Chapter 8- Field Trip
The debris and rumble in the apartment made Madison wondered what happen. One minute it was in perfect condition, well glued together from the bang up shape before, and now it looked like a bomb went off in it, literally. She saw her partner going through the debris on the floor examining several empty bullet shells as the same investigation team previously was baffled examining the same apartment again.
"Ellison I leave you alone for a day and this happens."
Ellison looked around and saw his partner standing in the doorway. She was puzzled and curious analyzing the damage.
"I tried calling you on your cell phone and at the office." Ellison handed her a bullet shell.
"I was out of the state. I had to answer a few questions from our boss." Madison replied looking over the bullet.
"Conley?"
"No, actually the boss that runs this country."
"Well while you were having fun, men come out of a black van with weapons and stormed the place, explosion, gun fire, running and you got yourself a movie scene." Ellison said still baffled himself.
However, a clear image of John Connor and Seen flashed in his mind as this changed everything of approaching their suspect in general. He had to be careful on the next move he made or he would lead more lives in jeopardy from the machine. It was one thing his conscious couldn't endure again.
"I think we should find the girl," Ellison continued. "Judging from what I've seen she's in some kind of trouble and can't go to the authorities or she might end up dead. She's hiding something. Though the situation was contained, it could have ended badly."
Madison slyly smiled at him as if she got Ellison on board of what she was truly trying to find.
"Then let's find her." She said as things were starting to move in motion according to her plans.
The sleepless machine that has traveled back and forth through time to kill his target John Connor, Cromartie, walked on a porch examining the premises of a house. Not hearing movement from within the home, he assumed the FBI agent James Ellison wasn't present inside. Using his strength, he forced the door open and walked into the house, while closing the door behind him.
He scanned the house thoroughly as there was no threat present. Cromartie saw files of paper spread out on the living room table as he walked towards it. Since John Connor trail was cold, Ellison was his only chance in finding him. He noticed Ellison was a good tracker himself in finding people, using his FBI status to help him. It was the reason why Cromartie still kept the identity to fool the humans around him in providing information he needed without much resistance.
Coming into the living room, Cromartie saw the case files much clearer. Sarah Connor files, his killing spree a few weeks ago, strange incident reports over seas and a picture clipped to a red folder was among the files. His vision zoomed in on the material immediately as he began analyzing the information.
The particular picture on the red folder caught his interest deeply as this was what he needed in finding his target. Actually, this was to insure Skynet wouldn't be destroyed in the long run. A young girl's picture displayed on his screen mode as he went through his data files of future Resistance Fighters Skynet acquired. The alias named said Sergeant Seen Watanabe. Under her picture listed her background information next to it which was mostly unknown in a few areas on his data file on the teenager. He looked into the red folder having an application file of ITT Technology School inside it. It was no use in taking anything else as Cromartie took the folder and walked out of the house. He still needed Ellison alive to believe he's doing the right thing in finding the Connors. It was his alternative plan if Seen's trail ended up cold.
Late in getting herself ready for the day, Sarah put on a faded marble shirt covering up the many wounded scares on her body she obtain in the past months. A handgun and a clip were on her dresser next to the car keys. She picked up the gun and slid the clip inside it. She walked over to her bed and placed the gun under her pillow. Having it under her body every night made her sleep better. Sometime it even kept her horrifying dreams at bay as well.
Coming into the main hallway upstairs, Sarah looked to her right seeing the only room lit in the house. Since Derek wasn't around it was Seen and her by themselves as they haven't said anything to each other since last night events that involved her son. Sarah wondered was she too strict towards the girl. Who was she kidding; her maternal instinct was starting to kick in again in thinking that thought. She had to be the rule enforcer or the young girl was going to get everybody killed in the house. How did the girl become a Sergeant if she disobeyed orders like this in the future? Sarah shrugged her shoulders about that thought and walked pass the door.
