The Life We Lead: Ascending (32 page)

“What if we tattoo your names on your
foreheads?” Jason asked.

The twins gave him a nervous look before
Raymond picked up where Calvin had stopped. “You see, it’s the
iridium that …”

“I do not care. Please shut up … whichever
one you are,” Ben said, gritting his teeth.

“But …” Calvin said.

Most of the guys looked like they wanted to
silence the twins with a good fist to the mouth, but James figured
that would dampen the operation.

“Calvin and Raymond, please come here,” James
said. “Do it quickly, but more importantly, quietly.

With the twins in hand, he reviewed the
processes they needed to be aware of. They were to stay with Matt
on the cusp of the hill overlooking the fortress once they figured
out how to dismantle the EMP force field. They would have a vehicle
with monitors so they could relay information to the team as well.
Kevin would still have master communication responsibility for the
field. They were to take no additional actions and to stay with the
vehicle and Matt at all times.

After making the twins repeat back what was
expected of them, James took them over to see the major and asked
them what he’d been wondering for some time. “What’s the leading
theory on taking down the EMP?”

“Ah, right, that. Well, we think it needs to
be done from the inside,” Raymond said cautiously.

“Okay, so what do I need to do? How did you
break it in the lab from the inner part of the circle?” James
asked.

The major listened intently.

“No mate, from inside the thingy, you know,
the fortress. Um, you need to cut the power,” Calvin said
timidly.

The major flashed a look at the twins and
then James. James was looking down at the table with the general
floor plan map. When he looked up, he selected his words
carefully.

“Are you telling me that all I have to do is
cut the electrical power?”

“Well it isn’t
that
simple.” Calvin
made a motion as he spoke. “It will be a rather high voltage you
have to stop. Imagine a few breakers, actually.”

“It
is
that simple.” James rifled
through drawings until he found the one of the office with the
monitors. “You see this?” He held up the drawing and tapped
aggressively on the eight master circuit breakers in the room.
“This is all I need to take care of. This is how they bring in all
this equipment; they just shut off the power, bring it in, and
power it back up. How long have you known that was the
solution?”

The twins looked down and didn’t answer.

The major pressed clenched fists on the
table. He spoke to James as if the twins weren’t there. “We could
just leave them here and let them wait until their flight
back.”

James seriously considered this before taking
a different path. “You will go with us,” he conceded. “You will
follow every instruction you are given. You will conduct whatever
test you think you can, but your time frame will be restricted to
whenever the major decides to engage. You have no say in it. You
will monitor what happens and speak in the fewest words possible to
inform the team of movements. For the rest of the journey, you are
to talk only when spoken to. After this is over, you will never
speak of it again, even to each other. Make up whatever story you
need to in order to gain validity for your research. As that
research brings forth results, I reserve the right to call in
favors that could be monetary.”

“Anything you don’t understand or don’t agree
to?” asked the major.

The twins were still looking down like two
little kids who’d gotten in trouble and couldn’t face their
parents, but they shook their heads.

James dropped his voice and said, “Look at me
and speak!” He did this for effect, knowing it would help seal
their silence.

They looked up, almost in tears. “We
understand and agree.”

“Fair enough,” said James in a normal tone.
He walked away, and the major moved on as well.

Paul came over a short while later. “They’re
really upset.” He gestured at the twins. “They’re really not so
bad. Kinda funny. We should get Keegan and Haiden started on
fishing and see if the twins can keep up with that nonsense.”

“They’ll be fine. It’s not like we hit them,”
said Ben.

“Yet,” added Jason.

Matt and the major laughed while James
smiled.

“Why do they keep looking like that at me,
like they’re about to run?” asked Jason. From his waist, he pulled
what was essentially a hand cannon of a gun and set it on the
table.

“Maybe because of that,” said Matt, pointing
at the gun.

“What?” Jason clearly didn’t think that could
be the problem.

