by Ike Hamill
Madelyn rolled her eyes. “You’re trying to make me sound like the bad guy. I’m just being the rational guy.”
“Maybe I am being irrational,” Elijah said. He crossed the room to his pack. He began to strip out the things he didn’t need. When he had it down to basics, he strapped it on.
Madelyn sighed and got to her feet.
“I’m going alone,” he said.
She shook her head. “Nope.”
# # # # #
She put her hand on Elijah’s shoulder and pointed. He had already spotted what she was tracking. Two people jogged up the path wearing heavy packs. They stopped at the intersection, glanced around, and then continued on.
Elijah nodded.
One of the men was Carter. The other was a young blond man named Patton. Madelyn had run into him before as well.
They waited for a second to be sure the path was empty, then they followed. They paused when the two men sprinted across an open area to the side of a building. Madelyn pulled Elijah back. They watched as Carter eyed the tree line. He was looking for them, or rather looking for anyone who might be tracking him.
Carter didn’t spot Madelyn and Elijah. Someone inside the building opened the door. Carter and Patton removed their packs and then carried them through to the basement of the building.
“Come on,” Madelyn said.
Elijah shook his head. “If that’s their base, then they probably have cameras on all the approaches. We have to find a better way in.”
“Like what? You want to parachute down to the roof? Teleport inside? What?” she asked.
“Let me think,” he said.
“Think about this—you’re probably right. We just saw Carter sneaking around with one of Ryan’s guys. Clearly, Carter doesn’t have a pure allegiance to Cleo, right? So you’re right. We solved it. Ryan’s got spies in Cleo’s administration and he needs to be ejected. This is more fuel for your fire. Tell as many people as you can, and let the town decide what to do.”
“I want to know what they’re doing in there.”
“Then we’re going to need a distraction,” Madelyn said.
# # # # #
“We’ve got six of these muscle wraps, two for eyes, and two catastrophic,” Madelyn said. She glanced back at Elijah. They were standing in the basement apartment shared by Scarlett and Wyatt. It was pure luck that Logan happened to be there as well.
“We don’t need those things,” Wyatt said. “Our bodies heal just fine on their own.”
Elijah stepped forward. “Then trade them for things that you do want. You can get out of a month’s worth of sewage duty for one of these.”
Scarlett and Wyatt looked at each other. Elijah had scored with this suggestion.
“What are we supposed to do?” Logan asked.
“We just need to take down a few trees in the safe harbor. It’s completely legit, but we have to do it right now,” Madelyn said. “It’s easy work. Some oak and maple. You just have to do them at the same time, and it has to be all saws.”
“Sounds shady,” Scarlett said.
Madelyn glanced at Elijah and hoped that he would remember his line. She had told him exactly how to say it.
Elijah got the hint.
“I don’t think they can do it,” he said.
“I bet they can,” Madelyn said. “I’ve worked with these guys a bunch. They can drop a tree within a few dozen meters of where they intend to.”
Logan turned his face towards the ceiling and laughed. “A few dozen? I can drop an oak tree on a squirrel before it has a chance to jump out of the way.”
Madelyn addressed Elijah. “That’s an exaggeration, but he is pretty good. The best of the three, I suppose.”
Wyatt stood up. He looked ready for a fight. He and Scarlett nodded to each other.
“Your attempt to trick us is pathetic,” Scarlett said. She stood up.
“Pathetic, but it worked,” Wyatt said.
Scarlett agreed with another nod. She turned to Logan. “Come on, Logan, we have a challenge to accept.”
Chapter 26
{Execution}
“DON’T WORRY, CALEB,” RYAN said. He was distracted by movement on his surveillance screens. “I do have some idea of what I’m doing. You weren’t the only people who reported to me who had a secret research project. Take a look.”
Ryan gestured to the screens. Down in the lab, the lights came on. Six people entered.
“Carter, Oliver, Alexandra, Niren’s brother Patton, Luca, and Horatio. You think your team was secret?” Ryan laughed. “Now—you were saying, Niren?”
Niren focused his eye on the screens and took in the sight of the people wandering into the lab. Beside him, Amelia began to wake up. She moaned as she tried to move her head.
“You’re going to have to either produce a new grid of coils or flush the one down there,” Niren said.
“We’ll flush it,” Ryan said. “I won’t take the time to wrap new wires.”
Niren blinked. His bad eye began to track with the good one.
“Take the grid out of the safe harbor, cut the power, and then wheel it back into the safe area,” Niren said. “That’s all you need to do to flush it, but you have to take care to repel the loop without dispersing it. That would induce more current than the system could handle.”
“He’s telling you how to kill yourself,” Caleb said. “Don’t listen to him.”
Ryan looked back and forth between them.
“Niren? Either your friend here is getting better at acting, or you’re not being completely honest. Care to explain this difference in opinion? Or would you like me to shock the real answer out of you?”
Niren’s eyes landed on Caleb and evaluated him.