About to head towards the bathroom, she saw something that grabbed her attention as she turned back around suddenly. Silently, she walked in front of the doorway watching Seen at a desk looking in the yellow book then at her laptop screen repeatedly. She took out a pen and circled an address as four more circles were previously already on the page.
Curious, as she looked at a map on the wall circled as well of L.A., Sarah had to say something as it looked like the new member on the team was going to do something without her consent, again.
A soft knock was heard on the door as Sarah entered the room. The young girl didn't look into her direction concentrated on her objective.
"I'm making some sandwiches for lunch, you want one?" Sarah asked fully entering the room to figure out what the girl was doing.
"Yes." Seen answered still focused on her work.
From her body language, Sarah knew the young girl was going to do something that involved somebody in the house. She better ask now then find out later and be surprised. It was like playing a mind game with her, Sarah thought.
"What are you doing anyway?" Sarah asked as she lingered over to the bed in the middle of the room and sat down. She wasn't leaving until she got a full answer from her.
"Getting us equipment," Seen replied. "No offense, you guys have nothing here that I can work with."
The yellow book and the circling on the map, kind of explained what Seen was doing as Sarah started to piece the puzzle together. Although it all seem good when she said it, but how was she going to acquire this equipment. Did she have a secret stash of cash hidden some place unknown to her?
"Where's Lt. Reese?" Seen asked as she finally looked at John's mother.
She smirked as it was comical hearing his name being said in a formal manner. "You can call him Derek. If were going to be invisible to Skynet, you can't call him Lt. Reese in public. However, I sent him on an errand."
"Interesting," Seen thought and then looked at her watch. "John's done from school at 2:45 right?"
Sarah glanced at her oddly as the red flags went up in her mind. "Yes…Why?"
Seen smiled as she closed the yellow book. "Perfect."
Shaking his Snapple juice he got from the vending machine, John was at a table in the cafeteria by himself as he opened it up and started to drink it. Upon drinking the juice, John glanced around his surroundings like a surveillance camera. Since Cromartie paid a visit to his school before he had to stay alert. While doing his daily surveillance of the cafeteria, he spotted his friend coming towards him as he smiled at her.
"Hey." John said placing his drink on the table.
"Hey," Riley sat down with her food tray and looked at John curious. "Are you okay?"
"About what?"
"Your disappearance act you pulled yesterday. Your sister was looking for you." Riley said concerned as John left her at Wendy's and never came back to school.
"Sorry, I had to do something important which had to be done. Sorry if I left you hanging." John smirked, hoping that answer would be enough.
"No problem," Riley said moving her food around on her plate. "So I hear you're smart at math. Want to help me with it?"
"Well…" John gave her an unsure look wondering if that was a good idea. He had to be careful not to endanger her life if things hit the fan again just like yesterday.
Riley saw his expression. "Come on. Meet at the library after school. I bet Mrs. Fields would be happy to see students there for once."
She chuckled as John was amused by her comment in school student visiting the library which was rare these days. If the place was still on school grounds then it would be fine for him in general.
"Sure." John finally gave in.
"Alright then cool." Riley smiled at him and then dug into her lunch.
John watched her as he was starting to like Riley more then just a friend. He hasn't felt this way for a girl in a long time. He just hoped his all ready determined future career choice in life doesn't affect his relationship with her. He wanted to keep it a secret as possible.
Observing the area confused, Sarah looked at the teenage girl in front of her picking up a comic book at a newsstand. She wasn't sure what Seen's fascination about comic books was, but now she understood Cameron words about her habits ending her in trouble. Did Seen drag her out of the house to pick up comic book or was it something else, which confused Sarah to no end with the girl's behavior.
"Why are we at a newsstand?" Sarah finally asked.
Amazed like a child opening a Christmas gift, Seen picked up the new addition to one of her favorite comic books she has been following.
"The new Justice League comes out tomorrow. He has it a day early." Seen smiled at her as she began to read the first page.
Sarah looked at her oddly forgetting that the girl was a hardcore Resistance Fighter. The way Seen's been acting in front of her, maybe the past great life have effected her more then she thought.