Haiden called from the seat about five feet
away, “They’re British. They ain’t all that big on guns. Probably
ain’t never fired one.”

Right on cue, Keegan nodded, “Mhmm, everyone
knows that.”

“They’re probably against the second
amendment, too,” said Jason.

Ben stared at him, blinking, while James
shook his head.

“Dude, they’re British. They don’t believe in
our entire Constitution,” said Paul.

That was too much for James. He picked up his
bag and said, “I have a plane to catch. See you all soon enough.
Have fun with them, Major.” He gave Ian a rather sarcastic pat on
the back.

In response, the major flipped him off.

The morning
dawned brisk and bright. A light, fog-like cloud could be seen
in the distance as the sun rose. As it continued to peak over the
horizon, it created different colors within the fog, almost like a
low Aurora Borealis. It was unnatural, James thought, watching it
during the journey to the fortress, attempting to distract himself
from what was about to happen.

Most people would be continuously going over
the plan in their heads, but not James. He’d never been a
last-minute study on exams, and this was no different. He knew if
he focused on relaxing, he’d perform better, have more energy when
he needed it, and have a more pronounced reaction to the
adrenaline, if it came to that. Wasting energy on the emotion
of the moment didn’t help when studying, or now. Understanding that
was how he suppressed his emotions.

He got why people had this emotional
response, but he’d never really experienced it himself. Maybe that
was why today felt unnatural. He was worried. He felt slightly
justified because of what was at stake, but at the same time, he
was frustrated with himself because it was illogical. He needed to
rely on logic to do what needed to be done, and emotional
responses—or the hesitation they bred—could cost lives.

They made the dip over the embankment. Two
hours to go before reaching Joe. James glanced at the driver and
Noi in the front seat and took off his hat, pretending to scratch
his head, then placed it on his lap. He carefully extracted the two
tiny tracking devices and battery he’d brought. He triggered the
second tracking device and set it under his seat, shut off the
first tracker, and replaced the battery. The semi-spent battery and
tracker went back into the inner brim of his hat. Also in the hat
was a splicer Raymond had given him that would allow them to see
the video feeds in the fortress once the EMP was disabled, plus a
hard drive with a cable.

The twins had assured James the hard drive
would be fine because it wouldn’t be turned on. Because it was new,
there was no data to scramble. James wasn’t so convinced, but he
didn’t have a simple backup plan.

He was betting Joe wouldn’t check his hat. He
hadn’t checked Tim’s last time. This was a risk, but a calculated
one. Humans have behaviors, and Joe had a basic friendliness about
him. James had treated Joe well last time and figured that if he
made the transition from the vehicles smoothly, it wouldn’t be an
issue. If he was wrong, he had a plan for that, too.

James was starting to unwrap a Kit-Kat bar
when Noi looked back at him.

“Doing well, sir?” asked Noi.

James looked at him, slowly closed his eyes,
and nodded twice. Earlier, he’d told Noi he had a headache and
didn’t wish to talk. In response, the driver and Noi had been
rather quiet.

As they swung around to meet Joe, James
deliberately looked for, but saw, no signs of other tracks. The
wind probably blew away the dusty tracks each day, which only made
it more difficult to find the fortress. He didn’t recall seeing
them last time either but had not made a point of looking with
intent last time.

Joe pulled up in his old Suburban. Noi jumped
out and the driver locked the doors while Noi spoke to Joe. James
watched as they exchanged the carrier and Noi pointed to his head.
This made James slightly nervous. Joe and Noi started to walk back,
and the driver unlocked the doors.

James climbed out, removed his coat, and held
out his arms, ready for Joe to search him. He’d deliberately worn
tight-fitting clothes so it would be apparent he wasn’t carrying
anything. He gave Joe a slight smile that Joe returned. After a
quick pat down and search of the coat, they were off, Noi assuring
him that he’d be waiting for him upon his return.

As they started, James removed his hat,
intending to trigger the tracking device. At that moment, Joe
looked back.

