The Young Spy (Book One)

Chapter 22: Finding Swift

THURSDAY.

Tom walks out of the bathroom after he makes sure to flush the toilet quietly, not to wake Swift or Carter up. He turns off the bathroom light before closing the door behind him. He looks at the wall clock above the front door. 2:25. He yawns again while wondering why he suddenly woke up at this time of night. Going back, he really didn't know. All he knew is that once he woke up, he had the urge to use the bathroom before heading off to sleep again. It's always his instinct to do so. Tom sees Carter, dozing peacefully on the couch. Before he heads back to bed, he decides to check on Swift, since he didn't recall greeting him when he returned from his solo mission.

Tom knows immediately that something isn't right when he notices that the door to Swift's bedroom is left open slightly, for who knows how long. Maybe he forgot to close it last night. He'll remember to close it after checking up on his friend. He swings the door open to see... no one. He discovers that there is no Swift sleeping in the double-sized bed like he expected. Tom is greeted by an empty and dark bedroom, the only light source is the table lamp from the living room. Maybe that's why. He turns on the bedroom lights, again seeing an empty bed. Tom starts to be concerned. He doesn't see Swift anywhere in the apartment. The bathroom was quite literally across the apartment. If he was somewhere but in the bedroom, Tom would most likely see him, but the only person he saw in the apartment is Carter.

Tom rushes to Carter, "Carter. Carter!" He whisper-shouts, shaking the other on his shoulder. Not long after, he wakes up with a whining snivel.

"What?" Carter says with weak, squinted eyes.

"Ryan's missing."

Carter's eyebrows narrow, "What?" He rises from the couch, passing by Tom to Swift's bedroom.

"He's not in his room, he's not anywhere," Tom says worryingly, while Carter discovers the empty bed, eyes bewildered.

"Did he get home last night?" Carter asks.

"I don't know, I would already be asleep if he did! We both were. I thought he would be back by ten!" Tom says. The two of them grow more worried, the feeling of urgency escalating over Swift's disappearance. Carter looks around the apartment for a little while before returning.

"He's not here?" Carter's eyes visibly embiggen.

"No!" Tom replies. Carter takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Then he heads back to the couch, taking a seat before his laptop. "Where do you think he could be?"

"Hang on," Carter opens the laptop. "Did he bring his phone?"

Tom gets reminded of last night when he sees Swift putting up his phone while being asked by Tom about where he's going. "Yeah. I think so."

"Good. I can probably track his phone to find out his location." Carter says in all seriousness and always, becomes fixated on his laptop as his fingers move rapidly from key to key, occasionally shifting to the mouse.

"In the meantime, I'll try to call him." Tom waltzes to his room to get his cell phone.

"Good idea." Carter nods. If Allison finds out about this, she would be hella' pissed, He thought. He knew how much Allison cared for the boy, and if something bad happened to Swift, not only will she freak out, his job resignation would be in order.

It took Tom ten seconds to get his phone that has been placed beside his bed, on the nightstand. He opens the contact list and scrolls all the way below and stops when he spots Swift's number. He presses the number and puts the phone against his ear, waiting for a response rather than the dial tone that answers at first. Tom's fingers start tapping on his thigh nervously, the suspense feels a lot more intense and intense the longer he waits, listening to the dial tone. His own feet start tapping on the floor as well. After a solid thirty seconds of nothing but the same tone repeating itself, it disappears. The tone vanishes. No one answered. Tom puts away the phone and looks at the screen. No answer from Swift. Now he's starting to feel a little more than worry, panicking silently.