Phil guides me away from the rubble and we walk down the street toward the diner. The parking lot is empty except for a gold SUV that's sitting by the back entrance, and Phil knocks on that door three times, pauses, knocks four times, pauses again, and then taps the door once more. A petite older lady opens the door and pulls us inside before locking it again behind me. She doesn't say anything, but ushers us down the narrow hallway and into a small, but comfortable office. A man is pacing the room, muttering to himself, and if I had to guess, I'd say that he wasn't much older than my father. When he hears us enter, he stops and spins to face us. His forehead is creased with worry, and his warm chocolate eyes remind me of comfort and safety.
"Where are my boys, Phil?" he demands, and I realize that the reason his eyes evoke such strong feelings from me is that they're just like Luke's. He glances at me and then back to Dr. Roberts. "I haven't heard from them since this morning, and North was supposed to work three hours ago." He sighs and collapses into a chair in the corner. "He's never missed a shift, and when you called, I closed up and sent the staff home."
Phil looks at me and I swallow back my nerves. "Sir, I know that you were there when we were all at the hospital, but I don't really remember any of that." I step forward and offer him my hand. "I'm Sang."
His eyes go wide and he looks me over from head to toe. "Well, I'd never have guessed that you were the same little bird!" He purses his lips and shakes his head. "I don't imagine that Gabriel has been too happy with that hair color on you, though."
I shake my head and feel tears well in my eyes. "No, sir, I don't imagine he will be, but he doesn't know about it. I haven't seen any of them since this morning, and when I came back to an empty house, I knew something was wrong." I take a deep breath and close my eyes. "I did what Victor had showed me and tracked their phones, and they all went inactive around the same time at a building downtown." I pull out the laptop and put it down on the small table in the middle of the room. I pull up the map that I'd been using and point out the route they'd taken. "Owen's backup phone went off a little while later right here, and I'm just speculating, Sir, but I think that they've been taken to the site of this summer's explosion."
Phil puts a hand on my shoulder and the other two look closer at the screen.
"Call me Uncle, little bird, and why do you say that they were taken to this place? I agree that the location is probably correct, but why do you assume that they have been taken?"
I look at Phil and the silent older woman and then back to Uncle. "Well, I know that Kota's mom and sister were sent to stay with you, but did anyone tell you why?" He shakes his head and I bite my lip. I'm a little upset that the guys didn't warn him. "See, the guy that hurt a bunch of us a while ago, the one that left the masks and blew up the warehouse...someone picked up where he left off and has been stalking me and my team. I found audio from Kota's phone that sounds like there are two people, maybe three, possibly a rogue Academy team, that plan on torturing and then killing the boys for this other Volto's death." I wipe the tears from my eyes and continue. "They said that it wouldn't happen until tonight, but that's all I really got before the phone was destroyed. Please," I beg. "I've got a plan, but we've got to go now. They've already been at these crazy people's mercy for hours. We can't wait."
My speech must work, because I get a firm nod from the three other people in the room and am being whisked back out to the parking lot without another word being said. We pile into the gold SUV and the little old lady gets in the driver's seat. Uncle pulls the small black velvet case out of his pocket and dumps three ear buds into his hand. "Take these," he orders as he passes them out. "Miss Rose will be our wheel-woman, and I'm going to keep us coordinated."
We head down the expressway toward the docks and I go over the details of my plan as we drive. "I'm going to crash their little party as soon as we verify that we're in the right location." I wave to my outfit. "I'm going to pretend to be drunk and take the risk that they don't see me as a threat. When I have eyes on the boys, I'll keep the kidnappers busy while you sneak up on them from behind. It's an insane plan that's full of holes, but I can't really think of anything better than improvising. I know that I'm new to the Academy, but the boys and the Reese team have been training me since day one. I have to try, and we can't risk tipping off the mole."
***
