We raced back home and thankfully, Ana wasn't already there when we returned. We pretended to look busy as she walked through the door with Roc. "Hey guys," Ana said cheerfully.
"Don't say anything," Bree muttered hastily. "Hey Ana, how was the movie?"
"It was good. Right, Roc?"
"Yeah, it was great…Look I'll see you later, okay, Ana?" he said.
"Sure," she said with a smile.
"You guys still working on finding our mole?" Roc asked.
"Yep," I said. "It'll probably take us all night to narrow it down. But we will let you know if we find something."
"Okay, bye bye," he said and closed the door behind him. "I'm going to go take a shower," Ana said quickly and left the room. I sighed.
"That was a close one," Bree said. "PC, you don't have to worry…Ana's a big girl; she can take of herself."
"You're right," I said. "Perhaps we shouldn't do that again…We have enough drama on our hands as it is."
"I agree…what's the next name?"
"Felp."

We went through the entire list of names and just as I had guessed it was taking us all night to narrow it down.
It was almost 5:00 in the morning when Bree said, "I can't look at this screen anymore."
I rubbed my eyes. "Come on, how many do we have left?"
Bree leaned against me and held the list away from her face. "10…I think."
"Great," I yawned. "We can get through ten more names…right?"
"I don't….know…." Bree said her eyes half lidded. I yawned again and had a hard time keeping my eyes open. "Maybe we should …take…a break." Bree said sleepily.
"Good idea…" We were out like lights on a Christmas tree.

I had had a wonderful time at the movies. There is nothing like spending time with someone you find really special. It was great until the very end when we heard the sound of glass breaking, when we kissed. We looked all around and Roc was braced, ready to protect me. When second crawled by, and nothing happened. Roc suggested that we head home. I asked him about his safety and he said that he would be alright, but he told me PC was kill him if something happened to me. How sweet. I had no doubt that PC would have done something terrible to Roc if he had gotten me hurt. That night I had a sweet dream; no Eraser appeared and killed everyone. The next morning I woke up and there was no sound or smell of food. I got dressed to make sure everything was okay, with PC and Bree. They were in the living room, sleeping on the couch, one propped against the other for support. They must've been up all night, practically until they couldn't work anymore. For once I decided to make breakfast…going through cupboards I got my ingredients together and started. Once those two were fed, I could go and see Roc.

Jeb stood on the observation deck, looking down at the white walled room below. His arms were tucked neatly behind his back as he watched the latest experiment in progress.
Suddenly Ari came into the room and said "Hey dad, there are some people here."
"Isn't Kane supposed to inform me of visitors?" Ari was silent; he hated his dad favoring everyone else but him.
"I decided to …um…tell you personally."
Jeb gave him a quaint smile, "Okay then, show them in." Ari growled and nodded. A few minutes later, John and Lee Ann Skynard entered the room.
"Jeb, we are running out of patience. Have you found out about our daughter?" Lee Ann said cutting away the small talk instantly.
"It is taking a while, Mr. and Mrs. Skynard, but we are working our hardest to recover your son and daughter." He replied turning his attention to the observation room below. "Mr. Batchelder, you want Max…do you not?" Mr. Skynard asked.
"Yes?"
"Well, then get our children back; the operation cannot proceed without one of them."
"I understand completely, but your son, Seth, has been difficult to track. But rest assured that each day we grow closer to finding him and you daughter."
Abruptly, Kane arrived with a phone in her hand. "I'm sorry for the interruption, but there is a call for you." Jeb beckoned for the phone.
"Hello?...a,h how are you?...good, good…what news do you have for me?...uh huh?...Oh?" a smile crept across Jeb's face and he looked at the Skynard's out of the corner of his eye….

