by Ho, Jo
Feeling sick to my stomach, I tore my gaze away from the monitors to see a room beyond. From a small porthole window, I could see what looked like scientific apparatus, but my eyes weren’t interested in any experiments being conducted. They were focused on a cell in the back of the room where inside, standing up, his tail whipping back-and-forth was my best friend, my Muttface and he could barely contain himself from seeing me. I wondered why he wasn’t moving, however. Usually, you couldn’t keep him still, especially if he was excited. I snuck over to the window and peeked through.
It was then I saw the chains.
Bandit had been chained in place! Fury burned through me. How dare they do that to him! Seeing his reaction I knew that there was no danger in the room so I rushed inside. Bandit whined and tried to shove his nose through the bars of his cell but he couldn’t reach.
“What have they done to you!” I cried, reaching through the bars to stroke his head. His tongue snaked out, and he managed to lick my hand.
“We need to go now OK, how many guys are we up against?” Bandit barked at me twice. I blinked, surprised by the low number.
“Two, just two guys?” Bandit barked once for yes. I suddenly felt much more hopeful, two guys we could handle. We’d taken out an army before so yeah, I was liking the odds.
I fumbled around the outside of the cell looking for a latch or something where I could open it but there was nothing. Instead, there was this weird automated lock on the door but unlike the rest of the place, this lock looked high-tech. Whatever the guy was spending money on this was it. Bandit whined and pawed on the ground. I turned around worried that maybe someone had snuck up behind me, but there was no one.
“How do I get this open?” I asked. Bandit pawed the ground again.
I scanned the room quickly trying to figure out what had caused this reaction in him. Across the way, lying on a bench I could see the remains of what was probably Bandit’s iPad but even from here the cracked screen was obvious. I looked back at Bandit who was still doing his funny paw movement, almost like he was pointing.
Wait, that’s what he was doing, he was pointing!
I ran over to the bench to investigate. All manner of scientific stuff was spread over the bench. There were documents and x-rays and scans and graphs and I didn’t know what any of it meant, but I knew they wouldn’t be helpful for opening Bandit’s cell. Grabbing the papers, I started shoving them out of the way when I suddenly found a little remote control. There were only two buttons on it but Bandit suddenly started shaking with excitement. Bingo. Grabbing the remote, I pointed it towards the cell and pressed both buttons.
The doors swung open! But he was still chained up inside. I ran into the cell to find that the chains were clipped together using carabiner clips, the kind that rock climbers use. It consisted of a simple D shape but instead of a spring-opening gate — which would have been quite easy to open — it had a screw-lock, something which Bandit’s paws and jaws would not be able to work.
Luckily, I had my hands.
Quickly, I unscrewed each of the carabiners that were keeping the chains in place until I had him free. He leapt up and wrapped his paws around either side of my neck and then licked my face all over. I stumbled back from the weight of him and would have fallen if it wasn’t for the cell wall behind me. Hugging him close, I lay my face against his fur as I listened to his heartbeat, thankful that my friend was back with me again.
“We’re not safe yet. Do you know the way out of here?” I asked him. He barked once again and started moving away. I followed, quickly.
87
Xavier
While his hapless assistant went to secure the prisoners, Xavier went hunting on his own. Though he didn’t have the kind of money and manpower that Forbes had had at his disposal, Xavier knew enough to place alarms around key points at the school. This was how he had known Sullivan and his girlfriend had arrived, and how he knew to send Pixie to lure them into the trap.
It was this same alarm that allowed him to know that they now had two extra visitors. It was a simple system, consisting of an invisible beam that ran across the floor of the corridor. He was notified each time someone broke the beam as a silent alarm would flash by the monitors. One of these alarms had been tripped just minutes before.
His hand twitched down by his side, the hand that held the sheriff’s gun. He didn’t like weapons as he found them Neanderthal, but it would not do to go up against these children alone — he had read the reports and knew that at least the boy was good with firearms. Xavier wasn’t worried about his own life, however, knowing that they would not hurt him until they secured the dog and their adoptive parents.
Xavier knew he had the upper hand so the gun was for show more than anything else.
Once the children had tripped the alarm, Xavier had sent Pixie to trick them as she had the others, however, she still wasn’t back and it had been a while now. Xavier knew something had gone wrong though his security system would not show him what that might be. He walked now, towards the spot where he had last seen Pixie on the monitors.
He hadn’t gone far when he heard them close by. Hugging the wall, he shrank into the shadows until he was completely hidden from sight. Holding his breath, he waited. A figure materialized in front of him. It was the boy, Gideon. Xavier didn’t move, expecting Chase to also appear, however, it seemed the two had gone their separate ways. Not a problem, Xavier thought to himself. One was better than none. Pointing the gun in front of him he took a step out of the shadows.
The boy must have sensed him before he saw him as he spun around but he had no weapon and Xavier had the advantage of surprise.
“Whatever you are thinking, stop. There is nothing you can do that will be faster than my finger pulling on the trigger of this gun.”
Gideon stared, recognizing him immediately. “You’re Erik, the IT man. You were there, the whole time?”
