Keith ran up to Cole, "Why are you crying?"
"Who, m-me.. *hicc* I'm not crying, you're crying," Cole said trying to wipe his tears.
"Are you drunk?" Keith said looking around, he could see multiple empty bottles of beer lying across the floor. Oh God, Keith thought, Cole wasn't someone who could get drunk easily, seeing all the bottles made Keith realize he had made himself drunk intentionally.
"Cole, what happened," Keith said.
"N-nothing *hicc* don't worry about me," Cole said trying to get up.
"No, you look tired rest," Keith said helping Cole back down, there was no point in trying to get any information out of him while he was like this
"N-no.... I can't sit here, I have to go meet... *hicc*," Cole said trying to resist.
"Meet who? " Keith asked.
"I h-have to meet, Bla..... N-no I can't tell *hicc*," Cole said drowsily, "I have to l-leave now *hicc*, h-he can't find me here,"
"Who can't find you here?"
"K-Keith.... you're already h-*hicc*, I'm s-sorry, I have to g...." Cole said trying to get up but instead he lost his footing and fell to the side.
"Cole!" Keith said kneeling down to inspect his friend, "He's out cold,"
Keith's mind was racing, Bla, who was Bla, he thought. Suddenly his mind clicked, "Maybe he was talking about Blake, but how can I be sure," as he said that he looked at Cole's unconscious body on the floor, and next to it was his phone.
"No, I can't, that's invasion of his privacy," Keith said, "but if I don't, I won't be able to help,"
"Ugh, just do it," Damian spoke up.
"Are you sure because if I do...," Keith said.
"You want to help him, don't you?"
"Yeah,"
"If this is the only way, then you have to do it,"
Keith thought for a second, nodded and got Cole's phone but it was locked.
"It's for Cole," Keith said to himself as he got Cole's hand and used his fingerprint to unlock the phone.
Keith went into Cole's messages and looked for his recent chat with Blake but he had cleared it. Keith was getting more and more suspicious of Blake and decided to call him on Cole's phone.
Blake answered the phone and said, "Hey Cole, I did as you asked but I still don't think you should do this,"
"Do what?"Keith shouted but Blake immediately hanged up the phone, he tried calling again but the calls weren't going through.
Keith was getting frustrated, he knew his best friend was struggling with something, but he couldn't do anything about it because he knew nothing.
" Maybe Laura knows something, " Keith thought," Let me try calling her." Keith looked through Cole's contacts for Laura's name and found it, but judging by the number of missed calls from her, he had been avoiding her as well. Keith called her and she immediately picked up.
" Cole? Oh my God, where have you been, I've been worried sick, you haven't been answering my calls," Laura said in a worried tone.
"It's not Cole it's me, Keith," Keith said.
"Oh! Hi Keith, if you have his phone is Cole with you?" Laura asked.
"Yeah, well kinda, I came home and found him drunk on the couch but he passed out, I think something is wrong. "
"I was thinking the same thing but I don't know what, we were just having lunch on Saturday when he received a call from someone then all of a sudden he looked so emotional and headed out as fast as possible,"
"Did he say anything before he left," Keith asked.
"No, he was just mumbling something about hospital,"
"I tried asking Cole a few questions before he passed out but I couldn't get any answers out of him,"
"So there is nothing we can do to help him ,"
"Not now, we don't have enough information but I will try asking him when he wakes up in the morning,"
"Well at least he has a great friend like you looking out for him,"
"It's what best friends do, I'll tell you if I find out anything,"
"Thanks, bye,"
"Bye," Keith said.
Keith sighed, got down, carried Cole to his bed and placed the phone next to him.
"So what are you gonna do now," Damian asked.
"The only thing I can do, I have to go talk to Blake," Keith said walking towards the door but as he headed out, something caught his eye, it was a dim blinking coming from the top of one of the buildings across the street.
".... . .----. ... / ... - .- .-. - .. -. --. / - --- / -- --- ...- . --..-- / ..-. --- .-.. .-.. --- .-- / .... .. -- / .- -. -.. / -.. --- -. .----. - / .-.. . - / .... .. -- / ... . . / -.-- --- ..-"
"I've never seen a light there before," Keith thought.
"Yeah because there has never been a light there," Damian said, " that's Morse code,"
"You know Morse code," Keith said.
"Yes, along with every language," Damian said, " Do you want me to translate,"
"Yes, that would be helpful," Keith said.
"He's.... Starting..... To.... Move... Follow..... Him.... And..... Don't..... Let..... Him... See..... You"
"What?!" Keith exclaimed.
"Yup, I think you got yourself some stalkers," Damian said.
"It's probably the C.I.A, won't these guys just give me a break," Keith said getting back into the house.
"I thought you wanted to go and confront Blake,"
"I can't now, Blake was into some really shady stuff, he stopped about a year after we finished college and turned his life around thanks to Cole but since the C.I.A is following my every move, if I go there, they may peak interest in him and dig up his past, he could get in trouble, "Keith said," he and I may not be the closest of friends but I can't throw him under the bus like that, shouldn't you know that though, since you have all my memories, "
" Well technically I do, "Damian said," I am linked to your brain so how it works is whenever you think about something that has a memory attached to it, I can pull up that memory and see it, or even make you remember, so if I choose not to I won't know them, "
" Of course, " Keith said in an exasperated tone.
"We have to wait this one out, huh?" Damian asked.
"Yep, I'll see if I can get those guys off my back tomorrow when I head to the C.I.A," Keith said heading into his room.
"By the way. I think you're forgetting something, "
"What? "
"Those guys didn't tell you when to meet them, and you have to go to work, how are you gonna handle that."
"Right!," Keith said rubbing his forehead, "well, I'm probably fired anyway, I missed half a day of work today without any explanation, lemme just check my phone for the email,"
Keith opened his phone and there it was, the email saying that he had been let go from the company. Crestone Limited was very serious about it's employees' punctuality, they were each granted three strikes before they were let go and Keith already had two strikes.
He also found a new number, it had sent him a text message saying, " 7:30am"
"I guess that's the time I have to be there," Keith said collapsing into his bed.
"So what are you gonna do about your job," Damian said.
"I'll think about that tomorrow, I'm too exhausted right now," Keith said sleepily, "Good night,"
******
"The chip has been activated, we can now track his phone's location at all times, even when it's off, listen in on all his calls and access all his texts ," Daniel said.
"Good," Beverly said.