"This is very grave news indeed, Agent. You need to go and find Agent Stapley and Agent C. West. Take Agent Merkley and Agent S. West with you."
"Sir?" Laura asked. Adm. Taylor looked at her, and she continued. "Has there been any progress in the analysis of the rock?"
"I'm glad you asked." He replied.
“Because this is extremely important. There is nothing special about your rock.”
“What?” Laura asked, confused.
“I seems that it was painted over with a special ultra-violet paint, then dipped in a chemical much like hydrogen. That’s why it continued to give off the white mist, which disguised the imperfection of the paint…for a while.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just a rock, Laura. A regular round rock.”
“That doesn’t make any sense…” Then it started coming together. It couldn’t have just been a coincidence that Jace disappeared at the very same school Rebecca and herself had transferred to. The invisible man appeared right in front of them, walked right past them, and pretty much led them to Wendy’s, where Jace was hiding in the bathroom. He acted out the whole scene, being desperate and everything. He gave out all his information, even the rock, to them. She didn’t understand why he let Laura give it to the HIA, but it must have been to make them think he was on their side. He wanted them to get caught in Flagstaff, and when it didn’t work, he told them about Boston, where he knew they could get captured. He had planned on two agents to go up to the door and for one to be left with him. He knew that they would be able to defeat the thugs, but he must have been planning on them both going to the car and getting captured. It didn’t matter, though, and they were fine with only getting two agents. That probably means he didn’t expect Laura to be able to figure anything out. The only thing she didn’t know was why he wanted them and what he was going to do to them to get what he wanted.
“Agent Pang?” asked Dr. Scott.
“I need a car, now. I think I know where they are.”
“And where is that?”
“Back in Boston, Massachusetts.”
***************
Caitlin woke up again for the second time and looked around. She was duct taped to a metal chair, and she seemed to be the only one in the room. “Rebecca?” she questioned.
“Your Agent friend is not able to be here with us today,” a voice said.
Caitlin peered into the dark. “What have you done with her?”
“That is none of your concern.” A light flashed on, and she felt the blinding sensation once again. She watched a black figure walk towards her, and when her eyes adjusted, she could see the face of a man. A man that looked a lot like Jace.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
The man smiled evilly. “So many questions. I am the father of the poor little defenseless boy you were helping.”
“You…?” None of this made any sense. Wasn’t he supposed to be in the anti-terrorist group? That’s what she’d heard. And why would his father be against them?
“Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t know this yet, but Jace had actually been working with me this entire time. Surprise!” His accent was so rich, she was having a hard time understanding some words. Or maybe it was because her head hurt so much.
“But…that doesn’t make any sense…”
“Oh, doesn’t it?”
Caitlin thought for a minute, then realized what had really happened. There’s no way a man could have been in the car. Jace had been with her the entire time. He must have been the one that knocked her unconscious, and then let the man in.
She must have had a look of realization, because the man smiled and said, “I see you understand it now. We’ll get back to you later.”
The light turned off, and she was left alone in the dark.
********
Rebecca was freaking out. She was alone, and she would bet a million dollars that she was experiencing the Chinese water torture. The dripping was constant, and felt like it gained a ton every time it hit her. Finally, a light came on, and there was Jace, not tied up and not dead. What she especially didn't like about that picture was his big, evil grin that made him look like he was saying, "I'm going to kill you now."
She then understood everything. The nasty little counterfeit.
"When I get out of here, you will have no idea of how much I'm going to hurt you-ahhh!" She was interrupted by Jace slapping her. He slapped her again. And again. And again. Finally, when Rebecca began crying, he stopped. "I don't want to hurt a girl. But when a girl calls me a girl, that's just too much." And he punched her in the face. A little bit too hard, so the chair that Becka was sitting in tipped over, with Rebecca falling along with it. This was fortunate, because the duct tape broke in the fall. Rebecca waited for Jace to pick her up, but he kicked her in the stomach.
"You have no idea how much I've wanted to do this to you, ever since the first word came out of your mouth." He kicked her again. "Your rudeness has brought you down!" He said, getting ready to kick her for the 15th time, when Rebecca, swung her leg around on the ground and tripped Jace, who landed straight on his bum. Rebecca pinned him, placed her foot over his guts, and jumped off of him. Jace squealed in pain, rolling over to his stomach, got on his knees and clutched his gut. Rebecca smiled as she saw his weak point and kicked him on his back. She then turned him to face her and she started punching him over and over again. When Jace was unconscious, she left to find a door and to find Caitlin.
Once she found the door, though, it was locked. She looked around for something to pry it open with, then, feeling stupid, realized Jace probably still had the key. She didn’t want to touch him, but she didn’t want to stay there, either. She turned him over, checking his pockets. As soon as she reached into one, Jace sat up and grabbed her, wrapping his hand around her mouth.
