Leticia (35 page)

“
Why
?”

“Two of us need to stay here, one, to look after those two in the basement, and two, in case anything happens. The other two should go to the lab.”

“I’m
going,
” I told them all
.

“
And
I’m coming with you
.
”

“Well Nancy, it looks like we’re staying here
,
” Tristan sighed
.

“When do you want to go?” I asked
.

“We could leave
now;
we’d be there for nightfall. We could check into a hotel and then look properly tomorrow
.
”

“
Hmmm
,
” Nancy smirked
.

“What?” I a
s
ked
,
oblivious.

“Nice
cozy
hotel room, just the two of you... hmmm
.
”

“Nancy, that’s not what I meant so stop trying to wind us up
.
”
Jackson shot.

“Do you not think it would be better to spend your night more wisely
,
” Tristan added
.
“Go to the lab under the
cover of darkness
?”

“Good point
,
” I nodded
.
“We won’t get there until about 9 and that’s if we leave now. We can
check
in somewhere, and then go
.
”

“
What
are we waiting for then,
get packed, I’ll drive
,
” Jackson said
,
making his way out of the room.

“I can see it now
,
” Nancy mocked in a voice that sounded like a movie narrator
.
“A long anxious drive to seek out the enemy
,
an unimaginable.... fight
,
” she said for lack of a better
word. “Then
the
two of you alone in
a
hotel room, adrenalin still pumping, unable to resist each other... a passionate
...
”

“Oh shut up
,
” I laughed, also exiting the room.

I could hear her and Tristan laughing as I made my way upstairs. I have to admit, it was funny, the deep
narrator’s
voice she used was so amusing. I still had the smile on my face as I packed some clothes.

Jackson was ready now and waiting for
me
by his car.
He had two bags with him, one was full of clothes, and I knew without
a
doubt the other
would be filled with
guns.
N
ancy assured us they would be OK
while
we were gon
e, they knew what to expect now
and wouldn’t be taken by surprise again. They told us to check in regularly and keep them updated on everything.
She also said she would call the hotel I’d checked into and tell them I wouldn’t b
e
returning. Luckily I had nothing to collect from there.
I felt guilty leaving them, but this was a good idea and it had to be done.

The drive to Milt
on Keynes was a rather slow one
due to an accident
and roadwork
s
. We finally arrived at 9:30 and checked straight into a large hotel. We’d decided on the way down just to get the one room. It’s wasn’t like
we
hadn’t shared a bed before. We did it only last night. It wasn’t exactly dark yet, we’d have to wait until at least
eleven before
we could risk going to the lab.

“
So
,
” Jackson started, as he flopped on the bed
.
“
What
do you wanna do till then?”

“I dunno
,
” I sighed
.

“
Come
here
,
” he tapped the bed, wanting me to lie next to him.

I didn't respond I just lay on my side looking at him.

“Leticia you need to relax
.
”

“I know, I just honestly don’t know how to
.
”

He moved closer to me. “Let me show you,” he breathed, just before kissing me.

It worked. After just a few minutes I started to relax. I just lay there kissing him, holding him, and loving every second of it. I had nothing to fear, I didn't have to worry about him finding out what I was
.
I could stay with him as long as we both liked; neither of us would age. He liked me just the way I was and wouldn’t change anything about me. That was what I loved more than anything.

After a while things started getting rather heated. He became adventurous, moving so he lay over me and taking the kisses from my lips, gently across my cheek, down my neck, until he reached my collar bone. My heart rate increased; I got goose bumps everywhere. It had been a long time since I’d felt like this, since I’d wanted someone so much. Sadly we were interrupted by Jackson’s alarm on his phone, he’d set it to let us know when it was 11p.m. so we could set off for the lab. The kisse
s
ended and he looked as annoyed as I
felt
.
He
groaned and sighed before getting off me, and then the bed. I giggled at him a little, which seemed to lift his mood slightly. He half smiled at me before taking my hand and pulling me off the bed.

“Are you ready for this?” He asked, stroking the side of my face.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You’ll be
OK
.”

“
We’ll
be
OK
.
”

He kissed me once
more before loading us both up
with guns and ammunition.

We arrived at the lab twenty minutes later. We pulled up a couple of side streets away and slowly and quietly walked towards it.

