Message in a Bottle

~3~

*Luke*

Once Mr. B took control, the knot around my heart loosened. He always succeeds. I fingered the lock of hair in my pocket as my brothers made plans.

"Mr. Taylor," I looked up and met the cold, hard steel of Mr. B's gaze. "I want you to wire this Mr. Sorensen, and see what you can find in the house. Pure stealth, Luke. I don't want you getting caught."

I nodded my agreement and headed out to our stash of equipment hidden in Nate's shed. I trusted my brothers to finalize the plans without me, and I began sorting through the surveillance cameras and microphones to figure out what I'd need.

***

The house was weird. Not in the haunted house weird, but in the fact that it looked barely lived in. The master bedroom downstairs had a bed and a closet full of men's clothing, and an older television on top of the dresser. The living room was spartan, with a beige couch, a television, and a computer desk, complete with an outdated desktop computer and CRT monitor. The refrigerator was filled with takeout containers and bottled water, and the pantry had sixteen boxes of breakfast bars and two jars of peanuts.

It looked like a bachelor pad.

The upstairs was completely empty, both bedrooms and the bathroom containing nothing more than a thin layer of dust.

I placed my cameras, cloned the computer's hard drive, and spit into each of the takeaway boxes in the fridge. I'd return tonight to wire the man's phone, and soon we'd be able to go and rescue the damsel in distress.

***

"What the fuck?" Gabe complained as he snatched the small bundle of blonde hair from my hand. "Why'd you cut your-" he stopped and tilted his head to the side. "Wait, this isn't your hair. The color's a little different. There's a lot more...it's chameleon or something." He looked up at me and back down at the hair in his hand. "Where'd it come from, and why the fuck are you playing with it like some creeper from one of Nate's movies?"

My face heated at his comment, and his eyebrows shot up. "It's hers, isn't it? The girl? Sang?" I didn't answer, and a stream of expletives spewed from my bestie's mouth. "Damn it, Luke! Now I've got to find her if for no other reason than to see this hair in person!"

I rolled my eyes at him and tossed a root beer barrel candy at him. I snatched the hair away from him and put it carefully back into my pocket.

I looked at the clock and saw that our family meeting would be in two more hours. Victor was combing through the dad's computer, and hopefully we'd have enough data to move forward with our rescue plan.

Hang in there, Sang. We're coming for you.

***

"So we've got the address. We've got her message," I held up the roll of paper, "and we know that she needs us. What else are we waiting for?" I asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

Mr. B ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "We're waiting for intel, Mr. Taylor. From all we can find, we know that Monarch Academy is run like a prison, and we need to approach this in the right way." He checked something on his phone and continued. "The Academy has a couple team based just four hours from the school, and they're going to do reconnaissance tonight and get back to us by morning." He gave a pointed look at my bouncing knee and I stilled the movement. "You need to trust me. Our chances for success improve exponentially with each new piece of intelligence."

I bit back the argument that was on the tip of my tongue and nodded once.

"We do this right, boys," Mr. B said to the room, "or we don't do it at all."

A chorus of "I am willing and will obey" surrounded me, and I reluctantly chimed in with the rest of them.

***

"Three weeks!" I shouted at my brothers. "We've been planning for THREE FREAKING WEEKS, and we're still sitting on our butts here in Charleston!"

I've read her letters so many times that I could probably recite them from memory. I expected North to be the next one to speak up, but it was Vic who jumped to his feet instead.

"I have an alternative way in for us," he looked over at Mr. B's raised eyebrow and rushed to add on, "not that the other plan isn't good, but I agree with Luke."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Hallelujah!" I muttered under my breath, getting a smirk from Gabe.

Vic glared at my interruption and continued, "The other plan is taking too long. I think I've got a way in for us that we could have in place as early as Friday." He pulled his laptop out of his bag and bought something up on the screen. I'm not as skilled in coding as Victor, but I knew enough to see that it was a virus.

"I can infect their systems remotely, and reroute their call for maintenance to us. We can go in to 'fix' the problem, and we can use that as an opportunity to set up our own cameras in the building. It doesn't find the girl right away, but it will get us closer."

Nate sat forward and looked at Vic with interest. "You can do that?" he asked in awe.

Victor nodded with a slight blush, and I swear Mr. B smiled a little.

"Well done, Mr. Morgan," he said, patting him on the shoulder as he looked at the screen. Vic's blush cranked up a notch, and he stood a little straighter. "Begin your infiltration of their systems immediately, and I will make our travel arrangements." His brow furrowed, and he murmured, "This would be much easier if a couple of you could drive."

***