by Kelly Oram
When Geek did as he was told, Shortstop finished the introductions. “Geek, Angel. Angel, meet Geek.”
“Do we need to explain that nickname for you?” Johnny G asked.
“Nope.” I laughed. “Not at all.” I smiled at the computer nerd. “Hey, Geek.”
His wide eyes narrowed nervously, and he glanced over his shoulder at his computer. “Do you, uh, always have that effect on the equipment?”
He looked terrified of me, yet also strangely willing to try and boot me from the room if necessary. “Only when I want to,” I assured him. “Or if I’m seriously pissed off. Why? You on to something important?”
I didn’t really care what he was doing. I’d just learned that the best way to put a nervous nerd at ease was to ask them what they were doing.
Instead of Geek’s face lighting up with excitement, he frowned in frustration. “I’m stumped. It doesn’t happen often, and I don’t like it. Visticorp held the patents to a number of very popular pharmaceuticals. They were worth an estimated 3.2 billion in the last quarter before the explosion. Afterward, it came out that they’d been cooking the books and were actually bankrupt.”
I smirked, but Geek didn’t notice. He was lost in his own brain. “It’s not possible. It doesn’t make sense. All evidence suggests Visticorp couldn’t have been in the red. The money was taken, and the records were made to look as if it didn’t exist. It’s not easy to make 3.2 billion dollars disappear, but that’s what happened. It’s gone. I can’t find it.”
Now I laughed. “You’re looking for Visticorp’s money?”
Geek nodded. “Find the money, find the man. Donovan had to have had a contingency plan for if things ever went south.”
The poor guy. He was looking for something he’d never find. “It’s a great idea, but you might want to look for a different approach. I don’t think you’re going to find that money.”
The smiles slid off of everyone’s faces, and they all turned to me with shocked or curious expressions.
“You know where it is,” Geek said.
I heard the accusation in his voice and saw the suspicion in Major Wilks’s eyes. “No.” Technically true. “I don’t know where it is, nor did I have anything to do with taking it.” Again, true. Technically.
“But you have an idea,” Major Wilks pressed. Apparently I was transparent.
I looked around the group and knew that none of them would let it go. After thinking over my options, I decided it was best to tell them because I personally hadn’t done anything they could arrest me for, and I needed their help to find Donovan. They wouldn’t do that if they spent their time looking in the wrong places.
“I have an idea,” I admitted. “I have several different identities. Each of those comes with a number of extremely padded bank accounts, and I’m sure Teddy’s do, too. I never asked him where they came from. He’s a genius with a computer, and, if what he said about himself is true, he was raised in the Visticorp labs and forced to work for them. He could have done it. In fact, I’m sure he did. It makes too much sense.”
Sparks of hope bled from Geek’s eyes as he watched his way of finding Donovan vanish. “Sorry to burst your bubble. But if it makes you feel better, I have a new lead for you.”
Geek perked back up, and so did everyone else. Major Wilks’s eyes glinted at this possibility of new information. I pulled the small pouch with Teddy’s microchips in it out of my pocket and waved it in front of Geek. “I assume you know a little about hacking and code breaking?”
Geek flashed me a toothy grin. “Why do you think I got this job? I hacked the CIA just for fun, and instead of arresting me they offered me employment.”
His smile was infectious. “Then you’re my man. I have some encrypted microchips I need cracked. It’s information on Donovan and Visticorp that could give us clues to where he would go to disappear or the people he might work with now. Teddy stole the information when he was preparing to escape Visticorp. He used to call it his insurance policy.”
Geek perked up with more excitement than I’d ever seen anyone exude. I was clearly forgiven for bursting his follow-the-money bubble. Before he could say anything, a different man who’d been working in the command center sucked in a gasp. “You have Teodoro’s microchips?”
I looked the new guy over as I nodded. Most likely in his mid-twenties, he was an average height of about five foot ten and a little on the skinny side, but not unattractively so. He had light brown hair that was a little scruffy and a short beard that seemed out of place on his pretty face. His eyes were gorgeous—rich brown-green hazel and speckled with little gold flecks. Overall, he was a handsome man. The only thing I didn’t like about him was the fact that he was wearing a white lab coat.
