Conversations with Silas

     We found another number in the papers, and since we were out of change, Allen called it from his cellphone. It was Silas' phone, and Allen lept up when he heard his friend's voice, heaving a sigh of relief. He told Silas that it was Allen, and I heard silas roar something through the phone. I couldn't tell if it was relief or anger. About a minute later, I knew it was both. According to what Allen told me, after Allen lost his fight on the train, the man, Wilson, took his gun, wallet, knife and, most dangerously, his cellphone. Three days after I found Allen by the tracks, the bank was raided. In fact, Everyone Allen had visited received another visit, every call he made was tracked, every gps coordinate he had visited was re-checked. The entire network of people working to uncover this mystery had been plowed through by Wilson Ingram and the police.
     Now, it was Allen and I,  Silas, Liza, Mike, the hacker who had been traveling with Silas,and one other person from the bank who escaped with Liza. There were only six of us now. Silas had decided to meet with Allen and I, and we climbed back into our car and headed west again. Allen was a mess. He wouldn't let me drive, even though there were tears pouring from his face. Finding out that everything had collapsed because he had lost a fistfight may have broken him. I really don't think he was the same after that. I think that the overwhelming weight of it all may have finally made a crack in his resolve, and it wasn't long before that crack would widen.
     We met Silas in a junky diner, a day away from chicago. He and Liza had been travelling together, trying to find out more about what had happened. Mike and the other two hacker fellows were hidden away in a safe-house, living somewhere in the woods. Silas was a really gruff sort of guy, not ever rude, per se, but not the sort of guy who wasted words on niceties. His first impression was of a guy who had been through a lot, and didn't want to waste time. Liza seemed like a charming enough woman, if a bit of a flirt.
     They told us about the things that had happened after Allen went missing, how the police had used his phone to track everyone. Silas was on his way into chicago when it happened, and Liza had barely escaped across the roof with the other guy. There was a small access hatch on the roof, and they made it across the alley to safety. She had gotten ahold of Silas, and he had met them a couple miles from the bank. They had been travelling together since. Mike had gotten delayed at the train station, and was a day away when it happened, but he was nearly nabbed at a different station that week. He finally made it to Silas a week later. The whole thing had been a mess. They were pretty sure nobody else had escaped. Fortunately, Mike had kept ahold of the backpacks with all of the clues in them, and the cops hadn't gotten ahold of all of that.
     We told Silas and Liza everything we had learned, and they sat there, dumbfounded. They had no idea about the toys, and were disgusted. It took Silas a minute to decide what to say. It took Liza much longer. she just dropped her head to the table, and disappeared into her head for a bit. We spent the rest of the day in that diner, talking about what we knew, and what we needed to do next. Honetly, I don't think anyone was sure what to do.

The Return To The Bank

     We got to the bank late at night, and entered in through the back entrance. Allen tapped the Fibonacci sequence on the button, and we waited for a long time. A really long time. But nothing else happened. He shouted for someone to let him in, and when he got no response, he headed for the front door. When we got there, we realized that the chain had been cut. We pushed the door open, and were shocked by what was there before us. The entire place was empty. Cables had been torn from walls, papers were scattered across the floor. Everything was a mess. There was blood spattered on one wall, with a dent in the drywall next to it. The entire place had been raided. The vault had been blasted open, and the inside of it was empty except for a cheap metal bookshelf, laying on its side.
     Allen was Devastated. I was, too, of course, but I didn't know these people. Allen had friends here, friends who were at best all arrested, and at worst, friends who nobody would ever see again. He wandered through the ruins of the bank, and wiped dust off of a table. This had happened a long time ago, but it didn't matter to him. What mattered is that it happened at all. We gathered at much of the paper as we could, in the hopes that we could find something useful,  and then we left, before someone showed up for us. We found a small hotel, and Allen brought me some food. He didn't eat, he just drank a small bottle of vodka and put himself to sleep. He shook all night.
     The next morning, we dug through the papers, looking for something that might tell us where everyone had been taken, or even how to contact someone. All Allen wanted to do was find Silas, who he was sure hadn't been at the bank. He thought that Mike might have been there, in Chicago, when the raid happened. Allen kept pausing and staring at nothing while we looked though the papers  It was like he was trying to remember something that he never knew to begin with. We found a phone number, and Allen called it from a phone outside the hotel. It went to voicemail. Allen came back to the room slumped over. It was amazing the toll that this had taken on him, but it was more amazing that he was still standing. A lot of people think he may have been falling apart mentally, like he was going insane, but I think he was stronger than that. I think that he was exhausted, and he was overburdened with worry. The more he found out about this whole thing, the more he knew he had to protect people. He had a lot of protective instincts, but having to protect so many people was too much. He'd never admit it, though, he'd just press on.

Things In Perspective.

     We finally had a next step, and we knew what this whole cover-up was about. It was very exciting, but it was very threatening. These people had killed thousands of children by accident, and then to cover it up, they had been going across the country killing parents, and anyone who spoke out. Allen had been doing a lot of digging, So I was certain at this point he was on their new, revised list, probably with a big fat underline. It made me very anxious. But he was so excited to know something new, he was almost frantic, which was terrifying in a way, and also a bit of a relief. Allen had been so down since yesterday that to see his head spinning like that was a refreshing change. He seemed like he might be ready to see his friends again, so I mentioned it to him.
     He didn't like the sound of that at all. He felt he'd be putting them into more danger, and while I agreed with him, It seemed like they were in enough danger already. We spent the day discussing our next step, and reading through documents. Greg had done his research, and when we had the context of the article, we were able to really draw a lot more information from the paperwork. I finally convinced Allen that we should see his friends at the bank, and let them know what they had been fighting for.
     We drove for three days, and arrived in chicago, like a blur. I had never been to chicago before, so it was pretty exciting, but of course, we didn't get to do any sight-seeing. Instead, we charged straight for the bank.

(I'm sorry this post is so short, I'll make sure to give you a longer one soon, but I'm on the road right now, and haven't really had time to write more. It's really important to me to do Allen justice, so I don't want to write junk and send it out there. Thank you so much for reading so far! -Jess)