“Can you turn it down?” Emery yelled.
“I’m trying!” Torin shouted back as he scrolled through the various settings on the holomonitor. Another few minutes went by until the siren finally stopped wailing. A news reporter appeared in the midst of what appeared to be a worsening hurricane.
“I’m Edgar Jennings with World News, here to share an urgent public service announcement. A category three hurricane is quickly approaching the southern Louisiana coast. The following cities need to evacuate immediately: Iberia, Saint Mary, Terrebonne . . .” The newscaster’s voice trailed off as the list of cities continued.
Emery couldn’t seem to break her gaze from the holomonitor. She pressed a hand to her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh no. It’s starting.”
Naia turned away from the screen to face her. “What’s starting?”
“The distribution of sanaré . . . it’s messing with the natural order of things.”
Torin watched the screen as the map of Louisiana darkened in color. I’ll be damned. Maybe she’s right.
“We have to get moving,” Emery urged, “and fast. What’s the point of distributing sanaré if natural disasters are going to kill us all first?” She shook her head, her eyes igniting with rage. “All to turn a profit. Unbelievable.”
The sudden shift in the room was palpable.
Naia nodded. “Emery’s right. Does anyone have any bright ideas?”
Riley’s face lit up. “What if,” she started, circling the table, “we put a tracker on the original syringe?”
Everyone turned to look at her, expressions of disbelief written across their faces.
“Hear me out,” Riley pleaded as she tousled her hair. “If we were to put some sort of invisible tracker on the syringe, maybe we could see where Byron’s been hiding it.”
“That idea’s actually not half bad,” Torin commended.
“You’re forgetting one thing, though,” Alexis refuted. “How would we even get a tracker on the stupid syringe if we don’t know where it is?”
“We know where it is for eight hours of the day,” Emery said in a low voice.
All eyes landed on Naia.
Realizing what she had to do, she gave Emery a slight pat on the shoulder and smiled. “Anything for you.”
41
Torin was hunched over his desk in his apartment, eyes glazing over from the strain he’d put on them over the past couple of days. To say the pressure was on was an understatement.
Unfortunately, the category three hurricane had increased to a category four, and had hit not only the Louisiana coast, but also the Texas coast. The results were devastating. Advanced warning hadn’t been given soon enough. The power to the T-Ports on the south coasts had been disconnected. Casualties were already in the thousands, and the National Coast Guard was still discovering bodies every minute.
Thousands of lives lost. Thousands of lives regained through sanaré.
The distribution of the miracle drug hadn’t left Chicago yet, so residents of Louisiana and Texas were desperately trying to make their way to the Illinois border to get their hands on whatever amount they could find. As for the residents of Chicago, they’d come to a sickening realization regarding how fruitful this natural disaster could be for them. A Chicago family could purchase a few syringes and upsell them for a nauseating profit. To think, it’d come to this, people actually putting price tags on human lives. Just the thought made Torin’s stomach turn.
All the more reason to hurry to complete the tracker.
He held the miniscule object up in the air, scrutinizing it for any imperfections. Ever since he’d invented the disintegration machine for the late Chief Novak, he’d been more open to trying his hand at dabbling with machinery. Emery called him a double threat: not only was he a hacker, he was also an engineer.
Testing phase. He rummaged through his desk drawer and pulled out a tennis ball. He placed the tracker, which was no larger than the tip of a pin, on the ball, and then rolled it across the room. The holodisplay showed the tennis ball’s precise location, coordinates, and everything he needed to know. A smile stretched across his face as he called for Emery.
She emerged from his bedroom wearing a robe that hung off one shoulder, her hair loosely braided down one side. “This better be good. I was asleep,” she said as she stifled a yawn. “And I was having good dreams.”
“You look ravishing,” he said as he looked her up and down.
She rolled her eyes. “If you called me in here just to tell me that, I’m going to smack you.”
“No, I didn’t wake you just for that,” he said with a wink. “Although that was the first order of business, and the most important.”
She yawned again, but didn’t say anything.
“Now for the second order of business. Trust me, you’re going to be happy I woke you for this,” he said as he scrambled across the room and grabbed the tennis ball. “Here.”
She held her hand out, a confused expression crossing her face as the ball rolled into her palm. “Um, are we playing fetch?”
“It’s the tracker,” he said excitedly, ignoring her sarcasm. He pointed to a small dot that was hardly visible.
She narrowed her eyes as she brought the ball closer to her face. “Well, I’ll be damned. You did it!”
His face lit up at the compliment. “Let’s not get too excited just yet. I need you to walk around downtown Chicago and then teleport to Phoenix, Los Angeles, and New York.”
She spun the ball in her hands. “Why?”
“You certainly have a lot of questions today.” He heaved an exasperated sigh. “Because we need to test its range. Just go change into some normal clothes, please.”
“What, you don’t like my robe?” she pouted as she bumped her hip into the air.
