Words Unspoken
Chapter Twenty Four

"Okay, hold on, I'm like really really confused." Krista said, arms crossed as she glared up at the strange man in front of us. The three of us have been standing there for the past, twenty minutes, shocked and confused, not knowing what to think about the situation we were in. This man, he knew or probably still knows Jill. But how did he know her?

"How do you know Jill?" I asked the man as I crossed my arms over my chest and stared up at him. I watched his body language, his movement. He seemed nervous, didn't know if he should say anything, but if he knows Jill and he knows we know her, he could help us. He looked between the two of us before letting out a long sigh.

"Give me a minute." He said as he made his way towards the front door. I peeked over the shelves and watched as he locked the door, turn the sign over from OPEN to CLOSED and turned off the lights. The room instantly got dark, except for the lights from outside beaming into the store. He made his way back over, but walked passed us to the back of the store.

"Come on, follow me." He called out. Krista and I exchanged looks before following after him. He was standing behind the counter watching us before pushing one of the shelves to the side, revealing a door. Once he opened the door, he motioned for us to follow him as he turned on the light.

Krista and I gave each other another look before we made our way over to the door. I looked around the corner and noticed stairs. The two of us stood there and then Krista spoke up.

"I'm guessing this is the part where we find out you're a serial killer and butcher us to our death?" She asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at her as the two of us gazed over at the man as he moved the shelf once more covering the doors opening.

"Please, just get a move on." He told us and the three of us made our way down the stairs. Once we reached the bottom there was another door in front of us. Krista and I moved to the side so the man could make his way through and open the door. Once the lights over the stairs were shut off, the lights to the room opened and my eyes widened at the sight.

All along the walls there were a variety of different weapons displayed, from rifles to knives to hand grenades. There were boxes all over the floor labeled EXPLOSIVES - DO NOT TOUCH. The wall in front of us was a large map of what seemed to be the capital and some pictures of people and buildings, some of them I recognized as Jill, the president, The White House, and another picture of a woman.

I watched as Krista strolled over to the map and examined it for a moment.

"This is a picture of Noah's mom." She pointed to the picture of the random woman. I walked over and looked at the picture she was pointing too. The two of us turned to look at the man. His arms were crossed over his chest as he looked between the two of us.

"I don't know why it slipped my mind like it did or why I didn't realize when I got a look at him." Krista spoke as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What are you talking about?" I asked raising an eyebrow as I looked between the two of them.

"You're Noah's dad."

My eyes widened at what she said and I blinked. I opened my mouth to speak but no words were coming out as I turned my attention back over to the man. He didn't say anything either, just stood there. Which confirmed it. Noah's long lost father

***

Ben's POV

Kyle and I have been wandering the streets trying to talk to people who might know where the hell Noah would be. Either everyone was just stupid or they really had no clue about anything.

The two of us had finally made it back to the hotel, but the girls still weren't back yet.

"It's getting late, where are they?" Kyle asked as he looked out the window for a minute before turning to look at me. I paced back and forth as I thought for a moment

"I don't know, but I'm gonna page Krista, I told her to keep her pager on her." I replied as I pulled it out of my own pocket and sent her a message. I sat down on the bed, my foot tapping on the floor out of nervousness as I waited for a reply. Once I got a reply, my eyes widened in shock at what she said and I read it out loud so Kyle could hear.

"We might have a lead, meet us at 21st street and Dale Road, and hurry."

My eyes flickered up to the clock, we only had about an hour and a half until curfew. I quickly got up from the bed and the two of us rushed out of the hotel room and out the building. Once we got a taxi, we told the driver where to go.

Half an hour passed and we finally arrived at our destination. As I got out of the taxi, Kyle paid the driver and we watched him leave. My eyes wandered the streets hoping no one would see us. The only thing around us were apartment buildings, stores and in front of us an Antique store. A few minutes passed and the door to the antique store opened, an older gentleman standing there. He looked at us and then around the streets making sure no one would see us.

"Come on, your friends are waiting." He spoke. My eyes flickered over to Kyle and the two of us quickly followed after him.

"Who are you? Why are you helping us?" I asked as he locked the door. He didn't say anything, just kept walking to the back of the store.

We followed him through a secret passageway and down the stairs. When he opened the door, the girls were standing there and I let out a long sigh of relief. Krista ran over embracing me in a tight hug.

"Thank god you guys made it alright." She quietly said. I pulled away from her hug and looked over to see Kyle hugging Sam.

"Okay, so what the hell is going on? What lead do you have?" I asked looking between the two girls. My attention then focused around the room and where we were. I then walked over to the map that was displayed on the wall.

"Ben..." Krista spoke up but I didn't reply to her.

"Ben!" She called out and I quickly spun around. The three of them were looking at me, hope in their eyes as I glanced over at the man.

"Who are you?" I asked him. He didn't answer but Krista did.

"This is Joe, Noah's long lost father." She explained. I blinked a few times and stared at the man. The longer I did the more of a resemblance I could see between him and my best friend.

"So you mean to tell me, that you've been living in the capital all this time?" I questioned as I took a step forward. I felt Krista's hand on my shoulder but shrugged it away.

"You abandoned everyone!!" I yelled at him. "Your wife, your son, the cause!" I was now in his face. My hands balled up into fists. I was struggling so hard to keep myself from lashing out and beating the shit out of him.

"Ben! Stop!" Krista called out and grabbed my arm.

"He's gonna help us." She explained.

"Good. Cause your son, my best friend, was taken too." I growled before stepping away. Joe said nothing, just a shocked expression on his face.

The room got eerily quiet for a few minutes before Sam spoke up.

"Alright then, well we don't have much time, and Noah desperately needs our help." She stated.

I straightened myself up and turned to look at everyone once more.

"Alright, let's get to work..again." I snapped.

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