29 days, 9 hours, 7 minutes left

I knelt down behind a large bush at the back end of the park. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It was 3:53pm.

I situated myself to get a good view of people entering and on the two benches. There was a couple sitting on one of the benches and people jogging or walking through. The person on the phone never said who I was meeting, but considering they know where I live, I’m assuming whoever they sent knows what I look like.

Liam was sitting in his car, a block away waiting for me. My plan was for Liam to follow whoever I am meeting with after I give them Liam’s hair and spit. It took me a bit to convince Liam to help me, but he eventually did. Then he resisted with the fact that he had to do the following. He finally agreed because he wants to know just as much as I do why this is happening and how to stop it.

A tall, middle aged man in a blue suit and grey tie walked into the park. I looked more closely and noticed he was holding a briefcase, which could fit two journals.

I grabbed my phone again and texted Liam, “A guy in a suit just came into the park holding a briefcase.”

His response came back immediately, “Send a pic.”

I leaned out slightly from behind the bush and quickly snapped a picture of the man, he had changed positions since I last looked. He was sitting on the empty bench with his phone out.

I sent Liam the picture and he replied, “Looks sort of familiar. Wait another minute so it’s just after 4, then go over.”

Taking his advice, I waited for another minute watching to see if any other potential people could be here with my journals.

I quickly shot a text to Liam letting him know I didn’t see any other possibilities and was going to make contact. I slipped my phone into the front pocket of my jeans and walked out from behind the bush. I approached the bench and sat down beside the man.

“Charlotte Peters.” The man said, his voice a soft rumble.

I jolted at the sound of my voice coming from this complete stranger and tried to recover quickly by saying, “Yes?”

“Do you have the samples?” He asked, holding out his left hand to me, his phone since put away.

“Do you have my journals?” I countered and I heard him sigh. He grabbed the briefcase and laid it down on top of his legs. The hinges snapped open with an audible pop and he lifted the lid. The inside of the briefcase was empty save for two journals neatly stacked.

I produced Liam’s hair and spit sample from my bag. He removed the journals and let me grab them with my free hand. I gave him the samples and he gracefully put them in the briefcase. He rose and rebuttoned his suit jacket.

“I believe Abby already threatened you with this, but to be sure, I feel I need to remind you that your journals will be destroyed should this be anything but what we asked for.” He stated and I nodded.

“She did, and they are.” I said and he turned on his heel and walked away.

I whipped my phone out of my pocket and texted Liam, “He’s on the move! FOLLOW!”

* * *

After texting Liam, and getting a quick response from him to let me know he was starting to follow the man, I stayed at the park. Liam and I had previously agreed that I would just wait for him to see where the man went and then come meet me here.

I didn’t end up having to wait too long for Liam. After about 35 minutes I saw his car pull up at one of the park entrances. I got up from my perch on the bench and jogged towards his car. He waved his hand at me from inside as I opened the passenger door and slid in.

“Where’d he go?” I asked.

“He went to this old, run down, abandoned building across town.” Liam said, putting the car into drive, “I can find it again and show you.”

“Perfect, did he notice you?” I questioned.

“Not at all. I stayed a couple cars behind him the way there and he didn’t seem to notice that someone was following him.” He said.

“That seems kind of weird, right?” I said, nervous.

“Sort of, but that’s assuming these people are more complex and powerful than they probably are.” Liam reasoned and I had to agree. From what we’ve seen of them so far, they seem to have some influence, but not an outrageous amount.

We drove in silence the rest of the way to the building, the sun setting slowly making the sky a fiery orange. Liam parked his car a block away from the building. His earlier description was completely accurate, it looks like it could collapse at one strong wind.

“We should go closer.” I said, standing on the sidewalk beside Liam.