Walking out of my room the next morning I was greeted by silence.
That’s odd.
Jake was always up first and he was nowhere in our small shabby apartment. When I thought about it, I couldn’t actually remember getting home or getting into bed.
“5pm!” I shouted as I checked the time and I frantically searched for a note, or anything from Jake, but the only hint was our apartment door left ajar. I couldn’t be certain but I had a feeling there was something bigger at play, and that was Mr Swan and the Consortium.
The card, where the fuck is the card!
I started rummaging around the mess in the apartment for the card that Tai gave me. Although it didn’t have a visible address on it, I still wanted to inspect it closer to see if there was anything to it.
I sat there staring at it in my hands until I started to get annoyed at been given a blank card with no instructions or way of finding the address I was suppose to meet Tai at. Eventually the annoyance turned to anger. I stared at it longer, getting more angry by the second, and then, it started to glow.
Warehouse 2, 510 Bay Lane, the address glowed on the blank backing of the card and I had to ponder the wizardry of of it all on the move as it was gaining on 6pm.
—-
It took some aggressive empath bargaining with a cab driver to make it to the address right on 6pm too. Usually they had only subtle defences against empath persuasion but this guy had been next level. He knew all the tricks and almost made me pay full price. Almost. I knew most definitely that’d be another report for the authorities to salivate over. Two in a 24 hour period would start putting you on their radar, but I was already on it.
The line of warehouses that number two was located in were rather bland and unassuming sitting along the edge of the harbours docks. The night was setting in and the area was rather poorly lit, one that most likely didn’t have much foot traffic after 5pm, and the air was thick with the seaside smell, stagnant from the lack of breeze.
Warehouse Number Two, there it was, closed. Great.
I knocked. Knocked again. Nothing. As I stepped back to make sure I was indeed in the correct place, I noticed a little keypad with a fob sensor. Running out of ideas, I pulled the calling card out again. It had surprised me out of left field earlier so I thought it might as well open a door while it’s at it. A loud click clack of the door unlocking filled the air as I pressed the card against the sensor, I was 20 minutes late screwing around with the door and all I thought was that they could of at least let me in.
I pushed the door open, triggering the lights to thump on one after the other until it reached the very back of the warehouse, illuminating a very anti-climactic empty space.
I felt like some sort of idiot as I walked l around the warehouse, like it was all some magicians joke. As I got to the centre I turned around for one last look before leaving. Until I felt a sudden surge of energy around me. Someone was there and was charging up to strike. I couldn’t see them but it was getting stronger and I bolted for the door.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After only a few steps a sudden jolt zapped my body and then black consumed me.
—-
Tai was sitting across from me as I slowly came to. I was laying on a couch in a place that definitely was not a warehouse.
“Thanks for the welcome,” I said as I sat up.
“We had to make sure you weren’t followed.”
“Oh yeah, followed by who?” My tone giving away that I knew who he was referring to specifically. His dad, Harold Swan and the Consortium.
“The same person who had a go at interrogating me at the police headquarters yesterday?
“The same person I’m guessing kidnapped my brother?”
I sensed a spike of concern when I asked, and I could tell I was right in my guess.
“Don’t worry, he’ll just be using him as collateral to try and get to me. We’ll find him.”
I was in an apartment, some kind of headquarters for whatever it was and it was cramped with about the fifteen or so people working around the space. I went all the way to a warehouse on the docks of the harbour just to be brought back into the city.
There were screens everywhere, work spaces, and a big whiteboard style screen on one entire wall that was filled with a bunch of text, drawings and digital documents.
I wondered over to the large board to get a better look, it looked like research cross between detective board.
“What’s all this?” I asked, turning around to Tai.
“We’re looking for the original sequence pairs. Over generations they slowly removed all information about the original from the public eye, and the only people who hold it now—“
“The consortium,” I interrupted. “Go figure.”
Tai nodded and turned to study the board alongside me. It had each corporation that made up the Consortium: GeneTech, The main pioneer of DNA sequencing and editing technology. They hold patents on the core editing processes and software, making them the gatekeepers of all DNA modifications; LifeSpan, focused on enhancing longevity; MindWave who were responsible for Neurology side of things; and, BioForm who specialised in physical enhancement edits.
It seemed that the team had already started making headway on reconstructing the original sequence but I had no idea how much data was required to complete it or why I got dragged into this mess.
“So…. Are you guys some sort of rebellion then?”
Tai let out a quick laugh, “yeah I guess you could say that.”
“From what I’ve found out over the years in my research and before I fell out with my father, is that they are making additional edits. Illegal edits.
“How do you control the masses? Make them more agreeable and suggestible. Why are there so many issues, why were you in MindWave? Because they purposely make people dependent on them.”
I couldn’t sense any deceit from Tai as he spoke, he was genuine and passionate about what he saying and it gave a reason as to why his father was so determined to track Tai down.
“So why did you invite me here and show me all this?”
“Because you have a rare dual ability. Even from my time growing up around the Consortium I have yet to run into anyone who can read and sense other people’s abilities. You’d be an asset to us, to the Sequencers.”
I was flattered at the proposition and surprised to hear Tai had never run into anyone else with the same abilities as mine, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump straight into a rebellion, even if I had already started to doubt the legitimacy of the Consortiums agenda.
“I tell you what. You help me get my brother back and keep him safe, and you can tell me all about how we retrieve the original sequences, then I’ll join your little club,” I proposed.
“Deal,” Tai smiled, extending his hand to shake on it.
He pulled out his phone and put in an address. According to him it was one of the Consortiums ‘off the record’ sites and it wasn’t too far from the apartment Jake and I shared either.
“That has to be it, let’s go,” I said in haste, hopping up to my feet and ready to roll.
“Woah not so fast, it may be less heavily guarded than some of the other buildings of theirs but it doesn’t mean it will be easy. We’ll have to come up with a plan.”