mean anyone about this, whatever deal you had with Dickson will be over. Not only that, but I will personally make sure, it'll be worse than it was before. I appreciate your concern regarding our safety but trust us when we say, that going to the police or anyone else for that matter is the worst choice in the history of choices, ever. And, just to make it easier for you, Chad sends this in addition"
Maurice took out 300$ from his pocket, slapping the money in Hoagie's hand.
"Bribery?" the younger teen looked at his opponent in disbelief.
"Call it a discretion fee" Maurice shrugged.
Abby saw that Hoagie wanted to say more on the matter, but decided against it. He took the money, got the PDA from his desk, together with the pendrive full with data. But before he gave it to Maurice he retracted his hand once more.
"The only reason why I'm agreeing to this," he said "...is her" he nodded towards Abigail "But if I found out, that she got hurt, or worse because of the stuff that's on here, I don't care how many friends you have, I'll end you"
Later, as they walked to the bus stop, "armed" with the tech, both thanking all the deities they knew for their luck and success, Maurice risked to talk.
"Although the guy's a li'l shit, I gotta hand it to him, he has iron balls..."