Niren cleared his throat before he spoke again. “The force that’s currently contained by the coils is not keyed to the safe harbor. It can move at will. When you cut the power, you’ll have to take precautions that the entity there doesn’t double-back on you. Caleb’s emitter is currently configured for a square wave because he was trying to find a way to encircle the thing. It didn’t work, but if you run the same power levels through a burst, you’ll repel the force.”
Ryan studied Caleb during the explanation. Ryan nodded as he accepted the answer.
“Keep going,” Ryan said.
# # # # #
Everyone turned when Ryan pushed aside the rusty gate.
“We have a lot to do tonight,” Ryan said, clapping his hands in front of himself as he walked. He crossed the lab to his group of six. They moved into a semicircle as he addressed them. “From what I understand, there will be some amount of tissue damage associated with this procedure. One of you will pioneer, after which we will execute the process in pairs. Who’s first?”
Patton’s hand shot up.
“Okay, Patton, you’re first. We have a few steps in order to prepare the…”
“Excuse me,” Horatio said. He cleared his throat. “I believe it makes more sense for me to go first. He’s young and fit. If you’re going to see any complications, it will be from me.”
Ryan walked over to Horatio and assessed him. The man was the oldest of the group by far. He was old enough that he could have been the father of anyone there.
“And you might figure it could take longer for them to do their work on me,” Horatio added.
“Yes. Good point. Horatio will take the lead,” Ryan said. “Okay, I need three of you to move that platform to the northeast corner. Alexandra, do you think you can configure this machine?”
Alexandra moved to the console that Ryan pointed to. Everyone stepped into action.
Ryan gave orders and delegated different roles to each person. Luca followed Ryan closely, recording the instructions and expected outcomes. It was her job to run the process when Ryan went through, so Ryan made sure that Luca kept detailed notes. They were reviewing the steps when Oliver came with a status report.
“We’re ready to kill the power to the coils,” Oliver said.
; Ryan patted his shoulder. “Good. Very good. Carter and Patton, set up your stations there and there. Alexandra, when the power is cut, your burst will repel whatever’s contained in those coils. If anyone detects any stray signals, Carter and Patton will fire up their sequences. Everyone do a full rundown with your team. I want each person in here to know precisely what they’re doing.”
Luca made a note and then leaned in towards Ryan. “What are the stations that Carter and Patton are setting up?”
The two men were pulling big tripods from heavy black bags. They worked quickly to lag the legs into the floor and unfold the stands.
“When Kappa Three was cleared, we ran a parallel experiment to see if we could repel an ether wave from a small area. The result is that device. It’s completely effective within twenty meters. Don’t get on the other side of those things though. It’s also lethal to people,” Ryan said.
Luca nodded and made another note on her pad.
Ryan raised his voice to address the room. “Okay, is everyone in position?”
The group sounded off, one at a time.
“When I point to you, I want you to state exactly what you’ll be doing in this first phase,” Ryan said. He started with Oliver.
“On your mark, I’m going to kill power to the coils,” Oliver said.
“I’m his backup,” Horatio said.
“When the power is cut, I’m going to trigger a burst of seven point six kilo-amps for three seconds,” Alexandra said.
He pointed back to Oliver. “After she signals that the burst is done, I’m going to restore power to the coils.”
“I will verify that the power is back on,” Horatio said.
Finally, he pointed to Carter and Patton.
“If this detector goes off, I will engage this machine to repel any threat until the detector shows clear,” Carter said.
Patton repeated the same instructions.
“What are we missing?” Ryan asked. He glanced around the room. “This is not a rhetorical question. I have something specific in mind. I need you all to speak up when you see that something is missing.”
Horatio cleared his throat. “Those machines haven’t been tested since they were moved,” he said, pointing to Carter and Patton. “And Alexandra reconfigured that console without anyone double-checking the settings.”
“Excellent,” Ryan said. “Let’s knock those items out. Good catch, Horatio.”
He turned to Luca and lowered his voice. “Make sure you document this procedure from start to finish. I want all of these steps repeated precisely each time, got it? We don’t make any assumptions here. Speaking of which, let’s double-check to make sure we have redundant power coming from the other building, and cut the camera feeds to Building Two, just in case.”
He led Luca towards the power room.
# # # # #
Seven people moved on the monitors.
“Do you understand?” Niren asked.
Next to him, bound to her own chair, Amelia moaned and shook. Her eyes opened and stared straight up.
Caleb considered the people. “Yes.”
Niren blinked his eyes. They appeared to be perfect, but one was still a little slow to move when he changed focus. “We need to get loose and head north.”
“The bonds are too strong,” Caleb said.
Niren shook his head. He turned to Caleb. “Once he’s done down there, he won’t let you survive. You need to reevaluate. Sacrifice.”
Caleb looked back to the screens and watched as the people in the lab worked to setup, configure, and test the devices.
Amelia managed to turn her head. Her voice came out slurred. “Caleb, what happened?”
He glanced at her, but didn’t answer. He turned his face towards the ceiling and then clenched his teeth. His back arched and his head tilted back.
“What are you doing?” Amelia slurred.
Caleb grunted as he stiffened. His hand, still pink from his injury, lit up red with the effort. The metal chair creaked as Caleb pulled against the plastic ties that bound him.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” she said.