“That doesn’t look like a lab
,
” Jackson said, looking at the building. “It looks more like
a large garage
or warehouse
.
”

“He took what he could get, but trust me when you get inside... well, you’ll see.”

He was right, from the outside the building looked like a rundown warehouse with overgrown wasteland at either side.
The place
actually looked unsafe. When we got closer we saw a light on towards the back of the building.
It was
faint but that meant someone was there. Jackson pulled one of his guns out ready to shoot anyone who got in his way. We tried the front entrance but it was locked, there was no way we would be able to get inside.

“
There are
two doors around the back, we could try those,” I whispered.

He nodded and made me walk behind him as we crept around the back. Both the doors were bolted shut, but we
did notice one of the windows
was
open and thankfully it was big enough for us to climb
through
. Jackson went inside first
.
He
wanted to check
that
no one was around. I appreciated the fact he wanted to protect me, but I also wanted to protect
him
. He motioned for me to come inside. We were in one of
the
empty rooms that I knew Luke used for storage at one point.

“Do you know the layout of this place?” Jackson asked
.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, I can only remember parts of it. To be honest I didn't see everything.”

We opened the store room door as quietly as possible and made our way down the little hallway towards the main room. The light was coming
from
in there, not the main lights, it wasn’t bright enough, maybe it was from a desk lamp. We stood next to the double doors silently, not even breathing, just listening to see if we could hear anyone. Jackson looked at me and shook his head, it was silent. He waved his gun a little, I knew he meant for me to pull mine out too. He motioned with his finger
s
...1
...2...3...
then kicked the doors open. We walked in expecting to shoot someone, but the room was empty. The light must have been left on accidentally.

“Wow
,
” Jackson said, looking around him. “This place is... wow
.
”

“
Told
you didn’t I
?
You see, you shouldn’t ju
dge
a book by its cover.”

“How did he fund this?”

“It’s like I said, his business was booming, he was making an unbelievable amount of money. The cost of all this... it was nothing to him.”

“
Maybe
it was nothing to him back then, but now it’s gonna cost him his life.”

“I know
.
”

We started looking around to see if we could find any clue
s
to Luke’s whereabouts. Jackson looked amazed by everything. It was so clean, with test tubes of all sizes neatly placed around the work benches.
Chemistry
books were on shelves and on a large desk by one of the windows
, along with dozens of note pads and pens. There were several computers,
microscopes, two centrifuges,
micro plates
, pipettes
and... syringes.

“Jackson look
,
” I waved him over
.
“These are the same
kind of
needles I saw in the barn when I found Tristan
.
”

“Well that definitely confirms it
’
s
him
then.”

“Have you found anything?”

“No, nothing. What’s in the next room?”

“I don’t know, let’s take a look
.
”

We walked through the large door at the other side of the lab. The smell hit us straight away.
There was blood
everywhere
.
T
he floor was just a mass
of deep
red
;
the walls were splattered with it. To me it smelt like copper. There were also flies
and maggots
everywhere.

“Jesus Christ
,
” Jackson gasped, covering his nose. “What the hell happened here?”

“I was
wondering
the same
thing
.”
I cringed, trying not to breath
e
.

“
Look
,
” he pointed to a rather large chest freezer
, the only item other than a few lockers in the room.
“
Open
it.”

“Piss off,
you
op
en it!” I shot
.

He smirked at me before walking over to it, I watched as his boot prints appeared in the blood, then waited anxiously as he went to lift the lid. As soon as he had, he turned away from it for a moment
in disgust
.

“Leticia, you’re not going to like this, but you need to see if you know this person.”

“Oh god
,
” I
moaned
.
“
C
an’t you just describe him?”

“Erm... not really
.
”

“Is it that bad?”

“It’s not
good
.
”

“Oooh... shit, fine
.
”

I made my way over to him, pulling funny faces when I heard the blood squelching under my shoes. I took a deep breath before quickly glancing inside. There was nothing there.
He burst out laughing.

“You bastard that was
n’t
funny
,
” I shot, punching his arm
. I h
it him a little bit too hard and
he stumbled into one of the large lockers behind him. “Sorry.”

“I just couldn’t resist
,
”
he continued to laugh.