Ebony stifled a cry. Brodie looked shocked. Even I couldn't take in this latest piece of information. Chad and Dan have been captured. This didn't come up in any planning session! My first impulse was to save them, but then I remembered the reason why we were there. We've got to stop the missile from firing. Millions of lives were at stake.
I asked Ebony to turn the sheet metal roofing to oxygen. This exposed the recess in the ceiling. Climbing in, we found ourselves among air conditioning ducts and cross beams. We would remain undetected as long as we were quiet.
Making our way along the roof, Ebony created a coin-sized hole, and I peered down into the room below. It took me a moment to get my bearings. Men moved around a large chamber where a computer terminal sat in the center.
That must be the missile computer.
I was about to burst in through the roof when Ebony gripped my shoulder.
'We can't go down yet,' she whispered.
'What do you mean?'
'We've got to save Chad and Dan.'
I shook my head. 'Stopping the missile is more important.'
'It'll be impossible to save the boys once they know we're here,' she said. 'They might kill them immediately.'
She could be right.
'Let me go back and save them,' she said.
'We've got to take out the computer!'
'Give me fifteen minutes. That's all I ask.'
I looked at Brodie.
She shrugged. 'Ebony's right,' she said. 'Who knows what Typhoid will do once they know we're here.'
I sighed. 'You've got fifteen minutes,' I said. 'I can't give you any longer. There's too much riding on this.'
Ebony skittered across the roof and disappeared from sight. I turned back to Brodie. It was uncomfortably close in here, and my mind returned to the previous night. I wanted to speak about it, but this wasn't the time.
The minutes ticked by until I was finally counting off the seconds. Sixty seconds. Forty-five seconds. Finally, we were out of time. Ebony had either been caught or was still trying to save the others. Either way, we had to do this.
'Let's go,' I said.
Brodie nodded glumly. Then the ground shook as if there were an earthquake, and an explosion rocked the camp.
What the—
Grabbing my arm, Brodie hissed to me. 'Now!' she said. 'That's our cue!'
I had intended to use Ebony to dissolve the roof under us. Instead, I drove a force field straight into it, and we dropped to the floor below. We had the element of surprise—but only for a few seconds. It wasn't every day that someone fell in through your roof. Scientists stared at us in astonishment. Even the guards looked amazed.
'Shoot them!' someone yelled, and the bullets started to fly.
Throwing up a shield, the bullet's rebounded, one hitting a scientist, killing him instantly. Brodie grabbed a guard and used him as a shield as another guard opened fire. She then used him as a battering ram to smash another guard to the ground.
Grabbing his weapon, she fired randomly around the chamber.
'The computer!' she yelled at me.
Keeping my shield in position, I built up my concentration.
Now, I thought. Now!
The blast of air I fired at the computer was as powerful as a tiny tornado. It slammed into the device, exploding it into a jagged wreckage of metal and wires.
Yes!
Now to help Brodie with the remaining villains. Not that she needed my help. In a matter of seconds, we'd created complete chaos. Men lay all over the place, and part of the building was alight. We sprinted to the door. We've got to find the others and get out of here. Demolishing the door—indeed, the whole side of the building—with a single blast of air, we faced off against another group. They fired, but my shield held.
Thank you, Mister Brown!
Now to find the others. I recalled a building on the map that Hodges had marked as a storage block. Why didn't I think of it before? I angled Brodie and myself between two buildings while I picked up debris and hurled it at the approaching guards.
'Do you know where we're going?' she yelled.
'I think so.' Approaching a brick building, I tried to punch a hole in the side, but couldn't build up enough focus. I was already deflecting bullets and hurling as much debris at attacking guards as I could.
'I can't take out the wall!' I yelled. 'I can't—'
Brodie grabbed the door handle and swung it open.
'Ever hear of one of these?' she asked.
I followed her inside, and we locked the door behind us. The interior was quieter than I expected. The walls must be reinforced. No wonder we couldn't break in. We followed a narrow corridor and turned into the next—and were confronted by an artillery gun.
Uh oh.
The artillery round hit my shield, but the blast was still so powerful that it still threw us backward. We both hit the floor—hard. Lifting my head, I saw Brodie staggering to her feet.
'What hit us?' she asked.
'Something big,' I told her.
The artillery gun had been set to fire automatically. Beyond it lay another metal door. This is a maze. No sooner did we overcome one barrier than we met another. A small viewing slot in the door showed the room beyond.
Brodie peered through. 'I can see them!' she yelled. 'They're on the floor! And they've got Ebony!'
'Stand back.'
Building up a blast of air, I fired it at the door. I'd like to say it was ripped off its hinges, but my focus was utterly shot by then. The door sort of lurched and slid to the floor. Entering the room, we quickly checked everyone's pulses.
'They're unconscious,' Brodie said. 'I think they've been drugged.'
Something about this was wrong. Guards were still outside, and they hadn't come pouring in after us. Why not?
My stomach churned.
It's almost as if we've been drawn here on purpose—
The answer came in a flash.
'It's a trap!' I yelled to Brodie. 'We've got to—'
But the gas was already pouring down from the ceiling. I was supposed to be a master of air, but now I couldn't get enough to even sustain myself.
It only took a few seconds for the floor to rush up to meet me.