Naia shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I wasn’t down here.”
She dropped her elbows onto the countertop and rubbed her forehead. “Some daze I must have been in.”
Naia smiled. “It happens to the best of us.”
She rolled her eyes as the pizza appeared underneath the machine. Just as she was about to yell Torin’s name, he came flying down the stairs with a bewildered expression.
“You have to see this!” he shouted.
Emery shot Naia a look, abandoning the pizza to join him in the living room. Her eyes landed on a strange, yet familiar object in Torin’s hands.
A gas capsule.
She took it from him and examined it more closely, then handed it over to Naia. “That’s it, right?”
Naia studied the golf-ball-sized object, nodding in confirmation. “It sure is.”
Emery’s eyes grew wide. “But how—?”
“That’s not all,” Torin interrupted. “I was able to transfer the gas from the cylinder to this capsule using a machine in the lab upstairs. I also found this.” He pulled out a smaller pocket-sized notebook. It was made of black leather and hardly looked worn. He flipped open to one of the earmarked pages and set it down on the coffee table. His index finger landed unforgivingly on one of the diagrams. “Look familiar?”
Emery shoved Torin’s finger from view and leaned over to look at the drawing. She had to stifle a gasp. “It’s a launcher. The same one . . .”
“ . . . the Federal Commonwealth used,” Naia finished. Her brows furrowed in confusion. “But what is it doing here, with your mom’s stuff?”
Emery shook her head, unable to comprehend what was going on. “I . . . I don’t know,” she stammered. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s almost as if . . .” Naia shot Torin a knowing look, but didn’t finish her thought.
“Almost as if what?” Emery pressed, her gaze snapping back and forth between the two of them.
“Your mother,” Torin started, then paused. “It’s almost as if she somehow knew all of this was going to happen. Like she’d planned for it somehow.”
Emery swallowed the lump in her throat, eyes alight with fear. “It can’t be. She wouldn’t have wanted any of this to happen. She wouldn’t have allowed for it to happen.” She shook her head, trying to steady her voice. “It’s just a drawing, just a sketch. I doubt she was planning for anything.”
Torin took a deep breath as he stood up. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” He grabbed the fire poker from the hearth and walked a few paces away from the bearskin rug.
Emery watched him with confusion. “What are you—?”
But before she could get the rest of her question out, Torin had shoved the sharp end of the fire poker underneath the floorboard and was pressing down on the other end to pull it up.
“What are you doing?” Emery shouted. She attempted to lunge at him, but Naia held her back. “This is my family’s cabin! These are original hardwood floors!”
But Torin wasn’t listening. The wood creaked and cracked as it popped out of place. With each displaced board, Emery screamed louder and louder.
Finally, after removing eight of them, he threw the fire poker to the side and dropped to his knees. He pulled out his holophone to light up the space underneath the cabin. A voracious grin stretched across his face. “You need to see this.”
Emery wrenched herself from Naia’s grip as she rushed over to the giant hole in the ground. Before looking down, she slugged Torin in the arm, nearly causing him to fall over.
“Hey, watch it!” he grunted as he regained his balance. “Before you try to knock me over again, maybe you should take a look at what I just found.”
Emery rolled her eyes, then averted her gaze to the space beneath her feet. She knelt next to him, peering into the dark hole, trying to get a closer look. When her eyes finally focused, she rocked back onto her ankles in shock. She turned to meet his gaze.
“Holy shit.”
55
Just outside 7S Headquarters, Byron stood with Alexis and Riley, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his eldest daughter.
“What did Emery say when you talked to her?” Alexis asked, her eyes focused on the road as she searched for the incoming car.
“Just that they’d found what they needed and were heading back.” He knew his answer wouldn’t satisfy her, but truthfully, their call had disconnected pretty quickly since the holoconnections in Chicago hadn’t been fully restored.
“So, we still have no idea what the plan is?” Riley asked.
“Unfortunately, we’re still in the dark,” Byron responded with a shake of his head. “Hopefully we’ll know more soon.”
“There they are!” Alexis interrupted, pointing at a black dot that was heading straight for them.
They waited patiently as the car approached, stepping back as it made a swift left turn and parked against the curb. Emery hopped out of the driver’s seat and, without greeting them, went straight for the trunk. Torin pulled himself out of the backseat and went to stand by Alexis, while Naia closed the passenger side door and made her way next to Byron.
“Well, hello to you, too,” Byron said with a sarcastic wave.
Naia rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to believe what we found.”
“That reminds me, where exactly did the three of you venture off to?”
“Northern Arizona.”
She said it so simply, so blatantly, as if he should have known. Maybe he should have. “To the cabin?”
She nodded, then pointed toward Emery. “She’s about to explain everything—or at least, what we’ve been able to piece together.”
He watched as Emery lugged a piece of equipment from the trunk. It was about two feet tall and a foot in diameter. Steel rods lined the outside of a circular shape. Four additional, more flexible, rods intersected with the sphere. She opened her arms wide and gestured to the foreign object.
