Ending ELE (ELE Series) (22 page)

“
Crap,” I say, raising my hands. Everyone follows my lead, including Sabby and Lillie. We all let go of our invisibility and the other two soldiers aim their rifles at Alec and Conner once they can see us. They seem to be making extra efforts not to point the rifles at the kids or women.
I guess that’s something,
I think to myself.

Tony is shaking, he
’s so angry.

“
Y’all are going to need to come with us,” the man with the light blue eyes says.

“
We could fight. Use our powers to rip those rifles from their hands,”
Tony tells me without looking in my direction.

“
Yes we could, but that won’t help us get my dad back or any of the others. Also, there’s no guarantee that one of them won’t have a twitchy finger.”
I’m not willing to risk Tony’s safety when that gun is trained on him. Even though I feel sick to my stomach, I have to trust that my vision a few days back was truth. That my friends and family will be safe like Tony told me they were on Valentine’s Day. It’s a small consolation, but it’s all I have to hold onto right now.

“
Take it nice and easy,” the lead soldier says, gesturing with his gun for us to move forward. We comply and walk towards the camp, guns trained skillfully on us. I glance at Tony and see his eyes turn a hazel green.

When we reach the perimeter fence, we turn right and follow it towards the entrance. The two soldiers stare solemnly at us as we approach. We are guided into the camp. Inside the fence are tents for as far as the eyes can see. There doesn
’t seem to be much activity outside of the tents, other than a few soldiers walking from here to there. We see Michael and the other soldier in front of one.

In the next second, Tony darts forward, lightning quick even without his powers, and punches Michael in the face before any of us can so much as register the action. He grabs ahold of Michael
’s BDUs and cocks his arm back to land another punch, but stops cold when the barrel of a gun presses into his temple.

“
Move back!” the soldier that Michael was speaking to earlier demands, holding the gun at Tony’s head.

Tony doesn
’t flinch a muscle, Michael’s collar still firmly in his grasp.

“
Don’t make this difficult,” the soldier warns.

“
Tony! Let him go.” I run up behind him and grab ahold of his arm. Nobody stops me or trains their guns at me. Tony releases Michael’s lapel and allows me to guide him a few steps back.

I turn my angry eyes at Michael.
“How dare you!” I point my finger accusingly at him. I have to force myself not to follow in Tony’s footsteps and punch this man’s lights out. “We trusted you!” I spit vehemently.

He wipes the blood from his mouth and looks at the red smear on his hand
, then looks back at me. “It’s not what it seems, Willow.”

My whole body is trembling with rage.
“Oh really?” I spit at him. “So you aren’t really a soldier? Those are just some digs you are wearing for the heck of it?” I look him up and down, snarling my lip. “You lured us! You were trying to lure me that night, weren’t you?”

His face reddens.
“Yes, but not to hurt you. You’re safe here. I just needed to bring you in.”

“
Safe? Is that why you have guns pointed at us?” Tony interjects.

I have to hold my arm out to keep him from charging forward and popping Michael again.
Even though I’d like to see the man bleed a little more.

“
Yes, you are. Look around. Nobody is pointing a gun at you anymore.” Michael gestures behind us.

We turn around and see the others holding their rifles at their sides. The soldier next to Michael has already lowered his gun but holds it ready in case Tony goes after Michael again.

“Dad!” Sabby yells and takes off behind me. I spin around to see him fling himself into my dad’s arms.

I exhale a loud swoosh of air.
“Dad!” I run to him and throw my arms around him as well. He holds us both tightly. Emotions are sloshing about within me: relief, confusion, anger, and even more confusion. “What is going on?” I ask my dad, moving away so I can look into his eyes.

“
I told you to wait until late afternoon. I was just about to head back to get you all when I heard the commotion,” my dad tells me.

“
You were going to come get us?” I ask.

He nods his head.
“Yes. There is so much to tell you. The others are all here. They are safe and sound.” He smiles broadly.

“
They’re safe?” I say absently.

He nods his head
. In the next second, I see the grumpy old man walk around the corner and into view.

“
Lee!” I run to his side and throw my arms around him.

He stiffens but then puts his arms around me, accepting my hug.
“Hey Willow. I’m so glad you’re safe!” he says back to me.

I move back awkwardly, remembering Lee
’s dislike for public displays of affection. “You’re glad that
I’m
safe?”

“
Yes! We were worried about you. Erik and I both went on the search and rescue missions with these fine soldiers.” Lee gestures towards the soldiers, who have relaxed a lot more. “Who would have thunk that this Yankee would have been the one to find you?” He walks over to Michael and slaps him on the back.

Michael winces but accepts Lee
’s gesture of affection. “Thanks for believing in me, Lee.” He rolls his eyes.

I try to circle my
mind around all this craziness. I turn to look at Tony and my friends, who are just as confused as I am. “I still don’t get it. Search and rescue missions? What’s going on? We saw these people hauling you away. They disabled your powers and still have our powers disabled.”

Lee rubs his chin between his thumb and index finger in a considering gesture.
“Yeah, that’s true. Truth is, we weren’t too excited about the way they hauled us out of the safe house. It wasn’t until we were brought here and everything was explained to us that we finally understood. They had to disable our powers and they still have to. We can’t chance the others that are out there,” he points to the woods, “getting a one up on us in here.”

“
I’m still not following, Lee.” Tony comes up and puts his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. We lean into each other instinctively, relief clearly seen in our actions.