Reynard: I sat in front of my computer in the dark of my room, which was a lousy apartment, located in the basement of the complex. I couldn't complain because I had picked the room myself and for a specific purpose. From this basement was a small tunnel system I had dug myself. In case my location was compromised for some reason, I could get out without difficulty. It was fitting…a fox hole for a fox hybrid. Get it? Anyways, my main task in the Network was to maintain our database. As you probably already know, most of our information is transferred via bird and we barely use technology for anything. But anyways the database is a collection of all the Network members, their current locations and status in the group. I take great pride in my skills as a computer whiz and hacker. I was sitting in my room leaning back in the chair with a cupcake in my mouth and the songs on my CD player pounding into my ears. I was rocking out as usual, when a beeping noise came from the computer that took up most of the space on my desk. The soft beeping cut through the screaming voices and screeching guitars of my music. I moaned and turned off the player to check out the problem. I lazily moved my swift fingers across my keyboard. At first I thought there was glitch in the system something minor that could easily be fixed, I went through the motions with the lightening quick jabs of my fingertips. But the error didn't seem to stop and beeping continued incessantly. I grumbled and stuffed the remainder of the cupcake into my mouth. "What the hell…" I muttered, between chewing. I brought both hands to the keyboard and began to investigate… "Hello?" I said musically. "You're a sneaky one." The problem wasn't a glitch, but a hacker. Someone was trying to access the database. I typed in a few commands to block him. "Ha! I eat guys like you for breakfast," I said with a grin. I typed in a couple more commands and put my headphones back on and began jamming again….when the computer started beeping. "You little…you don't give up do you." Suddenly commands and overrides were being entered at an alarming rate. "Surprising," I muttered. I began to pull out every trick I had learned, I wasn't about to get washed up by some amateur, but this amateur some how became an expert in a matter of seconds. My heart was racing as the situation was becoming dangerously critical. The person was tearing up the system and doing more damage faster than I knew how to counter. Then the pixels on computer scrambled, like a jar of spilt confetti. I mouthed a curse word and reached for my cell phone that I rarely used and dialed. The phone rang and rang but no one was answering. "Pick up! Pick up!" I shouted.
"Hullo?..."
"PC ! What are you doing taking a nap?" There was a yawn on the phone.
"Something like that….What's wrong?"

I stood in the living room, light pouring in through the open window. Bree was going through the last of the names. Reynard sounded frantic and exasperated, two emotions that he hardly used in combination.
"What's wrong?" I asked, getting nervous. I heard key strokes and then a beep. "Someone has hacked the database."
"Ho—."
"I don't know how! My computer just crashed, I've got to reboot the system and find out what the heck he or she did."
"How long do you think that will take?"
"I dunno, a few minutes…hours…worst case scenario a couple of days."
"Any idea who might've done it?"
"No clue…Do you think that if I knew that, I would've told you by now! It's safe to say it was our mole that we have yet to find." I was silent and sighed heavily.
"This is bad."
"Ya, think."
"But this maybe the lead that we need to find our mole a lot faster. Bree and I have been searching through profiles and the like and haven't come up with many suspects. Don't all hackers leave some kind of trail?"
"Yes, but that will depends…some can hide that rail very effectively."
"So could you possibly trace the trail back to the hacker?"
"Theoretically yes... But like I said before, it will all depend on how well this person was able to cover their tracks. Once I have more information, I'll call you. In the main time…be cautious if you log onto the internet on any computers. This hacker might be looking for you, PC. Don't do anything stupid."
"Alright."
"You and Bree, be careful, I have a feeling something bad is going to happen and soon. They're closing in on us, man."
"Don't remind me," I muttered. "Do what you can Reynard and let me know."
"Right." There was click and he was off the line. I hung up the phone and threw myself on the couch and covered my face with one hand.
"What's the matter?" I looked at Bree wearily. "We're in trouble…someone has hacked our database."
Bree's eyes widened. "That's impossible; no one can get past Reynard or the security we put on that thing."
"Well, apparently this someone did. Reynard believes this hacker may be trying to locate me."
"What are we going to do?"
"There is nothing we can do at the moment; it's all up to Reynard, right now. All we can do is go through our list of suspects and send it out. I hate to think about this…but we may have to relocate and set this place ablaze."
Bree frowned. "What about Ana? She's not going to like this."
"She'll just have to deal with it…But of course, we will only have to do that if Reynard can't pull us through."
"PC! Bree!" Ana called. "Breakfast is ready."
"Comin'," I shouted in reply and the two of us got up and headed for the kitchen.
Ana's cooking wasn't so bad; though she obviously didn't know how to cook eggs, but everything else turned out reasonably good.
"Ana," I said. "We need to talk to you…before you go running off." A flash of concern showed in her eyes. "Someone has just hacked our database. We don't know what they were looking for or how they got in. But from now on, be extra vigilant, okay?"
"Okay," she replied and got up collecting everybody's plates. Bree and I went back to the living room and finished our work.
It took half the day, but we managed to narrow down the list to three suspects, Felp, who worked with Mercy, Alani, who worked with Olga and lastly Kin, who worked with Reynard on occasion. Reynard usually preferred to work alone. We sent birds out with the list of names to the Ghosts that were far away.
"I'm going into town to take this list to Roc," Bree said.
"Do you want me to come?" I asked.
"No, this will only take a minute or two…you can clean up our little mess and start searching for safe houses…pick something cool," she said and then dashed out of the room leaving a small gust of wind in her wake. I sighed and looked at the mess we had made. Puff the pigeon fluttered into the room and landed on the arm of the couch. I looked down at him. He cooed and looked up at me with those small expectant pigeon eyes. "What are you staring at?"…..

