Aegis Incursion (20 page)

Elvis gingerly touched the back of his head and flinched. “We left your hands untied, too—tried to be nice. Bloody ingrates. That privilege is gone now, that’s for sure.” He pointed at Tegan. “Bring that one here.”

Mariah watched as Tegan was pulled to her feet and pushed toward Elvis, who had plastic zip ties ready. As he bound Tegan’s hands behind her back, Tegan muttered something that Mariah didn’t catch. Whatever she said, it riled Elvis. He lifted his arm and backhanded her across the face. Tegan gasped out a breath but said nothing more.

Mariah glimpsed around, frantically trying to find something they could use to escape.

“There you go,” Elvis said, handing Tegan back to the worker that had been holding her. “There’ll be no more trouble from you. Bring the other one.”

Mariah was shoved from behind. She stumbled forward, then turned around and spat at the worker. The young man, caught off guard, punched her and sent her tumbling back onto a pile of tools. She fell hard onto her back and let out a groan before being hauled to her feet again.

Elvis moved quickly to tie her hands, then the girls were led to the storage room. He gave them a scowl. “I’ll be posting another bloke out here to help guard you two, so no more dirty tricks.” He slammed the door shut.

Tegan swung her foot at the door angrily before slumping against it. “That nearly worked,” she fumed. “Now we’re back in this stinkhole.”

“We’re not out of the game yet, Teegs,” Mariah said quietly.

“What are you talking about?”

Mariah backed up against a wall and started to wriggle uncomfortably against it. Tegan gave an equally uncomfortable look and said, “Um, do you have an itch somewhere there, or . . . ?”

“Oh, shut up.” Mariah wriggled a little more before something green dropped onto the floor behind her. She grinned as she kicked it over to Tegan. Tegan crouched down to take a look, then gawked. “How . . . ”

“Box cutter,” Mariah said victoriously. “We can use it to cut free—somehow.”

Tegan looked at her friend, awed. “Was that why you spat at the guy? So you’d get shoved onto that tool box?”

Mariah grinned again. “This black-and-blue’s worth it, if we can make good use of the box cutter.”

Nodding, Tegan used her foot to move the green tool behind the boxes. “We’ll keep it hidden until we can work out another plan.”

“Alright. How’s Devastator doing, by the way?”

“Warming up to the little guy, aren’t you?” Tegan looked down as the mouse poked its head out of her shirt pocket and stared up at her. “Looks like he stuck through the scuffle. Hey, buddy. Hope you’re okay, we may need you again later.”

“Second time has to be the charm,” Mariah said, feeling a growing tightness in the pit of her stomach, “or else I don’t think we’re gonna be able to pull off another attempt. They’ll have tighter security and we’ll never be able to get out of here. Unless the guys miraculously find us, we’re gonna be here for who knows how long.” She took in a breath. “Next one has to count, or we’ll be out of silver bullets.”

J
ag had his face pressed up against the window of the air-conditioned Mustang as he and the others watched Kody walk around an abandoned warehouse. The afternoon heat was nearly unbearable, but Kody braved the temperature and was sniffing and listening intently as he scouted out the building.

They were running on no sleep, but their breakfast had restored some energy and they’d continued the search for the girls. It was a cumbersome task. Silver City was the largest municipality they’d had to scour so far and they weren’t halfway through the area yet. Jag and Aari offered to search with Kody, but the boy insisted that he do it on his own so he could have complete focus. Currently, they were probing some of the larger buildings on the outskirts of the city.

Jag watched Kody for a minute more before turning around to adjust the air conditioning vents. He felt the phone in his pocket vibrate and pulled it out. When he saw the caller ID, he shushed Marshall and Aari, then answered the call. “Hey, Tristan.”

Jag’s brother let out a long groan. “Jag! I’ve been trying to call you but you never picked up the stupid phone!”

“You were worried?”

“Of course I was, you idiot! You’re my baby bro! Besides, if something happened, Mom and Dad would be pretty ticked.”

“Very touching. I didn’t get any miscalls from you, though. But the signal’s been spotty for a while, so that’s probably it. What’s up?”

“I, uh . . . It’s about Gran and Gramps.”

Jag slowly sat up straight. “What’s happened?”

