Control Group 5

Chapter 9

"I've been wanting to do that for days," he whispered into my ear before he pulled away, leaving me much warmer than before he arrived.

"I've been thinking about it too." And the confusion it caused. It was hard growing close to someone, when my closest confidant had just died. I steeled the part of me that was falling apart like a cut flower. There was too much on the line to break down now.

"I know we've been through a lot, but before anything happens, and I lose the opportunity, I wanted to make sure that you know that I like you. Like, really like you."

I smiled, walked up to Dimitri, kissed him deeply. "I like you too. I've never met anyone quite so...reckless as myself. It means a lot that you're doing this with me."

"Getting revenge?" Dimitri raised his eyebrow, a smile on his face.

"Isn't revenge the best medicine?" I said. "Maybe it's a love tonic too."

We took a few more moments to ourselves, then settled in to watch. Soon enough, midway through our game of eye-spy, the familiar garbage truck came circling around the warehouse. Dimitri and I were better prepared than I'd been on my own. For one, I was wearing the lifeform sensor.

"There's two of them," I said. "But..."

"But what?" Dimitri looked through the pair of bird-watching binoculars he'd snagged from his mom. "I can see two people."

I double-checked that the sensor was still on, pulling it up from the string around my neck. It was working just fine. "But usually I can sense the age and gender of the people. I can't, now. Not with these two."

"Maybe we're out of range?'

I shook my head. "No, I can usually pick up a clear scent at twice this distance." The frown on Dimitri's face mirrored my own puzzlement.

The garbage truck finished it's route and left. We didn't chase it, not this time. We observed it from the roof. Following it through the low-lying surrounding buildings for a couple of blocks, until we had an idea of what direction it headed in. Once it was well out of site, we made our way down the rooftop; me first, followed by Dimitri fifteen minutes later. I met him at his car three blocks away. He made a quick call to Sheila, telling her he had an extreme case of food poisoning, and then we drove to the last corner we'd seen the garbage truck drive past before we lost site of it.

"This could be a long wait," Dimitri said, tilting the driver's seat into a more reclined position.

"Well, we better find something to talk about then." I reached out, wrapping my shaking fingers around his.

Dimitri squeezed my hand, and then pulled it over onto his leg, resting our hands there. "Have you ever travelled?"

"No. You?"

He shook his head. "I always wanted to. My parents both work so hard. They don't take much time for themselves. When they do, we're usually hauled off to visit family, not to go anywhere exotic. I've always wanted to go to Costa Rice. Learn to surf."

"You sound like Jordan." A few tears found my eyes. "He wanted to go to Hawaii so bad. Catch some waves. He'd been planning for years to leave here. Wanted somewhere with sun. Adventure. A less complicated family."

I'd told Dimitri a little of my history previously, and I told him more now: about Mom's drinking, Dad's thieving, the jail sentence. I told him how when Jordan and I were little we used to build forts and live in the Kid's Kingdom - no parents allowed.

"Kristi went to Costa Rica." Dimitri's voice broke, and without him even saying, I knew Kristi was his old girlfriend. The one that had died. The one the Corporation had killed. "Her pictures were beautiful. She went there on a family vacation. Wanted to go back super bad."

"Maybe once this is done we can go," I said. "Jordan left me some money. And, well, without him, there isn't much to tie me here, you know?"

Dimitri squeezed my hand again. We waited.

Finally, three hours later, Dimitri spotted the truck in his rearview mirror.

"Ready?" He turned the car on. I powered on my lifeform sensor. If this truck disappeared, hopefully we'd still be able to track it.

The truck whizzed by.

"It's a great day for revenge, my friend." Dimitri pulled out onto the street. Just as we did, the truck vanished from sight.

"Don't worry, I can still sense them. Straight ahead." My heart pounded. Thanks to the sensor, I could tell that there were two people in front of us - or rather - there should have been. But sensing them was all we needed. I guided Dimitri, telling him when to turn and when to slow down. The people in the garbage truck were like beacons in the night, glowing orbs in the back of my mind that led us onward. I didn't have to guide Dimitri very long until the truck turned off the road. In the back of my mind, I felt their presence turn left, moving through a gate and into a graveled yard. A large, bricked building sat in the middle. A chain-link fence surrounded the entire facility.

Dimitri didn't drive through the gate, but continued up the street as I watched behind us. On the bottom of three-story building, a garage door opened. After a few moments, just as the building was disappeared from my sight, the door slid closed. We'd found them.