“How do you know Teddy?” I asked.
The question chilled the atmosphere, and I took a step back from the man. There was something about him that triggered an internal warning bell. Suddenly no one would look me in the eye, either.
I met the stranger’s gaze and noticed something there besides his worry for Teddy. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it reminded me a little of how Ryan looked at me before I knew what our history was. “Do I know you?”
The man couldn’t seem to find words.
Major Wilks cleared his throat and stepped forward, placing a hand lightly on my shoulder. “Angel, this is Dr. Edwards. He was one of Visticorp’s top scientists.”
I recoiled, and all the numerous monitors and screens in the room flickered in response to my distress. I backed up until I bumped into someone’s chest. Johnny G’s hands clasped down on my shoulders. “Easy, Angel,” he said in a low, soft voice at the same time Geek wrung his hands and begged, “Can we please get the unstable computer-killer out of the command center?”
Major Wilks looked at me, then scanned the room. “Perhaps we should take this conversation elsewhere.”
Or perhaps I should just take myself elsewhere. “That won’t be necessary.” I started backing toward the door we’d come in through. “You can just show me the way to the exit. I’ve seen enough, and I’m ready to leave.”
Everyone in the room froze, waiting to see if I was bluffing. I wasn’t. My turning to leave shocked them all back into motion. “Angel, wait!”
Eyes had called out to me, but it was Major Wilks I glared at when I whirled back around. “I will not work with a Visticorp scientist.”
“Ex Visticorp scientist,” Major Wilks replied, his face stony, his manner calm and collected. “He defected because he didn’t agree with the human testing. He had to fake his own death to escape them. He’s part of our team now, and he’s done a lot to help us. He’s the reason we have a lead on Donovan, and the lists of suspected doctors he might be working with. He’s the reason we found you.”
I supposed that was better than nothing, but I still wasn’t going to go anywhere near him. That gleam I’d seen in his eyes made too much sense now. The man was fascinated by me. He wanted to study me.
My eyes found the youngest member of the group and narrowed with suspicion. “Didn’t you say you were a test subject at Visticorp?” I asked Tyson. “Did you know him there? Did he ever do tests on you? Are you okay working with this man?”
Tyson clenched his jaw so tightly the muscles in it popped. His back was ramrod straight and his hands were fisted. His utter hatred for this man was obvious. “It was the only way to find you,” he grumbled through gritted teeth. I noticed he didn’t answer any of my questions directly. “We had no leads. He had knowledge of Donovan and Visticorp. Ryan suggested we talk to him, but he wouldn’t give up any information unless we got him out of jail and let him join the team. Ryan, Abiodun, and I almost quit when Major Wilks agreed to the terms, but we never would have found you otherwise.”
“And now?” I asked.
Tyson looked me straight in the eyes. “Say the word and we’re gone. If you leave, we’ll go with you.”
His speech did two things. It made me seriously love the kid, an
d it made me realize I couldn’t walk away. If I bailed, I’d never find Teddy and the other two PACs. I couldn’t leave them high and dry.
The entire group exhaled as one the moment it became obvious I wasn’t going anywhere. I gave Wilks another death look. “You keep him away from me,” I warned. “And from Tyson and Abiodun, too. And not one test. Ever.”
Visticorp Man broke the silence with a soft murmur. “I don’t want to hurt you, Jamie.”
His soft tone pissed me off, but his use of my name when everyone else called me Angel was truly disturbing. So was the pain in his eyes. I stepped back, a little closer to Tyson. Yes, oddly, in the group of elite soldiers the only person I found any comfort or security in was the fifteen-year-old kid.
Tyson stood a little taller when I scooted next to him. He nudged my shoulder with his and slipped his hand into mine. It wasn’t a come-on; it was solidarity. He was presenting a united front. In that moment, he and I were a team. On the same side. I knew without having to ask that if Abiodun were here right now, he’d be standing on my other side. The three of us together.