“You know the crop virus has been spreading, right? Did you check the news last night?”

“No . . . ”

“Concordia has been hit. I don’t know if Gran and Gramps’ crops made it through. I’ve been trying to call them, but no one’s answering.” When Jag didn’t respond, he said, “Jag?”

“I—I’m here.”

“Listen, I’m still trying to reach them. When I get ahold of them, I’ll call you back and get you up to speed.”

“Yeah . . . Okay. Mom and Dad know about this, right?”

“No. They’re on a plane to Switzerland right now.”

“
Switzerland?
Why?”

“They were called in for an emergency meeting at the UN. They’re flying in microbiology experts from all over.”

“But they always tell us in advance when they’re going.”

“I said it was an
emergency
meeting.”

“Oh.” Jag stared down at his fingers.

“Try not to worry about Gran and Gramps just yet. Maybe it missed them.”

Though Jag highly doubted that, he said, “Yeah, maybe. Hopefully.”

“Alright. Talk to you soon. Say hi to the others for me, okay?”

“Sure. Take care, bro.”

“You too, kiddo.”

Jag hung up and rubbed his hands over his face.

“What’s up?” Aari asked.

“Tristan says hi.”

“That’s not it. You look like you’ve just lost a hand.”

Jag turned around and quickly filled his friend in on his conversation with Tristan while Marshall listened attentively. Both Aari and the Sentry were grim. When Kody returned, head shaking, Jag brought him into the loop as well. Kody instantly adopted the same look Aari and Marshall wore.

Not eager to linger on the subject, Jag asked, “So no luck with the girls here, huh?”

Kody held his head in his hands. “No. I’ve lost count of how many houses and buildings I’ve checked, but it’s in the hundreds for sure. There’s still no sign of them.”

“They’ve got to be around here somewhere,” Jag said. “Aari’s calculation
has
to be right.”

Kody leaned back beside Aari. “Alright, big guy. Alright.”

Jag faced the Sentry. “Marshall?”

The man nodded. “Let’s keep going.” He put the car into drive and headed back into town.

They searched a few more houses. At one property, Kody had been spotted and consequently chased away by a plump, angry woman brandishing a spatula like a sword.

An hour later Marshall made a comment about needing to refuel and pulled into a gas station. While the Sentry was paying for the gas at the checkout counter, the boys zoomed through the aisles, picking up food and drinks. As they went to join Marshall at the counter, the muted television overhead caught Jag’s interest, though his curiosity soon turned to dismay.

On screen was a live newscast of a riot outside of a grocery store in Florida. Men and women were pushing each other to the ground and kicking one another while appearing to be shouting.

“What’s going on over there?” Jag asked, appalled.

The Hispanic clerk behind the counter glanced behind him as he passed Marshall his change. “Haven’t you been following the news?”

“We haven’t turned on the news since last evening,” Jag said.

The clerk pulled a face. “Boy, oh boy. Well, that’s the sixth riot they’ve shown today. They’re saying that folks are getting real worried about a shortage of bread.”

Kody opened a pack of Doritos. “Bread can do that to people?”

“It’s a staple food, Kody,” Aari said. “Wheat’s the second or third major crop grown in the USA,
and
the global trade for it is bigger than every other crop combined.”

“But people are rioting over bread?”

“It’s not just bread, It’s all wheat-based products. What would you do if you ran out of them and found empty shelves in your local grocery store?”

“I’d probably go look at another place.”

“And what if that store had run out as well?”

Kody shrugged. “I’m sure I’d find them at the next store or two.”

“Let’s say you get lucky and you eventually find a store that, has, say, a few loaves of bread left. Then you notice that the price of a loaf is now, maybe ten bucks.”

“That’s nuts! Nobody would buy bread at that price.”

Aari clicked his fingers. “Wrong. When supply runs out, demand goes through the roof and prices skyrocket. Only those with extra cash can get what they need, but there’ll be countless others who won’t be able to afford it. What are their options to feed their families then?”

Kody stopped munching on his Doritos. “No . . . no. This can’t be happening here. This is America, man. It can’t happen here.”

“Dude, take a look.” Aari nodded up at the television. “It’s unfolding right before our eyes. Seems like it’s happening sporadically right now, but if they don’t find a solution quick it’s most likely gonna spread across the country.”

