Chapter fourteen:
Matt slows to a stop at a street corner with Mello and Near doing the same. He turns to the two of them while taking a breath. "Okay. So his house is up ahead. Older looking one story home with a newer looking beige paint job. It is around the corner at the end of the street." He continues before either of the two can ask why they aren't going straight there. "He has the area under surveillance to a point. Beyond this corner we'll be seen immediately. He'll know we're coming before we can get anywhere close to him. He is a little paranoid that way. I suppose I know why now more than I thought before." He shifts on his spot. "If he spots us mainly you two then he will know that we're on to him. He'll either flee before we get to him or plant a trap so we'll be dead before we find him then he will flee or hide our bodies."
"Okay." Mello crosses his arms over his chest looking thoughtful. "You know him best. What are you suggesting that we do?"
Matt glances to the way around the corner for a moment in thought then gets an idea. "Undercover." He glances around as if looking for something specific. "I will approach on my own as he'll trust me and you two will have to go undercover. That is our best way to get around his cameras." He spots a sleeping homeless person and approaches grabbing some ratty clothes. "Look. I know it isn't pleasant but it is our best bet for you to get close without suspicion." He hands the ratty clothes to Mello and Near who share uncertain glances before putting on the stinky clothes over their current ones.
Mello wrinkles his nose though pulls the hood up to help cover his head and hair.
Near is able to hide the stinky face better than Mello as he adds a dirty shawl over his head to do the same.
"Okay." Matt claps his hands together. "The way you two will get in is that I will be able to disable his system for only a few seconds. You will need to rush from a place nearby. It will just look like a glitch to him as he has had some trouble on occasion with the camera feeds though he says that they do a good enough job to not replace them. There is a secret entrance to a bunker where the two of you can get in. The clothes, if you're fast enough, can be ditched by a dumpster as I have observed how homeless people pile clothes by one before the sleep behind a dumpster. I guess as a way to tell others that there is already a homeless person there. If not then leave it in the secret bunker. Anyways the bunker entrance is a small raised part of grass in the backyard. It is kept well and mowed so try to not leave footprints and we should be good to go. I'll try to sneak some information from him and you two can look for information around his place. He usually has some sort of printed out or written plans just in case his stuff is compromised in anyway. As a backup so he doesn't lose anything and he can wipe the equipment before any information is lost. I will send Mello a signal on our phones when it is go time for you two." He claps his hands together. "Alright. It is go time."
Just a minute later…
Mello and Near have gone ahead wobbling around like just two homeless people and they pick through some of the trash bins then move on.
Matt walks on by and glances to them as they head into the alleyway to get to the backyard. He turns away shaking his head. "Damn. The homelessness is getting worse." He keeps going and reaches the home. He sees the curtains all closed and just as he is about to knock the door opens leaving his fist in the air. He makes himself give a smile to the man who glances around making sure that Matt is alone.
"What are you doing here?" The man looks to Matt who rubs the back of his head.
"Well teachers were getting sick. And then there was suddenly hazmat suits. Since they cleared me as not sick or carrying the illness I wanted out of there. They wanted to put these strict rules that I didn't like. I want to be more free than they would let me. No computers or anything. It was stupid." Matt tells the man chuckling a little as if unsure that the other will say yes. "So I thought who else to go to in order to hide for awhile than you? I trust you a lot more than others that I know outside of the orphanage." He has to almost bite his tongue to stop himself from saying that he trusted the man instead of still saying he still trusts him. "If you can't then I will understand." He rocks back and forth on his feet starting to turn away. "I just thought that it was worth a chance."
The man fully opens the door after letting out a relieved sigh. "Come on." He lets Matt walk into the nice front lobby where he takes his shoes off by the long grey carpet that makes like a path through the house in the middle area of the floor. He locks the door and checks his phone before putting his phone away. "Look. We're friends." His words get Matt to turn to him and nod his head. He has natural medium-length waves style hair that is colored light brown which is just darker than a brownish blonde hair color, hazel eyes, a dark purple pull over baggy hoodie, black sweatpants and black socks. He is just a little taller than Matt himself. "I am glad you are okay man." He gestures for the other to follow him and the red haired genius does.
