Bridge jutted out a fair-toned hand toward me. I grasped it, and he shook my hand vigorously, with a large smile on his face.
“Nice to meet you two. I’m assuming you’re Robin,” he said. He had a nasal voice, but it sounded kind and pleasant. “And you must be Kory,” he said as he shook Kory’s hand firmly.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Kory said. “Because I don’t think I want a tech guy jamming needles into me. Even if he’s a lead tech.”
“Cables, veins… it’s all the same thing,” Sy replied with a wink.
Bridge took the large silver needle from Sy and then pulled a few antiseptic wipe packets out of his front pocket.
“Well, let’s go ahead and get started,” he said. “Who’s first?”
Kory and I pointed at each other simultaneously.
“Ladies first?” Bridge suggested with a shrug and a smile.
I sighed. “Okay, let’s get this over with,” I replied.
Bridge rubbed a cool antiseptic wipe over my bicep. My breath caught in my throat. We were about to be tossed out of the airship with no armor or weapons, taken into custody by some sort of mysterious pseudo-philanthropy group that was in bed with a tyrannical government, and then sent into woods covered with X-ray blocking tech with no clue what we were looking for or how we’d get back out. And somehow this seemed like the worst part to me.
The needle hurt terribly when it went in. It was huge and cold and it felt like what I imagined being stabbed would feel like. But it was over almost as soon as it began. I pushed out a ragged breath, and Bridge pulled the large needle out of my arm and applied cotton gauze to the injection site.
“Hold this down with pressure,” he said. I pressed the gauze tightly against the muscle. Through the gauze I could feel the shape of the tracking device, which felt a lot smaller in my arm than it had looked in the needle. But the sensation of something foreign under my skin made me feel uneasy.
“What if they pass a metal detector over us?” I asked Bridge.
“These are plastic capsules,” he answered. “So, they won’t find them as long as you don’t get a deep tissue massage while in custody.”
I hopped out of my chair and left Kory with Bridge, trying to hide a smirk. That’s what you get for making me go first, I thought teasingly. In the meantime, I had things that I wanted to talk to Nathan about before we were set adrift and alone in Dry River.
Nathan was talking to Jackie, Jace, Ant, and Abe toward the back of the airship. There was a black half-dome shape on the floor in front of them, which they were all examining. It was shiny metal and fairly large at roughly two feet across.
“Think you can handle it?” Nathan was asking Jackie as I approached.
Jackie had an excited smile on her face. “I think so,” she replied.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at the metal half-dome on the ground.
“Weaponized drone,” Nathan replied. “Jackie will be manning one of these for us.”
Jackie beamed at me, obviously thrilled at the prospect. I looked back down at the drone and noticed the weaponized part of it for the first time: sleek high-caliber guns on both sides. It looked fast and lethal.
“What about the rest of us?” Abe asked.
“You three will be on the collection team,” Nathan said. “I figured you’d do best there, since you’ll be personally invested.”
Jace looked over at me. Personally invested was a bit of an understatement.
“How much longer do we have until we get to Dry River?” I asked.
“Well, flight conditions are good currently. But we’re going to hit turbulence closer to our destination. Seems they’re having a patch of bad weather,” Nathan replied.
“Maybe they should call it Wet River, then,” Ant said.
Jackie rolled her eyes.
“When you see the condition of the rain you’ll understand how the river dried up,” Nathan replied.
I thought back to the grime and pollution in Millville. Dry River sounded just as bad.
“But to answer your question, Robin, I’m hoping very soon. We’re at a high elevation and moving fast, so even with the weather we should get there fairly quickly,” Nathan added.
It didn’t seem like we had very long at all. A part of me wished that I’d have longer in the safety of the ship, surrounded by my friends.
I stopped applying pressure on the injection site and pulled the gauze back to look at my bicep. I was shocked not to see any blood or bruising underneath. I traced the outline of the tracker again with my fingertip. You could barely see it through the skin, but a firm touch revealed its presence.
“Bridge is pretty adept with a needle,” Nathan said, noticing my inspection of my bicep. “Although hopefully you won’t ever need field stitches from him.”
I was hoping I wouldn’t need field stitches ever, but obviously Nathan found this mission dangerous enough to bring a large medic team on board with us. They were all strangers to me. There were three women and two other men, and they all seemed friendly and outgoing, much like I imagined good nurses should be. Still, their presence was a frightening omen.
“Nathan, do you have a moment?” I asked.
“Of course,” he responded.
He stepped to the side and walked to one of the corners of the airship, and I followed him.
“What’s on your mind, Robin?” he asked when we were alone and out of earshot.
“Well,” I started with a tone of uncertainty, “I guess I’m realizing how large and important this mission really is. And I want to make sure I do the best that I can, but—”
“But you’re not sure what you’re looking for?” Nathan offered.
I nodded. I knew we were going to an unknown compound to find out what we could about the missing townspeople. But if we had any tips, maybe things that would give Kory and me a place to start looking, it sure would help.
“I wish I knew what we are looking for,” Nathan said. “But I don’t.”