There is nothing like running at over speeds of 300 mph to get the blood circulating. It's a rush; at least for me. I may not be able to break the sound barrier, but the speed I have gets me to where I need to go. Town was only five minutes away and when I ran to Roc's, the trip was cut down to three. The rubber soles on my shoes screeched as I slowed my speed to arrive at Roc's place, a small one level house, which was towards the outside of the city limits. I knocked on the door and waited, but no one answered.
"He must be out with Ana," I said to myself. I turned to leave when I noticed that the door wasn't closed all the way. I twisted the knob and pushed. The door flew in, to reveal Roc's living room. The house was pretty neat and orderly, just about what I would expect from him. When I lived with Roc, he was a major neat freak. If it weren't for the fact that Roc wasn't much help in preventing PC's supposed assassination, I would have probably moved out anyway. "Hello?" I called, stepping into the entry way. There was no reply. "Well Roc is not the brightest person, now is he." I muttered and walked inside closing the door behind me. I know it's kind of intrusive, but hey I wasn't going to steal anything. I figured I would leave the list and a note. I walked over to Roc's computer, which hummed softly on top of a small desk with a shark screensaver on. The computer generated animals looked realistic with well programmed movements as they swished their tails across the monitor. I flicked the mouse with my finger to see what he was doing. The desktop came up with a few sparse icons and one folder icon. Curiosity was getting the better of me and I clicked on it. My heart stopped as the files of all the Network's members popped up on screen. No one was supposed to have this information but Reynard and me. I felt like I was being watched and looked around the room keeping my ears sharp for any sound of movement. None. It was deathly quiet in the house. I sifted through the papers that were piled neatly on the desk. Most of ithe papers were covered in scribbles of code and a few scratches that resembled words, but I couldn't understand any of it. Turning back to the computer, I reached for my pocket to pull out my cell phone while keeping my eyes locked on the screen. My hand strayed too far and knocked over a pile of library books that sat on my right. I quickly picked them up and stacked them. As I stacked, I read the titles, most of them where guides to hacking. I checked the due dates, they were well over do. "I need to go," I breathed. Suddenly voices were approaching. I quickly closed the file on the computer and looked for a way out. Seeing nothing on hand except the front door, I quickly hid in a closet closest to it. I would have to wait. Of course I didn't know how long Roc would stay but I was prepared to sit for hours if necessary. The door swung open and Roc carried Ana inside. She was laughing with her arms around his neck. I began to control my breathing, slowing it down as much as possible. PC had taught me how to make my breathing so soft that it was barely audible. This skill came in handy when we were constantly on the run. Roc put Ana down on the couch and they continued to chatter.
"Thanks, Roc, I had a good time," she said her face bright. Her innocence made my stomach lurch, she had no idea who Roc really was. Even I was fooled. I never thought he would turn on us.
He sat down beside her and smiled. "Well I'm glad you had a good time…So what do you want to do next?"
Ana thought. "I don't know…I think I should be getting home soon."
"Come on, it's only 4:00. It's not like you have curfew."
"You're right and besides my parents aren't here." She frowned at the thought of her parents and Roc noticed.
He put his arm around her. "You miss them, don't you?"
"Yes, it's not like I don't like hanging out with Bree and PC. I just…want to go back to my old life…I want to see my parents again." There was a mischievous twinkle in Roc's eyes.
"Well, maybe I can find them for you," he said.
Ana smiled. "Really? Could you do that?"
"Sure," he said with a shrug. "I'm pretty good with computers." You filthy little lair. My fingers curled up into fists. I wanted to burst out of the closet and rip Roc a new one. But I couldn't, I'd have to wait. Ana giggled and gave Roc a hug. Then two of them kissed, this one was a little a deeper and emotional than the one we had seen. The air was thick with raging hormones. It was disgusting…After a while I couldn't watch any more. It was the longest kiss I had ever witnessed. After a few minutes the two's lips parted. Roc took her hands in his and said "Come on, I'll take you home."
"Okay," she said softly. The two got up and went back outside. Once I heard their foot steps recede, I opened the closet door again and crushed the list in my fist. I left everything the same way I had and dashed out of the door, anger fueling my speed……

