Chapter 13

TOBIAS

I wonder why I haven't heard from Zeke in a week. Oh well, I'm sure he will let me know if something comes up. But I am surprised that he hasn't come back over to go back into the landscape. I admit that I was a little worried about it. I wasn't sure I could face another experience like where Tris died in front of me. But he hadn't had that experience. He had started from the dark room. Unless he went in without me?

But then, I hadn't been able to get through to Tris in as many days. I hadn't been able to concentrate enough to see her that way and I hadn't dreamt about her. I didn't want to push my luck in case we weren't able to get in to her at all. I wasn't sure if I could deal with that yet. Not until she was back. Something was better than nothing. But we were best to leave some time so that whoever the hierarchy were that were trying to stop us, would back off slightly.

Regardless though, I had been run off my feet by Johanna, racing here there and everywhere all over the city and the Fringe. Amar was right that the Fringe seemed to have settled down though. Johanna had me playing damage control to keep everyone calm and create an illusion to show that we weren't worried, that we were still unified with our purpose of creating a better city in Chicago and bridging the gap with the Fringe.

I still refused to step foot into the Bureau. I just couldn't do it. Not with what happened.

I hadn't seen Rafi's guard again, whom we were referring to as 'The Man' for simplicity's sake. Speaking of which, I should check in with George and Amar and see if they have any news. I wondered if they had been able to sight him and track him at all. I had a couple of hours before I needed to debrief Johanna again so I decided to head down to the compound.

"Hey George," I said and shook his hand.

"How are you Four?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Pretty good thanks. Zeke been MIA from here as well?" I asked.

"Sure has. I think he is holed up with a new woman. I told him to come in today. Hopefully he won't be too far away. We need to talk about this guy we've been following," George said and I raised an eyebrow.

"News then?"

"Yes. And we don't like it. Doubt you will either," he said.

"Where's Amar?"

"Finishing off the notes for the briefing. This thing could be bigger than we thought. We'd like you there, we know you know."

"Definitely. Glad I dropped in then. I did want to check how that was going," I said, explaining my appearance. I hadn't been around much lately with all the work I was doing for Johanna.

"Good. Meeting room five in ten minutes?" he asked and I nodded. He left to do whatever he needed to before the meeting. If they were actually calling a meeting, then this was bad. I rang Zeke.

"Hey Four," he said as he answered.

"Hey Zeke. Where are you?" I asked. "Hope you aren't far away," I added.

"Nope, give me two minutes."

"Pit?" I asked.

"Sure." We hung up and true to his word, Zeke was there two minutes later and looking more relaxed and happy than I had ever seen him. I bet I knew the reason. After George's comment about a new woman, I knew.

"Shauna?" I asked and I could see him try, but he was unable to keep a smile from his face. And it was a huge smile. It lit up his whole face and I would be surprised if his cheeks didn't hurt afterwards. He looked as though he felt the way I did when Tris and I were together.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"Good on you Zeke. It's about bloody time!" I said and hugged him.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, sounding grumpy but grinning from ear to ear. I was seriously so happy for him. I was glad he had found with Shauna what I had had with Tris.

"So do you know anything of what they found?" I asked Zeke, getting back to the task at hand.

"No, I have been pretty secluded," he answered with a grin.

"Shall we then?" I asked and he nodded and we walked up towards the meeting room. "So how did it all come about?" I asked, referring to him and Shauna.

"It just did. She was trying to make me tell her what I had planned for us to do. She hates surprises. Then I kissed her," he said and his voice took on a wistful tone as we reached the meeting room.

"Fair enough," I replied and we entered the room. There George and Amar were waiting with a handful of other police officers that were quite high up in our new scheme.

"Thanks for coming. Let's get started," said Amar as he took the floor after we were seated. If he was being semi-formal, then whatever this was, was serious.

"So as you know, Vladimir Bostok AKA the guard of Rafi, has been attempting to investigate a range of aspects about the city," Amar began and Vladimir's face flashed up on the screen. "He began with his attempts to learn more about the serums used by the city. This resulted in the disappearance of researcher and developer, Cara," Amar said and Cara's face came up on the screen. It seemed to be an old Erudite picture. "Subsequently also resulted in the disappearance of researcher and psychoanalyst, Matthew," Amar continued then paused and looked at George as Matthew's face came up on the screen.

Wait! Matthew was missing?! Shit.

"He has also made attempts at discovering the training methods and formations of the police force and intelligence cell here at the compound. There is talk that the reason behind this is that we are creating soldiers by wiping their personalities and implanting them with what we want, including created memories and emotions," George said, continuing on from Amar.

"The Revolutionists are referring to it as Project Tabula Rasa," Amar then continued, "The blank slate," he explained. "We have reason to believe that Vladimir is working with or for the Revolutionists. We have had Vladimir under surveillance now for the better part of a week. During such time, we have seen him meet with one person and a daily basis at minimum," he said and I was utterly shocked when pictures of Vladimir and Christina came up on the screen.

Christina was working with them? With him? I couldn't believe it. After what Tris went through to mend the rift and this was what Christina did. I slammed my fist on the table angrily.

"We are unsure to what extent she is working with him or what information she is feeding them," George said. I think he was trying to calm me. But I was seeing red. I couldn't believe it. It was like a big "fuck you" to Tris. That Tris' death had meant nothing. Been for nothing. I just count NOT believe it. I was even too angry to think that there must be some kind of logical explanation for this.

