Project HALO

Chapter 26

It takes me a minute to remember where I am when I wake up.

A sliver of light penetrates the narrow space between the window and the dark curtain. It's light outside and I have no idea what time it is. Norwegian summers are confusing like that. We only get about four hours of complete darkness during the night, so right now the time can be anywhere between the early morning or late afternoon. I have no idea how long we've been out.

With scrunching eyes, I skim the room, trying to catch a glimpse of something recognizable in the dimness. All I see are bunk beds with messy beddings, and nightstands with books and glasses on them. I prop my head on my elbow as I yawn and blink hard to wake myself up.

Next to me, new clothes have been laid out on the nightstand. There are pants, sweaters, black jackets, t-shirts, and several pairs of socks and underwear folded neatly on the floor. I'm kind of impressed. Does every Phantom get a new wardrobe around here?

Mikey's hand falls over the railing, interrupting my thoughts by almost hitting me in the face. I flinch and slap his hand away, both out of surprise and to wake him up. He grunts and pulls his arm back.

"Mikey, wake up!" I sit up on my bed and pull his hand back down. "They have pizza."

A swift movement above causes the bed to squeak.

Mikey's head pops over the railing of his bed, his hair hanging down over his forehead like messy curtains. "Pizza?"

I grin. "I knew that would wake you up."

"So... no pizza?" He frowns and rubs his eyes.

"No, sorry. Now come on, get some clothes on." I hand him his glasses, and throw him a pair of pants and a sweater. He groans loudly in return, but does as told. I pull on my own pair of pants, slide the key into one of the pockets and zip it close. When we're fully dressed, we walk out to the gunroom, which is completely empty, and into the nearest bathroom.

There are eight shower stalls and four toilet stalls inside. I lock the door behind us. I have to talk with Mikey in private.

"Why did you lock?" Mikey asks and folds his lanky arms across his chest. "Are you going to hurt me? You can never steal my intelligence, Charlie, it doesn't work like that!"

"No, we have to talk."

Mikey's eyebrows pop up. "About what?"

"What do you think?" I walk over to one of the four sinks and turn the faucet on, splashing my face with cold water until the world seems crisper. I'm ready to make the decisions I couldn't make yesterday. I have to.

"I think we should stay here," Mikey says when I turn off the water.

His words linger as I chew on them. I don't agree with him. Yes, Phantom promised to watch after us, but for what? What do they want with me? I don't understand why I'm so damn important to them. They don't even know that I have the key, so what do they want? There has to be something they aren't telling me, but I'm not in the mood to stay around to force it out of them. I'm tired of asking questions. Tired of being in the dark.

Today is the thirty-first of May and we officially have one week to locate the flash drive. There's no time to fuck around, no matter how much Mikey wants to stay with his friends.

"We can't do that, Mikey."

"Why? You think it's safer out there? Do you think Regina will keep her word and let us go, just like that?"

I pat down my messy brown hair with damp hands.

"Yes and no. I'm sure she will release the virus if we don't meet her demands, but no... I don't know if she'll let us go after that."

"Phantom can help us," Mikey tries, and I jerk around to face him.

"We can't trust them. I know you think you know some of them, but most of them are strangers. They aren't even telling us the whole truth." I throw my arms out and Mikey lowers his gaze.

"We can trust them," he mutters. "They'll do anything to take down the NIC and they can help us find the flash drive to stop Regina."

"Did you hit your head in your sleep? We can't tell them about the flash drive." My voice grows louder, but I don't care. He's being stupid and he has to understand that. "We have no idea what they'll do with the files on that drive. Malcolm told me not to trust them, so they might be as bad as Regina for all we know. I promised Malcolm to give it to him or his colleague, none of which are here right now."

"Plans are bound to change, Charlie, especially under pressured situations like these. Shouldn't our main goal be to help them destroy the virus?" Mikey walks past me to turn on one of the showers. "Things won't always work in your favor, no matter how stubborn you are or how rich your father is."

I take a step after him. "What did you say?"

He doesn't look at me, but I see his jaw working as he adjusts the water temperature. "I'm saying you have to actually think through your actions for once. Don't be reckless. You know where that got you last time."

"What the fuck are you trying to say?" My hands curl into fists. The frustration built up inside takes a sharp turn into anger. "This isn't about me or you! You just wanna stay here because you finally feel popular or some shit. Or, no, it's because you saw some cute girl, right? And met your new best friend? Just admit it." I scoff. "You're pathetic."

"I'm pathetic?" He huffs. "At least I'm not getting myself arrested to get my father's attention."

"Wow." I cock my head and take one step closer to him.

He takes a step farther away.

"You're more of a douchebag than I thought you were." I poke him in his chest so he has to take another step back. "Your new roommates must've rubbed some of their arrogance off on you, huh?"

"Actually, you're the one who did that." His eyebrows pinch together. "I should have known you'll never change. You'll always be that kid who gets drunk for attention and sneaks weed into his room only to get caught."

I snap my teeth together into a fake smile and grab his arm.

He tries to wince away, but I only squeeze harder.

"Caught because of you," I say and shove him into the plastic wall of one of the shower stalls. "At least I don't betray my friends." I let him go, but he stays glued to the wall. "We have a week to prevent a disaster, but you do whatever the fuck you want. I'm leaving."

"Charlie!" He shouts after me, but I don't stop.

This has already gone too far.

If this is the person Mikey's become, I don't want him with me anyway. Or maybe I do, but I can't. I can't afford to sit around and do nothing. A heavy tug yanks at my heart, but I ignore it. I'm not tired or drugged anymore, and I know what I have to do.

I'm pissed, and I'm leaving.