Compulsion - The Greenhouse Academy

30: A r r e s t

"Marcus. What do you know about him?"

Adalynn was taken aback. "Um, Marcus? He - he's the grounds keeper. He - he's been here since Ryan attended the school. He's a bit weird. I - I dunno, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I found Marcus snooping around in your desk today."

"What?"

"Yeah. I left my literature book in the computing lab so I went back for it and saw Marcus going through your things."

"Uh ... w-what did you do?"

"I told him to get lost, which he did in a hurry, but - but I think he may have taken something with him."

Adalynn raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I dunno what is was but I'm almost positive I saw him tuck something underneath his jacket as he left the room."

"I - I'd better go and check out what's happening and fast! Wait, why you helping me?"

"Because my mother's back in town and when I went to see her today, I overheard her talking on the phone. She said something about you and - and your computer. Which is totes creepy, if you get what I mean. Why would she be talking about your computer anyway?"

"Oh crap! No, no, no. NOO!" Adalynn gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. She took off down the hallway, Daniel at her heels. They both burst into the computing lab in a whirl of noise and dust. Thankfully, it was deserted. The lab teacher had obviously finished his last lesson for the day and left. Adalynn raced to her desk and pulled it open, riffling through her things, her heart in her mouth. She came across her computer bag and ripped it open.

"My - my computer! It's gone!"

Daniel stared at her in shock. "Marcus took your computer?"

"Yes! He must have!"

"B-but why?"

"I - I dunno." But Adalynn DID know.

They wanted to know - they wanted to know how much SHE knew. Marcus was a computing expert. There was no doubt that he had hacked into her laptop by now and accessed the file that she and Jackie had set up on her desktop; the one clearly outlining all of the suspicious information they knew about the launch.

"This - this is bad, really, really bad. Wait, how did your mum ... ?"

"Look, my mum's not the problem here. Marcus is! Well, I'll go tell Louis and he'll make Marcus give it back ... after he's fired him!" Daniel exclaimed, completely brushing her off.

Adalynn opened her mouth to protest but shook her head and closed it again. It was the best way. "Okay, let's go."

As Daniel and Adalynn walked down the hall towards Louis's office, Daniel questioned, "What did you want from me earlier?"

Adalynn hesitated. "I - I was wondering if you had any inside sources that could tell me who the cop was that signed off on Ryan's case?"

Daniel furrowed his brow. "My mother might know. She's good friends with the local head of security. I'll ask her."

"Thanks," Adalynn nodded appreciatively at him. "You know what, Hayward? You're not too bad."

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah, whatever. We're still enemies. I'm only doing this because I don't condone things like stealing people's computers."

Before Adalynn could reply, the door to Louis's office burst open and Louis himself strode out, an angry look on his face. When he saw Adalynn and Daniel, however, he paused and glanced at them questioningly.

"What is it?"

"We - we need to talk to you about Marcus," Daniel ventured.

Louis shook his head. "So you heard? I can't believe it."

Adalynn and Daniel exchanged confused glances. "Heard about what?"

Louis gazed at them somewhat quizzically. "I got the strangest note from him and when I went to check his office, he was gone and all his stuff was cleared out."

"Gone? Gone where?" Adalynn cried.

"He's quit his job."

"You're kidding me!" Adalynn's shoulders sagged.

"Hey, well that's not fair, he - he just took off with ..." Daniel began.

Adalynn stopped him mid sentence by nudging him in the side. "Thanks for the info, Louis. That's very sad."

"It is," Louis sighed. "Now I have to go find a new grounds' keeper. This is the last thing I need." Rolling his eyes, he set off down the hall. He hadn't got very far when Jason suddenly appeared on the scene.

"Dad!" he yelled as he hurried forward. "Dad, there's a bunch of cops waiting for you in the lobby."

Adalynn and Daniel froze as they watched Louis's reaction. "WHAT?"

"Yeah, they're asking for you, come quick!" Jason exclaimed as he led the way towards the far door.

Adalynn and Daniel didn't even think twice before they sprinted after Louis and Jason. They all tumbled into the lobby at about the same time.

A whole squad of armed, uniformed officers were standing near the reception desk.

Adalynn's eyes widened as she recognised one of the agents. "Eric?" she whispered to herself.

The balding man stepped forward as he addressed Louis. "Sir, it's good to see you."

"What are you doing here?" Louis demanded sternly. "Get out of this building."

"I - I'm afraid we can't do that, sir," Eric responded with a shrug. "We have an arrest warrant."

"An arrest warrant?" Jason gaped at him. "Seriously, you must be joking! This is ..."

Eric cut him off as he stated, "We're here to arrest Jackie Sanders."

~~~~

Gif: Handcuffs and FBI agents!!!

A/N: OMG!!! What's gonna happen next? Why is there an arrest warrant out for Jackie? Why did Marcus steal Adalynn's computer and quit his job? What's going on with Judy? How did she know Marcus had taken the computer? Is Daniel suspicious of these happenings too? Things will be moving very fast after this so I hope you's can all keep up! Thanks so much for everyone's support and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. xx