Machine Messiah Chronicles : Project Apex

Chapter 8 Devils Due

       Five years later, while Joe and his team of scientists were hard at work synthesizing the Blue Youth formula to work with the nanobots, Amy strolled into the laboratory and took detailed notes of everything that was happening in the room. Joe looked up from his work as Amy made a bead towards him. Her expression was hard to read, so he wasn't sure what to expect. "Mr. Lexington would like it very much, if you'd stopped by his office before you left to go home, tonight."

"Of course. Is there a problem?" Amy smiled at Joe but never answered his question, as she clicked her heels and walked away from him. "Don't forget to stop by the office, Mr. Valentino." She said, in a singing sort of way then Amy was gone. The other scientists paused in their work after witnessing the interaction between Joe and Amy.

   He glared in their direction and they immediately went back to work. Joe at that moment had a terrible feeling that everything in his life was going to unravel the moment he stepped into Don Lexington III office. He glanced up at the scientists as they diligently worked on the Blue Youth project.

    "I'll be back. While I'm gone, I am leaving Brenda in charge."

  Brenda eyes lit up for the first time and she actually had a happy expression on her face. That was the first time that Joe had ever seen the woman smile. Philip Hamilton being the senior member of the group grunted in disgust but said nothing more on the matter. Pulling out his cell phone outside the laboratory, Joe dialed his wife's number.

   Laciana was at home, trying to teach their son mathematics but he was so advanced, that she gave up and decided to make them a baloney sandwich with lettuce and Swiss cheese. She picked up her phone while keeping a close eye on Kyle as he was working on several calculus and algebra problems on a holo-pad. They were the highly advanced high school level mathematics.

   "Hello? Joe, what's wrong?" Kyle hearing his father's name not too mention the worried tone in his mother's voice as she spoke drew his attention away from the math problems in front of him. Math problems that he had already solved the moment his mother stood up to answer her phone.

   "I need you to start packing anything you can carry with you. We're all leaving Trinity, tonight. Please don't asked me explain now. I don't have much time here. Look, what I need you to do is trust me on this. Can you do that?" Joe was practically pleading on the other end of the line. "Yes, of course. I love you."

    There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone and then Joe spoke. "I love you too. I'll see you both when I get home." 

Laciana's heart skipped a beat as she hung up the phone. She turned to Kyle, her eyes wide with fear and urgency. "Kyle, we have to pack. We're leaving tonight."

"What's going on?" Kyle asked, his mind racing with possibilities.

"I don't know, but your father said we have to trust him. We have to leave everything behind and go."

Kyle nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. He quickly packed a small backpack with essentials while Laciana gathered important documents and cash. They both moved with a sense of urgency, their minds racing with questions and fears.

 He did not understand what was going on but whatever it was it had to be really bad to scare his father like that. Though Kyle could not see his father, he was able to pick up the sudden spikes in his heart rate, through the phone.

  Kyle sat on the edge of his bed, backpack ready, his heart racing as he remembered listening intently earlier to his father's panicked voice on the other end of the phone. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew it had to be something really bad to scare his usually composed father like that.