Message in a Bottle

~4~

*Luke*

"A.C.E. Technical consultants, this is Victor, how can I help you?"

Vic shot me a thumbs up and I listened in on the extension.

"Thank God, you've got to help us!"

I raised a questioning brow at my teammate and he grinned.

"What exactly did you do?" I mouthed to him when I heard the panic in her voice, and he turned his monitor for me to see.

It was divided into four quadrants, each cycling through the hacked security feeds in fifteen second intervals, and it showed pure chaos. Doors opened and closed randomly, buzzers sounded, and the lights kept flickering. It looked like something out of a nightmare.

"Nothing is working, and I can't get the system to restart!" the woman cried into the phone. "My guar- I mean teachers are just barely keeping the kids in check. I'll pay whatever you need to GET HERE NOW!"

I saw the corner of Mr. B's mouth lift in amusement and put my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter.

"Okay, ma'am," Vic responded professionally. Gotta give the guy props for not cracking up at this. "I can dispatch a crew to your location just as soon as we finish this service request. What exactly seems to be the problem?"

The woman launched into a laundry list of issues, including the thermostat, the fact that the front gate wouldn't open for anyone, and that they couldn't turn off the intercom, which was picking up radio interference from a Japanese kids show. Vic assured her that they all would be addressed, but that because of the sheer volume of complaints, he'd have to send his entire crew if they were to get it sorted out in a respectable amount of time. She agreed immediately before slamming the phone down without even a goodbye.

"That worked better than I could have hoped," Victor said as he stretched his arms overhead and cracked his neck. He must have seen my awe, because he shoved me in the shoulder and chuckled. "Luke, what do you think?"

I shook my head and voiced my earlier question. "What in the world did you do to their systems? No way you just whipped that code up." I eyeballed him critically. "You've been holding out on me."

He glanced over to Mr. B, who seemed to want to hear the answer as much as I did. "Well, it's a thing I've been toying with...you know, to get back at Corey for that stunt with the whistling computers. Remember?"

I grinned. "Oh yeah. He'd planted a facial recognition program imbedded in the latest security update that would make any computer that recognized you whistle. That was hilarious, but this would've been epic!" I fist bumped him for the creativity of his prank and took note not to mess with Vic for a while. Dude had grade-A revenge game.

Mr. B interrupted my thoughts as he cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, gather the team. We need to leave immediately if we're to get there by morning. Good work, Mr. Morgan."

Ten more hours, Sang. Hold on!

***

We drove through the night, Mr. B and Doc trading off about halfway. North did his vehicular magic and secured a van for us so that we wouldn't have to split up. I tried to convince Mr. B to let me take the wheel for a bit, after all, I do have my permit, but the entire group vetoed the idea, and North grumbled something about me driving us into the ocean. Mr. B tried to reassure me and said that he wouldn't even let Kota or Vic drive through the night yet, and they were much closer to getting their licenses.

We arrived in Slaughter Beach, Delaware just as the sun was rising, and the tiny town didn't look a thing like the name. It seemed peaceful, not villainous. We'd stopped just outside of town and everyone except Mr. B and Victor put on our coveralls. Even Gabe was focused enough that he didn't complain about the drab attire. Kota passed around the thermos of coffee, and we took a moment to go over the plan while we drank. It needed sugar and cream, but I kept that to myself and thanked him for the caffeine

"Mr. Blackbourne, Victor, and Nathan will go to the tech center and 'work' from there while 'directing' us to the problems." Kota summarized for us. "Silas and Gabriel will take the west corridor, North and Dr. Green will have the eastern, and Luke and I will float, focusing on the exterior." He passed the lock of hair around and we all took a long look. I pocketed it when it came back around and felt my fingertips tingle as I touched it. "We don't know what Sang Sorensen looks like, but she's at least fifteen, probably older, small, and has blonde hair." He passed us each a copy of two photos. "These are her sister, Marie, and the bully, Jade. Keep an eye on them, and we might find our girl. Records of Sang don't exist, so legally, they can't stop us from taking her, but it would be better that they don't even see it happening. If you lay eyes on her, alert us with the code word, sparrow, and try to get her attention. She's going to be frightened, and I wouldn't blame her for not trusting anyone, so make sure that each team has something she'll recognize."

Gabe held up the small bottle, Doc, the rolled notes, and I pulled out the hair.

"Remember," Mr. B picked up. "We have a secondary goal here as well. The Academy isn't happy with the reports of this place and want full surveillance installed as well. We may not find Miss Sorensen today, but by getting our cameras and microphones in place, they'll not only aid us in locating her, but in making this institution safer for all who are placed here. Gear up."

***