Baby Burnett Part 3

No 3 of 💯/Fiction

It had been a few days since our visit with Gast. I was sitting in my car outside of Pastone. I couldn’t wrap my head around the claims Gast made, I mean this place has been my home since I was a girl. Everyone who worked there was my family. There was no way that this was true, and if it was true how did I not catch on that something wasn’t right?

I knew if I was going to find out answers that they would be in the archives. It was good that my best friend Ameria worked there. She was always a nerd for history which is why we weren’t surprised when she tested into that position.

I checked to make sure I had my badge before I got out of the car. My legs felt heavy as I walked up the path toward the front door. Maybe he got it wrong, or maybe someone purposefully gave him the wrong information, there had been some lays offs since the new CEO started.

When I reached the door, I bit my bottom lip and swiped my badge. When I entered the guard station was empty. I sighed a breath of relief as Cathy the guard was pretty chatty and I didn’t need anything to distract me from what I came to do or I’d lose my nerve. When I entered the archives it was pretty quiet. I looked around for Ameria.

“Hey, there! I didn’t know you were coming in today?” I turned to see her walking out from one of the aisles holding a thick folder.

“Yea, I learned something a few days ago and I wanted to verify with you to see if it’s true or if you had heard about it.” Ameria’s eyebrows raised and she nodded her head for me to continue, “ You know I do PI on the side when I don’t have missions here and I’m currently working on a case about a mother and daughter that were murdered but the son thought it wasn’t murder. Well, we found the detective who originally was working on the case and he claimed Pastone has something to do with the case.” I stopped as I saw her blue eyes widen.

“Follow me Dallas.” She said and started walking, I followed her down one of the aisles. She stopped in front of a door that was secured and swiped her badge. We entered a greenhouse with tons of plants and flowers growing everywhere.

“Um, why is the greenhouse secured?”

“That’s a story for another day. What’s important is that there are no cameras. What that detective told you is true.”

“What? you don’t even know the case I’m working on.”

“No, I don’t but he isn’t wrong about Pastone being involved? Didn’t you ever question why we grew up in a facility?”

“We were abandoned children and this was better than growing up in a broken system also, if you knew about this why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was sworn to secrecy but since you found out on your own I don’t feel bad talking about it with you. Dallas, all of us were stolen children. We had families who loved us, I mean there might have been a small few who were abandoned but most of us weren’t. Each of us has a file that tells our individual history and I’ve read through most of the files.”

“But why?”

“Pastone found that it was easier to train children as agents in various roles than it was training adults. At first, the idea was only to take the children who were abandoned and who met the criteria they needed, but it’s rare that people abandon their 2-year-old children. So, they made the decision to take those children who met the criteria. They justified that decision by saying those children would be hard for those parents to raise and the children needed a certain environment to thrive.”

My head felt light and I needed to find a chair to sit but I didn’t find one in time and just went down on my butt to the floor. They had lied to us and I had people who did love me and wanted me out there. There were so many other ways that they could have chosen to train us but they stole us instead. I had so many emotions running through me that I didn’t know which emotion to pinpoint and feel at the moment.

“Dallas, just breathe I know it’s a lot to process. I felt the same way when I learned the truth.”

“Where’s my file?”

“Your file is the only one that I never had access to.”

“What? Why? is it because you’re my best friend?”

She knelt down and sat on the floor as well facing me. Looking me in the eye, “Your file for some reason is classified. There is only one person who has access to your file.”

“Who?”

“Sawyer.”

After finding out the truth, I turned my phone off and just stayed in my apartment. I was laying in bed when I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it there stood Sawyer.

“Are you okay? Why is your phone off?”

“I’ve been getting over a nasty cold so I didn’t want to be disturbed. It is my two weeks off.”

“Okay, I was worried. Gosh, I don’t know why you choose to live in this tiny apartment we pay you good money,” He stepped in wrinkling his brown face as he examined my apartment. The last person I wanted in my home was Sawyer.

He lied to me just like everyone else and for years built this life of lies for me and I trusted him. Out of all the people, I never thought he would be a person I’d learn I couldn’t trust.

He was always like a father to me and the other kids growing up were jealous of our relationship. He was still like any of our teachers and drilled us hard but he always said I had a special place in his heart. I was the daughter he never had as he had all sons.

“Um, Sawyer I’m still not feeling well and I need to go lay down.”

“Okay, let me know if you need anything from me while you’re getting better.” He pulled me into a hug and I pushed down every instinct to push him away. He couldn’t know that I knew and I had to keep everything the same for now.

Once he left, I turned on my secret phone and dialed, “It won’t be long before he figures it out. We need to strike soon.” I turned it off and placed it back in its hiding place. I got back into bed and pulled the covers over my head.

Thank you for reading! I hope you’re enjoying the series. If you have just started you can check out the other parts here

Thank you Christine Graves for your prompts which allow my creativity to shine. If you’re in need of a prompt check it out! Ravyne Hawke