The Infinity Trilogy

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Just like the guy said, we were driving for a long time.  And before I knew it, we were driving into D.C.

I hadn’t been there since the attacks.  And as we drove down the street, I looked out the windows at all of the buildings that were being reconstructed.  It certainly did look better than the way I’d seen it before. 

The next thing I knew, we were pulling up to the Pentagon, which was home of the Department of Defense.  There were guards outside each entrance, which was understandable because of the attack three months earlier. 

Everyone who was outside looked toward our caravan of black SUVs.  I was pretty sure they were used to seeing something like it pretty often, but the size of ours wasn’t normal.

Mine was the last to stop.  I watched all of the guys in suits get out before Arin, Variel, Trygg, and the twins got out with them.  The guys gathered them in a group and looked toward my SUV.  Then it was my turn to get out.  The guy on my right got out first and held the door open for me as I slid out. 

Once I was on my feet, I looked around at all of the people who were outside staring at us.  They were probably wondering what in the heck these kids were doing with all of the government suits. 

With two of them on either side of me, I walked toward our little – okay, well, huge – group.  Once we were all together, they moved us as one toward the front doors.  We didn’t even have to go through security like everyone else going in did.  The suits just herded us through and down a long hallway. 

Everyone who was there moved out of our way as we walked.  They were looking at us with curious looks on their faces.  Some of them even looked a little scared, like they knew just what we could do.

They do, I heard Arin’s voice say in my head.  Either they were working on Project Infinity before or they are now.  They knew what we can do.

I nodded slightly and continued to follow our group down the hallway. 

Just then, we went down another, more desolate hallway.  There weren’t quite as many people as there was in the main hallway.  Then, the guy in the front stopped at a door that looked solid and soundproof.

After punching in a code on a keypad next to it, the door slid open, revealing what looked like a conference room.  There was a long table with one chair on either end and four chairs on either side. 

And on the farther end was Matthew Duke, otherwise known as the Secretary of Defense.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling up at us.

The six of us just stood there, looking at him. 

“Ah, I thought this was going to be the reception I’d get from you,” he said.  “Please, take a seat.”

We all stood there for another long moment before we walked toward the chairs on either side of the table.  None of us sat in the ones next to him, but he didn’t seem to mind that.  The guys in suits left the room once we were seated.  Then it was just the six of us and Secretary Duke.

“So I’m guessing you know why we’ve brought you here,” he said, smiling. 

I narrowed my eyes at him.  “I can tell you the reason,” I said.  “Your son apparently can’t keep his mouth shut.”

He smiled bigger.  “Oh, you’ve got it all wrong,” he said.  “You see, I sent him there to try and find out if you could really do what your test results say you can do.”  He looked around the table at us and then back to me.  “And I’d say that they were right.”