"I thought that was a cover to blend in with your coworkers, which actually makes you standout even more. Girls don't read comic books or fix a broken register in less then a minute." Sarah stated about her obscure previous behavior.
Curious and confused, Seen looked at Sarah. "Why not?"
"Because they normally don't. They read Teen and Glamour Magazine, go to the mall, hang out with friends, see a movie…teenager stuff." Sarah explained.
"Wow…that sounds boring to me," said Seen and then went back to her reading. "It's not my fault anyway. John got me into comic books when I was twelve. For some unknown reason he had five laying around his bunker and decided to show it to me. I liked reading them after that. They showed different versions the artist drew the sky. When I kept reading them over and over again I started to understand the message behind the chapter each story had."
Seen quickly glanced across the street at a Radio Shack store then back at Sarah to not alert her.
"Superman is my favorite comic book hero," Seen continued. "He comes from a different world, knowing he's different with powers that can destroy the earth and he decides to use them for good, knowing this isn't his true home world. But he adopted it as his own and to bring hope to humans. Gotta like a fiction character like that."
Seen gives the woman a slight smile and then looked over at a Radio Shack building again seeing shipment being hauled into the store's loading dock.
"This is perfect."
"What's perfect?" Sarah asked because last time she heard that it ended her at the newsstand, which she thought was a waste of time.
"You'll see." Seen answered.
Turning off a bathroom faucet, John wiggled his hands a little and got a paper towel. He looked at himself in the mirror and smirked hoping the day will end well. He balled up the paper towel and threw it in the trash can as if it was a basketball net.
Walking out of the bathroom, he turned to his right but was startled who was in his path. Her quiet movements irk him that almost made his heart jump out of his chest. He prayed she would stop that when she was around him. Around his mother and uncle it was fine getting amusement out of it, but around him no.
"How long you've been standing there?" John asked his protector.
"Not that long." Cameron responded monotone as they began to walk in the school hallway.
"You don't have to follow me everywhere you know. After awhile…it's kind of disturbing."
"Since your last disappearance, I have to watch you better or I'll get yelled at again." Cameron said as this also indicated Seen's taking the fall for him yesterday as well.
John exhaled forgetting to apologies for making her worry. It was wrong for him and Cameron didn't deserve hearing the lashing from his mother of his disappearance.
"Look," John looked at his protector. "I'm sorry about that, but I really don't need to be watched all the time. I can take care of myself."
"Can you?" Cameron said and opened the library door. She walked inside first as John was still thinking about her answer. It was a question he asked himself over and over again, unsure if it would be answered when the time comes.
He followed behind his protector seeing Cameron walk over to the far corner towards another table sitting away from John and his friend. It was John's idea and Cameron didn't object as long as he was visible for her to watch. He knew Cameron scared Riley yesterday and helping her with her math work while his protector was watching wasn't going to get anything done.
John saw Riley at a table already into her homework as he walked over to her. He sat down, pulling his chair closer to the table.
"I'm having trouble with this problem. The answer I got is not what the back of the book have." Riley said.
"Sure, let me see." John said as he moved in closer to better see the problem. He cleared his throat feeling nervous being this close to her as Riley noticed it. She didn't want him to feel awkward as she tried to ignore it and paid attention to the math problem.
This close encounter caught the attention of Cameron as her head titled to the side. Analyzing the close human contact between the two teenagers, Cameron was curious from John's reaction. Even from her position she could see his discomfort. She wondered why. He acted like Morris when he was around her. Nervous, excited but feeling encourage to talk to her. What was it? Then Cameron came up with a quick answer and blamed it on genetics as Sarah would say.
A loud noise hit the ground as Cameron quickly glanced behind her. Unsure of the noise, she stood up and walked towards the sound, investigating what it was. She came to the literature section labeled B6 on the tall bookshelves as Cameron saw the librarian Mrs. Fields, an elderly lady, drop a pile of books on the ground. Standing at the front of the ale, Cameron gazed at the old woman as she saw her touch her back squinting a little in pain. Quickly, Cameron analyzed the woman's posture as she took in account of her age.
