by S. S. Segran
64
Mariah trudged out of her room, hair in a messy bun. She found Jag and Kody in the kitchen, talking animatedly.
Jag grinned at her as she sat down with them. “Look at you, sleeping past lunch.”
She stretched. “Mmph.”
“Guess what came just a few minutes ago,” Kody said, displaying a black, football-shaped object in his hands.
She stopped mid-stretch and gawked. “It’s here? Josh got it done?”
“Yeah.” Jag passed her a sheet of paper. “Apparently he had someone on standby to personally fly this out to us the moment he was done putting it together.”
Mariah took the paper from him. “This is a note from him.”
“Uh huh.”
“Mild explosive designed to disperse powderized anti-nanomite . . . confirmed powder works on the nano specimen . . . device designed to explode ten seconds after activation . . . created the ‘football’ in a hurry . . . not enough time to test reliability . . . ” She put the note down and assessed the palm-sized device. “Really? It looks pretty professionally done.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Jag said. “He sent us two of these in case one fails.”
Kody held the device up to inspect it. “What I’m worried about is that we may have tripped an alarm the last time we were there, which was why the nanomites came back way before sunrise and attacked us. Since we don’t know what triggered it, we’re probably gonna set it off again.”
“We’ll have to be quick, then, because the nanomites will be in their pod when we go this time.”
“By doing what we’re gonna do, won’t we alert the people behind all this?” Mariah asked.
“That’s why we’re doing a test run on this site first. Hopefully they’ll see it as a random malfunction of the pod and not necessarily part of a larger takedown. Marshall called this morning and said that he has connected with other Sentries in the League. They’re using the method we worked out to figure where the rest of the pods are located. Tonight’s outcome will determine how we move forward. If we succeed, the League can replicate this across the country and later, hopefully, the world.”
A sense of pride budded in Mariah as she listened to Jag. He’s changed. He’s no longer the kid who just a year ago wouldn’t take the lead on anything and instead got into trouble for stupid fights in school.
“Are we just gonna leave Tony and his guys in the container when we head out?” Kody asked.
“Unless anyone has any objection,” Jag answered, “then yes.”
Mariah smirked. She had no problem with that.
* * *
Walking single file to stay inside the security cameras’ narrow blind spot, Jag, Mariah and Kody rounded the garage that housed the nanomites. Jag knelt and pulled away the section of the wall they’d cut earlier while Mariah readied the black cloths to place over the cameras.
Jag went on his stomach and took a cautionary look inside, then hurriedly pulled back. “There’s someone in there! A woman’s sitting at one of the computers!”
Kody crouched beside him. “Oh, man, I should’ve checked to see if I could hear anything inside. Did she notice you?”
“No.” Jag bit his lip, jaw moving side to side rapidly as he searched for a solution.
Mariah shooed them away. She lay down by the hole and looked into the garage. A woman with short blue hair and stretched earlobes was perched on a stool, facing the bank of computer monitors. A lunch bag lay on the tabletop on one side of her and a bottle of water stood on the other.
I wonder if I can get the cloths past her without her seeing . . . agh, probably not. Can I take her out?
There was a hefty toolbox on the shelf behind the woman. Would that be too obvious if anyone views the footage? The box just randomly falling on her? Hmm . . . what if it looked like an accident? It’s gonna be touch-and-go.
Mariah forced the stool out from under the unsuspecting woman. Her wasn’t graceful and she ended up on her backside, stunned. Before she could recover, Mariah brought the toolbox down on her. The woman sprawled back, arms and legs splayed, out cold.
Taking the black cloths, Mariah hung them over the cameras and motion detector, then crawled into the garage. Behind her, the boys—unaware of what she’d accomplished but having heard the commotion—were beside themselves.
“What are you doing?” Jag demanded.
“Don’t worry, it’s clear,” she called once she was on the other side.
There was a delay, then Jag appeared through the low opening; Kody stayed outside to stand guard like before. When Jag saw the woman on the ground, he said, “You and Tegan sure know how to do some damage, don’t you?”
“Don’t have time for compliments, buddy boy.” Mariah ran to the steel pipe that led to the pod in the chamber below. “Okay, here’s the wire. Jag, you wanna—Jag? What are you doing?”
Her friend was holding a rectangular black device. “Would you look at this?” he said. “This remote controls all the alarms and motion detectors around here. She probably disarmed them when she came in.”
“You said alarms and motion detectors. Anything there for the cameras?”
“There’s no label for that here . . . ”
“Then they’re still functioning, so there was still a need for stealth.” She marched toward the steel pipe with the automated cap—the nanomite conduit—that stuck out of the floor. “See if you can locate the circuit that powers the cap. Once the power is off, you should be able to work it manually.”
Jag walked briskly around the garage as he traced the thin wire. “It’s not connected to any of those computers. It goes underground for some reason. Moving on, then.” He took a wire cutter from his bag and snipped the wire, then knelt next to the cap atop the pipe. “You ready?”
Mariah had taken out the football-shaped charge. “Yep.”
He forcibly slid the cap open. “Go, go, go!”