I tested the pasta with a fork as I read some printouts I had made of houses in different states. Cleaning up the living room was a chore and getting rid of all the birds was another hassle. But all in all, I made good time and had started making dinner. I didn't feel like getting too creative, so I stuck with the standard spaghetti and meat sauce. The pasta was still too hard. I absendmindedly stirred the pot and put the lid back on. Housing was getting expensive now n' days. Since we were an underground non-profit organization we didn't have a lot of money to spend. So finding an affordable place to stay would be a challenge.
"PC!" Bree shouted as she barged in. Instantly I sensed that something had happened. "I'm in the kitchen," I said. Bree slumped in the entrance, catching her breath. I put the printouts down and walked toward her.
"What's the matter? What happened?" I asked. Bree held up a finger and got a glass of water.
"Roc is our snitch." I knew that I didn't have a bad feeling for nothing. I was quiet, bottling up my shock and rage and holding on to it tightly.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive; when I went to drop off the list, Roc's door was left open. When I went inside, I saw a bunch of library books on hacking and other papers. I looked on his computer, too, and there was the database."
"But Roc isn't smart enough to hack a computer let alone get passed Reynard and his security"
"That's where you're mistaken. Roc didn't just spontaneously become a computer whiz, all of those books he had were way over-due. It appears to me that he has been practicing and planning this for a while." I paced the kitchen, I wanted to go and wring his two faced neck right then and there…luck for him there was something stopping me.
"Unfortunately we can't do anything yet...If Ana is still with Roc, we will be putting her in danger, if we confront him now. As much as it kills me, we need to stay put and pretend to still be oblivious—."
"PC! Bree! I'm back!" Ana called, as she came through the door. I cast a glance at Bree. "If he's in there, be cool," I muttered.
Bree nodded. "You keep yourself in check too." We walked in and sure enough, Ana and Roc were kissing again in the entry way.
"WELL!" I said, slapping my hands together. "That is the loveliest moment of PDA I've ever seen." The two broke away.
"PDA?" Roc asked, questioningly.
"Public Display of Affection," Bree said with a smile, kicking me in the shin.
"PC, can Roc stay for dinner?" Ana asked.
"Unfortunately Ana, I didn't make enough for four people," I said.
She frowned. "Couldn't you make more?"
"No can do, we ran out of pasta…sorry."….yeah sorry, I ever rescued that feather head boyfriend of yours from Erasers.
"Don't worry about it, Ana. I've got some things to do anyway," he said with a wink. She grinned and nodded. Roc met my eyes and slowly backed out and left. I couldn't help but slam the door behind him.
"Uh, oh!" Bree exclaimed, rushing into the kitchen, one of the pots was overflowing.
"So, Ana, I didn't know you had a mouth to mouth relationship with Roc." She blushed and narrowed her eyes at me.
"That's none of you business," she snapped. I held up my hands defensively.
"Hey, that's fine; no need to get nasty," I said.
"Mind your own business and I won't." She pushed passed me and vanished into her room. I sighed and retreated back to the kitchen. Bree handed me a fork and with a noodle entangled in the tines.
I nibbled on it and said, "It's good."
"So what did you say to her?"
"Nothing, I just told her I didn't know about her mouth to mouth relationship."
Bree smiled grimly. "You know, I was just thinking," she said as she drained the noodles. "About what? Besides the fact that our snitch is dating my sister."
Bree turned around. "How come we don't kiss?"
I shrugged. "I dunno…I think we've been too busy to kiss. You know running for your life doesn't really constitute a proper moment for kissing"
Bree grinned "You have a point there… wanna try it?"
"I don't know, do you?"
"Sure." We shuffled towards each other slowly. The moment was kind of awkward and we were both a little uncomfortable with the whole bit. I guess it would be more meaningful and romantic, if we weren't looking at the whole situation analytically. Slowly we eased ourselves into each other and kissed. After a moment we broke away.
"So, what do you think?" Bree asked, wiping her mouth with her hand.
I licked my lips and frowned. "Kissing is over rated."
Bree cocked her head side ways. "I would have to agree." We returned to business and got food ready to serve. I turned to call Ana, but she was already at the table. We ate dinner in silence. Afterwards, we got Ana to clean the kitchen and retired to living room once again.
"So you ready to go beat the snot out of Roc," Bree asked, keeping her voice down so that Ana wouldn't hear.
"No, not really…We have a lot of work to do first. Tomorrow morning send out your birds. We need everyone to lock up shop and relocate. It might be best if they all meet at the Spot."
"The Spot? Why not go after Roc?" Bree whispered.
"Because we need to take care of our people first. Besides, who knows what will happen once Roc finds out we know. Tomorrow we are keeping Ana here."
"How do you expect her to cooperate with that?"
"I don't …that's why she will be helping us with work tomorrow. That should keep her occupied. Unfortunately we're going to have to torch this place as well."
"Where will we go?"
"We'll just have to wing it, Bree…like we did in Charlington." Bree looked around her home and sighed. "Very well, then."

