Deviants

Chapter 67

Raevon

November first arrives with bitter cold winds, and yet I'm not in Stonegate like I thought I'd be. I'm not even in Montana. I'm in the streets of Paradise Falls. It's bound to take a day or two, but I guess I'm stalling. Though there is one person in Paradise Falls that I'm trying very hard to avoid, showing my face in Stonegate University would be much more dangerous. I'm still dazed that Clint figured it out. But I'm not too worried. None of them know my identity. Even if Clint did tell everyone, May Eve's reputation would be the only thing at risk. I already have enough on the college that Jacob would be satisfied with.

So, when I finally hear the name Storm, I'm slightly dreading it. I know what comes after this, and I know what will have to come after that, sooner or later. The first place I hear it is in a back-alley way, a homeless bum rushes towards the barrel where a warm fire is built.

"Look fellas, look! Isn't Mr. Storm a generous man?" He says between his cricked teeth. I look over my shoulder to see him hold a hundred-dollar bill before the fire. It's the first step to identifying A.O.S. Whoever it is, they are interested in the Storm agents. Their files weren't very detailed. In fact, they were specifically vague, though I'm not sure why. But it did say that the last known place a Storm lived was in Paradise Falls.

So, I step away from my own fire that I'm huddled by and stand next to the homeless man.

"You are a lucky man," I say to him. He smiles at me, but then squints at me skeptically.

"Nah, now don't you be getting any ideas, miss," he warns, "I'm saving this for a brand-new pair of shoes."

"Oh, by all means! I'm not interested in the money. In fact," I pull out another hundred from my pocket, "do you happen to know where Mr. Storm lives?" I ask. Another reason why I've been in Wyoming so long: whoever "Mr. Storm" is, he's been well trained to stay out of the books and out of sight. The man stares at the bill, nearly drooling.

"I don't, miss, but I know where his son works," he says. I raise a brow, my interest peaked.

"A son? That might be even better." I wave the bill under his nose.

"He works in the fire department, very friendly too. Always gives me the last of his lunch," he says. He slips the bill from my fingers before I step away from him. Son of a bitch, I think. It had to be the fire department.

But the extra challenge builds my motivation. A.O.S. has valuable I.O.E. information and I have to get it from him no matter the cost. So, I jog through the night, knowing my exact way to the fire department. I know that sometimes the employees gather there for a poker night and when I approach it, sure enough, Desmond's gray 1967 Mustang sits in the parking lot. Along with a black Dodge Charger and a blue 2016 Toyota. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. This isn't another one of mine and Desmond's nights. This is business.

I approach the building from the garage that hold two fire engines. There are three different doors. As I slip into the garage, the first door is straight ahead of me, next to the left wall. The second is on the same back wall, but next to the right wall, a large window in between them facing into a dark room. Men's voices come from the right and I crouch along the back wall, seeing that the light in the garage comes from a large window on the right wall, which is where four men sit at a round table conversing and playing poker. It looks to be a sitting area set up next to the work desks.

Desmond is the first I see. He plays and laughs and smiles but I can see the sadness in his eyes. It twists my stomach, making me feel as if I need to throw up, remembering the last time we saw each other. I decide that I need to get whatever I need on the Storms to figure out who A.O.S. is and get as far away from him as possible.

The other men are around Desmond's age, one built with light brown hair, the other tall and lean with dark brown hair. The fourth's back faces me, with dirty blond hair and a tall built frame. I watch them only for a few seconds before the blond guy throws his cards down. Their voices are slightly muffled but when I inch closer, I'm able to distinguish what they say.

"Fold," the blond one says.

"What?! Come on, man. This is the first night you haven't been glued to your computer in about three days," the light brown-haired guy says as the blond stands. My interest is peaked. It is possible that A.O.S. is closer to the Storms than I first thought. The blond shrugs his shoulders.

"I know, but I got to start out early tomorrow morning," he says.

"Where is it you're going?" The dark brown-haired asks. The blond turns, glancing at Desmond only for a second but in that second, I can read that knowing look that Desmond tries to hide has he gathers the cards.

"I just have to meet a friend," the blond says. He grabs his jacket and walks away from the table. I teleport behind the farthest fire engine right as the door opens to the garage. I hear his footsteps echo all the way out and I follow him to watch him climb into the Dodge Charger. I'm torn between trying to find out who this is or sneaking into the department as search the files for a Storm.

Knowing that Desmond is inside helps me make my decision. I watch the Dodge pull out of the parking lot, the evening sun as officially set, and it gets darker with each second. I follow him by teleporting behind the vehicle, hiding behind anything I can, until he stops at a fancy apartment suburban area with multiple replicas of the same apartment buildings. He stops at the third house down and steps from his vehicle.

It's completely dark by the time I decide it's safe to cross the street, the only thing lighting my way are the streetlights, which I avoid. I silently make my way up the concrete steps, stopping before his front door. A breeze passes over me before I am standing in his entry way.

I face a short hallway, which is completely dark. I take a few steps forward before an archway opens to my right. There are only a few light switches that glow in the dark, but I can tell it's a kitchen.

I continue forward, a sliding glass door before me, the walls on my side stop at the same time, the one to my right opens in a decent sized living room, the other one is the way upstairs. I turn to the right, silently stepping around the living room furniture, until I reach a neatly straightened desk below the window that faces out in the tiny backyard. I run my hand over the surface, feeling the change of a laptop. I take a glance to the stairs before opening the laptop. It's password protected, which isn't surprising, but again, it's like a puzzle. I just have to rewrite the program. It doesn't take long before I am staring at his desktop, but I have to work fast before it warns him of an intruder in his system.

It is highly advanced. Too advanced for any average civilian to have, which sends my heart racing with excitement. Could this guy actually be A.O.S.?

The first thing I check is his email. It has a simple name, nothing that has yet connected me to the Storms. I move the arrow to his profile picture, click on it once, and see an option to switch users. His backup account is much more intriguing; that is, if his first account wasn't actually his backup.

The username of the second account reads "AceofSpades1".

"A.O.S.," I whisper to myself. I lean closer, clicking on the most recent email received. "'JJBarlow98'," I mouth, scanning through the email, "'I am not sure how to say this, but I have a friend that I'm curious about. Her name is Amee Woods.' Tsk, tsk, tsk, oh, Johnny what are you up to?" I mouth to myself, satisfied that this is the very house, the very person that I am looking for. I exit out of that email and search up the most recent downloads. I notice that there was one made the very day I was tracking A.O.S. through the I.O.E. filing system, but when I try to look deeper in it, I see that it has been erased. I'm about to mouth a curse when the lights flip on.

"Who the hell are you?" I hear behind me.

A/N:

I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little choppy or lacking detail; it involves scenes that will take great thought. I know it will probably will need to be major updated but I won't be able to do that for a long while :/ just try to bear with me