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Chapter 34

"Is everyone ready?" Kendra said.

"Everyone is in position," Dwight said.

"Are you ready for this?" Kendra asked.

"Let's finish this," I said.

"Be careful," Linda said.

The Glitches, my friends, and the Nons were mixed together to form a group. We were in Central park, just barely a block from Shiva headquarters.

"I'll do my best," I said.

"If you get the chance to end the Commissioner, do it," Diana said. "He can't get away."

"We'll take care of him," Kendra said. "If anyone is going to take that bastard down, it's going to be me. If you show up in time, I'll hand you the gun."

Diana nodded in mutual agreement.

"If anything happens--" I started to say.

"Don't," John said.

"No, I need to say this to stay calm. If I come out of there alive, I'll do more than buy you a new game. I owe you guys my life. You have been there with me from the beginning. I took it for granted. I'm sorry. I'm going to make this right, starting today."

"You're already miles ahead," Roy said. "We got you, man."

"We're your support and backup," Lynn said. "Let's kick some ass."

"Let's get our lives back," John said. "Bro it out."

I took his hand and pulled him in to a hug.

"Thank you for being there with me," John said.

"Thank you for letting me," I said.

We ended the hug with a fist bump.

"Everyone ready?" Kendra asked. "Phones on vibrate?"

With a few nods, Kendra suddenly boomed out her voice.

"Okay, class! Today, we're going to look around for different kinds of bees! Isn't that exciting?"

Everyone just looked at each other awkwardly. I don't even think they were faking it.

"Okay. Let's go!"

We marched single file into the woods like schoolchildren. When we were away from the eyes of people, Caleb did his thing. Kendra and I were the only ones that could be seen. Caleb was taking the Nons back around Shiva ready to infiltrate before guiding the Glitches into the building behind us. We just acted like two normal people out for a stroll through Central. After a few long minutes, there it was. It looked like an apartment building, just like Kendra said. The name "Shiva Condos" with a pitchfork and a snake weaving through it was on a crude sign hanging over the front.

"Scared?" She asked me.

"Terrified."

"So am I."

We walked inside. The temperature was warm. An older lady was at the reception desk. Her glasses had plastic beads on a string tied to them hanging around her neck.

"Hi, how can I..."

Her voice trailed off. She knew who we were.

"Don't panic. We're here to negotiate. We need to speak with him."

"I... can't authorize that, ma'am."

"Put him on the phone," she said. "I'll get you your authorization."

"He's in a meeting right now."

"I came all this way to turn myself in," I interrupted. "When he finds out I was here and he was never told, you will probably lose more than your job."