I’d found a new kind of family in Tyson and Abiodun. People I could genuinely trust. The thought made my chest clench, but I managed to keep those emotions buried at the moment. I had other things to deal with, and I was glad to have Tyson there. Giving his hand a grateful squeeze, I took a breath and asked Dr. Edwards a question I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to, yet had to know all the same. “Ryan told me I was never a Visticorp subject, so how do I know you?”
The room dropped to its chilly temperature again.
“Can you guys please take this conversation far from here?” Geek asked, shifting nervously. “If she freaks, she could melt the place down. Do you know what kind of damage that would do? In fact, for this particular conversation could you take her outside the mountain altogether?”
“Why?” I demanded, my eyes snapping to the jittery soldier. “What is it about this man that I’m not going to like?”
Okay, I’ll be honest; maybe I growled a little bit, because Geek’s face paled and he took a step back.
“Why don’t we go find Ryan?” Tyson whispered. “He’s probably in the gym.”
He tried to tug me into the hall, but I fused my feet to the floor and flipped on my power switch. Tyson dropped my hand with a yelp. “How do I know you?” I demanded. They were hiding something from me and I didn’t like it.
Dr. Edwards said the last thing I ever would have expected. No, not even that. He said something I never, ever, ever would have expected. “I was your English teacher in high school.”
There was simply no way to respond to that.
“You were on Visticorp’s radar,” Dr. Edwards continued. “After I escaped them, I went to keep an eye on you, but I knew you’d freak out if you learned who I was, so I took a job at your school. I promised Teodoro I would watch out for you until I could get him out. We figured you’d react better to him telling you who he was than me coming forward first.”
Several bits of information clicked in my brain, and I gasped. “Blake?”
My guess was correct. Blake’s eyes lit up with a spark of hope. “Teodoro mentioned me?”
Some of my apprehension eased, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever trust the man entirely. “Constantly,” I admitted. “He told me all about working with you at Visticorp and coming up with the plan to get both of you out of there. He idolizes you.”
The news made Blake glow, but then his face fell. “Does he know what happened? Why I didn’t come for him when I was supposed to?”
“He knows you were in jail.” I nodded. “He said you went down on bogus charges as some sort of fall guy for a Visticorp cover-up. He has a little wall calendar that he’s been crossing the days off of until your release. He’s even got a few fake IDs for you. All they need is a recent picture. I suggested breaking you out—I had a foolproof plan—but he said we couldn’t. He said Visticorp would have known it was us and learned we were still alive.”
“They would have,” Blake agreed immediately. “You were right not to come for me.” He gave me a boyish grin that made me take note of his handsome face. “As much as I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Fat lot of good it did. They found us anyway. I totally screwed up, and Teddy got taken as a result. I have to find him and get him back. If Donovan hurts him because of me—”
My voice cracked at the unacceptable thought.
“He won’t,” Blake promised. “Teodoro’s too valuable to him.”
He took a step closer to me with his hand outstretched, as if he meant to try and comfort me. When I flinched away, he stopped and looked at the ground. Swallowing thickly, he lowered his voice to an almost whisper. “We were friends, Jamie. I was your teacher, but you liked me, trusted me a little even.”
His words ignited something inside me. “I trusted you? And the whole time you were lying to me? Just like Teddy.” I was angrier with Teddy than Blake, but he made a good scapegoat at the moment. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t care about the past. Right now I don’t know you, I don’t trust you, and we’re not friends.”
“So let’s get out of here,” Tyson said, sending a seething glare to Blake. “We’ve got you back now. We don’t need him anymore.”
I sighed and shook my head. “But we need Geek. He might be the only chance we have at cracking those microchips.”
“What exactly is on those microchips?” Major Wilks asked.
Blake’s enthusiasm came back with vengeance. “Everything!” Impossibly, he was even more excited than Geek. “Teodoro backed up Visticorps’s entire mainframe.” He looked at Major Wilks with a greedy gleam in his eyes. “We could have all of Visticorp’s scientific findings since the company began.”
