"Taking air like a thief
As I choke on my breath
I'm the joke. I'm the butt.
Like a fall from a sky.
In the dark of the night
To a bottomless pit."
~ Hurts So Bad by Holmes
Adalynn's plan was simple.
After much conversing had occurred between the members of the ROP, they decided to act upon and agree with Adalynn's idea.
According to Brooke, Jason was the only one, besides Louis, who had access to the games room that was situated right off of his office. If Emma's chess-set was in there, they'd have to get past Jason first. That's where Daniel and Brooke came in.
The Haywards had been invited to the Osmonds' place for a dinner and chill-out evening that night. Judy would definitely be there and she would be expecting Daniel to be there too. However, what she didn't know was that Brooke was dehypnotised. She would still think that Brooke was completely clueless as to what was going on and that was what Brooke was to keep making Judy think.
During dinner, at a set time, Jackie would send a message to Jason asking him specifically if she could borrow Emma's chess-set. Jason would obviously say "no" to this request but it would also alarm him because he'd most likely be afraid that Emma might have left a clue in it before she left. Jason would then have to leave the table and go into the games room to get and examine the game and make sure nothing suspicious was in it. Brooke would have to follow him in there to see where he was keeping the game, but she'd need an excuse to get away from the table.
Daniel was to 'accidentally' knock a class of cold water into her lap. That way, Brooke could leave the room without drawing too much attention to herself. She would follow Jason into the games room and wait until he'd retrieved Emma's chess-set and had it in his hands before roughly brushing past him. If all went according to plan, Jason would drop the chess-set and Brooke would insist upon helping him pick up the scattered pieces.
She was to locate the two white knights in the chess-set and replace them with two others that Leo had stolen from Max's game box which was located in his room. She was to be given these by Leo before-hand and keep them safe in her pocket. Once she had taken the two white knights from Emma's game, she was to return to the dinner table.
After the meal was over, she would excuse herself, saying she was tired. Daniel would distract Judy, Louis and Jason with small talk while Brooke made her escape back into the biology lab. There, Hayley, Adalynn, Jackie and Leo would be waiting. She would give them the two chess pieces before returning to her room. The foursome would then, in turn, work together to find out what Emma meant when she said that "the answer was in the white knight".
When the ROP agreed to this, Brooke and Daniel left the lab to go and get ready for the dinner that was at hand.
As the door closed behind them, Hayley settled her chin on her hands and sighed, "This had better work."
"It will!" Adalynn assured her. "I'm certain of it! Jason will be way too clueless to realise that his little sister is in on the plan so he won't be a problem. It's Judy I'm worried about."
"Poor Daniel," Jackie bit her lip. "Imagine finding out that your mother could be involved in something criminal."
Adalynn shuddered and shook her head. "No, please, let's not talk about that."
"How do we know that Daniel won't turn us in?" Leo demanded.
"Because Brooke is his girlfriend and one of the most precious things to him in this world," Hayley flailed her arms around dramatically. "He would not stand by and let anyone hurt Brooke, and that's exactly what Judy's done. You can be assured that he WON'T let her get away with that."
Adalynn nodded thoughtfully. "Hayley's right. Brooke is the only reason Daniel's helping us."
"I never thought I'd say this but thank God for Brooke," Jackie muttered under her breath.
Hayley chuckled. "Y-yeah."
A few minutes later, a sharp rap at the door caught their attention. Adalynn opened the door and admitted Daniel and Brooke, who dressed up in formal wear, into the lab.
"How do we know this is going to work?" Brooke played around with her fingers nervously. "Judy might see straight through this charade."
Jackie frowned. "I don't see how."
"Yeah, just say the 'We were meant to be' line a few times," Adalynn advised as she shut and locked the door. "That should suck her right in."
"Good idea," Daniel nodded.
"The 'We were meant to be' line?" Brooke glanced quizzically at him.
"Er ... t-that's what you kept saying to me when you were - uh - hypnotised," he shrugged.
"Oh," Brooke nodded her blonde head, indicating that she understood.
"Okay, so everyone knows the plan?" Leo questioned as he stepped forward and attached a mini mic on the underside of Brooke's collar.
"Um ... Leo? What are you doing? And where did you get that?" Hayley questioned sternly.
"I found it in amidst a jumble of Max's gadgets," Leo returned. "I've connected it to the server and attached it to my Louie. We'll be able to hear everything that's said during this dinner."