"Are you okay?" Cameron asked staring at the woman.
The librarian saw the young girl and gave her a kind smile. "Yes, yes my dear girl. I'm fine. I'm not as young as I use to be."
She bent down and started to pick up the books she accidentally dropped on the ground. Not sure why, or what forced her to take this action, Cameron walked over and helped out the old lady. They both gathered the books as Cameron had more in her hand than the old lady.
"You're a sweet heart dear, thank you." Mrs. Fields said as Cameron gave the books to her.
Cameron wasn't sure if that was a good idea handing over those books as she looked liked she had some trouble with them. The same event could occur again in dropping the books. It was a high possible chance that Cameron analyzed from the librarian's old age.
"You shouldn't handle books. There not good for your back. If you keep going like this you can permanently damage the tissue muscles around your spinal cord that would leave you paralyzed in a use of a cane, walker or wheelchair as your age progress." Cameron told the librarian from the diagnostics she acquired in studying her briefly.
The librarian stared at Cameron from her comment and then smiled.
"I see we have a future doctor coming out of this school," said Mrs. Fields entertained by Cameron's words. "It maybe a grueling job but somebody has to do it."
She winked at the teenage girl as Cameron gave her a blank stare. Was being a librarian that horrible, Cameron thought.
"Besides," Mrs. Fields continued. "Books are my life. They bring so much imagination, creativity and knowledge…something most teenagers these days don't care much about unless it's video games."
"If video games are replacing books, why do you still do your job? They'll be no purpose." Cameron said wanting to understand her determination.
The librarian looked at the teenage girl curious about her question.
"Just because children are using something else to occupy their time instead of books, you get a few who just want to read for their own enjoyment. Those few will need somebody there to guide them. And there I will be to help as best as I can." Mrs. Fields smiled at the inquisitive girl.
Cameron analyzed and stored the information in her database. Now she understood the reason why the old lady still pursues her profession despite her health problems. She glanced at John through the bookshelves seeing him help Riley with her homework. What John told her about taking care of himself; it would mean he didn't need her protection anymore when that time truly comes. Could she be like the old lady, when she becomes replaced by something else like his independence? It was a question she couldn't answer. In truthfully, it was a question she didn't want to be answered.
The Librarian saw the teenager in deep thought as she saw what her eyes was glancing at.
"Do you want to help me a little? I can show you some good books to read along the way?" Mrs. Fields asked with enjoyment.
Thinking about her request, she had nothing to do. It would keep John in her sight, and she wanted to know the three principles she spoke about in reading books.
"Yes." Cameron finally answered.
"Good then, I'll show you how to put the book away from the numbers on the books."
Mrs. Fields come out of the ale and went to her cart placing the books in her hands on it. She went to a different category of books and showed Cameron how to place the books in their proper place as Cameron carefully focused on the specific directions on doing the little task she asked to achieve.
John saw his protector not at her table as he straightened up in his chair. He prayed she didn't do anything as now she was playing the disappearing game. Then his eyes looked in the west direction and saw his protector interacting with the librarian. Intriguing and puzzled, he found it odd what she was doing.
For most of the entire time in the library, John found it interesting watching Cameron putting the books away. He wondered what made her do this. He defiantly knew this wasn't part of her program as he was her main objective. Was it out of kindness? Did Cameron actually understand the meaning of the word kindness? He wanted to know why as this deviated his focus on his math homework and entirely on his protector the entire time.
Taking public transportation home was quiet as John wanted to ask Cameron about her work at the library. He noticed she checked out four books on her new library card as he wondered what type of books caught her interest. Was it politics, computer science, literature, art, war or science fiction? Thinking about this he wasn't sure when did this struck his interest to know what Cameron was doing in her off time. If he didn't tell her to sit away from them he wouldn't be racking his brain about this pointless interest he found in her.
