Rise of the Elgen (14 page)

Jack stood. “Sure. I’ll get the keys from Mitchell.”

*   *   *

The three of us drove about six blocks to Taylor’s favorite bagel shop—the Bagelmeister. I had never been to the place before, but I knew it was a hangout for the popular kids.

“Let’s go inside,” Taylor said. “It’s faster.”

“Wait,” I said. “What if someone recognizes you? They’ve probably been hanging ‘missing girl’ posters around town.”

“We’ll just be a second,” she said. “Besides, all my friends are in school right now.”

“All right,” I said. “But we can’t stay.”

I held the door for her as she walked inside. As we walked into the store, Taylor froze. There was a shrill scream. “Guys! It’s
Tay
!”

I looked over Taylor’s shoulder to see a group of girls. Her friend Maddie was pointing at her. “OMG! It’s really you! Where have you been? You are in so much trouble.”

Taylor just stared at them like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.

“Reboot them,” I said. “Quick!”

Taylor closed her eyes.

Immediately the entire room froze. I grabbed Taylor’s arm and pulled her to the door. As we ducked out of the shop I heard someone say, “I think I just had, like, an aneurysm. . . .”

We ran back to the car. I opened the door and pushed her in.

“That was fast,” Jack said. “Where are the bagels?”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said. “Taylor’s friends are inside.”

He looked at Taylor. “Did they see you?”

“Yes, but I rebooted them.”

“Hope it worked.” Jack put the car in reverse, backed up, then squealed out of the parking lot. When we were a couple of blocks away he asked, “Where to now?”

“There’s that other bagel place over on Thirty-Third,” I said. “Next to the theater. I think they have a drive-through window. What do you think, Tay?” I looked over. “Taylor?” Her head was down, her eyes covered by her hands. She was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

She kept crying. I put my hand on her shoulder. “Taylor?”

She wiped her eyes, then looked up at me. “I just miss my life,” she said. “I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss my mom hiding my Easter basket in the same stupid place every year for the last ten years. I even miss my dad yelling at me for being gone all the time.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Jack glanced at me in the rearview mirror with a helpless expression.

After a moment I breathed out heavily. “Maybe it’s time you went home.”

Her expression turned from sad to angry. “You’re trying to get rid of me?”

“No. I just don’t want you to be so unhappy.”

“We’re in this together. All of us are. Besides, we both know the Elgen aren’t going to leave me alone just because I gave up. It makes me an easier target.”

I held her hand. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I just needed someone to listen.” She wiped her eyes. “Do you have a Kleenex or something?”

“There are some napkins up here,” Jack said.

“That works.”

Jack handed her a stack of napkins, and she blew her nose and wiped her eyes again.

Just then the cell phone rang. I picked it up, and Taylor took my arm to listen in.

“Hello?”

“Well done last night, Michael,” the voice said. “Another potential catastrophe averted.”

“We found my mother,” I said.

The voice paused. “Are you sure?”

“She’s being held in Puerto Maldonado, Peru.”

“Their Starxource training compound,” the voice said. “Of course. It’s their most secure compound—especially as far as Hatch is concerned. He has complete control over the personnel. How do you know she’s there?”

“I can’t tell you,” I said.

“Are you certain your information is correct?”

“We know that she was sent there after she was kidnapped. I’ve seen her file with a picture of her.”

“So you either hacked into their system or, more likely, downloaded the files at the academy.”

I could have kicked myself for divulging so much. I didn’t confirm his guesses, but I began gulping.

“You’re right not to tell anyone,” the voice said. “If Hatch knew that Grace had downloaded those files, he would stop at nothing to hunt her down.”

His words filled me with fear. “I didn’t say anything about Grace.”

“You didn’t have to, Michael. She’s the only one who could have accessed that information before it was destroyed.”

“How do you know it was destroyed?”

“Elgen protocol,” he said. “Does Hatch know that Grace is with you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Even if he does, he clearly doesn’t know what she’s carrying. How much of their mainframe did you get?”

“We think all of it.”

“This is a fantastic stroke of luck,” he said. “That information is invaluable to our cause. Where is this data now?”

“It’s on one of the computers at the house.”

“We need to get that information. We’ll send someone over this afternoon to retrieve it. The van we send will be disguised as some type of service vehicle.”

“I didn’t say you could have the information,” I said.

There was a long pause. “What do you mean?”

“I need a ride to Peru.”

“You want to try to rescue your mother?”

“Yes.”

“You do realize that you’re walking into a trap and that Hatch is holding your mother as bait.”

“Probably.”

“Not probably, he is. And once you’re in the compound there’s nothing we can do to help you.”

“I wasn’t planning on your help. I have to take a chance. I have to save her.”

There was another long pause. When he spoke his voice was softer. “I just wanted to make sure that you know what you’re up against. I’ll make the arrangements. It will take me a while. We’ll get you to Peru and provide you with all the information we have on the compound in return for Grace’s information. But we want one more thing. We want Grace.”

Taylor looked at me. She mouthed, “Grace?”

“I can’t turn her over to you.”

“If Hatch catches her, he’ll probably kill her. But he’ll break her first. Then he’ll know exactly how much we know. It will render the information useless.”

I thought over his warning.

“You know I’m right, Michael. Grace can’t help you. Her powers aren’t what you’ll need. And you’ll be putting her life in terrible danger. If you won’t do it for the cause, do it for her sake.”

After another minute I said, “Okay. I’ll ask her. But it’s up to her.”

“Fair enough. Do we have a deal?”

I looked at Taylor and she nodded.

“Okay,” I said. “We have a deal. Send your guy.”

“W
e’re going to Peru?” asked McKenna, her mouth full of blueberry bagel.

