by Lucas Flint
I looked at Christina. “Christina, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you?”
“I was aware that Josh here stole something from us a while back, but no one told me what,” said Christina with a shrug. “I think Chaser wanted to keep knowledge of the theft contained within the upper echelons of the organization, rather than share it with us peasants.”
“Not surprising,” said Uncle Josh. “The Atlas Armor is one of their best kept secrets, from what I can tell. But thanks to the efforts of our spies, we managed to figure out what they were building.”
“Why would Icon build power armor?” I said. “Are they planning to mass produce and sell it like Power or something?”
“Probably not,” said Uncle Josh. “Though we don’t know everything, we do know that the time, money, and effort being put into it was far more than the time, money, and effort being put into Power. Power was already a very profitable drug, so Icon has no reason to develop something that takes longer time and more money for less profit. Besides, our spies didn’t find any evidence of plans for mass production, so it appears to be a one-of-a-kind weapon.”
“Then they must be planning to use it for themselves,” I said. “But why?”
“I don’t know,” said Uncle Josh. “All I know is that Ephraim gave us orders to destroy it. We don’t know what Icon is trying to do with the Atlas Armor, but I doubt they have any plans to use it to bring about world peace.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me this upfront?” I said. “Why lie to me about it for so long?”
“Because Ephraim told us to keep it a secret from everyone who wasn’t a Pinnacle agent,” said Uncle Josh. He did not meet my eyes. “But he was aware that you were planning to go to Iconia, so he told us to tag along with you. He figured that it would be easier for us to get to Iconia if we had you as an ally, even if you weren’t allowed to know the real reason why we were going here.”
“You mean you manipulated me into doing your dirty work?” I said.
“Not quite manipulated,” said Uncle Josh carefully. “We just thought it would be more convenient to tag along with you to Iconia. That’s all.”
“But you never intended to save Grandfather,” I said. “Right?”
“Well, we didn’t have orders to,” said Uncle Josh. “And, well—”
“Then you lied to me,” I said. “You lied to me about the real reason you came here. What else did you lie to me about, I wonder?”
“Nothing,” said Uncle Josh, quickly meeting my gaze with his own. “Please believe me. And the only reason we even lied to you about this was because Ephraim told us to, not because we wanted to. Honest.”
Christina chuckled. “’Please believe me.’ Come on. You’re a spy. You can’t believe anything spies say.”
“Including anything you say?” I said, looking at Christina hard.
“Yep,” said Christina without missing a beat. “Didn’t we already have this conversation about how you can’t really trust me? I’m not really in the mood to go over it again.”
My hands balled into fists and I looked back over at Uncle Josh. “So you don’t have any plans to save Grandfather, then.”
“We didn’t,” Uncle Josh corrected. “But we do now. There’s a reason I went with you and Christina rather than with Mack and Gina, and it’s because I genuinely want to save Greg now. I mean, I want to destroy the Atlas Armor as well and end Icon, but at the moment I want to help you more than anything else.”
I looked in Uncle Josh’s eyes. He looked very sincere right now, which made it easy for me to believe that he was telling the truth. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at his lies. I had thought Uncle Josh would never lie to me, given how we were family and all, but apparently I didn’t know my uncle well enough to know that he would lie to me if his boss told him to. It left me feeling bitter and angry, to the point where I almost wanted to tell Uncle Josh to go away and never talk to me again.
But I caught myself before I said anything rash. It was too late for me to tell Uncle Josh to go away now. With the wall behind us, there was nowhere for Uncle Josh to go. And besides, he hadn’t tried to hurt me or anything. The worst he had done was help me under false pretenses, which wasn’t really the most serious thing in the world if you thought about it. It wasn’t like he had betrayed me and sold me out to Icon or anything, after all.
So I said to Uncle Josh, “All right, uncle. I’m still upset about how you lied to me, but I’ll forgive you. You were just following your boss’ orders, not trying to harm me or anyone else. Still, I’m not very happy about this.”