It was too late. He was already hurting himself. She saw the new skin on his wrist pull until it was white from strain and then tear. The skin bunched at his thumb, but he didn’t stop pulling. Blood began to flow down from his wrist. She saw the muscle split and separate into fibers. She screamed when his radius bone snapped and ground.
Caleb let out a cry, but he kept pulling.
His skin tore free, like he was pulling off a wet glove. His thumb flopped to the side as the plastic tie shoved it out of the way. With one more grunt, Caleb’s hand was destroyed and free from the chair.
Niren smiled. “Move closer,” he said.
Caleb glanced down at his mangled hand and then looked away. Blood pumped into his lap.
“Come closer,” Niren said.
Caleb’s feet were attached to the base of the chair. The only way he could move closer was by leaning towards Niren and then hooking a finger on the young man’s shirt. As he pulled, his blood splashed on Niren. Soon, the two were side by side.
Niren’s eyes went to Caleb’s hand. He looked at it and then looked to Caleb. The two reached a wordless understanding. Caleb lifted his hand and pressed his wrist to Niren’s mouth.
Amelia couldn’t watch. She turned away and squeezed her eyes shut.
# # # # #
“Go,” Ryan said. He stood back behind Alexandra. Luca was ready to check off the steps in the sequence as they happened. Her hand hovered to make the mark indicating that Oliver had shut off the power to the coil.
Oliver glanced back to Ryan to be sure. Ryan gave him a nod. It was unnecessary—Ryan had already issued the command—but that was why Oliver had a backup for his position. Oliver was too smart for his role. He had already figured out that if Alexandra’s burst didn’t dispel the entity, he would be hard-pressed to get out of the way when Carter and Patton used their countermeasures.
If Oliver failed, Horatio would pull the switch. Ryan figured that Horatio was just as smart, but pragmatic enough to know how to take an order. He had faced death before and had learned to live with the fear.
Ryan kept his eyes fixed on Oliver. He wanted it to work.
Oliver pulled the switch.
“Power down,” Oliver said.
“Positive for Hunters,” Carter yelled.
“Burst on,” Alexandra called. Her voice stepped on Carter’s.
As the seconds ticked off, Ryan could see Oliver’s eyes locked onto the device mounted on Carter’s tripod.
“Burst off,” Alexandra said. They heard the machine’s hum fade as the power wound down.
“Fading,” Carter said. “We’re clear.”
Oliver wasn’t fast enough. He was still processing the fact that he was still alive. Horatio was the one who recognized the signal. The old man stepped into action.
“Power on,” Horatio said.
“Good. Reel it in,” Ryan said. “We’re on the clock.”
Oliver and Horatio took opposite sides of the grid. They pulled it back from the corner of the building. They had marked on the floor where the safe harbor reached. The men wheeled the coils until they were several meters inside the perimeter.
“Excellent,” Ryan said. He consulted Luca. “Let’s move on to phase two.”
Carter went to retrieve the substrate from the locker in the far room.
Alexandra left her post and began to hook up the manual controls to the coil box.
“I’ve triple-checked the circuit that the kid built,” she said to Ryan. “I’m certain that it would be better at riding the levels compared to a manual control.”
“She’s right,” Luca said. “The video and data both agree.”
“Come here,” Ryan said. He waved Oliver towards the coils. He was pushing the cart that carried the laser. Ryan turned to the two women. “I show. But they rode the levels manually, and we’re going to ride the levels manuall
y. Maybe a circuit that reacts too quickly would actually prevent the loop from forming.” He raised his voice and let them see the fire in his eyes. “We’re not going to stray from the procedure based on speculation. Does that make perfect sense to both of you?”
“Yes,” Luca said.
“Yes,” Alexandra said with a nod. She looked at the floor until Ryan looked away.
Ryan folded his arms and watched his busy ants set up for phase two. Luca kept her face close to her list and took furious notes about the process. She never strayed more than a couple of meters from Ryan’s side.
# # # # #
“Go,” Ryan said.
Alexandra rode the levels. Oliver aimed the laser at the jar. When he switched it on, Horatio sucked in a breath at the sight. The swirling silver was beautiful. Ryan glanced around and saw it in their eyes—they were beginning to understand the magic of what they were doing. It was the moment when their commitment and sacrifice were paying off.
“Uncap it,” Ryan said.
They watched as a silver tentacle grew from the top of the jar to explore its world. The thing found the spiraling energy and was sucked in.
Ryan turned to Carter. “Do it.”
Carter rolled up his sleeve. He reached in with calm determination. Nobody said a word. Carter put the lid on the jar and then jerked his hand back out from the field. They saw a flash of raw flesh. Blood splashed back on his shirt. Patton smothered Carter’s hand and wrist with a wrap.
Carter managed to hold back his scream as the pain twisted his face. Patton and Horatio led him to the cot in the other room.
Ryan turned his attention back to the coils.
“How are we looking?” Ryan asked.
“It’s all clear,” Alexandra said.
“Good to go,” Oliver reported.
“Very good,” Ryan said. “Switch over to automatic control and let’s get set for phase three. I want a fast turnaround.”