I could feel my shoulders droop a little at this statement.
“But I believe that whatever is happening in those woods is related to the regime and is important enough that they’re using some serious stealth technology to keep it hidden. And I know that thousands of innocent people have been taken there for whatever reason, possibly including some people that are very important to you,” Nathan added.
Maybe one person, I wanted to correct him, but definitely not two people. But I kept that to myself. I didn’t know if Nathan approved of Nelson’s public records search outside of her team responsibilities. Or if he even knew about it.
“If it were up to me, I’d split up as soon as you two get in there. Cover more ground. And always explore the places where you’re not supposed to go,” Nathan said with a wink.
Easier said than done. But I nodded anyway, and Nathan placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll be there to get you and Kory out when the time is up,” he finished.
Then Nathan was off and I was standing alone. I knew that the Helping Hands missions were largely exploratory, but it was disappointing not to have more information on what we were looking for or what we could expect inside those woods. I felt exposed and blind with the way we were proceeding in this mission.
Jace walked over to me before I had the chance to return to the group.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
If there was anyone with whom I could be completely open and honest, I knew it was Jace. But at the same time, I knew that he was anxious about this mission, too. So, not wanting to put any more stress on him, I faked a smile.
“I’m feeling okay about it,” I lied.
He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes in suspicion, probably able to see through me like a window. But Kory walked up before he had time to argue.
“This mission has got to be all downhill from that giant needle,” he joked, rubbing his arm.
Jace ruffled Kory’s hair playfully. “
Better toughen up before your mission,” he said. “So Robin doesn’t have to carry you through it.”
I smiled as I watched them interact, but it was bittersweet. It must’ve been hard for Jace to watch two people he cared about embark on something so dangerous. I knew he had wanted to come with me for this mission, and honestly, I wished it had worked out that way. Not just for my peace of mind, but also because it wouldn’t leave him so alone if something happened and neither Kory or I made it home.
A sudden lurch in the airship almost sent the three of us tumbling to the ground.
“That would be the turbulence Nathan warned us about,” Jace said as he grabbed my arm to help me steady myself.
I looked to the front of the ship. I could see fat, grayish drops of rain hitting the airship windshield. A dark gray cloud front was directly ahead of us, complete with an ominous-looking thunderhead. I started to walk toward the front to get a better look.
Nelson was behind the controls of the ship. Beside her, another tech was watching the Doppler and making adjustments to the flight path coordinates based on the storm.
“Dry River seems like a nice place, based on this slimy black rain,” Nelson said over her shoulder to me. The rain was leaving streaks on the windshield of the airship.
“Acid rain?” I asked.
“I don’t think it’s corrosive,” she replied. “But I bet it doesn’t smell very good.”
I couldn’t make out anything through the dark clouds in front of the airship, but it looked like we were losing elevation, as we were dipping lower into the grayness of the storm. We were preparing for our landing.
Nathan appeared behind us. “Robin, let’s get to the back to work through the identities. Nothing will set off more alarms than if you can’t remember your own assumed name when asked,” he said.
I nervously walked to the back of the airship with Nathan. Kory was already there, standing beside the 3-D mask printer. I knew this was a necessary part of our plan, but I was worried about keeping any important information at the forefront of my mind when I already felt so confused and scared about what was coming.
Nathan grabbed a metal device that looked like a radar gun off the top of the printer. It was an ID scanner, like we had seen Corona use when we met her, meant to quickly scan prints and bring up personal information.
“Hands up,” Nathan said.
Kory and I both held up our right hands. Nathan scanned mine first. Then he turned the scanner around to show me the small screen on the other side.
White, Nora.
There was a small, pixelated image beside the name, but it was difficult to see in detail.
Kory was scanned next.
Miller, Silas.
“Repeat those names twenty times to yourselves. Then repeat them a hundred times more. It’s vital that you remember the name that Helping Hands will know you by,” Nathan said.
He set down the scanner and pulled up a brighter screen with better resolution on the printer. There were two images displayed side by side: the face of a man and the face of a woman. Silas and Nora.
Silas was a brown-haired man with a prominent brow and jutting chin. Nora had a slender face with high cheekbones and striking dark eyebrows. I wondered what had happened to Nora and Silas. Were they still out there somewhere? Or had we assumed the identities of people Aurora knew, for whatever reason, wouldn’t need their identities anymore? I shook off the thought.
“We need to maximize the time that you can use the masks, so we won’t print them until after we’ve landed and seen the cargo trucks approaching the town. We’ll be landing near the main street for Dry River, so we should definitely see them approach,” Nathan said. “But in the meantime, study those faces as well as the names. You’ll need to be able to find each other in the compound after the diversion, so we want you to know what the other looks like.”
Kory looked at me with wide eyes. Hopefully we were both good with remembering faces.
After Nathan left us, Kory and I spent a few minutes quizzing each other on our names and describing our facial features. The airship bucked a few times in the turbulence, and my ears popped as we steadily got closer to the ground. The anticipation was nerve-wracking now. I knew we were close, and it was making me even more nervous.