As the Sentry and the boys got back into the car, Jag couldn’t help but fear that the riots would only worsen. He had a feeling that they were staring at the tip of an iceberg that was set on a collision course with humanity.

S
itting on a chair with her hands tied behind her back was more than a little uncomfortable, but Tegan wasn’t expecting kindness or luxury from her abductors. She eyed the conference room that she and Mariah were in. It seemed recently built and, except for paint and electrical fixtures, was nearly complete. A new hardwood floor was covered with thick plastic sheets, presumably to protect it from damage during construction. The girls were seated at the end of a long mahogany conference table, away from the door.

A few minutes prior, the pair had been hauled out of the storage area by Elvis and two other men and brought to this room. They’d then been left on their own but Tegan had a feeling that Elvis and the others weren’t far from the other side of the door.

Two lamps hanging from the ceiling vaguely reminded Tegan of the interrogation rooms in old television shows.
Probably temporary until they install proper ceiling lights
, she supposed. The thought didn’t ease her apprehension.

The door suddenly swung open. In walked a round-faced, bespectacled man no taller than five feet, with no eyebrows and greasy black hair plastered to his scalp. He held a mug of coffee in one hand and carried a large briefcase in the other. His dark trousers had prominent creases and his white poet shirt was tucked in loosely. The girls watched him as caged tigers would an unwelcome zookeeper.

The man completely ignored them as he set his briefcase down—the case being half his height—and pulled out three dark gray spheres the size of tennis balls. He clicked a button on one of them and rolled it to a corner of the room, then proceeded to do the same with the others. The spheres hummed faintly and hovered a few inches above the floor once they’d positioned themselves equilaterally in a triangle. Like the eyes of an alligator, shutters on the spheres opened, revealing curved green lenses.

A figure, over six feet in height, appeared. Mariah shrank closer to Tegan.
A hologram?
Tegan thought. Though the image was dark, as if the figure was standing in the shadows, the resolution was too perfect for the pair’s liking. It was as though the person was in the room with them. The figure was adorned in a long black coat with a golden hood pulled low over the face.

The short man turned to the holographic image. He spoke strangely, and it was as though there was sandpaper stuck in his vocal cords. “’Ello and good evening, Boss. I’m glad you could join us today.”

The shadowed figure gave a short nod.

The man turned to Tegan and Mariah. He readjusted his glasses and flashed the girls a crooked-toothed smile. “I am Dr. Nate. This will not take long, but only if you cooperate.” He grabbed his briefcase and walked to the girls’ end of the table. He sat across from them and rested his briefcase on the chair beside him. “Now,” he said, “you must be wondering why you’re ’ere. I’ll keep it short and sweet. The memories you lost ’ave come back, and we are interested in those memories.”

Tegan felt her legs tremble in fury. She cursed under her breath and muttered, “
Tony.
”

Dr. Nate didn’t seem to hear her. “You can willingly give us those memories but, if not, we ’ave the means to
extract
them from you.”

Tegan could feel the blood draining from her face. Her eyes darted to the man’s briefcase.
What else does he have in there?

“So, dears, what ’appened after your plane crashed?” Dr. Nate asked, leaning over the table. His eyes bulged, frog-like, behind his glasses.

Tegan kept her mouth sealed, but Mariah, spunky as ever, snapped, “We’re not telling you anything.
You
tell us where we are and why we’ve been abducted.”

“Eventually,” Dr. Nate said, smiling again, “you will get your answers. But first, give me what I need.”

Tegan lifted her chin. “No.”

“As I mentioned, there are other ways for me to get the answers. But they will be excruciating.”

Mariah stared silently at the greasy-haired man. Tegan glanced at the hologram. Though the eyes and most of the face weren’t visible, she felt as if the figure’s gaze was drilling holes into her mind.

She swallowed and turned back to Dr. Nate. “Fine, here’s what we—I—recall. Basically what happened was that my friends and I were on our way to Dawson City in Northern Canada for our summer vacation. We got caught in a freak storm and our plane crashed. When we woke up, we found ourselves in a Native village. We were nursed back to health. The next thing we remember, we were in some small hospital in Yukon.”