Waters of Lethe, Book 2

26. Mark's Organic Foods

I camped out in the main building of the compound for the next month, until the next image of her arrived.

In the days leading up to the next image, I paced the floors, wanting to be there the moment the next set of pictures or video came flooding in. Audi was with me, too, which made me feel better. Whether he knew it or not, I appreciated how hard he was working.

One day, Audi and I had nothing better to do than watch as Danny analyzed a new set of images.

"Did the Swiss ever return your phone calls?" I asked Audi, my eyes still lingering on the screen over Danny's shoulder.

Audi let out a grunt. "What do you think?"

"No?"

"No? Of course they did, the polite bastards."

"And?" I asked, hope swelling in my chest. The Swiss were the Illuminati of our freak show world, all knowing.

Audi sighed. "They told me to go to hell."

I closed my eyes. "What if they talk to me?"

"Asked them if they would. No dice, son."

I nodded.

"You got anything, Phantom?"

I saw Danny physically cringe at the sound of Audi's voice. "No, sir. Nothing as of now. I'll continue." He sounded tired. After all, he'd been at this for nearly four weeks straight with little more sleep than I'd gotten, which was still next to none.

"It's getting late," Audi told me. "You need to go on home."

I closed my eyes again, which had become a coping mechanism that I turned to often here lately. I didn't want to go home. I wouldn't be able to sleep. I would have argued that I'd at least have company here if I stayed overnight, but everyone had gone home. All except for a few hardworking individuals, including Danny.

Audi didn't usher me out like I was a two year old. I was a grown man, he knew that. He still looked me harder in the eyes, said, "Go home," more persistently. I just nodded, told him I'd go in a few minutes and be back bright and early.

After he'd walked out, I took a seat in a swivel chair by Danny.

Nights had ended this way before, Danny and I sitting side by side to watch the monitors for any new activity. He didn't mind the company, especially when it included someone other than Audi. After a few minutes of silence, I realized that Danny didn't help any, and I ended up going home. I asked him one question, however, a few different times.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

He looked at me through tired eyes. He had coffee stains on his shirt, the coffee that I'd brought him throughout the day. "You know why I'm doing this," he told me. "I've told you about ten times already."

"I like to hear the answer."

He sighed. "Hope. I have hope for this girl. I wish you'd have a little more of it, you sunken-eyed son of a bitch."

I moved back and forth in my chair, an elbow on the arm rest so that I could prop my chin up.

Audi wasn't the only one who noticed I hadn't been eating properly over the last few weeks. Though I wasn't eating, I still maintained my muscle mass, Audi told me, due to the serum. But even the serum couldn't keep the dark, deep circles away from my eyes. You look like a zombie, kid, Audi told me on several occasions.

I smiled at Danny, who smiled apologetically back at me.

Danny stared back at the monitor in front of him. "The people around here tell me that you were a hardass before she came along."

"Ohhhh," I groaned. Audi. "I was alone. How sappy does that sound?"

"You're basically the definition of a pussy. If you opened the dictionary and looked up pussy, your picture would be there."

I laughed. I actually laughed. "I'm laughing because, man, that's the oldest joke in the book. I'd gladly have them put my picture under that word in the dictionary, if it meant we'd find her."

"Shit, dog. That's love."

I shook my head at him, closed my eyes, opened them again to see a few pictures pop up on the screen. None of them were her.

I left eventually, tired of making small, strenuous jokes with Danny. It took me forever to get back to my home, due to the fact I couldn't get my foot to press on the gas pedal hard enough to make it go past forty miles per hour. I had no energy.

Thankfully, when I got home, Emily had left a fresh casserole on my kitchen counter. I looked at it, got sick to my stomach, and shoved it in the fridge with the thirty-seven other dishes she'd forced into my home since we'd gotten back without El.

"Let me know if you need anything," Emily told me over the phone one evening after I called her to thank her for the food she'd left me with that day. I appreciated her trying to shovel food down my throat by the bucketfuls, but I wasn't a wounded animal. If I wanted to eat, if I could have ate, I would have. Part of me suspected that Audi put Emily up to the task, as it was.

I slipped my shirt off and shrugged my pants off, then changed into a pair of sweatpants. Then I crawled into bed. This had been my usual routine for nearly four weeks.

Bed. No sleep. Work. No food. Bed. No sleep. Work. No food. Bed. No sleep. Work. No food.

*********************

I walked into the main building at 5am sharp one morning, hanging around, watching Audi and the rest go about their now-usual day, helping out wherever and whenever I could. I tended to linger more around Danny every morning. Morning was when we got the most pictures in. I got to help sort out the red-headed blue eyed girls, my spirit falling deeper and deeper into a black abyss each time we sorted through them all with no luck, no trace of her distinguishable face.

This morning was apparently no different.

I sat on the edge of the table that Danny's monitors were on so that I faced him. I hunkered over, closed my eyes, and rubbed them furiously. I looked down at the white shirt that I wore.

I was able to force myself in the shower this morning since I didn't have the will to last night. Unfortunately, this was the only clean shirt I had. The dark jeans I wore were one of a few clean pairs I'd had as well. I needed to do laundry. Maybe I'd get to it today...

"Oh shit, Jai." Danny said frantically. I slid off the seat and leaned over beside him, one hand on the desk, one on the arm of his chair.

"It's... it's definitely her. Where is this? Is this live?"

"Live, yes. Happening as we speak in a small town outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mark's Organic Foods."

"Audi!" I yelled. I didn't know if he were right outside the door or not, but my voice would get to him by way of other's voices.

Danny and I watched her as she walked down a vegetable aisle in the store, vigilant as ever.

Audi walked in quickly and Danny told him what he'd told me.

Audi got on his phone. "Send Team 2. ABQ, New Mex," was all he said.

We all quieted down and watched.

El walked, then stopped at a black stand for vegetable baggies. She looked around, in front of her and behind her. Then she looked directly at the screen. One second. Two seconds. Three, four, five. Then she held a folded note up, making sure the camera got a good glimpse. She bent down after checking her surroundings again, then slipped the note under the black stand. She stood quickly and left, leaving the camera to peer down on the empty vegetable aisle.

Not empty, I reminded myself. What was the note about?

Audi got back on his phone, calling the team that just took off. "Hey guys, we have a target. It's not the girl this time. I need you to pick me up something from an organic food store..."