“That’s fine,” said Uncle Josh. “I don’t expect you to be. Just as long as we are on the same side, everything will be fine.”
“This is heartwarming and all, but we really should keep moving,” said Christina. She pointed up at the doors on the platform. “We’re not far away now. Just beyond those doors are the dungeons where your grandfather is being kept prisoner.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” I said. I punched my fist into my other hand. “Let’s do this.”
I flew up onto the platform and waited as Christina and Uncle Josh took the stairs on the side. It was slightly frustrating to have to wait for them, but luckily the stairs were not very long and soon all three of us stood in front of the double doors to the dungeons. As far as I could tell, they were not locked, which seemed odd to me, though even if they had been locked, I would have just smashed them open without a second thought.
“Ready?” I said, looking from Uncle Josh to Christina and back again. “Once we pass this point, we won’t be able to go back.”
“Of course I’m ready,” said Christina. Two energy ropes appeared in her hands and she cracked them both. “I’m always ready.”
“Same here,” said Uncle Josh, nodding. He pulled his gun out of its holster at his side and held it up close to his chest. “Lead the way, Jack.”
I nodded, smiling, and then pushed the doors open. I marched into the hallway on the other side, which I found stretched on in either direction for a long while. I couldn’t even see where each direction ended, although I noticed the halls were wide enough for the trolley to travel along. But unlike the tunnel, this hall seemed to be made mostly out of stone and concrete, rather than metal plating.
But like the tunnel, it was empty … suspiciously empty, as a matter of fact. A lone security camera hung from the ceiling in front of me, looking down directly at me, Uncle Josh, and Christina. Christina gave it a rude gesture almost as soon as she saw it, prompting Uncle Josh to ask, “What was that for?”
Lowering her hand, Christina looked at Uncle Josh and said, “Just my way of saying hello to Chaser. I know he’s watching our every move, so I wanted to let him know I’m thinking of him, though not in any way he’d like, of course.”
A sudden crackling sound came from the camera and then I heard Chaser’s voice loud and clear through a speaker underneath the camera say, “What a coincidence, Christina. I am also thinking of you. Or, at least, thinking of how to kill you for betraying Icon. I would say great minds think alike, but that would be assuming your mind is as great as mine, which is observably untrue.”
“Chaser,” I said, looking up into the camera. “I didn’t think we’d hear back from you so soon. Thought the next time we’d talk, it would be with my fist in your mouth.”
“Your threats would be amusing if you weren’t so pathetic,” said Chaser. “But I have been watching all of you this entire time since you arrived on Icon and I must say I am impressed by how you have managed to get so far. On the rare occasions we receive intruders, they are usually killed brutally not too long after they wash up on the shore of the island. If I had an award to give you for being the longest surviving intruders, I most definitely would.”
“I’m not sure that winning the Most Successful Intruder Award means much, considering the only reason they got this far is because of me,” said Christina, folding her arms across he
r chest.
“That, my dear Christina, was a joke,” said Chaser. “But you’ve always had a hard time parsing my humor, so perhaps I should not be taken aback by your apparent inability to understand it. Regardless, I genuinely am impressed at your persistence, if nothing else.”
“Thanks,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if Chaser actually meant it or not. “Anyway, it’s too late to stop us now. Once we get my grandfather back, we’re going after you next. And trust me, there aren’t enough Icon agents in the entire island to stop us.”
“It’s true that I could overwhelm you three through sheer numbers,” said Chaser. “I have summoned back a good number of agents back from the field, but I have always preferred quality over quantity, so I would rather not waste many good agents in what may be a vain attempt to take you down. I have another way to get rid of you three that, I think, is more efficient and less wasteful of good agents.”
“What are you going to do?” I said. “Spray us with more of that gas from the tunnels?”
“No,” said Chaser. “Instead, I’m going to invite you to my personal chambers so we can talk. How does that sound?”
