Binary: Rough Draft Edition (Sword Dancers, Book 1)

Chapter 18: Colin

"Well, I'm glad I don't have to do it alone," Colin said. "I hope I don't get you all killed." He cradles his arms together to protect himself from the cold winds that early morning brings. It was around 2 in the morning and the moon looked as bright as the sun. The parking lot was empty in the back of Barnes & Noble. The smell of trash filled the air, a mixture of coffee, sweets, and trash.

"Not the best pep talk ever, but not the worst one either," Tyree said examining the ground. "I have the scent, I mean the mixture one."

"You have it even with the trash odor?"

"Yeah, Crush is processing the scents. Making sure we are only smelling Megatron. The scent isn't mixed with Debra or Dexter here in the back."

"Oh, god, you mean there might be a third victim?" Olivia asked.

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked. 

"Of course he's sure, he's the only one with super smell powers. I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Can you track the scent?"

Tyree led them through a corridor that led to the front of the storefronts. One lone vehicle was parked in what seemed to a vast parking lot. They went to the front of the store wearing their hoodies and black coats, black pants. Tyree is the one that actually suggested that they needed to make sure the cameras didn't see them.  They even parked away from the mall and walked about two miles. 

"Oh no," Tyree said. "It's worse than I thought."

"His smell is mixed with more than the three, isn't it?" Colin could tell by Tyree's voice. 

"Yes. There's about two more. We're looking at five victims.  Three we don't even know about, but one thing is standing out to me. I think I can see their imprints with the scent. There is one set of tracks that keeps reappearing here at the store."

"Meaning that Megatron may have a host and is targeting people at Barnes & Noble. What for?" Colin thought out loud. 

"Scouting?" Tyree offered.

"For recruitments?" Colin shot back. "That would be a great way to start your invasion."

"So, can you track his host?" Olivia asked.

"I can, but there is one thing that is bothering me." Tyree stood up and face the group. Colin figure he knew what he was going to say.

"If Megatron is recruiting, wouldn't that mean having to have at least one more member?" 

"If that's true, his partner would be dead by now like Flair almost was."

"So, let's assume that Megatron is just a scout and he has a host and is trying to recruit. Why would he choose here?

"Because it's where he crash landed," Ashley answered Colin. 

"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no." Tyree said. "I actually made a match for the scent and footprints that are mingled with Megatron."

"You made a match? as in you know who it is?" Colin asked. He noticed that Tyree looked scared about who the missing Spark was bonded with.

"Who is it?" Olivia asked.

"Murphy's partner." He paused. Looked at Colin. "It's Detective Troy."

Everyone was quiet for a beat. He thought that it didn't make sense. If that was the case why didn't' any of their Sparks notice. Could they trust their partners?"

"Razor?" Colin asked out loud.

"We can barely talk now that we're in the second phase," Razor said. "All of us who are bonded to you are becoming marks now. Talking. hurts." he said with a weak voice. The beeps of it fading.

"Cable and Razor should have noticed something," Olivia said weakly.

"At the very least why didn't you sense anything from her?" Ashley asked.

"Because they didn't' have Megatron's scent at the time." Flair defended Tyree and Crush. Colin couldn't help but here the mistrust in Ashley's voice. Each Spark and host was at odds and now each side couldn't hide from each other as thoughts became one.

"If she is hosting for Megatron, she has a way of covering up the scent," Tyree said. "But there is something else I noticed."

"That is?" 

"The mingled smell was also on Murphy. I think Megatron may be jumping between the two."

"I didn't trust him," Colin said.

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one," Ashley said.

Colin crossed his arms. Looked to the skies and back at the team. 

"It makes sense, when we got here earlier Murphy was here. Troy was the first on the scene at the second victim's according to Cable when he defied us while you all were talking with Murphy."  Razor said.

"I agree," Colin said. "Does Cable seem different to you guys?"

"No," the Sparks all said in unison. 

Colin thought about his family once more. Taking in the new information he came to the conclusion that he would apologize to them because he still loves them and if there is a parasitic cybernetic alien going around possessing people, he wanted to do what he can to protect. Then again the Earth might be being invaded and this case takes priority. He wasn't putting the adventure first for the fun of it.  He could hear Razor in his thoughts telling him that the Sparks agree with him. Then Razor shared something that he had to tell everyone else.

"Guys, Razor just told me that Cable's system went offline," he watched as the other Sparks must be explaining to his friends what that means. "He's dead."