I bit my thumb nail and paced around the room. I didn’t have a profile for Ryder or Vanish. I tried to call any of the numbers in my phone to contact the Last Line, but all of the numbers were busy.
“What about an exact time and place that an occurrence happened on a pretty large scale.” I asked, turning back to look at the hologram that was doing nothing but watching me as I processed the information.
“As long as the usage was in the tier two range or higher and it was within the last ten days.”
I pulled out my phone and got the GPS location and the time that I called Sam to ask him to send Vanish. “At eight o’clock PM three days ago, near these coordinates,” I showed him the phone, “A teleporter used her abilities. She was injured and she had another injured person with her. They didn’t reappear where they were supposed to.
“I will get you the most recent location that this ability was used. It will take roughly two hours. You should go and get some rest.” He patted my head and I could almost feel his hand but it was only wishful thinking.
I left the office and as soon as the door shut my stomach growled like a lion. I followed the hallway to the kitchen. I started to go through the fridge.
“Would you like me to cook you something?” Alrick asked entering the room from the deck out behind the house.
“I don’t want you to go to any trouble.” I said, but my stomach interrupted me.
“Grace you must get something straight. I am here to take care of you and your family. I take great pride in caring for the bunch of you. It is a difficult task at times but things like cooking are never any trouble.” He pushed me out from the fridge.
“How can you have pride in things?” I asked.
“I am a caretaker not an engineer. You should direct questions such as those to Chuck; he would know the answers before I would. Go and wait on the deck, it is a beautiful day and you need to relax for a while.” He pointed to the deck.
I held up my hands in mock surrender. Then I turned and left the kitchen.
I went out onto the deck and sat down in one of the chairs. I had a great view of the lake and the woods. To my left I could see the mountain and a glint at the top, the observatory.
I laid my head back and closed my eyes for a moment.
“Grace, Grace.” Someone said softly shaking my shoulder. I jumped slightly and opened my eyes.
“What is it?” I asked slowly remembering where I was sitting.
“Your dinner is served.” Alrick said pointing to the two plates of food sitting on the table in front of me.
“How long did I sleep?” I asked picking up a fork. I took a bite of the food and tried to contain myself as I chewed. It was the best steak that I had ever eaten.
“You slept for about an hour. I take it that the food is good.” He smiled with pride.
“It’s so good.” I was all but shoveling the food into my mouth.
I returned to my father’s office when I was finished with my meal. The room was empty but shortly after the door shut, he rematerialized in the center of the room.
“I hope that you got some rest like I suggested.” The hologram said with a stern look.
“I got a few moments of shut-eye. Did you find anything?” I asked becoming impatient.
“Sorry, yes I did find something.” A map appeared in the air between us. “With the coordinates and the time that you gave me, I was able to generate a rough profile on the Kinetic in question. When you told me that the person was a teleporter, I assumed that there would be another identical spike at the same time, but it didn’t.” he showed me the spike when she disappeared.
“So they just disappeared?”
“For almost three hours they were not in this plain of existence. Take that at its face value, I have no clue where they were. When they did reappear it was several hundred miles away in the dead center of a crowded intersection.” He moved the map to the second spike.
“Are they alright?” I asked.
“Through some not so public channels I was able to secure a police report. A nearby police officer responded to two unconscious people, one with a gunshot wound. He took them to the hospital where they are undergoing treatment and under twenty four hour police watch. At least until they get more information.”
“I need an address.”
“I assumed you would. It’s in the printer.” He pointed to a freshly printed piece of paper.
Chapter 31: Flight
I grabbed the page out of the printer and left the office. I needed to find a way to get from Eastcroft to a small town south-east of Mankato, Minnesota where Ryder and Vanish had reappeared. I wasn’t exactly a legal driver and I wasn’t sure how a run in with the police would end.
I contemplated going back to see if Sam had some one that could drive me, but that whole place was still locked down from the last mission. Going there would only mean complications and wasted time.
I took out my phone and went to the map app. I entered the city of Mankato as my destination just to see how long the drive would be from my current location. It calculated for a few seconds and returned eighteen hours give or take.
I went down to see Chuck who I figured would be the best person to ask about travel plans. I returned to the garage where I assumed he would still be working on the vehicles. He had pulled Ryder’s car into the garage and started to disassemble the thing.
“Chuck!” I yelled walking into the open door.
“Under the car.”
I walked around to the front side of the car where his legs stuck out from underneath.
I knelt down beside him, “Hey, got a minute? I need your help.”
“What do you need?” He slid out from under the truck. He stood up and wiped grease from his hands with a rag he had hanging from his pocket.
“I have to go to Mankato, Minnesota. It’s an eighteen hour drive from here. I was wondering if there were any toys down here that could shorten that trip.” I followed him as he carried a part from Ryder’s car to his work bench.
“Land or air?” he looked up from a part that he was cleaning.
“Whatever is faster and can be used to transport at least two extra people back.”
“There is a small aircraft that your father was working on. It was supposed to be a “behind enemy lines drop craft” but he was never able to complete the stealth package. It’s fast, flies, and is very reliable.”
“I don’t think that we will need any stealth.”
He walked away from the workbench towards the back of the garage. I followed him past the many cars lined up along the walls. A small camera scanned his face. He then held up his hand. The camera then moved over to me. I did the same as he’d done.
Thin lines on the wall appeared made of bright white light. The section of the wall that was outlined then slowly slid into the ground.
Behind the wall sat a V shaped aircraft. It was a grey color, smooth finish with no lines what so ever. The cockpit was molded with the top and a passenger area tucked underneath. The engines were hidden in the wings, and there was a gun mounted to the front.
“Who can fly this thing?” I walked around it, taking it all in.
“Aside from your father, I am the only person that has been trained to fly this aircraft.”
“Will you pilot for me?” I emerged from under the wing.
“It will take an hour to prime the power cell and make sure that it is safe to fly. She has been sitting in this room alone for almost two years. I now regret not giving this vehicle more attention.” He said walking over to the wall next to the door. He pulled a lever that was hidden inside of an electrical box.
The ceiling opened like a huge steel iris. Sunlight poured in from the outside as the sun made its final decent behind the mountain.