The Hive Solution

Chapter 15

It was dark when Mason finally made it to the Mission Bay campus where Claire lives. For the last two years she's been studying at the San Francisco Medical School, hoping to become a surgeon one day, hopefully she's still staying in the same apartment. He parks his bike some distance away knowing that the Feds would be looking for it. Since he found out about Santiago's murder he'd ridden none stop to San Francisco, taking a big chance that his bike wouldn't be spotted. He'd been lucky today, but he didn't want to take chances, hence the reason for stashing it some distance away.
Mason makes it on foot to the apartment block where Claire lives with her roommate Stephanie. Accommodation for the students comprises of eight apartment blocks all adjacent to each other with a communal lawn area between each building. Each building has three floors with an open stairwell at each end and a parking lot next to the garden area. Mason walks along the path outside the three story building trying to remember which apartment she lives in, it's on the ground floor, that much he's certain of, he's not sure if she's in building A or B. He stops outside an apartment in block A with loud music blaring out from inside, he chuckles to himself, "that's my sister" he says out load smiling to himself.

He walks to the door and knocks loudly to be sure he's heard over the music. After a few seconds an "I'll get it" comes from inside.

Mason suddenly feels apprehensive, even a little nervous at seeing Claire again and he takes a moment to pull the creases out of his hoodie and smooth back his hair. The door bursts open and a chubby petite blond girl looks at him. Dressed in a plain white t-shirt with grey sweat pants and bare feet she looks kinda cute as she leans against the door frame with a half drunk bottle of beer in her hand.

"Hey cutie" she says smiling in her most seductive voice.

Mason smiles nervously "Hi, er, is Claire there"

"Oh.... okay, I'll get her for you" she says pouting in a mock display of disappointment.

She beckons Mason into the hall way of the apartment and he closes the door behind him while the cute girl goes to find his sister. He stands awkwardly not sure at how she'll react to him. Then he see's her making her way up the hall toward him, her head turned back toward the lounge as she laughs with her friends, she's dressed in blue pyjamas with her hair tied up in a messy bun. Her face falls in shock when she turns and see's her brother stood in her hallway.

"W..What the hell are you doing here?" she says slightly shocked.

"Well, it's good to see you too" he replies giving her a nervous smile.

She brings her shock under control and leans against the wall with a half filled wine glass held loosely in her hand. "So what are you into now, stealing, running drugs, or are you into bigger things these days?"

Joe sighs "Come on Claire, give me a break. I need your help" he says holding his hands up.

"With what, you wanna use my place as a safe house now, so you can hide from your so called 'friends' who are no doubt trying to kill you. I told you this would happen, you're a fool Joseph Mason, now get out and don.... "

"Claire just stop for a second!" he yells before looking over her shoulder toward the lounge now nervous that Claire's friends might of heard their raised voices. "I've been poisoned by something" he says almost in a whisper.

"What are you talking about, what have you taken Joe, you into drugs now?" she says pointing her finger at him angrily.

"No, it's nothing like that, honest"

"So tell me?" she says

"It's a long story, but it's something that's changing me, I'm scared Claire" he says with real worry in his voice. Only Claire brings this side out of him, the soft kind caring side which he holds back from anyone who gets close to him. When he's with his sister he can release this, this feeling of trust that only comes from that feeling of family. When their parents died they only had each other to fall back on, only had the two of them who knew how the other felt, to lose both their parents and the emptiness that goes with it.