John cleared his throat as they were walking up the driveway. "So, how was your new job?"
"Job?" Cameron asked unsure the meaning of his word if he was her job.
"Yeah, with Mrs. Fields. I thought that was nice of you helping her put the books away. But why did you do it?"
"I wanted to understand what she was saying about books."
Confused, John slowed his pace unsure what that comment meant. To him Cameron was a book of riddles. Figuring her out took more time than normally talking to a human.
Upon coming to the house, John acknowledged a white miniature truck parked in the driveway as he walked up the steps wondering who was at the house.
Both John and Cameron came into the house as John announced they were home. Stepping into the home, John noticed the entire day his mother didn't call him, not once. Either she was not worried about him, which would be a first, or his mother and uncle are doing something illegal.
They walked into the living room and saw his mother, uncle and the new member of the group dressed in black clothing with certain breaking in entering tools laid out on the table. Illegal, John thought to himself.
"Where are you guys going, to rob a bank?" John asked sarcastically.
"I wish," answered Seen placing a miniature flashlight in one of her pants pockets on her leg. "We're robbing different Radio Shacks and small PC stores."
"Why?" John asked baffled.
"Because it's time for the public to care about their future by helping us out." Seen gleefully smiled at him and walked away.
On a nightstand, Seen picked up a small black bag, opened the front door and walked out followed by Derek.
"You coming?" Sarah asked and followed the others.
At a complete loss, John looked at his protector as she shrugged her shoulder unsure what Seen meant herself, and followed the group out the door. As John always told himself, it was never a dull minute in the Connor family.
The team was divided as Sarah and Derek was in their Dodge truck across the street while Cameron, Seen and John was in the white truck pulled up behind the Radio Shack building loading dock.
"Why can't we just hit one Radio Shack?" John asked not understanding Seen's logic.
"Because it will bring too much attention. They won't know the equipment is gone from their stock until next month. Besides certain places don't have what I need. It's a perfect job." Seen explained as she stepped out of the truck.
This signaled Derek and Sarah to come out of the vehicles and headed towards the back of the store.
Cameron went onto the loading pad and saw the lock at the bottom of the garage door. She bent down.
"Now we should be careful…" Seen paused her sentence when she heard clinging noise behind her.
Using one hand relying on her superior strength, Cameron lifted the garage door over her head breaking the lock in the process.
"…About opening the door because of the silent alarm." Seen finished her sentence as she looked at Cameron bizarre.
Cameron saw her expression and then went into the loading dock as she was surrounded by boxes. Oddly, the others looked at John's protector as she was supposed to wait for Seen's signal.
"Turn off the alarm." Sarah instructed.
Following her orders, Seen went into the loading dock and walked towards the alarm system.
She was companied by John as her back support. He pulled out an electronic screw driver from his pocket to open the alarm pad. Once done, wires hung out as Seen attached red and blue wires that were hooked up to a small devices, the size of a barcode shipping scanner she brought along that could crack any code in under a minute. Waiting, the number showed up on the screen as Seen tapped the numbers in quickly as the silent alarm was turned off.
"Easy." Seen smiled.
Hurrying her actions, she took the devices attached to the wires as John placed the alarm pad back on.
Seen took out a few papers from inside her jacket. She looked around the stock room as she saw barcode numbers on each box that caught her attention. This would make their job easier and faster given the time they had.
"Okay look for these specific barcodes on the boxes," said Seen as she handed the group their separate task. Seen glanced at her watch. "We have fifteen minutes before the cops make there next rounds around the block. We don't want them to get suspicious of two trucks sitting outside a deserted street."
Quickly and not sparring time, they all started to search for the barcode numbers. Using her quick scanning in her view mode, Cameron found her first item which was a rectangular large box four foot in height. Next to it was her second item in a smaller box. She staked the small box on top of the big box and then lifted both item with ease as it would have taken a moving fork lift to move her first item. Walking outside, Cameron placed the items inside the truck.
