RECLAIM

Chapter 19. Open Book

"I see that you knew who we are." Arden sounded way too calm to her ear.

"Yes, I know enough."

"Then, you must know the reason we are here." Now it's Alex turn to talk.

"I have no idea. From what we know, there has not been any friction between our parties for quite sometimes now. Besides, aren't you guys busy looking for some news about the missing renters?"

"Yes, we are," Arden cuts.

"And that's related to me how?" White stares flatly at them.

Laith scoffed. "Don't play games. We're not interested. We know for a fact that you guys know something."

"Really? White said after a brief silence. "What if I tell you that we may know something?" He leaned forward and Laith swears she can see a shadow of cold smile.

"Please, tell us." Laith can see from the corner of her eyes that Alex tried to yank the restrain.

"Ah. But, I only say that maybe I know something. I never say I'll share it freely. And I most especially will not share it under duress."

Laith bit back the curse that wanted to sizzle passed her lips as she stared at White, never taking his eyes off him. He got them. They underestimated him. Heck, she underestimated him. The fact that they were here, at his mercy instead the other way round, speak louder more than anything. Not only that, she now realized that their miscalculation may cost them dearly. From the way both Arden and Alex look at her, she can tell that the thought begins to dawn on them too.

"You're going to harbor whoever involves in this?"

"Involve in what exactly?" He swings back his eyes to rest at Laith. "All you have were a couple of missing persons and home invasion cases. Let's stretch that even further. Since a Reclaimer is taking the lead on this, I assume a bio-robotics organs are involved too. But, that's it. Whoever commits these crimes didn't leave any evidence behind. Yet, you magically stumble on one clue after the other? Breadcrumbs that landed you to my door?"

Laith returned his stare with one of her own. "You know something."

"I know a lot of things." His stare pinned her. "And if you asked me, the Reclaimers were also one of the suspects here."

"That's rich coming from a Scavenger notorious for his long standing offences."

"Says whatever you think, but even somebody like me has an allegiance to honor."

"Again, allegiance with whom? A creature that caused all of this madness?"

"It's the way all of us are wired. We are all mad. We are surrounded by madness. And that didn't necessarily a bad thing. Yet, some of us try to control it. Others were lost in it. A few lucky ones find the balance. The dangerous ones." His empty eyes were so strangely convincing. It also puts him into the kind of person she hated the most, the unknown type.

Laith snorted. "Yeah, better remember that. A piece of advice from the great Scavenger Trevor White."

"There's no need to be so formal." Trevor cold smile never reach his eyes. "And I get the feeling that the three of you knew my words were true, more so than others."

"What do you mean by that?" Arden said harshly.

Laith clamped her jaw. It throbs, hard. Damn him. Damn it all. She stared at him resentfully. He was right. She too begins to harbor some suspicion towards her own allies. But she damned well didn't have to tell him that. Wait a minute. Something caught her mind. She may never be able to share her suspicion out loud, but she sure as hell can imply it. Like he said, he knows things. She glanced at the Scavenger with genuine curiosity this time.

"Are you trying to tell us that all of these problems were actually mastermind by more than one person? And more likely came from our side?" she muttered under her breath.

"Aren't you a smart one, little Wolf?" Then he said out loud, "Let me give all of you another free advice. Never ever trust something easy. Just because everything falls into a mold, don't assume it was because you got any leverage whatsoever."

Red hot anger rushes through Laith's body as she turned quickly away from all of them, retreating inside herself. She squeezes her eyes shut, then breathed in with slow, even breaths in an effort to control her emotion. Curse him. Did he have to confirm her suspicion one after another? She never meets somebody quite like him before.

"Blasted," Arden's voice was faint. "Now, you're telling me that not only we're dealing with a group, but some of them also on high places." Laith minds echoes his worries. If it's true than their investigation takes the turn from hard to impossible.

"Yeah, right." Laith tries to appear doubtful. "Like I'll believe everything you say face value. For all that I know, you guys were the ones that take a swing at us. Remember the gun party we attend at Ratty's?" Laith cast her bait.

"We never stick our noses where we can't benefit from it. And we sure as hell never host any party with you on the guest list."

Laith scoffed again. "Tell that to our technical expert. Counting this time, you already broke our comms and e-Links twice."

Now, it's Trevor turn to scoff. "Got news for all of you. Hacking and disabling aren't exactly rocket science. It doesn't matter how secure the network is, once infiltrated, all bets are off. You know better than to stay on the same open lines."

"Those words didn't discern you from being the one originally responsible--"

"T, someone wants to talk to you." Their conversation was cut by a familiar voice before she can finish Laith sentence. She stretched her neck to look past Trevor and land her sight on one of those they call a life size doll like girl. Her gold blonde hair was long and her small nose was perky. Clear, almost colorless silver eyes sparks as they rest on each and every one them. Dressed in black and white gothic lolita dress, the girl can't be a day older than fifteen. Well, apparently, Scavengers like to start recruiting their members a little early. Not that she can complain since nowadays it seems to be the norm.

"Watch them," Trevor said as he moves away. Long silence ensued as they watch him disappear from view.

"Hello again. Remember my voice?" she said in a sing song tone.

No wonder Laith thought the mystery voice from the car was high before. As she nods, the girl smiled like an angel.

"The name is Ely. Just Ely." Suddenly, something slams the side of Laith's head. The impact sends a splitting pain down her skull. She looked up, disorientated. "Shall we chat, big sis?" said the girl wearing an expression that can make even a crying child stop.

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A little on the long side. Please bear it with me XD

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