“What is that?” he asked.
“This,” Emery said, “is the answer to all our problems.”
“Well, that,” Naia interjected, “and this.” She held up a small capsule that had an orange gas floating within it.
It didn’t take long for him to connect the dots. He turned his attention back to the contraption. “Where did you get that? Did you make it?” He looked back and forth between Emery and Torin. Just from the looks on their faces, he had his answer. “You found it in Sandra’s lab. At the cabin.”
Emery nodded solemnly. “Did you know?” She swallowed, a look of despair darting across her eyes. “Did mom know this was all going to happen? Was she planning for it?”
He ran a hand through his graying hair. “It’s hard to say. I suppose I could have been wrong when I said she hadn’t considered the consequences of Alpha One falling into the wrong hands.” He bit the corner of his lip.
“Whether she planned for it or not, we found the solution in the lab in the cabin.” Emery’s face pulled taut. “Her solution.”
Riley cleared her throat and raised her hand in the air as if she were in a classroom. “For those of us who have no idea what you’re talking about, would you mind taking a few steps back and filling us in?” She winked as she nonchalantly gestured to herself and Alexis.
Emery smiled. “Right. First things first. Before the tornado hit, Naia and Torin were able to convert the original liquid syringe of sanaré into gas form.
“That was the cylinder Naia showed us before you all left for your road trip,” Riley affirmed.
“Exactly. We drove to my family’s cabin to investigate my mother’s secret laboratory. That’s where we found another journal.” She motioned to Torin to hold up the small black notebook. “It was then we found the launcher,” she continued, pointing at the contraption at her feet, “and realized what needed to be done.”
Riley took a moment to process everything, then sighed. “Still not fully following . . .”
<
br /> “Well,” Emery said, racking her brain to go back a little further, “when I was out of Dormance and on the rooftop of 7S Headquarters with Theo,” she shuddered as his name left her mouth, “he had the same contraption and launched the lethargum capsule into the air. We immediately reverted the effects by launching a sanaré capsule into the air.”
“We need to do the same thing to reverse the grey,” Alexis whispered.
Emery nodded. “A one-time only get-out-of-jail-free card. We reverse the grey this one time and give the dormants the chance they’ve always deserved.” She looked around at each of them. “To live.”
The group was quiet as the reality of what they were about to do sank in.
“And how do you propose we do this?” Byron questioned. “It’s likely that the launcher will only distribute the sanaré particles throughout Illinois, maybe some cities in neighboring states.”
“While the particles in this gas capsule are denser than the last,” Naia pointed out, “you are right about the launcher. It’s not powerful enough to reach the entire nation.”
Byron looked at Emery. Her eyes said it all. “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing we know something that is.”
56
Emery followed her father as he led the group past the largely destroyed 7S Headquarters with a spring in his step. She knew that what they were about to do was crazy, that what she was about to ask was even crazier. Would it even work? Or were they messing with something completely out of their wheelhouse?
Question after question plagued her mind as she followed her father: left turn, right turn, another left. A couple of blocks later, they arrived at the Sears Tower. Fortunately, the tornado hadn’t touched it, leaving it all in one piece. It was in pristine condition, which was more than could be said for 7S Headquarters.
Riley and Alexis had offered to partner up and carry the launcher, Torin had the journal, and Naia had the gas capsule—all tangible things—but Emery seemed to have gotten stuck with something heavier somehow, even though it was intangible: an unspoken confidence that this crazy, far-fetched plan would work.
Her thoughts scattered as her father tested the elevator and turned around to give them the good news. “Elevator’s in tact. The building’s back-up generator wasn’t affected by the storm.”
A smile tugged at Emery’s lips. “At least one thing’s gone right today.” As much as she wanted to be carefree and lighthearted—they were so close to the end, after all—an incessant chirping in the back of her mind wouldn’t let her be. Your mother knew. She’s responsible. This is all her doing . . . and her undoing. She shook the voices from her head as she stepped into the elevator.
Up, up, up it climbed.
When they finally reached the top, Byron led them to a staircase that put them on the roof of the Sears Tower. Emery shivered as a cool gust of wind swept through her layers of clothing. She gazed up at the darkening sky. Angry clouds stared back at her, as if to question her intentions. What are you doing? Why are you here?
“The launcher,” Emery instructed as she pointed at the area beneath her feet. When Torin didn’t answer, she turned in his direction. She stopped short just as she was about to repeat herself.
Torin’s eyes were wide with fear.
“What is it?” she demanded as she rushed over to him. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
Without hesitation, he handed her his phone. A holomap of the entire nation appeared—an angry, dark red shadow outlined the east, west, and south coasts.
“Hurricane,” she whispered.
He took the phone back from her. “I think you mean hurricanes. Plural. This is unlike anything in history.” He ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes darting across the map. “Category 5 hurricanes are hitting every coast of California, Texas, New York, the Carolinas, Florida . . .” His voice trailed off.
