Chapter 15
Taylor shushed him.
"We're positioned on both ends of the street, but we're outnumbered. We won't move in unless we have to. It's best that we don't engage them, unless you want to turn the whole area into a war zone. I'm guessing they have enough ammunition that they could level the block if they had to. Or at least the house." The voice paused. "Did you hear that?"
"No."
"I need to go before they intercept this signal. I'll call back when it's clear. Be strong. Good luck." The phone went dead.
Taylor looked at me, her eyes dark with fear. Everyone else was staring at me as well.
"What?" Ostin and Zeus asked simultaneously.
I lowered my voice to a whisper. "The Elgen are in the neighborhood."
"They're in my neighborhood?" Mitch.e.l.l said.
"Quiet," Taylor whispered. "They have listening devices."
"Someone turn the TV on," I said.
"What channel?" Wade asked.
"A noisy one," I said. "They don't know where we are. They lost our signal. So they're going door to door." I looked at Mitch.e.l.l. "If they come here, you're going to have to answer the door."
He turned white. "Why me?"
"Because they have machines that can detect us and you're not one of us."
"How about we just don't answer the door?" he said.
"Then they'll search your place, and if they pick up our el-waves..."
"But what's going to stop them from forcing their way in?"
"Look," I said. "They have a lot of houses to check. They won't attack if they don't think we're here. So just act normal and nothing will happen."
Mitch.e.l.l just stared at me blankly. "Act normal? They're going to kill us!"
Jack put his arm around him. "Listen, Mitch. It's cage time in the Octagon. Wipe that fear off your face. You're a warrior. No fear."
Mitch.e.l.l took a deep breath. "Right. No fear."
"Jack, you're going to have to be his backup."
"Wade, Mitch, and I got it," he said. "And you." He pointed to Ostin.
Ostin looked around. "Me?"
"Yes, you. We might need your smarts."
"We'll need to know what's going on," I said.
"I'll be watching," Ian said.
"I know. But it would be better if we could hear what they're saying." I turned to Mitch.e.l.l. "Does your house have an intercom system?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure how to work it."
"I'll figure it out," Ostin said. "Just show me where it is."
"Set it so we can listen from the loft in the pool house."
"Done," Ostin said.
"All right," I said. "Good luck, everyone."
Ostin turned the front door's intercom on so we could listen to what was happening. It was about twenty minutes before the doorbell rang. We heard the door open.
"Wha.s.sup, guys?" Mitch.e.l.l said.
"We're sorry to disturb you at this hour, but we're from Homeland Security. There's no need to panic, but we've received a report that there is a radiation leak in the area. For your safety, we need to check the radiation levels of your house."
"Liars," Taylor whispered.
Mitch.e.l.l said, "Radiation? Someone got a bomb around here?"
"No, sir. It's not a bomb. It may be nothing at all. May we please come in?"
"Uh, my parents are out, and they'd freak if I let strangers in. You got a warrant or something?"
"No, sir, Homeland Security doesn't need warrants. This is for your safety.
There was a long pause. "Come on, Mitch.e.l.l," I said. "Think of something."
"Look, I just got my little sister to bed. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"
"It will only take a few minutes, sir."
"Come on, guys. It took me an hour to get her down."
We heard a high voice say, "Mitchie, who is it?"
"Mitchie?" Zeus whispered.
"Was that Ostin?" I asked.
Taylor shrugged. "He kind of pulled it off."
"Just some government guys!" Mitch.e.l.l shouted. "Go back to sleep!" Pause. "Really, guys. I'm sure there's no radiation around here, or I'd be glowing or something, right? Just come back in the morning."
"Do you mind if we check around back?"
Taylor and I looked at each other.
There was a long pause. "No problem," Mitch.e.l.l said. "Help yourself."
A different voice said, "I'm not pulling a reading."
"Nothing?"
"No."
"All right. Looks like you're good. Thank you, sir."
"Yeah. No problem. Come back when my parents are here."
We heard the door shut and lock.
"He handled that surprisingly well," I said.
"You think that girl's voice was Ostin?" Taylor asked.
"Probably Jack," Zeus said.
"You're so mean," Abigail said.
I looked at Abigail. She was smiling at Zeus.
"I don't like where that is headed," Taylor whispered to me. "I see a collision coming."
Ian watched the guards until they left Mitch.e.l.l's street and started on the next. A few minutes later Jack and the rest walked back into the pool house. Jack had his arm around Mitch.e.l.l, who was beaming like a conquering hero.
"How'd I do?" Mitch.e.l.l asked.
"You should win an Academy Award for that performance," Taylor said. "So who was the girl calling for 'Mitchie'?"
"That was me," Jack said.
"Told you," Zeus said to Abigail.
Jack scowled at him.
"Okay," Abigail said. "Can we go to bed now? I'm exhausted."
"Me too," McKenna said.
I looked at Taylor. She grinned. "Me three."
"Someone's got to stand watch." I looked around the group. "Anyone not tired?"
No one said anything. Finally, Jack looked at Zeus. "If no one else is going to man up, I'll do it."
"I'll do it," Ostin said.
I looked at him in surprise. Ostin was one of those guys who always went to bed at the same time and always before ten.
"Really?" I asked.
"If we can upload Grace, I'll stay up and go through the files."
Grace had been so quiet I'd almost forgotten she was there. She took a deep breath. "Let's get it over with."
While everyone else got ready for bed, Ostin, Grace, Taylor, Jack, and I followed Mitch.e.l.l to his room on the second floor of the main house. Not surprisingly, his room was huge-larger than my room and my mother's combined. It was also a mess, strewn with clothing, cracker boxes, and candy wrappers. The walls were covered with magazine pictures of cage fighters and Sports Ill.u.s.trated swimsuit models.
There was a large, beige computer next to his desk with a huge monitor on the desktop. Ostin was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
"That's a custom Alienware Aurora," Ostin said. "Maybe the best gaming computer ever built. It looks brand-new. Have you even used it?"
Mitch.e.l.l shook his head. "Nah. My dad bought it for my birthday. I'm not really into computers that much."
"He means he doesn't know how to turn it on," Jack said.
"Neither do you," Mitch.e.l.l said.
"I would kill for one of these," Ostin said, sitting down at the keyboard. He fired it up and the screen's glow lit his face. "Let's go, Grace."
"You're not going to break it, are you?" Mitch.e.l.l asked.
"Would you even know if we did?" Ostin said.
Mitch.e.l.l just looked at him.
Ostin rolled his eyes. "No, we're not going to break it."
Grace sat down in a chair next to the computer. She took a deep breath, put her hands on top of the CPU, then closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Files began filling the computer as sweat beaded on her forehead. Just a minute into the upload she began to shake and her eyes rolled back into her head like before.
"That's creepy," Mitch.e.l.l said.
"No it's not," Taylor said indignantly.
"Shh," Ostin said. "You're slowing her down."
It took nearly five minutes for Grace to upload everything. When she was done she fell forward onto her knees, panting heavily like an athlete just completing a sprint.
Taylor put her hand on Grace's shoulder and knelt down next to her. "Good job."