“Then what would the reason why the Marauders kept on coming back?”
“Those hostages, hopefully, they’d talk,” Grandpa answered.
Joseph and Steve finally agreed to treat a dozen of injured Marauders. The doctors removed all the bolts in each body while Colonel Eaton made sure that no Marauder survivor would harm them. Nurse Janette and Erwin also came out of the house to assist Steve. Maxine and Victoria helped Joseph with his needs. After each operation, Colonel Eaton laid individual body over a banana leave then tied their hands and feet. After two hours, they’d successfully treated their hostages.
“Thank you, doctors, and to all of you who helped. Please have a rest. I’ll take it from here.” Colonel Eaton announced.
“May I help you, Colonel?” Erwin asked, and Colonel agreed.
Maxine and Rashida went to the rooms while Denise wanted to catch up to Nurse Janette. She mentioned her survival story and how she saw Steve again. Meanwhile, Joseph and Steve decided to drink a cup of coffee.
“Next time you do a stupid prank, I swear I’m going to kill you,” Joseph said when he suddenly remembered Steve’s heroic action at Southcrest.
“Sorry. I knew I had to do it alone. You had your family waiting for you.” Steve replied.
“So, what’s the score between you and Nurse Janette?” Joseph teased him trying to change the subject.
“You know what she meant to me. I’ve been feeling the same ever since I met her. It’s just that I had to give up our relationship to find myself again after my folks died.” Steve smiled.
“Well, I want you to know that I’m happy for the both of you. I think you’ve matured so much?” Joseph tapped Steve’s shoulder, and they laughed.
“How’s my car? It was sweet of you to bring her here.” Steve teased back.
“Shut up. I repaired and cleaned it, do you want to see?” Joseph asked.
“Maybe tomorrow. You should get some rest. I know you’re on duty.” Steve replied. He wanted to help in the hospital, but he has a lot of work to do on the farm. Joseph asked him if he can monitor Grandpa’s condition while Sheriff Katcher hasn’t found out about his profession. Then Colonel Eaton also assigned him and Nurse Janette to take care of their hostages.
“He should be super tired,” Steve muttered to himself and smirked when he saw Joseph’s walkie-talkie over the dining table beside his cup.
He was about to clean their mugs when the he hit Joseph’s radio then it hardly fell on the floor. It got whacked and turned into pieces when he saw a small blinking rectangular chip that isn’t supposed to be on any radio, and the blinking red light looked suspicious. He wondered if he should show it to the Colonel, but he decided to ask Joseph first. It’s the only person that he trusts in the house aside from Nurse Janette.
Early morning, Steve immediately knocked on Joseph’s room. He opened the door and saw Maxine and their kids asleep.
“Hey.” Joseph greeted while rubbing his eyes.
“Hey. I wanted to see the car. Can you go with me?” Steve asked, but he looked straightly in his eyes. Joseph knew that Steve wanted to spill something, so he quickly changed his sleeping clothes. They walked fast at the back of the farm near where the cars were parked.
“We’re far now, what is it that you want to talk?” Joseph asked without hesitation.
“How many radios do you have in here?” Steve questioned. Joseph stopped for a while and tried to recall.
“One for me, Walter, Captain Ellis, Finley, dad and another extra. That would be six. Why?” Joseph answered.
“Do you still have them all?”
“Yes, we still use it. Why?”
“Can you give them all to me?”
“Okay, you’re getting weird.” Joseph got pissed because Steve wasn’t giving reasons.
“I saw this in your radio when I accidentally dropped it.” Steve handed out the chip that was still blinking from his pocket.
“What’s that?” Joseph had no idea.
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s a hacking chip. It was somehow the same with the chip the Marauders used when they attacked Los Angeles. Remember? When they tied a bomb on the Governor’s body? They showed it on TV.” Steve explained.
“Yea, but it’s still blinking. Is it working?”
“I don’t think so. It won’t work if not connected to a device, but we have to destroy all of it.”
“It must be the three Marauders that were hiding on the grass and in the barn. We thought that the radios got broke before their attack, so we put it inside the barn. The next day, the walkie-talkies were working.” Joseph remembered the day he got surprised that radios suddenly worked.
Captain Ellis came back to the farm to convey Walter and to fetch Joseph for his hospital service. Steve explained what he found out about the chip and Joseph connected it with the three Marauders that were hiding inside their perimeter a few days ago. They gathered the five radios and opened their bases then everyone got surprised to see five blinking chips. The Marauders hacked their communications, and it was the reason why they easily intercepted their every move.
“Should we break it?” Steve asked.
“Or we can use it to our advantage.” Captain Ellis suggested.
“How?” Tony asked.
“We keep them and use it as bait. We can send false messages to capture Big Ira. We kill him then we end the war. We have to get to the root to kill the leaves.” Captain Ellis explained.
“Great idea. We need to plan accurately,” Finley answered, and it was the first time that both of them agreed on a thing.
“I guess I’ll leave it to you.” Captain Ellis smiled, and they both nodded.
“It’s safe that we keep it to this group. We don’t know who to trust out there. For the meantime, we retain on our everyday duties while I get more information through our hostages.” Colonel Eaton suggested.
Colonel Eaton interrogated the hostages inside the barn together with Captain Finley, Tony, Steve, and Walter. The Colonel asked them if where was Big Ira, but nobody wanted to talk. A man in his middle twenties, one of the hostages, said that they’d rather die than spill out the truth. Colonel Eaton looked at Captain Finley then nod. All of a sudden, Captain Finley stabbed the foot of another hostage. The guy shouted in pain, as a thirteen-year-old boy immediately ran towards him.
“Please don’t hurt my father!” The boy blocked the guy and spread his arm.
“I’ll tell everything I know.” He added. The guy tried to stop his son, but he insisted.
“Follow me.” Colonel Eaton said then they went to Grandpa’s room as per his request. Grandpa requested if he can know the details from the Marauders.
“What’s your name?” Grandpa asked the boy.
“Carter, sir.”
“Tell us everything you know. Remember we want the truth.” Colonel Eaton ordered.
“We were just civilians when Marauders captured our family a few days after Senator Forbes died. They moved in the town and knew that my father is a policeman, so they added them to the group. Big Ira also wanted me to work with them, but Father insisted. Then they threatened the lives of my Mother and Sister.” Carter confessed to Grandpa Carmichael and Colonel Eaton.
“Where is Big Ira?” Grandpa Carmichael asked.
“They’ve been hiding in our farm. Four miles of north from here.”
“Why do you keep on attacking this farm?” Grandpa Carmichael interrogated Carter, but he stopped for a moment before answering.
“Big Ira believed that a large chest containing golds has been on your farm.”
“A chest of what?” Grandpa Carmichael can’t believe what he heard.
“Golds that could make him the wealthiest man on the planet. He said that it was his father’s fortune, but your father stole it.” Carter said to Grandpa, but he had no idea about the chest of golds.