Influx (Book Four)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Woah," a female voice says, and I raise my head confused. Blinking surprised, I am not at home and why am I so warm? Glancing down I see Alexander still out cold and Cathleen in the doorway confused.

"What century is it?" I ask her and she smiles slightly.

"It's seven-thirty in the morning," she says the amusement slipping into her voice. Trying to get up, Alexander grips me tighter. Bonking his forehead with the palm of my hand, his eyes shoot open in surprise and his grip loosens enough for me to get up and fix my hair.

"I should get back to work," I say disoriented. Attempting to straighten out my clothes, I pop in two pieces of gum and spray perfume.

"If Cabe wasn't in serious danger this wouldn't fly," Cathleen says disapprovingly, and I snicker.

"Just keep telling yourself that," I mumble as I walk past her and she snorts.

Returning to my lab I spend the entire day burning through ideas until much later in the evening I finally get it. I just need to make it now and then have Dr. Hayes arrange the surgery. Ordering all of the materials I am going to need, I do emergency shipping from one of my favorite suppliers and they give me a call.

"Beta speaking," I say as I pinch my phone between my shoulder and ear. She wouldn't recognize the name Hadley.

"Hi Beta, we've received your order and will have everything delivered by tomorrow morning except for the coating material. Unfortunately, we need to pull that from our Texas warehouse, we will get that to you the day after," my account manager Jamie says.

"It didn't say that on the website, there won't be an extra charge will there?" I ask tentatively.

"No, and we are refunding you part of your shipping because of the inconvenience," she says, and I breathe a sigh of relief. She's always been a great account manager and transparent with me. I would need the sealant to finish everything before I put the micro pieces together. But I could at least get something done tomorrow.

"Thank you," I say.

The next day I spend most of my time cutting all of the pieces out, but I get snagged waiting for the coating. Just as I get the message it's been delivered; my watch starts beeping at me. Clicking accept on the popup, I grab my mask and sprint towards the roof. Meeting up with the other three we take off together and head towards the museum that was just robbed. We meet with the police on the scene and split up to help with the search.

I spot the getaway vehicle quite a few blocks away and Alexander and I go to stop it. Landing in the middle of the road, I drain the battery with ease and the car starts to splutter and slows as Alexander stops it with a firm hand that dents the hood of the car. Aviva appears as guns are pulled and they fall apart as people rush out of the vehicle.

"Goodnight boys," I say to the two I am behind and I pull most of their energy and they collapse onto the ground as Aviva and Cathleen take care of the other two. Glancing into the van, I see no artwork, frames, or even canisters the art would be in.

"Um, guys?" I ask and suddenly, the whole car catches fire. Sprinting away from the flames, we drag the unconscious men away in confusion. Calling and reporting the fire, I get patched through to the police chief.

"We found the second van with the stolen art," he tells me, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Get it out of the van, this one just exploded," I say, and he stays on the line with me while they transport the art back to its home. Someone comes to pick up the thieves in question and we all take off towards the tower go enter our reports and eat dinner. Landing inside the bubble that hides our headquarters away I keep picking at something on my neck under my mask. It's been itchy and irritated for days now.