Jace came and sat beside us on the floor after a few minutes, staying quiet and staring straight ahead. It was obvious that we all had things we wanted to say but were suddenly unable to find the right words.
“We’re almost there,” he finally murmured.
It was unnecessary to state it aloud, but I couldn’t blame him. We were all anxious, and it was fogging our thinking.
When Kory and I didn’t speak, Jace continued.
“Look,” he said softly, not making eye contact with either of us. “I just want to tell both of you how much you mean to me.”
I looked closely at him as he spoke and noticed that Kory was also watching intently.
“And I mean that. I just want you to know in case… well, in case I don’t get another chance to say it,” he finished, still looking down at the floor of the airship.
I scooted closer to him and grabbed his hands from his lap. To my surprise, Kory also moved closer, and wrapped his arm around Jace.
“We’ll be okay, buddy. We’re going to watch out for each other,” Kory said.
I looked across at Kory and nodded. I knew he meant it. And I definitely planned to look out for him.
I wouldn’t be able to bear losing anyone from Team Hood.
We sat together on the floor for a while longer before Nelson called back to us from the front of the ship.
“Seatbelts, team! We’re approaching our landing spot.”
I took a deep breath.
Kory rose and helped pull Jace and me up after him. We made our way to the passenger seats and strapped ourselves in. Jackie, Ant, and Abe were strapped in on our row. Behind us, the medics and a few tech members were also getting buckled and prepared for our landing.
The airship was coming down haphazardly in the wind and rain, and I could see through the windshield that we were approaching the ground quickly as we grazed over dark and foreboding woods. Jace reached over and grabbed my hand. I trusted Nelson implicitly as a pilot, but this weather would make landing difficult for even the most experienced pilot.
“Brace yourselves!” Nelson called back. She was pulling hard on the airship controls to slow our speed and bring us down to earth.
I tensed my whole body, preparing for a rocky landing.
But by the time the landing gear was deploying, we were swaying gently in hover position over the ground. Nelson had managed to find a landing spot in a large clearing surrounded by trees. We lurched gently and then were still. The rain was still coming down hard, making the afternoon look like night, but we were safely on the ground outside of Dry River.
Jace squeezed my hand again and then released it. The mission was beginning. It was almost time for the countdown to start.
28
Once the ship’s landing gear touched the wet earth outside of Dry River, the tech and medic teams began unbuckling themselves and getting up to move around the airship.
I felt frozen to my seat. I couldn’t believe that this mission was about to begin.
I looked to my left to see a wide-eyed and still Kory. Jace moved to unbuckle himself, but then noticed our expressions.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked, gazing between us.
His face looked like it had aged ten years since our landing, like the stress of the mission was actually crushing him.
Kory and I shook our heads, and I tried to force a reassuring smile onto my face. Truthfully, there was nothing he could do for us now. It was going to be Kory and me out there alone, and we would have to rely on our support teams from a distance. As much as I wanted Jace to stay with me, I was about to have to say goodbye. And it terrified me to think that they might be the last words we ever spoke to each other.
I could see Kory begin to stand slowly to my left, so I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood as well. Jace pulled me in for a bear hug, kissing the top of my head.
“Mission team!” Nathan called as he walked past us, heading to the back of the airship, to the 3-D printer.
I stepped back from Jace slowly, allowing him to give Kory a hug, and then Kory and I trailed along reluctantly behind Nathan.
“All right, we have to maximize the mask time, so let’s keep you guys back here by the printer for quick access,” he said. “The rest of the teams are going to scout the area and set up surveillance for the road. As soon as we see the cargo trucks, you guys will need to get into disguise and out of the ship. You’ll be a fifteen-minute walk from Dry River proper, ten minutes if you hurry.”
Kory and I looked at each other and then back to Nathan. Things were moving fast.
“Just hang out here, and I’ll be back shortly. Try to relax a bit,” Nathan said, before heading back toward the front of the airship.
The other teams were suiting up in their armor and getting ready to disembark. Seeing the second-skin suits was a frightening reminder of how vulnerable Kory and I were about to be without them. We had never been in a dangerous situation before without at least some protection, and I felt small and exposed without it.
Ant, Abe, Jackie, and Jace cast lingering backward glances at Kory and me before they stepped off the ship. It was strange to see the faces of the twins etched with sorrow instead of their normal, goofy expressions. Jackie was looking at us like she’d never get another chance, like she was drinking in every last drop of the sight. Nelson and Gabby stayed inside the ship with the tech team, busy with flight coordinates, but I saw them looking back at us with fearful eyes as well. And Jace looked the most pained of all, as he mouthed a silent “See you soon.”
I didn’t have to ask to know that we were all thinking the same thing. This might be the end of our adventure together. We’d never talked about it. And I knew that none of us were ready.
With most of the teams preoccupied, and Jace now gone, I suddenly felt very alone in the back of the ship with Kory.
The Child Thief 5: Ghost Towns Page 26
