The Girl with the Last Miracle

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As soon as she heard the screaming, Ainika ran back into the room. She had been around Señor Abram Gonzales long enough to know what was happening. She took Caden's hand in her own and laid him down on the table. Abrams injected something into his arm, and Caden went still. Slowly but steadily, Ainika slid the scalpel into the hole the 'Tector Bug' had made in his leg. The second the scalpel entered, the bug ejected itself and hovered by her shoulder, helpfully shining light. ¡Allí! She found the tracker easily and caught the edge. It didn't come up easily, and so she poked deeper.

"Abram, míralo." He came over and saw the same thing she had: the tracker was welded into his femur. Removing it would be no easy task, but she trusted Abram more than anyone else. However, there was the pressing issue of the men that were likely closing in on their location right now. Abram's house had been built as a stronghold, but they didn't know what kinds of weapons these men could have. Judging by the technology in Caden's leg, it was bound to be pretty advanced.

Abram pulled out some other tools and set to work. Ainika would like to help, but she wasn't experienced enough. She winced as Abram seared off the tracker. From what she could see, the bone was glowing red hot. Even under the anesthesia, Caden was beginning to move. She pulled out another low dose of the drug and injected him. Then she took his hand and stroked his hair away from his sweaty forehead. After what felt like hours, Abram held up the tracker. He handed it to her with a knowing look. "Sabes lo que necesitas hacer."

"Si." She took the tracker and slid out the sealed hatch on the roof. It opened into a protected alcove, where she could see men with sniper rifles gathering below, preparing to surround the house. However, the walls were sheer and there was no access point save for the ladder, which was inaccessible to anyone Abram did not permit in. She pulled a drone off the wall if the alcove and attached the tracker to it. She flew it down to street level and slowly moved it at the speed of a walking person. She heard the shouts below her and knew she had been successful. She flew it into the building and dropped the tracker. Using the camera on the drone, she watched them enter the building and hide in the shadows. Then, with a huge smirk on her face, she engaged the drone's lock tools and shut and locked the building behind her. That would hold them for at least a few minutes, which would hopefully give Abram a chance to finish the surgery and head over to interrogate them.

She flew the drone back to her and did one last scan of the building she was in. Satisfied that no one was there, she pulled the drone back in and headed inside.

Inside, Abram had finished the surgery and Caden was waking up. Abram helped Caden sit up and sprayed a healing gel on the wound.

Ainika went to his side. "Are you alright?"

"Geez, you guys..." he shook his head. He tried to stand up, but slumped back to the table. "Ugh."

"Sorry, we had to give you an extra dose of the anesthesia since the tracker was actually lodged in the bone. Do you know they did that?"

"No."

"Did they put you under for any sort of operation recently?"

Caden was silent for a few minutes. "Well there was the time when I broke my arm. It didn't hurt that bad, but they said they needed to do surgery anyway." He looked down at the ground.

Ainika knew what he was thinking and took his hand. "You can't believe they would do something like that. You can't believe they would lie to you like that."

Caden modded, not daring to speak for fear je would break down. These men had used him at every step, and he had thought they wanted him because of his brains and confidence, for what he brought to their organization. But no, they had only wanted him for bait.

Ainika gave him a quick hug and then stood up. "Voy a mirar alrededor el edificio."

"Bien."

Ainika entered the key to unlock the building and took knives, as well as a motion detector. One could never be too prepared in this part of town. She set the detector and waited for confirmation that no one was around, and then she went outside. She had just started the perimeter sweep when she heard a noise behind her. She whirled around, brandishing her knives. But as she did that, she heard another sound, a much worse sound. Her detector crashed into the building and exploded. While she was distracted by that, someone jumped on her back and started choking her. She grabbed for her neck, but they were too strong. With her last ounce of strength, she stabbed her finger into the wall. And then, nothing.