That night I couldn't sleep. I tried every method from counting sheep to counting backwards from 100…I even changed to my original form. Nothing was working, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Defeated and out of ideas, I wandered to the living room and sat on the couch in the dark for a while. Every time I would close my eyes I would think of a different scenario that could happen tomorrow. It was infuriating. A door opened in the hallway where our rooms were and Ana walked into the living room. She jumped as she saw me.
I waved to her. "What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be in bed?" She cautiously approached me. I moved my tail so that she could sit. Ana didn't meet my eyes.
"…I came to get some water…" she said softly. "Why are you up?"
"I couldn't sleep." I replied stroking my tail in my lap.
"Are mad about me kissing Roc?"
YES. "No," I said. "I'm just restless, that's all."
"Is your fur soft?" Ana asked.
I shrugged "Not really; its kind of coarse and itchy. The fur on my tail is the softest." I plopped it in her lap. Hesitantly, she petted it.
"You're right it is soft."
I smiled and slid it back over to my lap.
"So, why purple fur?"
"I don't know…personally I hate the color, but there is no way for me to change it. So I've learned to live with it among other things."
"Does it hurt to become human?"
" No…well at first it did…it hurt A LOT actually. What's with the twenty questions?" Ana shrugged. "I've just always wanted to ask you that ever since… I saw you that way." "Oh." I nodded and we sat in silence again for a little bit.
"I saw you guys," Ana said finally.
"You saw?... What?"
"You guys kissing."
"What about it?"
"You love Bree don't you?"
"I wouldn't say love…but I REALLY like her."
"Come on PC…really like? Is that all you can say? I saw you guys the night we arrived here. The way you held her, it seemed to me…that your feelings for her go above and beyond just 'like'. "
I flattened my ears. "What do you care?...and by the way, you were spying on us?"

I was sleeping soundly until I heard muffled voices through the walls. I didn't mind because I couldn't sleep. The voices were PC's and Ana's. I put my ear against the wall and listened in.

"Well…yes," she replied. "At first I wasn't…but then I became fascinated... I've never seen two people that fidgety about affection in my entire life."
"That's pretty bold, considering that Roc is your first boyfriend," I said mildly.
"Well at least I know what love is," Ana said hopping off the couch. I rolled my eyes…she thinks she has all the on she's 13 and thinks she knows what love is. HA!...But then again, do I?
I got to my feet. "Ana…there are different kinds of loving…you and Roc have yours and Bree and I have ours. That's all I will say about that." I yawned. "All of this talking has made me tired."
She grasped my sleeve. "PC, listen to your little sister, don't wait to tell Bree that you love her."
I rolled my eyes again "Little sister? You were denying our relation to the grave and now all of a sudden we're related?" I pulled away. "Good night, Ana."
"Did you hear me?"
"Good night Ana."
"Are you mad?"
"Good NIGHT, Ana," I repeated leaving her in the living room. As I went to my room I passed by Bree's door and paused. I looked at one of my paw like hands and changed it to a human one, then put it on the door. Sighing, I mouthed "I love you" and kept on walking…little did I know that Bree was on the other side of the door…doing the same thing….