“Isn’t that in Africa?” Wade asked.

“Did you even go to school?” Ostin said.

“Same one you did, loser.”

“Same school, different planet,” Ostin said.

All eleven of us were gathered in the loft eating bagels. I stood in front of the TV with Taylor by my side. “Yes, we’re going to Peru. The voice has promised to take us there.” I looked around the room. “This is going to be very dangerous—even more dangerous than what we risked at the academy. I don’t want you to go unless you’re positive you want to.”

“I’m in,” Jack said immediately. “Wade?”

“I already committed,” he said. “I owe you, Michael.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“What about you, Mitch?” Jack asked.

“Uh . . .” His eyes darted back and forth between Jack and me. “I think my parents are . . . I think we’re going to be out of town. My dad—”

Jack cut him off. “It’s okay, Mitch. It’s not your battle. It’s probably better that you don’t come.”

Mitchell looked relieved. “If you say so.”

“I’m there,” Zeus said.

“In with both feet,” Ian said. “Girls?”

Jack and Zeus both looked at Abigail. She shrugged. “I’m coming.”

“Me too,” McKenna said. “You’re going to need me.”

“You can count on that,” Ostin said.

McKenna turned to Grace. “How about you?”

She looked at us. “I guess I’m in too.”

“Actually,” I said, “it might be better if you stayed back.”

“Why?”

“If Hatch catches you, he’ll force you to reveal how much you downloaded. That will jeopardize all the information we already got from them. Plus, you know he won’t hold back on your punishment. It’s probably best if you’re not with us.”

“Where will I go?”

“With the voice.”

Grace looked at me nervously. “But we don’t know who they are.”

“I know,” I said. “Either way, it’s a risk. It’s your decision. But if Hatch catches you . . .”

“You know what Hatch does to traitors,” Zeus said.

I looked at Zeus. I was afraid for him as well.

Grace looked down for a moment, then said, “All right. I’d probably just be in the way anyway.”

“I think it’s the smart choice,” Taylor said.

“So when do we go?” Zeus asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Then I have a suggestion,” Zeus said. “We need to better prepare ourselves.”

“How do we prepare for the unknown?” Ostin asked.

“By practicing our powers.”

“Practice?” Ostin said.

“We practiced using them every day in the academy. When I first got there, I could only shock things less than a yard away. Now I can shoot more than fifty yards.”

“How do we practice our powers?” Taylor asked.

“By using them. Our powers are like muscles. They get stronger with use. And we need to eat right. We need to eat more bananas. More potassium.”

“There are things with more potassium than bananas,” Ostin said. “Spinach has nearly twice the potassium as bananas.”

“The Elgen scientists would have known that,” Ian said. “There must be something special about bananas.”

“To begin with, they taste a lot better than spinach,” McKenna said.

“Mitchell,” I said. “When do your parents get back?”

“Not until two weeks from tomorrow. They decided to stay an extra four days in Hawaii.”

“By then we should be gone.” I looked around at the group. “So, I guess that’s that. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something. In the meantime I suggest we take Zeus’s advice and prepare ourselves. Zeus, can you coach us?”

Zeus nodded. “I’m your man.”

*   *   *

Later that afternoon a white, windowless appliance repair van pulled into Mitchell’s driveway. A husky man wearing a blue jumpsuit came to the door. “I’m here to check your washer,” he said.

“What?” Mitchell asked.

“You know why I’m here,” he said.

“Oh right. Come in.”

The man stepped inside, and Mitchell shut the door behind him. I stepped forward. Zeus, Ian, and Jack stood by my side while Taylor and Ostin stood on the opposite side of the foyer.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

He looked at me apprehensively. “I’ve come for the computer.”

“You can’t have the computer,” I said. “We need it. But we’ve
copied the information to a hard drive.”

“That will do,” the man said. “Where is it?”

“Before we give it to you, we need you to sit down.” I pointed to the upholstered chair we’d dragged from the den into the foyer.

The man looked at us suspiciously. “What is this about?”

“We’re protecting ourselves,” I said. “Now sit down.”

His eyes darted back and forth between us. “I’m not sitting anywhere.” He started toward the door.

Zeus shot a blue bolt of electricity to the door handle, the sound of which filled the room. The man jumped back. Zeus held up his hands and electricity arced between his fingers. “Try that again and I’ll light you up like a Christmas tree.”

The man glared at us.

“He’s got two guns,” Ian said. “One in a shoulder holster, the other on his ankle.”

“Put your hands in the air, now,” I said firmly.

Zeus stretched his hands forward. “You’ve got three seconds to comply, man. You go for the guns it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.”

The man looked exasperated. “Look, guys, we’re on the same side.”

“Then you won’t mind if we check your story,” I said.

The man hesitated, then slowly raised his hands in the air. “Okay. Do it your way. Whatever you say.” He sat in the chair. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder. “Don’t move.”

“You know he’s got enough amps to make sure you never move again,” Ostin said.

“We know what Michael can do,” the man said. “Let’s just get this over with. The longer I’m here the riskier.”

“Jack, take his guns,” I said.

Jack pulled the man’s guns from the two holsters. “Nice,” he said, examining the pieces. “A Glock and a Walther P99.”

“I want those back,” he said.

Taylor and Ostin walked over to the man. Taylor put her hands on his head while Ostin held out the list of questions he’d written.

“I want you to answer these questions in your mind,” Ostin said.
He began reading from the list we’d put together as a group, asking each question twice and pausing between each question until Taylor nodded for him to continue.

“Who sent you?”

“Why are you helping us?”

“Did you know we were going to be attacked at the safe house?”

“Did you really blow up the third car?”