She looked around at the fear-stricken group. As an idea slowly came together, she somehow felt equally fearful and relieved at the same time. “How strong are Category 5 hurricane winds?” she asked.
He threw his hands in the air in disbelief. “Greater than 197 miles per hour, but that’s besides the point. Who cares how strong they are? We need to take cover—we need to warn the nation!”
Once more, she looked around at the group. It was time. For once, they had something good on their side, something useful. “I need everyone to listen to me closely.” She took a deep breath as all eyes landed on her. “Winds this strong are going to affect the entire nation, not just the states the hurricanes are originating from.” She took a steadying breath as her crazy-but-not-too-crazy-to-work idea rolled off her tongue. “We can use the winds to our advantage. If we have winds blowing in from all directions, then we can time the launch of the sanaré so that when the capsule bursts, the winds carry it across all states, all over the nation. All dormants with the grey will be cured, a one-time only deal.” She let out a shaky breath. “But we only have one chance to get it right. We screw this up and . . .”
There was no need to finish her sentence.
“But the hurricanes will destroy everything in their wake. They’ll take lives,” Riley countered. “Who’s to say anyone will survive such a massive storm?”
Emery shrugged. “Who’s to say they won’t? We at least have to try. It could be the end, or it could be a beginning. A new beginning.”
As those last words left her mouth, she sucked in a sharp breath as if someone had punched her in the stomach. A moment with her mother in Dormance flashed across her mind. “It represents new beginnings,” her mother had told her as she’d opened the box containing the alpha ring.
Her hand flew to her mouth. She could feel her body start to shake as tears pricked her eyes. What her father had assumed and blamed Sandra for all these years had been false. Her mother had been prepared in the event that her technology, that Alpha One, could fall into the wrong hands. She’d known. She’d foreseen. And she’d given Emery all the knowledge and tools she needed to fix it and start anew.
To make things right again.
She didn’t even realize Torin was standing next to her until he laid his hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
She slowly lowered her hand from her mouth, trying to compose herself as best she could. With a voracious nod, she said, “Yes,” and then, not a beat later, “We need to alert the nation. Now.”
Byron looked at Torin. “You’re holophone’s up and running?”
He nodded in confirmation.
“Let’s connect to the network, so that I can do a live announcement. Some areas in Illinois and Indiana are without power, so it won’t be broadcasted everywhere, but we need to try to reach as many states as possible.”
“I’m working on a nationwide connection as we speak,” Torin said, his fingers flying over the holoscreen. He paused for a brief moment as he checked the weather data. “We only have about forty-five minutes until the eyes of the hurricanes are expected to hit the coasts.”
Emery chewed on her lower lip as her mind swirled with information and what-ifs. Delegating tasks was the only way this would work. She directed her attention to Riley and Alexis. “You two will record the announcement. Naia will be in charge of ensuring it’s streaming nationwide. Torin, you’re going to help me set up the launcher and notify me of the exact minute to launch.”
He regarded her with a puzzled expression. “The exact minute? That’ll be when the winds are—”
“—in full effect, I know.” She kept her voice steady, even though she was trembling on the inside. “But it’s the only way to ensure the sanaré is distributed properly, to every single state.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Emery, we can’t be up here when the winds are in full effect. More likely than not,” he hesitated before finishing his morbid thought, “we’ll die.”
The truth in what she was about to do reverberated throughout her entire being. She nodded her head, shoulders
falling as she exhaled. Her eyes locked on his.
“At least it’ll be something worth dying for.”
57
Torin squeezed his eyes shut as he processed what she was saying. No, Emery, no. What in the world are you thinking?
Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something—anything—to pull her from this suicidal mission, he stopped. He knew Emery well enough to know that the determined look on her face meant there was no way she’d change her mind. The thought was heart wrenching.
He looked at his phone to check the holomap once more, then glanced over his shoulder as Byron positioned himself for his live broadcast. This was complete and utter chaos. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Stop!” he shouted. “Everyone just stop!”
The group froze in position, mouths agape as they stared at him. Even Emery looked appalled at his outburst.
“All of you inside,” he demanded through clenched teeth. “Now.”
He noticed Byron shoot a glance at Emery and she nodded, as if giving them permission to leave. Naia jogged over to her and handed her the gas capsule. “I think you’ll be needing this.”
“Thanks,” Emery said as her hand closed around it.
Naia smiled, then gave a short wave as she headed inside with everyone else.
“That includes you,” Torin said to her, his voice flat. He took Emery’s arm and began leading her to the door when, suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks and yanked her arm from his grip. He turned to face her, his eyes blazing with anger, but his face quickly fell at what he saw. She wasn’t angry, frightened, or vengeful. No, she was something much more terrifying than that.
She was placid.
He took her shoulders as gently as he could and moved her so that she was positioned right in front of him. He could feel beads of sweat forming in a line across his forehead. “Emery, we only have thirty minutes until the hurricanes hit the coasts all over the nation. We need to be inside. We need to take cover.”
Restitution (The Alpha Drive Book 3) Page 21