“You think you can win against me? I’ve been a terrorist since I was five!” He grabbed the chair and used it to pin her beneath him.
Rebecca began to laugh. “I guess that’s believable, you little girl. Maybe you should have started earlier.”
“Aaarg!” Jace pushed on the chair hard, and Rebecca coughed. “I was with you all along and you didn’t even know I was against you!” he screamed.
Even though she was in a lot of pain, Rebecca still smiled. “You’re wrong. I knew you weren’t who you said you were the entire time.”
“You’re lying!”
“Think about it, Jace. Why do you think I even went to that school in the first place? I don’t need an education. I’m smarter than any average genius. I went there to spy on you, to figure out what you were doing.”
“But I still tricked you!” Jace cried triumphantly.
“No, you didn’t. I knew it was all a trap. I knew the rock wasn’t what you said it was. You never had to bring it to Kosovo; that was all a lie. I let Laura take the rock to the HIA so that she knew what was really going on. I had to do it secretively so you wouldn’t find out. Of course, you realized that was a bad idea as soon as Laura left. You tried to follow her to make sure that no one found out, but something stopped you. Oh, I remember, that was me. Hmm, isn’t that odd?”
“We still caught you in Boston. What do you have to say to that?” Jace challenged.
“Okay, listen closely, because this might be a bit hard for your little brain to comprehend,” Rebecca countered. “I knew you would take me. I let you capture me. I mean, what is a door going to do to me? You think that would stop me fighting? Come on, it doesn’t hurt that bad. I knew Laura would go back to the HIA, find out about the rock, and know that you were truly a poser.”
“And what good has that done you?” Jace questioned angrily.
“You’re about to see that.” Rebecca pushed him and the chair off of her, and he hit the wall. She grabbed the key up off from the floor and opened the door. Standing there in front of her were Agent Pang, Agent Merkley, and Agent Sarah West. “What’s up?” Rebecca asked. The three friends looked at her like she was crazy.
Rebecca flew past them, closed the door and locked it. "Come on, we've got to get Caitlin." Rebecca called, already halfway through a 30 foot corridor. The girls turned a corner to find an army of guards waiting for them.
"You really think that you can escape from me that easily?" Jace called from behind them. He must have had an extra key with him. "In five hours, an EMP will go off over Kansas, and all of your silly little electronics will be destroyed! How are you going to stop that?" Jace smiled, sensing his victory. Laura ran up to him and kicked him in the gut. She then grabbed a pipe, broke it off from the other pipes and hit him in the head, only to hear a metallic clang. She stared, then ripped off the mask, revealing a robot. The guards in front of them then ripped off their helmets, showing an army of Jaces.
"You'll never find your friend in this mess. How can you defeat metal with skin?" Jace's voice echoed through the hall.
“Well, that’s just annoying,” Rebecca said.
Then, half of the Jaces marched towards the group, raising their fists.
"Sarah?" Laura called.
"Yes?"
"Do you have gadget 38664075 on you?"
Sarah smiled. "I do." Sarah started to dig around her backpack and pockets.
"You guys, Sarah's not going to find it in time." Xarissa observed. The robots were getting closer. The girls formed a circle around Sarah and started kicking whoever got close enough to them.
"I got it! Wait-sorry, it's a grenade..." Sarah announced.
"Give it here." Rebecca commanded, and as Sarah handed it to her, Laura and Xarissa dug in for more grenades. Rebecca opened it and threw it at the crowd of annoying robots. It exploded and the girls had to duck to avoid the metal parts flying in all directions. They then started throwing more grenades at the robots while Sarah kept digging.
"Sarah, we're running out!" Xarissa exclaimed.
" Here!" Sarah tossed the gadget to Laura, who turned it on.
"EMP activated. How large would you like the range to be?" The gadget spoke.
"Maximum range!" Laura shouted into it.
"Laura, do you know how large the range is on that thing?" Rebecca asked.
"EMP will go off in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Have a nice day!" The robots were three feet away from them when the EMP shut them down and the lights with it.
The red emergency lights clicked on just in time for them to watch all the robots collapse.
And standing behind the crumpled bodies of the robo-Jaces was a very confused Caitlin.
“What the…Caitlin, how did you get out?” Rebecca asked, astonished.
Caitlin swung the stick she was holding up onto her shoulder and cocked a hip. “Easy as pie. Where have you guys been?” She began to walk towards them, trying to step over all the robot bodies. “And why did all the robots just die?”
“Hey sis,” Sarah said as Caitlin approached.
Caitlin nodded. “How’s it going?”
“Hey, no time for talk, guys,” Laura said. “The speed jet is waiting for us outside, and we need to get to Kansas as fast as we can.”
“Why Kansas?” Caitlin questioned.
“I’ll tell you on the way there,” Sarah whispered, and they all ran down the hall, following Laura to the outside.
***********