Chapter Fourteen - Overheard Conversations
Matt walked through the corridors of the ARC, he needed to find Jess and see how she was doing and if she was any closer to getting into Burtons private files. As he carried on walking, he could hear raised voices coming from one of the private offices; he walked towards and stood outside the door.
"I don't trust him" he heard Abby say, rather loudly.
"Well I don't understand why" he heard Connor reply "You won't give me a reason why you don't" Connor finished.
"I do have reasons, firstly, he tried to kill Rex and the other creatures in the menagerie" Abby began, but Connor interrupted her.
"That's not a good enough Abby" Connor argued, his voice rising slightly.
"He's involved in the ARC for his own reason's, he has his own agenda, I'm sure of it" Abby said loudly, Matt could hear the desperation in her voice.
"Just because he's not as involved in the creatures as you are" Connor said.
"Connor, you don't understand, I'm worried" Abby shouted, just as Matt saw two of the ARC's soldiers walk down the corridor, trying to act casual, he knocked on the door.
He heard a small 'come in' from Abby, Matt pulled the door handle and entered the office. He saw Connor sitting on the desk while Abby was leaning against the wall.
"Hi guys, any idea where Jess is?" Matt asked them. They both shook their heads.
"Sorry Matt" Connor started "I haven't seen her for a while now actually" Connor realised, jumping of the desk onto the ground.
"Neither have I" Abby said, just as Connor made to leave the room "Where are you going, were not done?" she asked him.
"To my office if that's okay" Connor said, a little bit more angrily then he had meant to.
"Well have fun, make sure you and Burton have jolly good fun together" Abby sneered. Connor gave her look of utter fury before storming out the room, when he disappeared from sight, Matt saw as Abby completely sagged in herself.
"Everything okay?" Matt asked her, stepping into the room and shutting the door.
Abby nodded, but Matt saw a tear from her cheek, he stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Wanna talk?" he asked her. Abby looked up at him.
"Its nothing, just Connor being…Connor. He can be such a stubborn idiot at times" she finished feebly. Matt let the silence fall over them; he wasn't really sure what to say. Thankfully, Abby broke it.
"I just don't understand why Connor idolizes Burton so much" Abby eventually said. Matt shook his head.
"I didn't realise" Matt said to her.
"Come on, your telling me you haven't seen the way he follows him around like a lost puppy?" Abby said.
"Okay, maybe a little" Matt said, this made Abby smile slightly.
"I don't trust him Matt" Abby said, looking Matt in the eye.
"Who, Connor?" Matt asked her.
"Philip, he's up to something and he's using the ARC to cover his tracks" Abby said, just Lester's voice filled the room.
"Would all core-field team members please report to the main Hub" then there was silence.
"Come on, we can continue this later if you want" Matt said to her, Abby smiled.
"Thanks Matt" Abby said to him, and then the two of them left the office.
When they reached the main Hub, they found Lester standing in front of the ADD console. As Matt and Abby walked in, they heard footsteps behind them; Abby turned around and saw Connor, who completely ignored them.
"With the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, would someone mind telling me where our Head of Security, Field Co-ordinator and Press Officer are?" Lester said. The three of them stood in silence and looked at Lester.
"Well?" he snapped impatiently, crossing his arms.
"I have no idea" Connor said to Lester, who looked at Matt and Abby, who both shook their heads.
"Oh, so that's all right then. Three key personnel are missing, and without tracking units…but that's fine" Lester said, looking at the three remaining team members.
"I'm on it" Connor said, walking over to the ADD and sitting down, almost immediately, his head almost sunk lower then the bench. Abby who had been watching him, laughed and even Matt grinned a little.
"Not funny" Connor said, turning around to face them, adjusting the seat height. He then set to work typing on the keyboard, trying to find the others.
xxxxx
Philips car pulled into the ARC's underground car park; he got out and walked towards the ARC's main exit. He checked his pockets to make sure he had everything he would need.
Walking through the ARC's corridors, his mobile beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen- two words filled the screen.
TARGET NEUTRALIZED
Smiling at the phone, Philip knew that nothing was going to get in the way of New Dawn, walking into the Main Hub, he found Connor sitting at the ADD, typing away. Abby and Matt were sat round a laptop watching a live news report. Philip walked towards them, just as someone on the news started talking.
"We are live at the City Telephone Exchange where a car bomb has been denoted outside the building. Details are vague at the moment, but from what we can tell, nobody has been injured as the exchange was closed due to repairs. The front entrance to the building has been severely damaged. The police want to question anyone in the area at the time of the incident" then the footage changed to a video of a burning pick-up truck being extinguished by a team of firefighters.
"Matt, I found the tracking unit for the missing pick-up" Connor said slowly, turning round to face Matt and Abby.
"Well" Matt said impatiently "Where is it then?" he said. Connor didn't turn back to the screens.
"Its parked outside the City Telephone Exchange" he said simply. Matt and Abby both stared at him, even Philip did a double as he walked towards Lester's office.
"Are you sure Connor?" Matt said, standing and walking to the ADD, Abby was right behind him.
"Yes I'm sure, why does everyone always ask me that?" Connor snapped, without waiting for a reply, he carried on "it's been parked there for the past forty seven minutes" Connor said, looking at the screen and typing on the keyboard.
"You're telling me one of the ARC vehicles is now a smoldering wreck?" Philip chipped in.
"I can show you" Conner said, pulling up the CCTV footage. They heard Lester walk through the Hub and over to the ADD.
"So, have we found our runaway staff then?" Lester said to them.
Philip and Matt stood apart and let Lester see the ADD screen, the four of them stood waiting for Connor to press the play button.
"When your ready" Abby said.
"Sorry…just trying to build the atmosphere" he said, and his lips curved ever so slightly. He then pressed the play button.
They watched on the screen as Becker and Jenny leaned against the pick-up, then from the right hand part of the screen, they saw a figure run towards the pick-up. Abby immediately saw it was Jess, they watched as the three of them stepped away from the pick-up and stand next to a grass clearing. They had a short conversation before Becker moved towards the pick up; he then looked over to the right, before turning round. Something shot across the screen and the five of them watched as Becker kneelt down before standing up and pushing Jenny out of the way and dive to the ground with Jess in his arms, then there was a flash of light from the pick-up and they saw flames and smoke fill the air.
"Enough" Lester said, Connor stopped the video and numbly turned around.
"Are they…" Abby said quietly.
"Right, Connor track them down, find out where the hell they are. Abby, Matt, find out everything you can about why they were there. Philip, why don't yo- oh, what are you doing here?" Lester said.
"I needed a quick word with Conner actually" he said, looking towards the ADD where Conner was sat,
"Cant it wait?" Lester said "As you can see, we are in the middle of an emergency" he finished impatiently.
"I can see that James, but this is rather important" Philip said, just as Connor stood up.
"I'm running a security check through the CCTV database, we should have the results in five minutes" Connor said to Lester, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, fine, I want you back here as soon as the results come through" Lester said, turning around and walking to his office.
Philip and Connor left the Main Hub and walked down one of the corridors. Abby looked at Matt and simply shook her head.