Chap 83

The next morning, Bree sent out her birds. The Spot, as we mentioned previously, is our last hiding place. If everything fell to pieces and we wouldn't be safe anywhere else. Everyone would report to the Spot, there we would make our last stand. I thought we would never have to use it. But then again I never thought that a lot of things would happen and they did.
"Ana, me and Bree are going to need you today," I said over breakfast.
She stifled a whine and asked "Why?"
"Me and Bree have a lot of stuff to do and we could use the extra help. Is that a problem?"
"Yes," she sharply. I blinked at her. "I want to see Roc."
"Come on Ana would it kill you for one day to stay here? Or do you have something pressing to do in town?"
She averted her eyes, "No not really."
"Alright then, don't fret. It's not like Roc is going to disappear." Not YET anyways.
"Okay," she sighed. I smiled at her and we got to work. Bree pulled out boxes and boxes full of papers and other documents and placed them on the floor of the living room.
"Ana, I need you to divide these into piles. Each of them have a symbol on the corner, just match them up," Bree instructed. She nodded and began to go through the papers. So far she hadn't caught on that something was wrong and I think that was a good thing thus far. I sat down with Bree and we went through the information on her lap top. She told me last night that she didn't want to burn it along with the house, so we were wiping out all incriminating files. After Ana had sorted the documents, Bree pulled out a shredder and told her to shred them all. We broke from lunch and then the trouble started.
"PC? Why are you guys doing this?" Ana asked.
"Because, those papers were collecting dust, we weren't using them, so we decided to do a little clean up that's all."
" No…I'm sure it's more than that. I've been looking at the papers you asked me to shred. All of it is information about the Network."
"So?"
"SO? Tell me what's going on," she said, her voice becoming demanding.
I looked over at Bree; she gave me the look that said 'Your call'. I sighed.
"You don't need to worry about it, Ana."
"That's what you told me, when I asked you about how you were able to jump from high places. You never told me directly that you were some kind of FREAK." I winced at her emphasis on the word.
"There is no need to get mean about it," I said crossing my arms.
"Whatever, if you need me to do more of your office work I'll be at Roc's." Bree moved with a short burst of speed and blocked the entrance. "Move Bree," Ana said. She shook her head and stood her ground.
"What wrong with you guys?"
"Ana, you won't be seeing Roc anymore," I said slowly. I knew this going to end badly.
She turned on me, eyes beginning to fill with anger. "Why not? And sense when did you get the authority to tell me what to do?"
"Roc is the snitch. He's the one that hacked our database and the one responsible for the capture of two other Ghosts. If that is not reason enough for you I don't know what is." She backed away from me. "I can't believe your saying those things…you must've been there the night, I went to the movies with Roc. You were spying on us…. You're..just saying that because you don't like him. "
"That's past now, Ana…what I am telling you is the truth. As for authority I have none but Bree does…this is her house and she decides who stays in and who stays out."
"Truth? That seems to be a term you use very loosely according your friends." she said, her eyebrows knitted together and her tongue sharper than a razor. I growled slightly, but choked it off.
"Jeer at me all you want. You're not leaving this house."
"Who's going to stop me?"
"ME…If I have to."
"Shut up! You're not my parents! PC!" She tried to get passed Bree and I grabbed her arm. "Let me go! Stop it! This isn't fair!"
"Well suck it up…life isn't fair!" I snarled, pulling her down the hall to her room. I tried pushing her in gently, but she grabbed the frame and screamed at me. Slowly I pried her fingers off and slammed the door closed and locked it.
"Let me out!" She screamed. The door vibrated as Ana pounded and kicked it.
"Come on, we've got to finish up and then afterwards, we take care of Roc," Bree said darkly. I sighed and followed her back to the living room, leaving Ana's screams behind me….