She worked the switch to start the timer and dropped the device down the pipe. Jag shut the cap firmly and they ran to the other side of the room. They hunkered down, counting down the last seconds.
Five one-thousand, four one-thousand, three one-thousand, two one-thousand, one . . .
Nothing.
They peeked at each other through their arms, quizzical, then got up. Jag headed back to the pipe. “Was there supposed to be a blast, or . . . ?”
Kody stuck his head through the hole in the wall and yelled at them. “What the heck did you do?! It sounds like crazed bees down there! I can hear ’em going nuts!”
“The football didn’t go off!” Jag yelped. “Get the second one ready!”
Hundreds of clinking impacts were audible to Mariah’s ears now. “They’re trying to get out!”
Jag put his hand on the cap. “When I pull this, you’ve only got a second to get that in there! Alright? Now!”
He slid the cap open once more and Mariah lobbed the device into the pipe. He jerked the cap shut and then bounced away, slapping at his arms as minuscule red dots appeared before them. “Some of them got out . . . Ow! Let’s get out of here!”
All at once, Mariah felt like she was being bitten by fire ants. She thrashed, trying to shake the nanomites off her. They were angrily tearing at her; pinpricks of blood appeared on her arms, and she knew they’d bitten under her t-shirt.
A muffled boom came from under their feet and rattled the pipe. The metallic buzzing and clanking petered out and, at the same time, the nanomites hounding Mariah and Jag ceased their attack.
Jag slowly raised his arms and observed them. “Lovely. It looks like I have bloodied freckles.” He beamed at Mariah. “I think we did it! I guess if enough of them are taken out, the rest are affected as well.”
Mariah blew out a breath. “I think you’re right. Mission accomplished.”
“Let’s get back to the truck so we can clean up and head home.” He started crawling back outside, humming happily to himself at their success.
“Jag,” Mariah c
omplained. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“What?” Jag called, already halfway out.
“This poor lady’s lying all splayed out on the floor! Shouldn’t we do something about her?”
“No, leave her be. It’ll look like she fell from her stool and was hurt by the toolbox when it fell—which is actually what happened, might I remind you.”
Mariah huffed, grabbed the wire cutters they’d used, and exited the building. Outside, she laid prone by the hole in the wall and removed the cloths from the monitoring devices. Kody pushed the wall section into place and the three of them strolled off the property, taking care to return everything to normal.
As they drove back to Concordia, Kody said, “Now that we know it works, we can report to Marshall and Josh, and the Sentries can handle the other pods. Should be smooth sailing from here.”
Mariah exchanged high-fives with him, grinning. “I sure hope so.”
* * *
“Mr. Dattalo?”
“Nngh . . . speaking. It’s two a.m., this had better be important.”
“Sir, I’m sorry to wake you up but I thought you should know that the pod at Ransom is not responding.”
The head of Quest Defense sat up in his bed, covers falling around his waist. “Not responding?”
“Remember I called you a couple nights ago about the REAPR going on the offensive?”
“You said that was a false alarm.”
“Yes, but now I’m not so sure. It looks like we’ve lost connection with the pod’s systems.”
“Who’s in charge there?”
“Katie. I actually tasked her to be there day and night since the last incident.”
“Ah, good. I like that you’ve taken the initiative. So what’s the problem?”
“I’ve been trying to reach her. The cameras blacked out for a couple of minutes, but they came back on just now. I see her lying on the floor like she’d had some kind of accident.”
“Get someone there to check on her.”
“Yes, sir. Already on it.”
“Wait a moment. You said this was the Ransom pod?”
“That’s right.”
“Alright. At least it’s not the Texas one.”
“You mean in Vernon? Yeah, I heard they’re the new version.”
“They’re second-generation nanomites. We wanted to up their capabilities. In any case, make sure you see to Katie and fix the pod issue.”
“Yes, sir. Again, so sorry to wake you.”
Dattalo put his phone on the nightstand and lay back down. He tried counting sheep but after a hundred, knew he’d lost his need to sleep.
65
The Elders were alone in the temple, save for an older woman who sat at the opposite end of the hall with a leather-bound book in hand. It was late in the night but none of them had been able to sleep until they’d heard from Jag. When the boy had contacted Nageau with the news, they thought it best to hold a meeting straightaway.
“So,” Nageau said, spreading his arms, “the method to end this plague has been proven successful. The material given by the Sentry’s friend works.”
Saiyu smiled broadly. “It is certainly encouraging.”
“My only concern is that the first device Jag and Mariah used failed to work,” Ashack grunted.
“But the second one did,” Tayoka reminded him. “And the devices were put together in haste. The new ones will be more reliable, no doubt.”
“Now that we know the material works and how best to deliver it,” Nageau said, “we need to move quickly. We have been afforded a very small window of opportunity wherein we have the element of surprise. It will only be a matter of time before the enemy becomes aware that their tools of destruction have been neutralized.”
“How much time do you reckon we have?” Tikina asked.
“Less than two days.”
“Can we rally the League on such short notice?”
