Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Seventeen

Milo looked down at his access pod. He did not recognize the number of the incoming call, but decided to answer it anyway.

"Don't say a word, just listen," the voice said.

Milo was not one for theatrics, but given the circumstances, he went along with it. He had hung out with Aris enough over the past week to recognize his voice and appreciated Aris' compliance for such precautions. As far as Milo knew, Alex was safe and sound at her mother's old apartment. As for Aris, he knew a little bit more than that, but not much. Until Aris found out for sure, he operated under a veil of secrecy. Ordinarily, Milo would not be so keen on hanging out with Aris, but he needed to set aside his differences and coordinate with him to keep Alex safe.

"Meet me at the spot where we first met."

"When?"

"One hour."

Milo disconnected the call then left his room immediately. Across the street from the Facility was a privately-owned building with an underground parkade. Milo ran across the street and waited in the parkade for his taxis to arrive.

A few minutes later, six taxis showed up. He opened the door of each taxi, provided a random address to the automated driver, and then closed the door. He hopped into the last taxi, instructed the driver to take him to the Megaplex pyramid, and then crouched down onto the floor. One after another, the six taxis pulled out of the parkade and headed in all different directions. In case anyone was following him, this would impede their efforts.

Milo's taxi arrived at the pyramid with about fifteen minutes to spare. Milo poked his head out cautiously to ensure he had not been followed. When he did not see anyone around him, he felt proud of his cleverness. His heart raced, but in a good way. The last couple days, his life was anything but ordinary. First, he was chased down by a guardian and thrown in jail, then he was detained and questioned in connection with a wanted fugitive, and now a secret meeting. The entire chain of events was rather exhilarating for him. He calmed himself and then headed into the park.

With a hurried pace, Milo walked toward the grassy knoll where he first met Aris. It was not exactly the first place they had met, but he was sure this was the spot that Aris meant. When he arrived, Aris was already there waiting for him. They saved the pleasantries and went straight into business.

"Were you followed?" Aris asked sternly.

 "No."

 "Good."

"I know you didn't invite me over for a tea party," Milo said "so tell me, why am I here?"

"It's regarding Alex."

"What is it?"

"Well, I don't want to say," he paused, "I'd rather show you."

Aris handed him a large folder, which contained several documents. Milo opened the folder and was amazed at what he saw. After analyzing the contents carefully, he asked, "Where did you get these?"

"It was in the apartment."

"What apartment?"

"The one Alex was staying in. I went there last night after I received your message. I wanted to warn her, but by the time I arrived, it was too late."

 "Wait, slow down. What do you mean 'it was too late'? Where's Alex?"

"I don't know. When I got there, she was gone. The doors to the apartment and the bedroom were removed from their hinges with explosives, most likely by guardians. There were several large imprints of uniform boot marks all over the place, further supporting the so-called 'guardian' hypothesis. From what I could tell, Alex made it out the window, but that's all I know."

Milo stood in a trance-like state as his imagination played out the events that likely transpired.

"We need to find her," Milo said.

"I agree. We should start by calling the local authorities and see if she was picked up."

 "So where did you find these documents?"

 "It was in a large wooden box underneath one of the floorboards."

 "How the heck did you know that?"

"I got lucky I guess. I think Alex found it too. There was a disturbance in the dust surrounding the floorboard. That's what tipped me off about it."