Xavier smiled. “Yes, right under your noses. It is amazing how complacent people can be once they believe themselves out of danger.”
“You won’t get away with this, we’ll stop you!” The boy couldn’t help but make the threat.
“Oh, I highly doubt that. Now, I do not want to hurt you so just tell me where the girl is.”
Gideon glared at him, defiant to the end and almost spat the words out. “I don’t know. She went another way.”
“Well, she won’t go far, not once she knows that we have you all.”
Carefully, keeping his eyes pinned on Gideon, Xavier took out his cell phone and hit one on the speed-dial. The phone rang and rang and was finally answered just as Xavier began to feel a hint of concern.
“You have something more pressing to do than to answer the phone?” Xavier asked testily.
“Well,” came a voice that was clearly not Dick. “That depends on whether you consider being tied up and gagged more pressing.”
Xavier felt a moment of shock before it faded into grudging respect. “Mr. Sullivan. I see you have managed to escape, how commendable.”
“Yeah well, I was getting pretty bored in that room, wanted to stretch my legs. Now, much as I don’t want to sound rude, I make it a habit never to speak to people I don’t like so how about we cut to the chase and strike a deal. Release Bandit and in exchange, you will get your assistant back?”
Xavier didn’t answer straight away as his mind furiously calculated several possible outcomes. Finally, he decided on one. “Follow the signs to the science lab. I will meet you there.”
Before Sully could respond, Xavier disconnected the call. Xavier knew Sullivan thought he had the upper hand… and he was happy to let him think that.
88
Sully
I turned to Sam, a triumphant smile on my face.
“Well that was easier than I thought it would be.”
She gave me a look that revealed she wasn’t quite as convinced of our success as I was. “I wouldn’t be counting your chickens yet,” she said.
Despite what I had said to Xavier, his assistant Dick wasn’t gagged, but I did find some twisted pleasure in binding his own wrists together with some spare cable ties that we had found in his pocket. It was the least I could do to repay what he had done to us. It was nice, a full circle moment as Tony Robbins would say.
I pointed the shotgun at the kid who was only a couple of years older than Gideon. I wondered how a boy like him got involved with this kind of thing but knew it all boiled down to bad parenting; nearly everything did. He was probably missing a father figure which is how he fell under Xavier’s grooming. I realized how easily Gideon could have become this boy. As the thought played on my mind, I determined that I would do better by him. Gideon would not end up like this.
With Dick leading the way, we reached the science block in just a few minutes. The dark and twisting corridors of this place were a lot easier to navigate when you had a guide. I pushed open the door gesturing for Dick to enter first. While I didn’t think there were any traps, I wasn’t taking any risks. Dick strode confidently in, Sam and I following close behind.
The room we found ourselves in used to be an office but had now been equipped with a bank of monitors lining one wall. The first nine monitors seemed to display areas around the school, but the last nine were focused on an entirely different location.
It took a moment before I recognized the ranch at which point, the puzzle came crashing together.
The camera I had found in Zeb’s hand — they were hooked up to the monitors here! With growing horror, I took in the familiar sight of our home. When I realized that there was a camera in Chase’s room, however, a white-hot fury rose inside of me. Sam must have reached the same conclusion as I felt her suddenly tense beside me. What sick animals were they that they would spy on a teenaged girl’s room? And then another thought came to me, of my dad, lying unconscious in the hospital. It seemed likely now that Pixie had attacked him after he had stumbled upon one of their hidden spy cams. The only time they would have had the chance to bug the place was during our trip back East… I couldn’t believe their plan to unhinge me and split us apart worked so well. Even Chase’s Mom, they had bought her assistance somehow. My mind felt like it was going to explode.
We moved past the office, into what was once a large science lab but now housed research more than anything else. The walls were covered with diagrams and notes that I could not make out from my position by the door. I suspected even if I could read them I wouldn’t understand a thing they said, there were many complex symbols and what looked like code. Amongst the scribblings, I caught a glimpse of diagrams of an oblong tank. It looked a lot like something you’d find in an X-Men movie.
Across the room, there was a sound as a second pair of doors that were nearly hidden in shadow, opened. The two of us tensed as I aimed the weapon on the two figures coming inside. As they stepped out of the blackness and into the light, my world spun. It was Gideon, and he was being marched inside at gunpoint by Xavier. Seeing me, Gideon’s face turned apologetic. “Sorry Sully, he came at me from nowhere…” He trailed off, mad at himself for being captured.
“It’s fine, we have his assistant so we’re one-for-one right now.”
The scientist looked at me. “I suppose I should introduce myself as it would be rude not to. My name is Xavier. You’ve already met my assistant Dick there.”
I held my hand up cutting off any further conversation. “We don’t have to do the evil-man-explains-his-grand-plan thing. I just want my family back. I’ll give you your assistant, you give me Gideon and Bandit, and we will go on our merry way.”
The half smile that had been on Xavier’s lips suddenly hardened. It was the smallest change, barely perceivable, but I saw it. In one instant he turned from mild-mannered scientist to cunning nemesis.