He tried to stifle a laugh and succeeded, but smiled like a goon instead. All in all, a fail. “No, I like it very much. But if you keep parading around in it, I’m one hundred percent positive I won’t get any work done.”
She smiled coyly. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“Emery,” he groaned. “Please.”
She stuck out her tongue. “Chill out, I’m just messing with you. I’ll go change.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, she reappeared, clad in black pants, a black button down, and a heavy grey coat. She’d twisted her hair up into a tight bun, her cheeks illuminated with rose-tinted blush. She tucked the tennis-ball-turned-tracker into her purse as strode over to him. “Tell me one more time where I’m going.” Her voice was sultry and he shrugged off the shiver that was making its way down his spine.
He pulled away from her in an effort to focus on the task at hand instead of the lavender scent of her hair. “Walk around downtown Chicago,” he instructed. “Then teleport to Phoenix, Los Angeles, and New York.”
“How will I know that the tracker is working and that you’re getting the data you need?”
“We’ll keep our phones connected. Here,” he said as he pulled an earpiece from his pocket. “I’ll be with you the whole time.”
She nodded as she stuck the earpiece into her ear. “Wow, this brings back memories.”
He smiled. “Hopefully good ones?”
She gave him a knowing look. “Of course.” She adjusted the earpiece once more, then looked at him with a serious expression. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
As she turned toward the door to leave, a knot suddenly formed in his stomach. “Hey, Em?”
She glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes locking with his. “Yeah?”
“Be careful out there. People are a little unstable right now.”
To his surprise, she pulled a familiar object from her back pocket—a dagger. With the flip of a switch, blue currents appeared, buzzing and pulsing around the blade.
“I didn’t know you still had that,” he said, immediately feeling better. “Just promise me you’ll be safe, okay?”
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“Don’t you worry about me,” she said with a smirk. “I’ll be just fine.”
Before he could say anything else, she turned on her heel and marched out the door. Even though his nerves were kicking in, he knew she was right.
She’s going to be just fine.
42
“Okay, I’m standing outside Seventh Sanctum Headquarters,” Emery said into her earpiece. “Are the coordinates correct?”
“I’m cross-referencing with the actual GPS coordinates now,” Torin mumbled from the other end of the line.
“And?” she pressed.
“You have very little patience, don’t you?”
She tapped her foot, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Well, you’re sending me all around the country, so this might take some time.”
“No it won’t,” he countered. “It’ll take an hour at the most. I promise.”
She opened her mouth to argue when a holoscreen adjacent to 7S Headquarters caught her eye. Images of crumbling buildings and fault lines filled the screen. The text at the bottom of the screen read: 7.9 Scale Earthquake Shakes San Bernardino County.
Almost immediately, her thoughts shifted to Mason. Images of his tombstone, split in half from the pressure of the quake, shattering to pieces on the ground, flashed across her mind.
Torin’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Emery? Emery, answer me.”
Sputtering for words, all she could manage was, “Oh my god.”
“What? What is it?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. First a major hurricane hits, and, less than a week later, a massive earthquake shatters the west coast? It’s getting worse.
“Emery? Did I lose you?”
“Turn on the news,” she said, her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. She waited, somewhat impatiently, for him to catch on, to understand why she was reacting this way. Even though she couldn’t see his face, she could hear his breath catch and knew his expression matched hers.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to say,” he said slowly. “You were right about messing with the natural order of things. And this is proof.”
Her lower lip quivered as the words hit her ears. Finally. “1857,” she said firmly. “The last significant earthquake in Southern California on the San Bernardino stretch was in 1857.”
“I know.” He cleared his throat. “This isn’t a coincidence. You were right and I’m sorry I’ve given you such a hard time. I need you to know that I’m done doubting. From here on out, I’m all in.”
The sentiment made her smile. “I’m happy to hear that.” And she was. Even if he only meant that he was all in for this whirlwind of a mission they were on and not for . . . her.
At least I have my partner back.
With one last look at the holoscreen, she started toward the nearest T-Port. “I’m off to Arizona. It doesn’t look like I should attempt Los Angeles. Would you agree?”
“Fully,” he affirmed. “Go to Phoenix and then to New York.”
“Roger that.”
“And hurry back here.” His voice was strained. “Please.”
She nodded. “I will.”
+ +
That evening, Emery stood with Torin, Riley, and Alexis around the many holomonitors in his apartment. They’d made a last minute decision to send Naia into 7S Headquarters before the workday ended. The time on the holoclock read 4:32 P.M., which meant that she had less than thirty minutes to enter the lab and place the tracker on the original syringe.
“Do you think she can do it?” Emery whispered in a voice only Torin could hear.
He gave a slight nod of his head. “It’s Naia. She’s a boss. She’ll get it done.”
Naia had opted to wear the special contact lenses so that the group could see her every movement through her own eyes. As she entered the lab, no one turned to look at her. No one seemed to take notice. Except for Dr. Matheson.
“Ah, Naia Grant,” the doctor greeted. “I’ve been wondering where you’ve been. Come, I have quite a few things to catch you up on.”
