Chapter 13
"What do they look like?" I asked.
"You've seen them before," Ostin said. "Stores put them in books and video games to catch shoplifters. It's a little square foil thing, usually about the size of a postage stamp. But I've read that some new, high-tech RFIDs are the width of a human hair. They can almost make them like powder. There's even talk of making them digestible."
"Why would they do that?" Ian asked.
"Think about it," Ostin said, suddenly looking excited. "You could put them in restaurant food, then when you go to check out, they'll scan your stomach and charge you for what you ate."
"That's... weird," Mitch.e.l.l said.
"That's the future," Ostin replied.
"How do they implant these things?" I asked.
"They inject them," Ian said. "In a shot. I've seen them do it."
"We need to get rid of them," I said.
"Jack and Wade?" Zeus asked hopefully.
"No," I said. "The tracking devices." I lifted half the pizzas. "We better get back to the others."
Jack, Taylor, and Wade met us by the pool.
"What happened?" Taylor asked. "Who sent the pizzas?"
"I'll tell you inside," I said. We carried the food into the pool house and set it on the kitchen table. "The voice sent the pizzas. And he sent us another phone."
"What did the voice have to say?" Jack said angrily. "Sorry we almost killed you?"
"He said they didn't do it. He said that they were the ones who blew up the third Elgen car so we could escape."
"Do you believe him?" Taylor asked.
"I don't know. I mean, the Elgen wouldn't blow up their own car, and we sure didn't do it. And if they know we're here, why didn't they just attack us?"
"Because we kicked their b.u.t.ts last time," Jack said.
"No," Taylor said. "If they're still trying to capture us, it would be better for them if we didn't know that they knew where we are."
"What?" Wade said.
"Precisely," Ostin said. "First rule of war, never give up the element of surprise."
I said, "The voice said he thinks they know how the Elgen have been following us." I looked at Jack. "They think that you and Wade were implanted with tracking devices."
Jack's brow furrowed. "Implanted where?"
"When the guards took you prisoner, did they give you a shot?" Ostin asked.
"Oh yeah," Wade said. "And that needle was wicked big. It stung worse than a hornet."
"Did they tell you what the shot was for?" Ostin asked.
Jack shook his head. "No, they weren't real talkative. Why?"
"GPs are implanted with a subdermal RFID so they can be tracked if they escape," I said. "That includes you and Wade."
"A what?" Jack asked.
"It's a radio frequency identification device," Ostin said. "They use them to track people. And they're small enough that they can be injected into the body."
"The voice told you this?" Jack asked skeptically.
I nodded. "He thinks the Elgen have been using the RFIDs to track us."
"Wait," Taylor said. "If that's true, then they can still find us."
Mitch.e.l.l looked at her. "What will they
"They burned down my house," Jack said.
Mitch.e.l.l's eyes widened. "If something happens to the house, my parents will kill me."
"If the Elgen find us," Jack said, "they'll kill you for real."
Mitch.e.l.l turned pale. "You've got to get out of here. All of you."
"No, just Jack and Wade have to get out of here," Zeus said.
"But they'll capture us," Wade said.
"It's you or all of us, moron," Zeus said.
"Watch your mouth," Jack said.
"We're in this together," I said. "There's got to be another solution."
"Wait," Ostin said. "There is. Mitch.e.l.l, do you have any aluminum foil?"
"In the pantry."
"Get it. Quick. The thicker the better."
He started walking toward the kitchen.
"Run!" Jack said.
"Okay." He ran out of the room.
"Aluminum foil?" I said.
"We can wrap them in foil. It will block the frequency."
Taylor stifled a laugh. "They'll look like baked potatoes."
"I'm not going to wear foil," Wade said.
"Maybe you prefer the Elgen jumpsuits," Jack said.
Wade nodded. "Actually, I have always looked good in silver."
Mitch.e.l.l returned with two boxes of foil. "Here."
"Someone help me wrap them," Ostin said.
"I'll help," Taylor said.
"Where did you get the shot?" Ostin asked.
"At the Elgen Academy," Wade said.
Jack shook his head. "In our arms. Our left arms."
Ostin and Taylor wrapped Jack's and Wade's left arms and shoulders with foil.
"I take it back," Taylor said. "You don't look like baked potatoes. You look like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz."
"Yeah," Zeus said. "I'll get you a funnel for your head."
"And I'll shove your greasy head through it," Jack said.
The two of them glared at each other.
Abigail stepped between them, then said to Jack. "I think you look like a knight in s.h.i.+ning armor."
Zeus shook his head and turned away.
"At least there are no more radio frequencies," Ostin said.
Jack smoothed the foil down on his shoulder. "We can't walk around like this for the rest of our lives."
"He's right," I said. "Can't we just run a magnet over it like you do with a credit card?"
"That won't do anything," Ostin said. "You've got to really crush it. Like hit it with a hammer."
"We can't hit anyone with a hammer," I said.
"Yeah," Wade said, looking pale. "That wouldn't be good."
"You're right," Ostin said. "It wouldn't be efficient. You'd crush bones long before it damaged the chip."
"Can we cut it out?" Jack asked.
Wade's eyes widened. "What?"
"You could do that," Ostin said. "If you could find it."
"What?" Wade said again. "You want to cut it out of my arm, like with a knife?"
Jack walked to the kitchen and returned with a steak knife. He handed it to me. "Cut it out."
Wade stared, his eyes wide with fear. "Please don't."
"Is there any other way to break them?" I asked.
"You can microwave them," Ostin said. "But even if Wade fit in a microwave, he'd probably explode."
Wade was speechless.
"What about an EMP?" Zeus said. "Quentin used to blow out RFID readers at toll booths just to cause traffic jams."
"What's an EMP? Taylor asked.
"Electromagnetic pulse," Ostin said. "A high-frequency electromagnetic burst could overload the RFID's antenna and blow out the chip." He thought for a moment. "A quick electric surge could knock it out. But you'd have to be right above the RFID. And we don't know where it is."
"Ian can find it," I said, looking at him. "Can't you?"
"If I knew what I was looking for. What does it look like?"
"I've never seen one that small, but it would look like a tiny piece of metal," Ostin said. "Like a sliver. Embedded in flesh it shouldn't be that hard to find."
"What about the EMP?" Taylor asked. "Where do you get one of those?"
"A big blast from Michael," Ostin said.
"Why do all these solutions have to involve some form of torture?" Wade said. "Michael's done that to me before."
"He's shocked you before," Ostin said. "This would have to be much more powerful."
"I really don't mind the foil that much."
"Quit being such a wimp," Jack said.
"It's that or the knife," Ostin said.
"Enough of this," Jack said. "Let's get it over with. I'll go first."
"Ian?" I said.