“Unfortunately you have made a mistake in your calculations. Dick knows what is at stake here. He knows how important my work is, as such, he wouldn’t hesitate to give his life.”
He looked to Dick for confirmation. Dick nodded, sticking out his chin proudly. “Xavier’s work is all that matters.”
Sam let out a hiss of breath. “You can’t mean that. Neither of you.” She turned to Dick. “You can’t give up your life for this madman!”
But Dick shook his head at Sam sadly. “You just don’t get it, do you?”
“And they never will,” finished Xavier. “What I have created is something that could change humanity as we know it. I have spent my life working on this particular project and it is almost complete. What I do, I do for all of mankind and in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that worth one boy’s life?”
“You don’t know that your experiment will work. There’s no guarantee, an innocent being could be killed for nothing,” Sam cried.
Xavier looked at us, almost apologetic. “I don’t expect you to understand. Throughout history, the people with the greatest creations, the ones with the biggest effect on the human race were always mocked and never believed. I have long accepted that this would be my fate.”
“You’re talking in riddles and haven’t explained a thing!” I said. “Why can't you just leave Bandit alone? You already know about the tumor placement, what more could you need him for?”
Xavier explained patiently as if to a child. “The tumors are nothing. Alpha has other properties which we don't yet understand. Have you ever seen him sick or hurt? If so, has it ever occurred to you that he recovers incredibly fast? That kind of accelerated healing is the final element I need for my project. Once I have that, there will be nothing in this world that I can't cure.”
I wanted to tell him he was crazy, but a memory surfaced of the time I had operated on Bandit myself, only for him to come out of the anesthetic far faster than he should have done. Then there was the stab wound itself, which healed very quickly, even under conditions that would normally cause stitches to tear, or at the very least, an infection to occur. And then I thought of the head trauma caused by the Doc removing his tumor. Bandit’s brain had rewired itself in record time afterward. We had been so relieved he was fine and hadn’t lost his intelligence, none of us had really questioned it.
Xavier saw the look in my eyes and smiled. “I see that you do know what I am talking about. So you see, I am not quite the madman you first thought of me. Now, Mr. Sullivan, unless you are willing to kill Dick and risk Gideon’s life, hand me the weapon please.”
I looked at Sam, then Gideon, feeling helpless. Despite all that he had done, I couldn’t harm Dick; the kid was under Xavier’s twisted control after all, shooting him would be like shooting a person who was suffering from a mental illness. Sam gave me a small nod, to let me know I had her support. Reluctantly, I handed the shotgun to Xavier.
“Regardless if Bandit has that ability or not, what you’re doing is still wrong.” I was determined to have my say, even if it proved detrimental to my health.
“At the end of the day, I do not care what you think, and while I don’t like hurting people, I will if I deem it necessary.”
“Like it was necessary to hurt my dad? It was Pixie wasn’t it?” I said. “You got her to attack him.”
He nodded, emotionlessly. “When he found the bug, I instructed Pixie to take him out. I let her use her own creativity how. It was she who decided to do what she did. Speaking of the dog, where is she?”
Gideon looked at him, hatred spilling out from his eyes. “Locked in a room where she can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“What about Chase? You think I haven’t noticed that she’s not here. Where has the girl got to?”
Gideon glared at him. “You’ll never find her. You can kill us all but you’ll never find her.”
Xavier’s eyes narrowed, the only sign of his displeasure. “Is that a challenge? Because I do love a good competition.”
Keeping his eyes on Gideon, Xavier leaned over the bench and retrieved a familiar -looking phone. My phone. He scrolled through until he came to a listing that I couldn’t see from over here. P
ressing the button he must have also hit speaker as the ring tone started echoing around the small room.
Moments later Chase’s desperate voice answered. “Sully, please tell me that’s you?”
“No. This is Xavier. I have your whole family with me right now, Chase. If you do not come to the science lab within five minutes, I will kill them all, starting with Mr. Sullivan here.”
89
Chase
The call came just as Bandit and I were approaching the exit.
Light streamed in through the doors ahead. I actually had the phone in my hand, ready to call the police like Gideon and I had planned when the phone rang.
Seeing Sully’s name flash up on the screen I hadn’t hesitated at all. I just answered the call. Now I was wishing that I had thought twice about the call before answering it. It’s true what they say about hindsight.
If I had ignored the call, I could pretend that I didn’t know about his ultimatum, but now, we were in a bad way.
A really bad way.
I looked at Bandit, desperately wishing that we had his iPad so that he could communicate with me. I had around four minutes to come up with a plan that would save us all. What could I do? I looked at Bandit again, his furry face staring up at me, mirroring my concern in his green eyes.
What could we do?
90
Chase
Think, Chase… think!
With every second that passed, I was horribly aware that it was another second closer to the death of my family. I had to come up with a way to save them, but how? Bandit whined beside me, feeling helpless. Even if he had an idea, he wouldn’t be able to communicate it to me with our basic system of yes and no. While I tried to keep the overwhelming panic at bay, a mental clock ticked down inside my head, making me feel like the pressure would cause it to explode.