My dad answers for Lee.
“Blake’s men. They aren’t just a small group; this is a massive effort on his part. In fact, he’s been turning Reapers and others with our powers, but no morality, loose in this area. There are some heavy hitters in league with Blake. There is an all-out hunt for you, Willow, with a great reward for the first one to bring you in alive. It’s amazing that we’ve made it this far without them catching us.”

My jaw drops. I knew we were being hunted by Blake and his men, but I didn
’t think of them as being an entire army much like this one. He’s been turning Reapers out on us... “Does that mean that he’s injecting more people with those shots?” I ask.

Michael answers my question.
“Our sources say that he still has all the people that Dr. Hastings gained control over. He’s used compulsion on some of them, but a good deal of them didn’t need compulsion. They’re in it for the money.”

I think about the masses of people that Dr. Hastings had working for him. I didn
’t even think about where they went or what happened to them. The things you don’t clue in on when you are running for your life every other second...

“
We need to take him down.” Alec comes forward. “I need to be a part of taking my father down.”

An older soldier, the one who had kept Tony from pummeling Michael again, nods his head.
“Yes, we need to take him down. After you’ve all been debriefed, we can discuss our plans. If you wish to be a part of the mission, we can make it happen. You will have to be sworn in. Are you prepared for that?”

“
Sworn in? Like join the military?” I ask.

He nods his head.
“Yes ma’am.” Sebastian jumps up and down in excitement next to me. I wonder if they’ll swear in the little guy too, just for kicks.

I
turn to look at Lee. “Does that mean that Erik and you were sworn in? Is that how you joined the rescue mission?”

“
Along with many others, including your little friend Candy,” he says.

“
Candy?” I was surprised that Lee, the man that seemed to despise our government, was now one of their employees, but the news about Candy—that, I wasn’t expecting.

“
Yes. She’s a spitfire too, a determined young woman at that,” Lee says.

“
Wow,” is all I can say.

“
I think we need to get this group to debriefing,” the soldier that Michael was originally talking to announces. He turns to Tony and holds out his hand. “I apologize for pointing my gun at you, son. I’m Major Jon Heart. You can call me Jon.”

Tony accepts his handshake. Jon introduces himself to all the others and of
course, when it’s Connor’s turn for introduction, he gets a good old dose of Connor’s humor.

“
Major Heart, would your friends say you are a lover not a fighter?” Connor asks with a wry smile.

Jon takes it in stride and smiles.
“I’m going to guess that you are Frank’s boy.”

Connor straightens up.
“Yes sir. That’s my dad.”

“
The humor gene must have gotten passed down to you,” Jon jokes.

Connor nods proudly.
“Can we see our parents now?”

Lillie jumps excitedly at Connor
’s side.

“
Yes. We’ll stop by their tent on the way to the debriefing. You will need to make it quick for now, but your little sister can stay with them. Maybe the boy too.” Jon looks over at Sabby.

“
I a big boy. I can be De-Bieefed.” He stands tall with a hand to his forehead in a salute. I nearly lose it laughing, but hold it together for Sebastian’s sake.

Jon crouches down to Sabby
’s level. “I know, son. I need you to take care of the girl though,” he whispers so Lillie can’t hear. “You know, like a real man.” Sebastian’s eyes glow.

“
I can do that,” Sabby whispers back and finishes his salute.

Jon ruffles his curls like we always do. It
’s that interaction that sets me at ease with Major Jon Heart. I get the distinct feeling that he must have a family too. Whether they survived the virus, I don’t know. I hope for his sake they did.

Jon and Michael lead the way down a row of tents and stop at one that has its flap halfway open.
“Frank?” he calls in.

Lillie and Connor don
’t wait for their parents to come out. They go barreling into the tent and cries of delight ring out inside.

His mom is sniffling with tears of joy when they all emerge a few minutes later. She pulls Claire into her arms and Claire gives me a huge smile over her shoulder.
“I’m so happy you all are safe!” his mom says. “You have no idea the fear we had when we got here and couldn’t find Lillie.” She turns to us. “Thank you for keeping my daughter safe.” She pulls Carrie into a hug next and then takes turns hugging and thanking the rest of us.

Jon clears his throat.
“I hate to break up this beautiful reunion, but we really must get these fine people debriefed. Can you keep the kids?” he asks Connor’s mom.

She nods.
“Happily!” She grabs Lillie and Sabby’s hand and guides them into the tent. “Guess what we have,” I hear her say from inside.

“
Tablets!” Sabby yells and Lillie shrieks.

I look over at Jon, who answers my question.
“We have a wireless connection device and electricity.”

Of course they would. They are the military after all.
I wait a moment for Sebastian to turn around and protest me leaving, but he seems just fine staying here. “We’ll be back in a few,” I say to Sebastian, even if only for my benefit.

We follow Jon and Michael down a few more twists and turns
, deeper into the base. We end at a large tent that reminds me a lot of the medical testing station they set up outside of the mountain. The large, white tent has clear plastic windows dotted along it for yards. Inside are hallways that lead this way and that to different offices.

We are taken into what looks like a command post. A large conference table sits in the middle of the room. Three thin screens are on portable stands with projected maps and live
-video feeds at one end of the room. A row of laptops and other technical equipment are on the other end.

Jon and Michael take a seat
at one end of the conference table and the rest of us sit around it. Jon opens his mouth to begin speaking but then looks towards the doorway behind where I sit. I turn to follow his gaze. “Erik! Morgan!” I yell in excitement. I hop out of my seat and run to give them a hug.