Chapter Fifteen #3
“They might have the numbers, but no way they’re stronger or better than us,” Kevin said.
“Buddy, you’ve missed too many years. I’m not one to give up and you know it,” Chris said. “But like I said, I have my children, and their safety comes first.”
“Again, we respect that, Chris,” Annie said. “We wouldn’t expect you to do anything less than protect your family. But you’re right, we’ve missed a lot and we need to prepare, so what I’m asking is if you’d consider preparing us for this new fight?”
“Right. You guys can fill us in on everything we need to know and then go hide,” I said. “No one is required to join us, but there’s no way we’re leaving our friends in their hands. At the very least, we have to get them back and free whoever else we can.”
“Ryan, we want that so badly as well,” Gabby said. “There’s no way they don’t have a kill or track chip in them already.”
“You’re disregarding the fact that we have two of the finest scientists, who are Luminary experts, supporting us,” Kevin said, raising his hands in frustration. “Your dad himself, Gabby! He took care of his own kill chip. He and David, they can help everyone else too.”
Chris shook his head. “You don’t understand; they’d kill them immediately. By the time we get them to a safe spot or can find the chip’s location, they will already be dead.”
“Not to mention the adrenaline shot is not a hundred percent effective,” Gabby said. “Dad just got lucky.”
I remembered they’d stopped Dr. Ryder’s heart long enough to disable the kill chip before injecting adrenaline straight into his heart.
I couldn’t imagine having that much faith in science, but my respect would always go out to Dr. Marcus Ryder and Dr. David Carson.
Those men were heroes and we didn’t give them enough credit.
But this time we wouldn’t have to resort to those extremes.
“We don’t need any of that. I can track it in their bodies and short-circuit the chips,” I said. “All in less time than it’ll take for them to notice anyone’s been rescued.”
“What? You can kill the chips?” Gabby asked me.
“Yes. Assuming we’d already be using our powers to rescue them?”
“We will if we have to,” Nick said. “But even if that wasn’t a concern, the logistics of actually finding their location, infiltrating, and escaping with no one noticing is the biggest problem.” He looked at Chris. “That’s where I’m hoping Robert can still help us.”
“We’ll have to avoid using our powers except for your five seconds, Ryan,” Jay said.
“But we need our powers!” Annie said, frowning.
“Weren’t you the one who told me I didn’t need my powers to be a hero way back when?” Kevin asked her.
“Yes, but I already miss using them.” She raised her hands, staring at the bracelet. “I hate this thing.”
“I bet,” Kevin said with a smile, “but we’re plenty capable of doing at least ninety percent of this job with our wits. All we need is Chris’s knowledge.”
“I wish to say I’ll prepare you before going into hiding with my family, but it’s not that simple. You’ll need my wife with you,” Chris said. “So I’m not sure preparing you would be wise. I don’t want her there. Period.”
“She doesn’t have to come,” I said.
“Actually, I do,” Gabby said. “I’ll have to be with you to open a force field pocket so you can use your powers. You know their facilities are protected against Luminaries. Otherwise, they couldn’t keep them locked in.”
“The problem I see here is that we’ll have to be split, so getting out won’t be simple even with the force field pocket. Some of us will have to be on guard and buy Ryan enough time to deal with the chips. And that’s hoping our people are held in the same grid,” Nick said.
Kevin nodded. “Ryan will need Gabby with her. But we’ll probably need our powers too, at least to escape.”
“Andrew can open the portal after Gabby and I free him,” I said.
“And I can mimic Gabby’s powers,” Jay said. “So Kevin, you’ll have to be with the rest of the group. I’ll open the force field pocket, and you can teleport everyone out of there.”
“Okay, people, you see?” Annie smiled. “A plan is forming, and it will work. We just have to iron out about a hundred other details, but the main problems have solutions.”
“Yes, just a hundred more,” Chris said, running a hand over his face. “Easy.”
“The twins will stay back to watch the kids,” I said.
“No, no, hold up. I’m coming,” Antonio said. “I can help.”
“We don’t need you yet. You stay here and protect your sister and the children,” Annie said. “Just wait for the actual fight.”
“There will be no need for that,” Nick said. “Isn’t it enough to free the Luminaries? They’re our only responsibility, and once we provide them with bracelets or a cure, they’ll be safe.”
“You go out there and look at people living freely in the small cages they call home and then tell me if you think it’s enough,” Annie said, and walked away from him.
Nick smiled. “God help me, I do love the fire burning in that woman.” He followed her to the kitchen, saying, “Okay, honey! Whatever you want, I’ll do it.”