Project 438

Chapter 15: More Surprises

Eric stared at the picture for a long while trying to figure out what this meant. Someone knew where Project 438 was located and it seemed like they were targeting it. Rose and the others stepped around to look at it, but the way Eric held the picture looked like he was keeping it from them. I waited for him to respond. Toby was not there. We had searched the whole place and there was nothing that gave us clues to where he would be at. I wanted to smack someone in anger, but with my comrades watching, it would like I had gone crazy.

"Looks to me like someone has sold us out. Judging by how he knew where we would be and when we would be there. Someone is working from the inside." Rose said not looking away from the picture. Eric considered her words then slipped the picture in his pocket. It was possible and would be much more difficult to handle.

"Even if he had someone inside Project 438, there is no way of finding out who. Everyone in the building hears of our missions. We would have to interrogate everyone."

I paced around thinking of everything that might help us find out, but nothing came to mind. Tracking one's computer is the only simple answer I could think of and we would need someone good with computers.

"Captain Smith might be able to help us with that. He knows everything about tracking people." Frost added from across the room.

Eric looked at me and rubbed his chin. "We better head back to headquarters and see if we can figure this out. If he does know our whereabouts then it's only a matter of time before he catches us all sitting here talking."

We followed Eric back to the streets where we first landed and climbed inside the helicopter. The ride back to headquarters was a quiet one and when I looked over at Eric, he was patting his pocket like he wanted to examine the picture some more. He seemed to want to find the answers immediately. I leaned my head back against the seat and wanted to just close my eyes and sleep, but the images from earlier haunted me. Seeing Speckle there with that much blood on her, made me terrified for the rest of us.

Captain Smith was waiting for us in the lobby looking determined. We let him lead me and Eric to the control room where we would talk privately. He excused everyone and told us to take a seat.

"I hear you guys got news for me." He said in a calm and collected voice.

"Yes, sir. It seems Toby has left the premises. Where it will be this time is a mystery, but we can assure you that we will catch him."

Captain Smith walked to the long desk of computers scratching his chin. I noticed Eric was watching him closely. Captain Smith stared at the screens for a few minutes not moving or saying anything. When he did, he sounded more curious than when he first asked us questions.

"You say you encountered someone there though. Whoever it was, works for Toby and will lead us straight to him. You say they used smoke bombs on you."

"Yes, sir," Eric answered.

Captain Smith turned to us and stared. He looked tired, but something else was there. Something that I never noticed before. He looked excited about this. The way his eyes twinkled to the light when he looked at you and how he never looked away from you when he was done talking to you like he was reading us. I looked at Eric wondering where this was going, but he seemed to be too concentrated on Captain Smith to notice me.

"We plan on finding him soon and our comrades are determined to keep searching. The way this is going, we are very close to our target."

Captain Smith nodded and hit a button opening the door. "Keep up the good work soldiers. You're doing well. You may get something to eat and rest up. We need our soldiers strong and ready to be sent out again."