Octagon Project 3: Zachary McHall

~-25-~

"That asshole really did take my model..." He growled, glaring at the screen in front of him with lethal eyes. Looking up, he met Mel's eyes before speaking again. "We've dealt with something similar." He then mentioned calmly.

"That was a laptop, not a bomb in your shoulder!" She cried in reply. How could he be so relaxed?! "And besides, I wasn't able to get rid of the tracer on the laptop."

"That's because it was destroyed," Zack grumbled in annoyance. "Rex knows bombs like the back of his hand and you know algorithms. So for God's sake will the two of you hurry up and work together and find a way to at least freeze the time!"

"Got any codes for something like that, Helix?" Rex asked, drawing out the 'e' in her codename. Seething in frustration, she pulled him away and sat down at the laptop, working on writing a code to overwrite the timer. But as she had told Zack, it wasn't a laptop. She wasn't even sure her codes worked on something like a mini-bomb.

"Kaylee, let go. The tissue will hold the chip in place." Zack said. "Roy, you can put down the camera now too." The two obeyed and Roy left his place on Zack's bed to stand up against the opposite wall with his arms crossed.

"How long is the count down for?" Roy asked.

"Ten days." Rex sighed before his eyes went wide and he gazed at Roy knowingly. Ten days was how long they had to come up with a plan to present to the CIA, there was no way that could be a coincidence. Rex placed a hand on the back of his neck and took a deep breath. "Kaylee, do you think you could make coffee or something? I have a feeling we're going to be here a while." Rex grumbled. Nodding, Kaylee pulled off the creamy white latex gloves on her hands, threw them in the trash bin, and left the room.

"Ten days." Roy exhaled heavily, closing his hazel eyes. "Why?"

"I can make a wild guess," Mel spoke from where she was briskly working. "The coincidence is terrifying, but, I'm assuming McHall made a guess on how long it would take to get Zack back under his control from the moment he was brought back in and set the bomb to go off a few days after that time period had passed. Then, he'd remove the chip, disarm it, and reinsert it as a plain tracking device."

"Talk about messed up." Roy grumbled. He glanced up at Zack who's fists were shut so tight his pale knuckles were white and his jaw was clenched fiercely; deepening the outline of his well-cut jawline. His blue and steel flecked eyes practically glowed from the light of the computer screen and were narrowly transfixed on the countdown in front of him; his eyebrows creased so deeply it looked almost painful to watch. Zack didn't respond to the conversation in the room. In fact, he acted as though he hadn't even heard it as he spoke again.

"How long until that algorithm is complete."

"It's tedious work, so be patient." Mel commented harshly. She didn't like to be rushed. "But I should be done in another ten minutes."

"Rex, on the corner of my desk, there is a journal. Try and find the page that has a sketch of the chip. It should give you plenty of information on its components. That way you'll know exactly how to tweak Mel's codes."

"He's doing what now?!" She shrieked almost defensively. Zack's jaw ticked.

"You said it yourself. This is not a laptop. So unless you want to kill me, Rex needs to adjust the codes to apply to this type of device." He grumbled lowly. Glaring menacingly, Mel spun back to the computer growling colorful threats under her breath. Zack shut his eyes after a long moment of silence hanging in the room and not long after, his breathing slowed evenly.

"I never would have thought the idiot would fall asleep at a time like this." Roy shook his head in disbelief. "That's not like him at all."

"Yeah, but remember, Zack isn't exactly "himself" right now. At least not the him you'd remember." Rex reminded with a worried face as he gazed at Zack for a long minute. "And this is the worst timing for him to turn on us..."