“No!” Tyson shouted, startling us all with his outburst. The way he frantically shook his head spoke volumes to his sudden desperation. “You can’t give them that info, Jamie. Teddy developed a software program that used the world’s online data to locate other potential PACs. It’s how Visticorp found us. Even you. You can’t let that software get into the wrong hands.”
Major Wilks stepped forward, a giant frown on his face. “Son, have I, or anyone in this program, ever mistreated you?”
Tyson gave him a weary once-over and grudgingly shook his head. “No, but—”
“Aren’t you glad that you have other PACs with you?” Major Wilks turned his gaze to me. “Aren’t you relieved to know that you’re not alone? Don’t you think others out there might want to meet you, too? Have your support?”
Neither Tyson nor I had a good answer for this. We shared a look that said so much. We were both extremely relieved to have each other, and we both wanted to search out others like us. But that didn’t mean we trusted the military with that task.
Major Wilks understood our hesitation. “If we had that software, you could be in charge of that program,” he said, his eyes shifting back and forth between Tyson and me. “Abiodun too. The three of you could contact and recruit, or simply let them know we exist and are there to help if they ever need it.”
Tyson and I exchanged another glance. The offer was tempting. Plus, we really needed Geek. I raised an eyebrow at Tyson, and he gave me a slight nod. I turned my attention to Major Wilks. “No one uses that program without us, and we don’t even open it until after we get our friends back from Donovan.”
Major Wilks didn’t hesitate for even a fraction of a second. “Agreed. The project is yours, Angel. And Donovan is our top priority. Will you join us, or not?”
I looked around the large command center and then at all of the soldiers I’d met so far. Each of their faces was hopeful and encouraging. I had to admit, a part of me wanted this, even if I was afraid of it, but I wasn’t quite ready to trust. “That verdict is still out, but you can have the microchips. Just know that if you ever misuse any of the data you gain from it—assuming you can crack it at all—this place will end up an empty crater to match the one I made in
Las Vegas.”
Major Wilks’s eyes flashed at the threat, but he kept his mouth shut. After a long, tense moment he gave me a terse nod. “I understand.”
“Good. As long as we’re clear.”
I turned back to Geek, once again holding up the microchips. He held out his hands to me, palms up, fingers curling in a frantic “give me” gesture. “Fair warning,” I told him. “You might not be able to crack these. Teddy is more than a genius. His brain is overly developed or something. It’s why he has the power of telekinesis. His mind can do things that most humans can’t. I’ve seen him with a computer—all electronics, really. It’s almost like he can speak to the technology. Even if you’re the best in the world, you might not be able to break his encryption.”
Geek shook his head, letting out a scoff of envy and awe, but his eyes gleamed at the challenge. His eagerness made me smile. Computer hackers were all the same. “Lucky jerk,” he said, blinking down at the microchips now in his hand. “That has to win—hands down—for the coolest superpower ever. No offense, Angel.”
I laughed, allowing the opinion, and dropped the pouch into Geek’s waiting palm. “Have a ball, my nerdy friend. Let me know if you crack it.”
Geek immediately took the small chips over to his workstation. I stopped him before he could insert one of them into his computer. “You may want to use a laptop or something that’s not connected to your mainframe. I’m sure those things are booby-trapped with all kinds of nasty viruses. Teddy has a twisted sense of humor.”
Geek pulled his hand back and grinned at me with sparkling eyes. “Thanks for the tip, Angel.”
“Good luck.”
Major Wilks frowned at me. “Do you really think Geek’s chances of cracking those microchips are that low?”
“Yes.” I cringed, and then waved an apologetic hand in Geek’s direction. “Sorry, Geek. No offense.”
Geek only grinned. “None taken, but I’ll be happy to prove you wrong.”
“Hope so, bud.” I liked Geek.
“Then we’ll need a backup plan,” Major Wilks decided, bringing me back on topic. “I have an idea I’d like to run by you, if you’re up for a mission with the team?”
