Password Incorrect

24. Revealed

Look, I didn't make you all wait that long.

Enjoy!

Nicky's POV

"What exactly is all this?" Ryder asks as he stands in the storage locker with me, staring at boxes and tables of stuff.

"Things I either never finished or just never tested," I reply as I look for a specific box.

"You made all this?" Ryder questions as he picks up another taser that was sitting on one of the tables.

"Yeah," I reply as I dig through the stacks of boxes.

I don't catch his reply entirely, but it sounds suspiciously like, 'Seems like you really like tazing people.'

"What exactly is this is?" Ryder asks me as he holds up a syringe.

"Nano trackers," I reply. "They stay in the bloodstream for two weeks. Then they just dissolve without a trace."

Ryder actually looks impressed. "Cool," He says as he turns the syringe over in his hands. "Do they have to be injected, or could someone, say, ingest them?"

I nod as I continue my search. "Yes, they could be ingested instead, but they wouldn't stay in the body as long."

Ryder picks up another syringe and turns it over in his hands.

"I wouldn't play with that one if I were you," I mutter absentmindedly.

"Why not?"

"Because that one doesn't have Nano trackers in it."

"Then what's in it?"

I debate lying to him. It's not as if it would be a big lie anyway. It wouldn't cause any harm. In the end, I decide to stick with the truth.

"Well, I don't want to call it poison, because it's not exactly that but-"

"Forget it," Ryder cuts me off. "I don't want to know."

I smile as I find the box I'm looking for, only vaguely paying attention to Ryder. I set it on the table and open it up, digging through the various gadgets inside.

Ryder picks a bullet out of the box. "And why are you making bullets, exactly?"

"It's not really a bullet," I tell him as I take it from his hands and put it back in the box. "And it has a fifty-fifty shot of doing what it's supposed to do or just blowing up."

Ryder grimaces. "What is it supposed to do?"

"It's basically a really high powered taser. When fired from a gun it'll basically turn into a kind of dart-like projectile."

"Does it need a specific gun to work?"

"No. Just whatever gun can fire that size bullet."

I pull out the device I'm looking for. It's round like a sphere and completely metal. I turn it over a few times in my hands before sliding it into my backpack. I also take a pack of what looks like trays of mints and a watch.

Ryder eyes me curiously. "What did you come for?" He asks.

I shrug. "Just some stuff."

I figure Ryder's going to continue pressing me on it, but he doesn't. Instead, he just shrugs. I walk past him to go back to the car, but he stays and lingers for a little while longer.

When he finally comes walking out of the storage locker, his hands are shoved in his jacket pockets, his sunglasses are back over his eyes and he's smiling widely.