"Four, calm down," Zeke said, putting a hand on my arm.

"These people ruined my life and now Christina is on their side? After everything that we all went through?!" I stated angrily, standing. Come on Tobias, think about how to handle this. I needed to go to Matthew's lab (I had no idea where he lived) and see if there was anything from FourTris. They had been surprisingly quiet. With any luck, they had seen this coming and pre-emptively taken Matthew as well.

"Tobias," Amar said softly and I stilled. Amar rarely used that tone with me but it had always made me stop where I was. "Calm yourself," he said and I forced myself to take a deep breath. "I knew this would be hard for you, but George is right. We don't know what's going on with Christina and why she is working with Vladimir. We are going to continue surveillance and see what we come up with," he explained and I forced myself to take another breath.

"Fine," I said. "Anything else to add?"

"We have heard whispers of a group that has been working against the Revolutionists. We don't know the name of the group or what actions they have taken. But there is talk. We are trying to find out more about them but so far we are coming up blank." He must be talking about FourTris. They had taken Cara and were presumably working against the Revolutionists. But who were they? Why hadn't they contacted us? My mind raced as I considered the possibilities.

"Under no circumstances can Christina find out about the surveillance," George said. "You can NOT confront her Four. Understood?"

"Yes," I answered.

"I'd like to run down some leads with Four," Zeke said suddenly and I looked at him.

"Sure," George said. "Let us know what you find."

"Will do. Come on Four, let's go," Zeke said and ushered me out the door. "You calm enough to process now?" he asked me and I bristled.

"Yes," I answered petulantly. Zeke ignored my tone.

"Good. Let's go to Matthew's lab. Perhaps our beloved FourTris has been in play," he Zeke, obviously drawing the same conclusions and hopes as I had.

"Fine." Great, I was turning monosyllabic. Stop being a dick Tobias.

We made our way down there in silence, both obviously lost in our own thoughts. I forced myself not to think malicious thoughts. I supposed it was true that when it came to the ones we loved, we lost all sense of reason or logic. Surely there was a logical explanation for why Christina would be working with them. But then that didn't seem very believable lately given her attitude and thoughts on the progression of the city.

We went up to his lab, which was roped off with police tape and we ducked under it, entering his office. If FourTris had left a note for me, it would be in an unobvious spot that I would probably come across by accident. I looked around.

His office was as Matthew had left it, a mess. Matthew had a 'unique' organisation system and where we looked and found complete disarray, he looked and found organised chaos. But I had already known this about him so didn't think twice. But one thing that stood out, was his bookshelf. It was tidy. The books were a little too aligned for Matthew's eclectic office.

I walked over and examined it and Zeke came up next to me.

"You think there is something here?" he asked me and I nodded. "Not in the mess?" he asked and I shook my head.

"That wasn't caused by someone else. That was Matthew's style," I explained and Zeke chuckled. I looked at the books. There were multiple books on the human brain and anatomy, as well as books on electrical impulses, physics, philosophy and a range of sciences. The one book that stood out to me, was a book on the history of the Factions.

I wondered why Matthew would have a book on the history of the Factions. I pulled it off the shelf and opened the cover. It was from the old high school library. I flicked it to the back where it had the sign in/out docket and there was a docket there. I pulled it out and looked at it. The last person it had been "loaned" to was Beatrice Prior but was date stamped as a month after her choosing day. While she was in Dauntless training.

So, it was FourTris. So little information, but it had to be them. Didn't it? I flicked through the book in case there was something tucked inside it.

Nothing.

There had to be something! Think Tobias.

"Check all these books and see which are from Faction High. Open all of them to the back. There has to be a message here," I said to Zeke and he nodded and we began pulling the books off the shelf and openining them.

"Here's one," he said and placed it on the arm chair.

"I think there's a few here," I said and we kept searching. We came up with ten books altogether. Four of them were signed out to me as Tobias Eaton (though I had never borrowed them) and six were signed out to Tris.

Four and six.

FourTris.

Only Tris knew about me nicknaming her six. It was an in joke. A groan escaped me.

"You ok?" Zeke asked me and I nodded. "What is it?"

"It's definitely FourTris," I said and scanned them again. The books were randomly selected. Two on anatomy, one on physics, two on psychology, three on the human brain and one on philosophy. Nothing stood out about the book choices. I looked at the dockets again. Written at the bottom of four of them so lightly, I almost didn't see it, was one word each.

Come. Patience. Protectors. Are.

"Patience. Protectors are coming," I said aloud.

"Huh?" Zeke asked and I pointed out the words.

"I hope they are coming. And I hope they can help us," I replied and Zeke and I shared a look. Only one week to go before they should arrive. Hopefully.

"Let's put them back," Zeke said and I nodded and we placed them back pretty much how we had found them. No one would pick up on the clue. Surely.

"Now to pretend like none of it has happened," I said, "Like I haven't learnt something about one friend betraying me and two disappearing."

"Yes Four, you will have to have a much better poker face than that," Zeke said and I chided myself. Ok Tobias. If Tris could do it, you can too. Come on.

"Easy for you," I joked and forced myself to laugh. "You have Shauna now," I explained and he blushed which actually made me laugh and after a second, it felt natural.

"Let's get going. One week to go," Zeke said and I sighed.