Sideways

Chapter 24 Raid On Winding Path

"I need someone to talk to me. What do we know now?" Buck asks into his headset as he whips a sharp turn.

There is a shuffle of sounds and voices on the headsets. Over the headset, they can all hear Ravi, Karen, and Maddie talking in the background.

"Buck, it looks like Calle is heading toward the warehouse." Maddie's voice speaks over the headset.

"Shit." Athena's voice answers.

"But you guys have a lot of time on him before he catches up with you there. So maybe you can get in and out before he gets there?" Karen's voice asks.

"Yeah, but we have no idea where we are going once we are inside. We know the layout but don't know where or even if Carla and Taylor are here. We have no idea what we are walking it to. This dangerous." Cole says.

"When you guys were there the last time, did you guys walk the basement?" Karen asks.

"Yeah, of course, we did. It was a bit of a maze. Why?" Buck asks.

"I overlaid the blueprints on top of each other. There is an anomaly on the South Wall in the corner."

"What kind of anomaly, Karen?" Eddie asks.

"The basement footprint is bigger than the rest of the floors. So, I don't know for sure, but it's different."

"Shit, she's right. How did we miss that?" Wes's voice asks over the headset.

"Wasn't my idea." Karen says.

"Who figured it out?" Eddie asks.

"Christopher did." Maddie says.

"Nice job, mijo." Eddie says.

"How the hell did Superman see that when the rest of us didn't?" Buck asks as he turns to look at Eddie.

"He said the maps don't match. As you go up the floors, the map shrinks like in Fortnite." Karen says.

"If a video game saves our ass." Athena says.

"No, I think it's Christopher." Buck says.

"I agree with Buck. Their kid, there is something there, man." Wes says.

"Wes, what do you mean?" Eddie asks through the headset.

"Cole is super attached to kids. There's a story there, but that's his to tell. He's super protective of them. Eddie, I think you have seen how he has attached himself to Christopher." Wes says.

"I was expecting that. I knew Cole was going to latch on to him." Buck says, and he looks at Eddie and mouths, I'll tell you later.

"Well, we have spent a lot of time with him over the last few days. He's been really into the stuff I've been doing. He's picked up some coding things and other stuff without much explanation. The way his mind works, I think you guys need to have him tested. You know, in the My Kid is a Genius way. We will talk more later. We should pull up over here." Wes finishes.

Buck slows down and lets Cole pull ahead of them. They are two blocks away from the warehouse. Buck pulls the Hummer in next to Cole's, and they get out. Buck stretches, pops his back, and walks over to the others standing outside of Cole's Hummer.

"How you want to do this, Buck?" Athena asks.

Buck looks around at others; they are all looking to him to lead the charge. Seeing his friends and family trust him like this gives him the confidence he needs now. "We need to split up. Two teams. If we all go into the basement together, we are asking for trouble." Buck says as he adjusts his vest.