Surprised, I looked at Christina and Uncle Josh, hoping one of them might know what he meant by this. But they looked just as puzzled as me, especially Uncle Josh, so I was left with no choice but to ask and hope Chaser would clarify what he meant.
“Talk,” I repeated, looking back up at the camera. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I just said,” said Chaser. “If we come face-to-face, then perhaps we can talk out our differences like civilized beings, rather than engage in more pointless, flashy fights which fix nothing and cause lots of collateral damage. I don’t want to lose another lab. If we can discuss our differences civilly and perhaps work out a deal, that would be ideal for both of us.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“Oh, I am,” said Chaser. “At my heart, I am an intellectual, a reasonable and rational individual. I prefer to solve my problems with reason as much as possible. I, of course, don’t discount the necessity of violence at times, but I think we can figure things out through dialogue rather than destruction.”
I eyed the camera suspiciously. “This isn’t some kind of trick, is it?”
“If it was, would I tell you?” said Chaser. “Try thinking before speaking. I hear it can keep you from sticking your foot into your mouth.”
Scowling, I turned away from the camera. “Sorry, but I’m not interested in ‘talking’ to you. I’m going to rescue Grandfather and, if I have the time, will stop by your personal chambers to kick your ass on the way out of here.”
I lifted my foot to start walking away, but then Chaser said, “What if I told you I had Gregory with me this very moment?”
I paused, holding my foot in the air, and looked up at the camera. “What do you mean?”
“Your grandfather is with me in my chamber,” said Chaser. “I was well aware you were coming to Iconia to save him. As soon as it became clear to me that you would make it to the Tower, I had some of my agents transfer Gregory from his cell in the dungeons all the way to my chambers. That way, you would be forced to confront me, no matter what.”
“How do I know you’re not just lying to throw us off track?” I said.
The camera was silent for a moment, and then Grandfather’s voice—weak and dim—said, “Jack … help …”
Then Chaser spoke again. “There you go. I gave Gregory the microphone for a second to speak into it. I assume you recognize your own grandfather’s voice?”
I bit my lower lip. “Yeah, that’s him, all right.”
I could have said I thought it was a fake, but it sounded too much like how Grandfather’s voice sounded when he spoke through the Trickshot Watch not too long ago. Clearly, Chaser was telling the truth here, however much I wished he wasn’t.
“Then you have a choice,” said Chaser. “Either come to my chambers and meet me face-to-face … or you will get to listen in great detail as I kill Gregory. And trust me, I am very methodical in everything I do, including murder.”
My hands balled into fists. “Fine. I’ll come to your chambers. Where are they?”
“Not far,” said Chaser. “Christina should be able to lead you to them, seeing as she has visited my chambers before. Christina, do you think you will be able to do that?”
“Yeah,” said Christina without any enthusiasm in her voice at all. “I remember where they are.”
“Excellent,” said Chaser. “I look forward to our conversation, Trickshot. I hope it will be quite … productive.”
With that, the speaker shut off, leaving Uncle Josh, Christina, and I standing there in the hallway all by ourselves.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“We can’t do this,” said Uncle Josh. “This is clearly a trap. Chaser isn’t going to have a reasonable conversation with you and—”
I stopped walking and whirled around to face Uncle Josh, who had been talking almost nonstop since I agreed to meet with Chaser. I had tried to ignore him, but I was so annoyed with him that I couldn’t take it anymore. “Yeah, I know.”
“You know?” Uncle Josh repeated. “Then why on earth did you ever agree to it?”
“What choice do I have?” I said, throwing my hands up into the air. “Chaser has Grandfather and he will kill him if I don’t go to meet him. Even if this is a trap, I can’t just sit back and let Chaser do that.”
“It’s still dangerous,” said Uncle Josh. “I bet the second we walk into his chambers, we’ll get caught or maybe even killed. Chaser is a madman and a monster. He likes to think of himself as a dispassionate intellectual, but the truth is he’s every bit as monstrous and vile as his minions, if not more so, given how he’s the leader of the entire organization.”