Naia obliged and followed him further into the laboratory, past a large number of holomonitors with displays of various test results. Surprisingly, Dr. Matheson led her right to the IFT X4. “One of our newer techs found a way to fix the bottleneck you so clearly pointed out earlier this week.” He gestured toward the machine, and Naia’s gaze went straight to the original syringe.
“Don’t act too fast,” Torin muttered, wishing that she could hear him. “Take your time.”
The view shifted to a lab station as Naia gave a quick pep talk to some of the younger scientists.
“Change holomonitor three to the east camera,” Emery suggested. “Her body language will tell us a lot.”
“Really?” Riley asked. “Like what?”
“Like whether or not this mission will be a success,” Emery retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. “We only get one side of the story by seeing things from her point of view. It’s important to see it from every angle.”
Torin had to give her credit, yet again, because as soon as he adjusted the third holomonitor, Naia slyly reached into her back pocket. He zoomed in on the image. Between the tips of her index finger and thumb was the tracker.
As Dr. Matheson was called over to a lab station on the opposite side of the room, it became abundantly clear that Naia would capitalize on the opportunity. She caught one scientist’s attention and brought him over to the IFT X4. She began to circle the machine, the scientist following closely behind her.
“What’s she saying?” Alexis asked. “It’s hard to hear.”
Torin turned up the volume on holomonitor one. “So you’re the one who fixed the bottleneck?” they heard Naia ask.
The boy scientist blushed. “Well, it wasn’t just me. My team was a tremendous help.”
“Can you explain what you did to fix it? This is just such a great learning opportunity.”
Without even the slightest hesitation, the boy began to talk, completely engrossed in his own heroic story about what he thought was equivalent to saving the day. It was actually quite comical . . . and a little sad.
“Here she goes,” Torin said as he scooted to the edge of his seat. “Everybody cross your fingers.”
The room was silent as the boy droned on and on about his heroic actions. Once they’d walked halfway around the IFT X4, Naia suddenly turned around and began walking in the other direction. She swept by the machine, her arm extending slightly as the tracker landed on the back of the syringe.
The boy stopped walking. “What are you doing?”
Shit. Torin watched with wide eyes as Naia’s lips parted. Come on, think of an excuse!
“You were just explaining how you used a small engine to speed up the flow from the compartment to the second syringe.” She shrugged, her tone nonchalant. “I just wanted to get a closer look.” She leaned into the IFT X4 to emphasize her point.
“Whoa!” the boy yelled as he rushed over to her. “You shouldn’t stick your head in there. It’s against protocol,” he scolded as he pulled her away from the machine.
“Well, I appreciate your time,” she said with a bow of her head. “Please excuse me. I need a word with Dr. Matheson.”
As she walked away from the machine, the tension in Torin’s apartment disintegrated as the group erupted in cheers. Emery leaned over his shoulder. “Please tell me the tracker is connected and working.”
A huge grin spread across his face as he pulled up the information. “It’s working. The coordinates are correct. Now we’ll finally learn where your father takes the syringe at the end of the day.” He looked over at her, expecting to see a smile just as big as his across her face, but to his dismay, her face was solemn.
“This is only the first phase. We have a lot more to do, and it all has to go according to plan,” she said as she turned to leave the room.
He gulped as he turned back towa
rd the monitor. Come on, Em, he thought to himself. Don’t lose faith in us now.
“Emery, where are you going? You’re going to miss it!” Alexis called. When there was no answer, she turned to Torin and shrugged. “I guess we’ll just watch it without her.”
The scientists finished up their projects and packed their bags, turning in their badges as they exited the laboratory. As more and more of them left, a familiar man entered from an undisclosed side door.
“There he is,” he said as he watched Byron make his way toward the IFT X4. The original syringe was plucked from its holder as the Commander placed it in the inner pocket of his coat.
“He’s leaving the laboratory,” Riley announced.
A hush fell over the room.
Torin turned to holomonitor number four to check on the tracking device. Seeing as Byron was on the move, the coordinates were changing, as expected.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Alexis asked.
“Not sure,” Torin answered, “but based on the current coordinates, it looks like he’s going to grab something to eat.”
“Speaking of food, is anyone else hungry?” Riley questioned, looking back and forth between them.
He shrugged. “I could eat.”
“Yeah,” Alexis chimed in. “Me too.”
“I’ll order a pizza from SmartMeal,” Riley offered, then yelled, “Emery, what do you want on your pizza?” She was met with a muffled response. “Pepperoni it is.”
Three hours and two pizzas later, Riley and Alexis were passed out on the couch. Emery had finally come out from hiding once she’d smelled the pizza, and now lay in a recliner with a holopad, the bright screen illuminating her face. With one look at her furrowed brows, Torin could tell she was scrolling through the news highlights, or, more realistically, lowlights.
She spoke for the first time since she’d stormed off earlier that day. “Got anything?”
Restitution (The Alpha Drive Book 3) Page 16