Throughout the entire night until the early morning as sunrise began to interrupt their shopping spree, Sarah and the others were done in the nick of time that Seen calculated. The supplies they need were all being loaded off the truck and into the house. The big question Sarah wanted to know, what the engineer was going to do with all of the new technology equipment. Maybe she should have asked her before the job started. Sarah was still impressed they didn't run into any complications during the whole night. That was a first and most likely the only time in their life that will happen.
In the basement, as everybody was still running on no sleep, except Cameron, they started to work on connecting the computer equipment together as Seen and John directed Sarah and Derek where everything went. Derek mostly stuck with placing the wires around the basement walls using a staple gun to secure them in place to not let them lay all over the floor.
This entire process lasted three hours as John and Cameron weren't even thinking of going to school today. Actually it was up to John as Cameron could care less about education she already knew. The dictionary and encyclopedia became her favorite bedtime books to read when patrolling the house at night.
Rubbing her eyes as she came up the steps from the basement, Sarah went into the kitchen. Trying not to fall over from sleep depravation, Sarah reached the top of the refrigerator and grabbed the coffee mix can. She began preparing a fresh batch of coffee as she hope it would keep her awake to finish the task before the afternoon.
She saw Derek in the living room looking more a handy man with his tool belt around his hip. Walking over to the window passed Derek's position; she saw Seen and John outside looking directly above studying the roof of the house. Not sure what they were saying, Sarah knew it had to be about the equipment they acquired on their small trip.
"Is this going to help us stop Skynet?" Sarah asked.
"That's what she said. If not we can sell the stuff on EBay and make some cash," said Derek as Sarah gave him an odd look. "That was her exact words."
Sarah smirked shaking her head of Seen's unusual behavior. If Seen said she was from the future trying to prevent an apocalyptic war from happening, nobody would believe her from her immature actions. Psychiatrist would label her a pathological liar and place her in a mental hospital. If it wasn't for Derek and Cameron, she would of thought Seen was a pathological liar and overheard about the future from hacking into her files when she was in a mental institution. Sarah learned in this world, humans are always unpredictable in wanting attention.
Whatever Sarah thought about the teenager so far, Seen have been amusing to watch and a headache to control.
"It surprises me. That girl acts like a kid sometimes." Sarah stated.
"What are you kidding, she's still a kid." Derek chuckled as he placed a hammer in one of his tool belt ring that kept the hammer in place.
Puzzled, Sarah looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"She's sixteen." Derek smirked and walked away heading upstairs to his room.
Dumbstruck, Sarah stared at the ceiling baffled.
Cameron walked down the steps heading out the door to give John a screw driver.
"Cameron," said Sarah as this paused the machine's movements. "How old is Seen?"
"Human terms Seen's sixteen." Cameron replied and continued her path in heading outside.
"No wonder why you lie." Sarah mumbled pointing her comment towards Cameron. She looked outside at Seen one last time and then went upstairs.
Coming into Cameron and Seen's bedroom, Sarah looked around the flower painted room from the pervious owner daughter's design and went to the closet. She remembered that black duffle bag yesterday and took it out. She laid it on the bed, unzipped it and grabbed the first object that touched her fingers.
The first object was a passport. Curious, Sarah picked up another passport and then three more. She opened each one as they had Seen's picture but with different last names and age range. She picked up five drivers license from different states, birth certificates, social security cards as all of them were legit just like their fake papers. She wondered who her supplier was.
"This girl is all over the place." Sarah said baffled and surprised. When did Seen come to 2007? She knew it had to been months before meeting them. It would explain her intelligence gathering of this time, or there store robbery plan wouldn't have work so easily.
Shifting through the ID's, Sarah picked out one that matched Seen's actually age. The name read Seen Manhattan. Another weird name that matched her insane mind, Sarah thought. However, she thought of an idea to keep the engineer out of trouble just like her son.