Covered Correspondence

Chapter 37

Tomorrow morning seemed to never come. I had stayed up all night thinking about how serious Piper had been about the C.C. and Imuy Incorporated. It was hard for me to take things seriously. Everything seemed to go easier when you could laugh at the situation. I thought about the the men in the black uniforms. Was it just a coincidence? Did security agents just dress in black uniforms and travel in large groups? Was it possible I was just seeing things? I should probably tell the others, I thought. It could be important information.

Or nothing at all.

I shook all the thoughts out of my head. I had other questions to worry about, like wether or not our group was going to go back to the agency today or stay and help solve the case.

I remembered Piper's words from last night as if they were etched in my brain. "The agency is going to need every man on the field whether they like it or not. This is war."

At first I thought Piper was being overly dramatic. Wars between agencies only happened in books and movies, but then again, I had thought the same thing about agencies even existing. This was so confusing and different from my old life.
Knock.
Knock.

I stood up from my uncomfortable army cot bed. Fynn, Chase and I all had to share a room because the base's other dorms were all full (I found this a bit suspicious because there seemed to be nobody here besides my group, Ken and Barbie and the staff. Maybe the staff thought we weren't good enough for our own dorm rooms). I opened up the door to see Piper still wearing her pajamas: pink-polkadotted shorts with a black tee-shirt that had a picture of a banana on it. Piper's hair was a complete disaster, it was sticking up in places and had weird tangles, but she had managed to get it into a ponytail.

"Morning," she said groggily, and shoved past me into the empty dorm room. Chase and Fynn had gone to the cafeteria to eat breakfast earlier, and then they were going to persuade Barbie and Fynn that we had orders to stay here and learn more about the C.C.

"Morning?" I followed Piper into the room. "Why aren't you downstairs at the cafeteria?"

Piper eyed me as she plugged in the ancient coffee maker that sat on a small wooden table. "I could ask the same about you," she dumped a coffee ground package she had found in the wooden table's drawer into the coffee maker and began to walk to the bathroom to get some water.

"I'm not hungry," I offered my excuse.

"Really?" Piper raised her eyebrows as she walked back to the wooden table with the cup of water. I watched her as she poured the water in and turned the machine on. It made an unpleasant groaning noise. "I think I might remember a while ago...when you claimed that you never get tired of eating and could eat forever?"

I bit my tongue. How could she remember that? That was weeks ago! Now I would have to make another excuse. But I didn't. I told the truth.

"I don't know why I'm up here, really." I sighed and sat down on the squeaky blue couch. "I couldn't sleep last night, I kept thinking of everything that happened."

Piper sat down on the floor, her back leaning on the wall. "Me either," she stared down at her hands, like they had seem something that she hadn't. "I kept thinking about-" she suddenly stopped talking. Her blue eyes widened. "About what?" I urged. I was curious now and had to know what she was talking about.

"Promise not to say anything? Or laugh?" Piper's voice dropped to a whisper. "Yeah." I scooted closer to the edge of the couch.

"These men," She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. "In black uniforms. And guns. And they all have the same blank expression. And they're shooting me. Right here." She pointed to her shoulder where she got shot. I held my breath. I couldn't get myself to say anything. I knew I was right. I knew that they had shot Piper...

"And..." Piper started again. "I saw them. Yesterday night before I walking into the room with Chase and Fynn."

I locked eyes with Piper. I hadn't noticed how troubled she looked until now. She had dark half circles under her eyes and her whole body seemed to be weighed down. "Oh gosh...." I put my hand over my mouth to hide my smile. I didn't want her to think I was laughing at her. I was just happy that I finally found a lead. "Piper...remember when you got shot back at the base?" I asked, suddenly standing up and stretching my legs. They had gotten much longer since I had first joined the agency. Piper nodded her head slowly. "Well, I saw men in black uniforms up on the cat walk running away from the scene. No doubt about it, those men shot you." Suddenly the coffee maker 'dinged'. I walked over to it and poured the coffee into the white mug waiting for it and handed it to Piper who looked creeped out and relieved at the same time. "Remember when we first arrived at this base? And you guys passed out from that gas leak..."  Piper took a cautious sip of her coffee and nodded. I started pacing the room. "Well...I don't think that was just a gas leak. The cause of faulty machinery.... " I stopped pacing to see Piper's reaction. She didn't seem surprised. I continued. "Also, last night. I saw the men as well." I sat down next to Piper, my back against the wall. "I guess we have two separate investigations going on here, Mark." Piper took another sip of her coffee. "Let's keep this one just between us two for now, okay?" Piper scratched at a red spot on her chin.

"Yeah, totally." I agreed.

"Okay, let's go downstairs to the cafeteria now." Piper got up very suddenly. "And get some real coffee!" She quickly dumped the rest of her coffee into the trash can and walked out of the room. I followed her.