Touch (Denazen #1)(64)

He shook his head, and we began walking again. “They kept me in lockup the entire time. Other than the men who came in daily to draw my blood, I saw no one other than you and Cross the other day.” The disappointment must have been all over my face because he said, “She’s fine though, don’t worry. Sue knows how to handle herself. She knows how it works.”

We were in the bushes beyond the house. Dad specifically said he’d be out of contact until after five. It wouldn’t be long though before Denazen sent someone to the house to search for us. We had to get in and get out. Hopefully, Mercy was okay.

Mercy had used the keys I told her about under the front porch to get into the house, so Kale and I had to go in through my window. Not easy considering my limbs felt like stretched out rubber bands. When we swung inside, the room was empty.

“Mercy?” I stepped into the room, grabbing a stapler on the way to the door. Not the best weapon, but the only one I had on hand. Slowly, I turned the knob and peeked around the corner. Empty. Creeping across the landing, I bent over the railing. Nothing.

“She must have left for some reason,” I said, coming back into the room. “Maybe someone from Denazen showed up.”

“Get what you need and let’s go. We shouldn’t stay here long.”

Kale was right, of course. Staying here was a bad idea. I scooped up an old backpack. Stuffing anything I could get my hands on inside, I moved through the room. When I got to the corner, I noticed my address book sitting sideway across the top of my desk. I didn’t remember pulling it from my nightstand drawer.

It wasn’t until I came to the side of the bed that I froze. On my pillow a small folded note lay underneath a red flash drive.

Dez - The mimic wore off and I didn’t want to take any chances, so I left. I won’t be going back to Denazen. They’ll figure out eventually I assisted you. I hope all is well, and you and 98 Kale made it out okay. On this drive, you’ll find two things. First is the list of names you were searching for. While still working at Denazen, there was no way I could pull those files without arousing suspicion. Since I won’t be going back, it doesn’t matter anymore. Also on this drive is a bit of information that might help you get a step closer to your mother. It’s not much, but it might help. Good luck.

– Mercy

“Jackpot!” I squealed, waving the flash drive up and down.

Kale eyed the small red piece of plastic between my fingers and squinted. “How will that do anything?”

“It’s a flash drive.” When his only answer was a blank stare, I continued. “It holds information from a computer.”

He took the drive from me, giving it a hard shake. When nothing came out, he proceeded to tap it against the edge of the windowsill. “How do we get the information out?”

I rescued the drive before he could smash it to bits. “We have to plug it into a computer.” My own machine sat in the corner but that was a bad idea. The damn thing would take forever to boot and there was no telling how much time we had. Everyone I knew had a computer. It was only a matter of finding someone at home. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The fact that it was later in the evening worked against us. Most of my friends had hit the strip already. But I refused to give up. We could have gone straight to Ginger and handed over the drive, but I wanted to know what was on it. Never play your cards without at least checking out the hand.

After about two hours of searching, we ended up at the Rinaldis’ place. They’d been vacationing on the Jersey shore every summer for the past four years. Last year, they’d paid Brandt to watch their dog and house-sit. As far as I knew, they hadn’t asked anyone else for this year since the dog had died.

I led Kale up the walkway to the back of the house and under the porch. There, taped to the bottom of the top step, was the key to the basement door.

When we entered the house, we went room to room in search of a computer. We finally found one in the last room we searched. I felt like I’d walked into another dimension. A shrine. The shelves were lined with collectibles and the walls covered with posters.

“What kind of place is this?” Kale whispered, eyes wide, as he followed me through the door.

“The Rinaldis’ son is twelve. I guess he’s a Pokémon fan.” I said over my shoulder as I made a beeline for the computer. While the machine booted, I sank into the chair. When the monitor came alive, an annoying little yellow dude—Peekaboo or something—hopped across the screen, babbling incoherent chatter in a squeaky voice. I bit back a joke and slipped the drive into the USB slot.

After a moment, the file popped open and a list of names scrolled down the screen. I skimmed through—there had to be at least a hundred. The title at the top of the document read, Residents. A list of all the Sixes Denazen had on site.

Score!

Skimming the document, I was shocked to know so many of the names. Some were people in the community that had gone missing over the last few years, others were classmates and neighbors.

I scanned the room, finally finding the printer wedged underneath the desk. Flipping the power switch and clicking print, I waited for the pages. Kale was quiet beside me. “Are you okay?”

“Okay?”

“Did they hurt you?”

Kale fingered the yellowing bruise on the side of his face and shook his head. “They can’t hurt me,” he said. “But when Mercy told me they had you…”