“Yes, thanks to Tayoka. Things are already in motion. From what the Sentry and the five have gleaned, there are two sites involved in creating this scourge. One is in a place called Redding and the other in Boulder City, which is where Aari and Tegan are. They have now assumed the role of infiltrators rather than prisoners and have given the Sentry useful information about the site.
“In addition to the bases that produce these devices of destruction, there are six—well, five now—major locations that house them in their pods, a kind of nest. I have reached out to and carefully selected the Sentries for this mission. Marshall has also contacted them and they have been assigned to their respective targets. There will be two Sentries assigned to each pod and four to the site in Redding. Tegan, Aari and Marshall will take care of the one in Boulder City.”
“Who do we have in the other areas?” Saiyu asked.
“There are the lads Marshall suggested—twins—who traveled some distance to be at Redding with two other Sentries. Jag, Mariah and Kody will be heading to a place called Vernon in Texas where another pod is located, and a couple of Sentries are now positioned in Montana.”
Tayoka raised his hand partway. “Is that not where the five are from?”
“It is,” Nageau answered. “More Sentries are on their way to the other three places in the states of California, Washington and North Dakota and will be in position shortly to strike on our signal.
“They have done the groundwork. All they are waiting for is the delivery of the material to destroy the pods and their orders.”
“With the wind of destiny at our backs, this mission will hopefully be successful,” Ashack said, perking up slightly, “but what does this mean for the rest of the world? How do we put an end to the scourge elsewhere?”
“The Sentry’s friend can produce more of the material within a moon cycle.”
Ashack frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that the best he can do?”
“It is difficult to produce as it does not exist in nature. It must be created.”
Saiyu fiddled with the bracelets on her arm. “So much damage will be done by that time, Nageau.”
“It is all that can be done for now, my friend. Sentries in different parts of the world have searched for alternate means to produce this material. It seems Marshall’s contact is the only one right now with the capability to deliver the needed quantity in the shortest time.”
“By then,” Ashack said heatedly, “we will have lost our element of surprise. Knowing they are under attack, the enemy will increase their security measures, making it far more challenging to destroy the pods.”
Nageau placed a hand on the dark-haired man’s back. “Take heart, Ashack. The Sentries are keeping a very close eye and will be prepared.”
“I think we have momentarily forgotten an important question,” Tikina said. “Now that we know who the puppet master is, what do you suppose . . . Reyor’s . . . reaction will be?”
An uncomfortable chill came over the Elders. Nageau pulled a thread from his cloak. “I understand that the last thing we want to do is infuriate the person who is the living embodiment of what the ancient prophecy warns of, but this is something that can no longer be avoided. We must be prepared for retaliation. I will need to meet with Magèo to inform him about this and see what he can do to prepare to defend the village should the need arise.”
“If anyone, that batty inventor of ours should be able to devise some means of defense,” Tayoka chimed in.
“You really think Rey—that harbinger of darkness would dare attack us?” Saiyu asked. “Here?”
“I doubt Reyor would bear any love for our home anymore,” Tikina said. “It is a worst-case scenario, but I suggest that we ought to be ready so we are not taken by surprise.”
The other Elders agreed, all of them quiet and somber. Nageau stood up and brushed his cloak. “Come, my friends!” he said, resonant. “Cast aside your masks of solemnity! We have received an encouraging sign this night. These are the times spoken of in the prophecy. This is when we must
stand strong with the Bearers of Light against the dark storm. The five have arisen to fulfill their role as ordained, thus we must fulfill ours. The League stands ready. Let the incursion begin!”
66
This is serious déjà vu right here.
Hijacking the delivery truck as it headed to Quest Defense had proven easier than expected. The driver had stopped for a “stranded” motorist and seconds later found himself pulled from the cab and rendered unconscious. Now, wearing a black and red uniform jacket that was slightly too tight, Marshall felt the eerie familiarity of driving the medium-sized box vehicle. His cap had the shipping company’s name, ZappEx, stitched on the front. He’d assumed that Quest Defense would not have wanted just any courier company handling their cargo and had intercepted the vehicle he’d seen making other deliveries.
He’d spent the previous two nights observing the afterhours routine. The workers in the labs worked two shifts, the later one ending an hour before midnight. He planned to arrive at the complex between eleven-fifteen and eleven-thirty and park at the smaller shipping bay on the left side of the lab/R&D building. If Tegan’s late-night dragonfly snooping was accurate, batches of yet-to-be-activated nanomites in steel canisters and their empty pods would be ready for pick-up from this bay.
Tegan had been a great help. Using Jag as intermediary, she’d described the interior layout of the complex and the nanomite lab. She’d also taken note of the guard’s patrol schedules and provided Marshall with the keypad code he would need to enter the building. The girl was a natural when it came to covert reconnaissance; it was almost alarming.
Marshall made a right turn into the entry and stopped at the guard post as workers drove through the exit, their day’s work completed. His watch read eleven-twenty. Good timing.
The guards were in some kind of heated argument. As he rolled down his window, Marshall caught the exchange, “Then you handle that! It’s none of my business!”
Marshall lowered the brim of his cap a second before the guard turned to him, face glossed in irritability. When he took stock of the Sentry, his petulance increased. “Who are you? Where’s Charlie?”