James froze inside. Had Joe been waiting for
this? Had Noi suspected something?

Joe merely grabbed his water container and
offered it to James, saying in his broken English, “Help with head
aching?”

James smiled slowly as a wave of relief
crashed over him. “Thank you, Joe, but no. I will be okay.”

Joe smiled and went back to driving.

James calmed down and told himself he needed
to stop over-thinking. It was obvious Noi had pointed at his own
head to tell Joe about the headache.

Working carefully, James triggered the
tracking device.

About forty minutes later, he cracked his
window. He didn’t want it to look like he was doing it just as they
hit the stone marker. Joe glanced up but otherwise did not
react.

Almost fifteen minutes later, Joe said
“Ready?” and looked at James in the rearview mirror with a big
grin.

James chuckled and said, “Yes.”

Joe slammed on the gas petal and James
readied his hand to drop the tracker out the window. As Joe shifted
to neutral, James dropped it.

Come get me, boys
, he thought as he
and Joe coasted along.

They parked a few minutes later. James
noticed the courtyard area looked a bit different. The old trucks
were gone and the place seemed more open. He also noticed some
newer looking cameras had been installed along the ramparts and on
the little shack-like structures in front of the doors to the main
building.

As they reached the door, Lien and Bik
greeted them, both smiling largely. Bik held a tall glass of ice
water while a girl behind her held a pitcher on a tray.

“Oh, wercome wercome. Very happy to see you
again, Mr. Mathers, wercome,” crooned Lien.

Bik nodded as her brother spoke and offered
the glass of water to James.

“Thank you for the kind welcome. No thanks,
I’m not thirsty right now,” James said, walking up to them and
stopping just shy of the threshold.

Lien stayed behind to talk to Joe. Bik, still
smiling, walked with James down the hall with the girl holding the
water pitcher behind them. James hoped Joe would tell Lien he had a
headache, as this would cut down on the chatter. Sure enough, Joe
did just that.

“So sorry to hear your head hurting. Can we
offer you anything?” asked Lien, catching up a moment later.

In a bit of acting, James slowly said, “No, I
will be fine. I could use a restroom for a moment though,
please.”

“Yes, yes, right this way!” Lien and Bik each
gestured to the hallway on the right.

James approached the door to the first suite,
but Bik stopped him.

“Sorry, sir, that is not empty,” said Lien.
“Prease, this way.” He took James to the second suite instead.

“I will just need a few minutes,” James said,
shutting the door on their smiling faces. He paused a moment and
glanced around before recalling that the ceiling mirror probably
had a camera behind it. He made his way to the bathroom.

The bathroom didn’t have any visible cameras,
and James didn’t see where one could possibly be hidden with the
exception of the light fixture. He hoped to find a rather visible
camera to be able to connect into for the video feed.

He carefully removed his hat and splashed
some water on his face before making use of the toilet. After
washing and drying his hands, he grabbed his hat and returned to
the bedroom. The straw haired boy was standing there.

James stared at him a moment, and the boy
stared back.

“Umm, do you speak English?” James asked.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Mathers,” said the boy.

“Right, so what are you doing here?” James
asked.

“I was told my new owner is here and that he
has a headache,” the boy answered. “I was sent to do what I could
for you. I hope I have not displeased you, Mr. Mathers, sir.”

“Are you X?” James asked.

The boy averted his head slightly, as if
unsure why James had asked him this, but said, “If you want to call
me that, yes, sir. I am called that here by many.”

“Right.” James took a deep breath to give
himself a moment to think. What if he could get this kid to help
get the others ready? He had helped gather them before in the
baths. But no, too risky. Too hard to say how he would react.

“No, you have not displeased me.” James
responded to the boy’s earlier statement. “I’m just surprised to
see you. May I ask why they call you that? You do not seem to like
it,” he said.

The boy continued to stare at him but
answered with some shame in his voice. “They say my name is Xavier,
but that is not why they call me X. How do you know I do not like
it?”