The two pass by a small end table with a laptop showing various camera feeds on it.
Matt takes a small pause to insert a hard drive he brings with him for emergencies to briefly glitch out cameras which after loading in, which Matt made sure was very quick and without any detection, he takes it out. He quickly texts Mello to go before putting his phone and drive into his pocket. He is just in time as he sees Akari turn to him by the brown leather couch.
"Lets take a seat."
"Okay." Matt shrugs casually and sits down with his friend sitting right next to him. "Dude. You're acting a bit off. Is everything okay?"
Akari takes a breath then turns to Matt with a small smile. "Oh it isn't anything too special. I am doing a cover up job. So, I was going through government files and realized that there was survivors from one of their little projects. They didn't know it was me that leaked that info to them. They're paying me handsomely to take control of the mission to rid every evidence of all of this. Just glad you didn't get involved in the whole thing. Don't worry I plan to wipe out the rest at the orphanage so there will be nothing left and it will pass off as a spread of a deadly illness that wiped them out before anything could be done." He puts an arm around Matt's shoulders not knowing that the other has turned his phones recording on. "Think about this. The two of us could fly out of here to somewhere that can be all of our own. Servants and all. We could do whatever we wanted without anyone to tell us no. No one to stop us."
"What about anyone I care about at the orphanage?" Matt questions Akari who blinks at him. "Like Mello?"
"Matt. My friend. Listen unless you can get that blonde to swear to silence and find a way to convince me that he won't speak a word then he will have to be a sacrifice. Sometimes we have to make tough choices. I just need to do my job and wipe things away for the government so they don't get their screwups shown like public news. Yet you are worth being allowed to survive this. I trust you. The only one in the world that I trust. If you can make this little sacrifice then you can live the best of the best type life. A millionaire, no billionaire, life with me. You'll be free and be able to make a new friend. Besides I don't feel like Mello really treats you right. He takes advantage of your abilities and for no gain for you. Not to mention he doesn't speak as nicely to you as one should. He teases you and I remember you telling me about when he smacked you on the head for one of your comments that didn't deserve it. No true friend does that. He is using you and when he is done he will abandon you. Me? I swear to you that I won't do that to you. You will have access to all of my files to show my truthfulness. Whatever you need to be convinced that I will keep my word. So. What do you say?" He even shows Matt a message on his phone to someone mentioning to not infect the red head with goggles, where it is timestamped as a little before the illness came to the orphanage, plus it has other texts afterwards and even a confirmation to that text.
Matt glances down quietly for a few moments as if thinking over his options.
Outside….
Mello and Near were quick to ditch the dirty clothes in a pile behind the dumpster, with Mello even quietly swearing to Matt that he will never be convinced to do that again, and they are able to barely peek out to look at the chain fenced backyard with barbwire at the top.
"Its there. To the right." Near whispers to Mello who nods his head at spotting the spot.
The two wait for Matt's signal and once it comes through the two move quickly. They head for the spot careful to avoid any puddles or mud though luckily the grass is dry. They make it to the spot and Near pulls up on a metal hook which opens a metal door. They slip inside carefully closing it behind them just in time as the cameras become active again.
Mello uses his phone as a flashlight, glad that Matt added a part to keep it from being tracked on towers and even jammed by outside tactics, as they look around the unlit bunker.
The bunker looks to be partial storage and partial a hiding spot with stuff ready for either an apocalypse or some kind of police raid where someone will have to hide.
Mello glances to Near who he can barely see thanks to the light from his phone. He shares a small nod with him as the two of them carefully make their way through the bunker carefully keeping an eye out for any traps that they might accidentally trip if they aren't careful. He hopes that Matt is doing okay and holding his cool while trying to get information out of Akari.
The two of them find the door out and Mello opens it revealing some stairs. They carefully walk up the concrete stairs that are there trying to not make a sound.