“Would you two just shut your traps?” said Christina. She stood a few feet away from us, having apparently just realized we weren’t following her anymore. She had her hands on her hips, an annoyed look on her face. “Once you make a deal with Chaser, you can’t just go back on your word. He’ll not only kill Jack’s grandpa, but he’ll also kill all of us. Trust me, I’ve seen what he does to people who try to go back on their deals with him and it never ends well for them. Ever.”
I had been surprised by Christina’s reaction to my deal. Unlike Uncle Josh, she hadn’t even tried to convince me to change my mind or that it was a bad idea. It was probably because she understood how Chaser thought better than Uncle Josh did, but maybe she was also just more afraid of Chaser than Josh was. Then again, if I knew Chaser as well as she did, I might be a lot less brave than I was, too.
“You’re right,” I said. “Let’s keep going. Chaser’s chambers aren’t too far now, are they?”
Christina nodded. “Yeah. We should get there any minute now.”
Christina turned and continued walking down the hall. I resumed following her and Uncle Josh resumed following me, but he had apparently decided that it was useless to argue with me anymore, because he kept his mouth shut. My guess was that Uncle Josh was just resigned to the fact that we were going to confront Chaser and that there was nothing he could do about it one way or another.
I understood Uncle Josh’s concerns. I really did. The only problem was that Chaser had manipulated us into a no-win situation. If I had rejected the meeting outright, Chaser would have killed Grandfather. And I had no doubt that he would have done it, because everything I’d seen suggested that Chaser was not the kind of man to make idle threats. This was our best chance to save Grandfather, even though it probably was a trap.
But what else was I supposed to do? Saying no would have just resulted in Grandfather dying. The best we could hope for at the moment was getting to Chaser’s chambers and hopefully finding a way to turn the tables on him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t yet sure how we were going to do that.
The most surprising part about Chaser’s living quarters was that they were located in the deepest levels of the Tower, rather tha
n near the top like you think they would. According to Christina, this was because Chaser did not like heights and preferred to be as close to the ground as possible. It still seemed strange to me, but then Chaser in general struck me as a very strange man.
After a minute or two of walking, we turned a corner in the hall and Christina said, “Here we are.”
I looked over Christina’s shoulder and saw a gigantic door, easily twice as tall as me, set flush against the floor at the end of the hall. The door seemed to be made out of stone, but it looked like it had been carved out of a mountain or at least a boulder. It looked pretty thick, too, to the point where I wasn’t very certain I would be able to smash it open myself even with my super strength.
“That’s the door to Chaser’s personal chambers,” said Christina, pointing at the door. “He should be on the other side of that door, waiting for us.”
“What are we waiting for?” I said. I punched my fist into my other hand. “Let’s do this.”
The three of us walked up to the massive door. I was uncertain whether we should knock on it or not, but as we stopped in front of it, the door suddenly started to open inward all on its own. Its hinges creaked loudly, until soon the door stood wide open, showing a pitch-black room on the other side that reminded me of the night sky out in the country, though without stars, of course. It also reminded me of the darkness underneath my bed when I was a kid, where I used to be afraid that monsters lurked waiting to eat me if I fell asleep.
Without any further words between us, we walked inside. This time, I was in the lead, rather than Christina, and I walked as confidently as I could, hoping to project an aura of strength and confidence that would make Chaser think twice about springing his trap on us, whatever it might be.
Chaser’s chambers were huge, much bigger than you would suppose. The ceiling rose high above us, supported by massive marble columns shaped like the Greek titan Atlas, as if they were supporting the whole room on their shoulders. On the walls were maps of the world, each one covered with pins that seemed to indicate specific locations, which seemed to indicate areas of the world where Power drugs were shipped. And sitting before us was a massive computer monitor, the biggest I’d yet seen, though it was currently off. Lights on the ceiling turned on, making my night vision unnecessary.