I know, I haven't been updating like I'm supposed to. I am so sorry. I've finally found some time to write. Also, I was sort of suffering from Writer's Block for about like, a week. Anyways, enjoy Chapter 5!

Ben's POV

One week rolled by. It was only after that when Joshua replied to our email. He wanted us to meet him around eight in the morning, so that's what we did. We got ready and grabbed our breakfast before hopping into the car.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked Erica. She simply shrugged.

"Let's hear what he has to say. I mean, he's Joshua Hallal. We sent him an email about a week ago, and he's just replied," she said.

I pulled into Joshua's driveway and we got out. His sister was out on the front porch, drinking coffee as she spoke to someone on the phone. She waved to us, then swung the door open.

"Hello, Ben and Erica," Joshua said from the couch. He turned off the TV and gestured towards us. We made ourselves comfortable on the couch. "Nice to see you both again."

"We want to talk," I said. "About trust."

Joshua was a little shocked. "You both?"

"Yeah." Erica eyed him. "Why?"

Joshua was caught off guard. "I...I thought...you guys weren't..."

"What made you think like that?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Let's talk," he continued. "Are you guys ready to believe me?"

I looked to Erica. She shook her head ever so slightly, indicating that we wait and watch. It was so slight, though, that only I could see it.

"We want to hear what you have to say, only then will we decide whether or not we can trust you," Erica replied.

Joshua sighed, like he was expecting us to say that. He pulled out a folder from behind the couch and opened it. Papers landed haphazardly all over the coffee table in the center. There were photos, information, names and numbers across everything.

"We have recently come to know about this scientific experiment conducted by T.R.A.C.K labs. They are testing people who have been convicted to see if they would confess to their crimes using something like a mind-controller," Joshua said, emphasizing the last two words. "By we I mean me and my sister."

"How?" Erica asked. "How did you come to know about this?"

"Jessica's friend Abigail works for T.R.A.C.K labs. She's been getting updates from Abigail every week," Joshua said. "This mind controller is still under progress, and I can assure you that it is only used for criminal testing, and it will function only if the government approves."

I nodded. "And why exactly should we be knowing this?"

"Because there is a possibility that some people may be after it," Jessica said, entering the house. She set her phone down on the island and placed her mug in the sink. "That was Abby on the phone, Josh."

Joshua nodded. He picked up two pieces of paper. The official T.R.A.C.K labs logo was on all of the documents. One of them had an article on the mind-control machine and the other one had detailed reports on the progress, the tests, fails and re-testings.

"These should help you," he said. "You know, if you don't believe me."

I picked up the article and read over them. They had information on just about everything related to the article.

"How do you know that people may be after this?" I questioned. Joshua picked up two more papers from inside the folder and handed them to me and Erica. They had pictures and records.

"These people are previously known for breaking into government-unapproved labs and stealing data on machinery or softwares that aren't fully successful," Joshua explained. He passed three more papers to us, with criminal records and more info on the government working on the approval.

"What's the point of all this?" Erica asked. "I mean, you're just showing us a bunch of papers with info we could find off the internet. We can do it ourselves. How are we supposed to trust you?"
Jessica came and sat down with us. "We're showing you this because there has recently been a breakout from jail."

"Which one?" Erica and I asked at the exact same time. Jessica pulled out another piece of paper and handed it to us. This one had an article on how three fugitives who tried to escape multiple times had escaped prison about a week ago.

"Wait..." I said. "What's the name of the prison that we locked Zoe, Jawa and Kristy in?"

Erica thought for a moment, then glanced at the article. Her face slowly changed from intrigued to concerned. "It's... this one."

"Zoe and Jawa are in jail?" Joshua exclaimed. "What the-"

"Long story," I replied. "They defected."

Joshua sighed. "Oh."

The three fugitives were reported as two female and one male. It was no doubt that those three were Kristy, Zoe and Jawa.

"We didn't know who they were," Jessica continued. "But all we know is that they may be after the experiment because the place they were last seen was near the WBC lab."

"But we don't know where this WBC lab is," Joshua added. "It's so top secret, it isn't on any map. It's extremely difficult to hack into and find the location for."

I nodded, then looked at Erica. She was pretty intrigued, going through papers and nodding, deep in thought. But I still couldn't decide if we could trust Joshua and Jessica or not. I mean, they could be plotting anything right now right under our noses and we wouldn't know. I kept my guard up and patiently waited for Erica to decide.

"This all looks convincing," Erica began, "but I still can't tell if this is trustworthy enough."

"Let me put it this way," I spoke up. "What exactly do you both want from us?"

Joshua looked at Jessica, as if he had some doubt. Jessica shook her head, then made a slight shaking motion. Joshua smiled before turning back to us.

"We want you to help us find who we have now confirmed as Zoe, Kristy and Jawa. You've already done us a help by finding out who exactly it is. Now we need you to help us locate the WBC lab, find the three fugitives and stop them from hacking into the database if they attempt to. Basically, you help us catch the bad guys. The government has also asked Abigail a big favor to maintain a strong hold on the database. She needs us, and we need you," Joshua said.

"Okay," Erica said finally. "Let's try this."

Joshua beamed. "Great. Trust me, I've changed."

"Okay," I said as soon as we got back in the car. I let her drive instead. We had stayed there for almost an hour. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll come back to meet Joshua and Jessica tomorrow, and that's when we'll actually launch our plan," Erica replied, turning a sharp left. "I'm still not fully convinced. I'm only about seventy percent sure he's trustworthy."

I nodded. "Keep your guard up."

We reached home and settled to work on our own duties. Erica went to work, where she had a meeting to attend. I stayed back home and hoped for the best.

Hopefully, we wouldn't end up in any trouble of any sort.

Right?

Have a great day, and enjoy!