Being Butch Green || ✓

Chapter 22 - A Lesson From Magpie and Her Block of Vegan Cheese

It felt strange to be moderately free.

I was plain old me, trying to keep the panic at bay. This was a very bad idea. And all I had to do was take the police to Galgort - if I ever found it again. To make matters worse, the moment I'd signed the contract and gotten out, Jack was already standing nervously in the lobby.

I faced him, a grimace of embarrassment coursing through me as he stood, a large smile dawning his cheeks. No sooner had I been given the all-clear by Martin, he rushed over and enveloped me into a gigantic, unwanted bear hug.

He squeezed me tightly, crushing my damaged ribs into oblivion.

"Help!" I wheezed.

Thankfully, Martin was on hand to break us apart. He stepped his miniature self between us and stamped down with all his might on Jack's foot in a successful attempt to make him release me.

"You will not endanger our informant!" he stated firmly, pointing a finger at the reddening Jack as he stepped away from me. "We need him!"

When he'd reached a safe distance from Martin, his grin returned.

"Wipe that smile off ya face!" I scolded Jack angrily. I wasn't in the mood for his cheek right now, I was trying to figure a way out of this mess. The police had roped me into a dangerous mission, one a seventeen-year-old, cake-loving kid shouldn't be doing. If I'd had respectable parents and grew up in a nice suburban household, perhaps all this wouldn't have even started in the first place.

"Oh, little bro! What's gotten into you?"

"I don't fancy hanging around here any longer than I have to. Let's just go, okay?" I replied sulkily, my idealistic past running away from me as I replaced it with my reality.

I walked past Martin and snatched the wrapped sandwich and police tracking phone from his outstretched hand in one fluid sweep. I muttered thanks to him before heading past a nodding Jack. Somehow, as I strolled past him, he managed to wrap his arm around my shoulder and walk me confidently out of the police headquarters like he'd done it a thousand times before. A strange, peculiar feeling washed over me. It made me glad to see him again.

"So, what do we have to do?"

"Break into Galgort Medical Lab," I said without looking up from the cheese sandwich I was unwrapping.

I felt him nod in thought beside me.

"In any means, we can," I added, my mouth now full of bread and cheese.

"Right..."

I swallowed. "I'm just kidding. Do you still have your pass though? Could be handy."

Jack looked down at me. "I think so, but it's possible they canceled it."

"Maybe they didn't?"

"I highly doubt that."

"But it's possible. Maybe they think I escaped and kidnapped you?" I said, shrugging my shoulders.

He frowned down at me, raising an eyebrow. "Would you believe it if a teenager as careless as you managed to kidnap a somewhat violent older man?"

"No, I guess not," I said, more than a little disappointed.

"Right."

We continued down the footpath.

"So, how else are we gonna get in?" I asked tentatively.

"Who cares!? We're free, aren't we? We could just dump the trackers on a balloon and run off."

"I don't think that's quite how it works, Jack. Besides, we're criminals now and running from this will only make things ten times worse."