Adalynn nodded. "That's a good thought, Leo. We could use this to pick up on something that Judy or Jason might say throughout the night."
Daniel sighed, showing that he was pretty reluctant to use the mic. "Urgh, fine okay. We'll use it. Well, we'd better go, babe. We don't wanna be late."
The rest of the evening passed without too much drama. Hayley, Jackie, Adalynn and Leo listened in on the other end of the line as Brooke and Daniel worked their magic and secured the chess pieces.
At about eight o'clock, Brooke came knocking on the lab door and handed Adalynn the required items. She disappeared almost as soon as she arrived and the ingenious minds of the Ravens set to work as they thoroughly examined the wooden pieces.
It took them a few minutes to find it, but they did. Jackie was struck with the thought first. She took out a first-aid kit from Daniel's backpack that he'd left on the floor and located a pair of tweezers. Then, after she tipped one of the white knights over, she slowly, carefully and painstakingly, she lifted the green velvet pad that covered the underside of the chess-piece. Inside the wooden figurine, the tweezers bumped against something hard. Jackie pulled out a micro size chip.
"You're a genius, Jackie!" Adalynn exclaimed excitedly. "That's a computer software chip! If I can grab somebody's laptop, we can insert it inside the device panel. Emma must've left us a message or a clue or something that must be on it!"
"Wow. Emma's more clever than I gave her credit for," Hayley murmured, her eyes fixated on the tiny chip. "I would have never thought to leave a clue in there."
"I'll go grab my laptop," Leo volunteered. "I won't be a sec."
He was soon back with not only a laptop, but a power cable and a bright desk lamp. "Thought we could use these too," he shrugged as he dropped everything onto the table. "I - I saw Aspen following me, though, which was weird, but I think I managed to lose her."
"Crap!" Adalynn's head snapped up and she glanced towards the doorway. "Jackie, you'll need to stand guard at the door to make sure Aspen isn't listening in on us. She's been following me around as well and she thinks we're up to something. If she leaks anything to Louis, it'll blow our cover and we can't let that happen!"
"I'm on it," Jackie quickly scooted off her chair and left the room.
"Okey-dokey, let's see what the chip has to say," Adalynn told herself as she powered up Leo's laptop and slipped the small contraption inside the panel.
For a minute, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, a large black box popped up on the desk-top. It was a video recording and as Adalynn pressed play, the panicked, tear-streaked face of Emma showed up on the screen.
"Max," she began as she glanced around her furtively. "I lied to you and I'm so sorry for that. I don't have much time but I have to tell you everything I know, even though it's just bits and pieces ..."
"This better not be some 'I-love-you' confession," Leo huffed.
"Shhh!" Hayley frowned at him.
"... Anyway, the day of the satellite launch, the reason I was late to the picnic you set up for me was because - well - I was busy hacking into the NASA servers."
Adalynn drew back in shock and her breath caught in her throat. "W-what?"
"I helped bring down the satellite and I did this all from your laptop."
Hayley's eyebrows flew up in horror. "WHAT?"
"Wait ..." Leo held out a hand to silence her. "Max's laptop connects to encrypted sites that normal laptops can't; so that'd make sense."
"H-how do you even know that?" Hayley eyeballed him.
"He showed it off to me to impress me," Leo shrugged sheepishly. "I - I didn't even think about it again ... not until now."
Adalynn rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention back to the video.
"It was Jason Osmond that told me to do all this," Emma's tearful voice played through the speakers. "He told me that he was working with the government on a classified project but I know that he's lying. He never told me that he was going to shut down the satellite and when I found out, I confronted him and then he threatened to kick me out of the Greenhouse. I knew this would break my parents' hearts so I kept quiet. But today, when I tried to call NASA and tell them everything, Jason said he would turn me in. It was his word against mine. Oh my god, I - I'm so ashamed, Max. I couldn't risk my parents finding out so I agreed to leave ..."
"Emma, you ready ...?" Jason's domineering tone cut through the air.
"I - I don't know who he's working for but I know that he's not alone," Emma hastily finished. "Please be careful, Max, trust no one!"
"EMMA?"
Emma leaned forward and stopped the recording; the screen freezing on a picture of her mascara-smudged face.
Adalynn sat back in her seat, her face an expression of shock. "H-how could Jason do this?" she whispered.
Hayley turned around in her chair to face Adalynn and Leo. "We need to show this video to Max and we need to do it ... NOW."
~~~~
Gif: Emma hacks the NASA servers.
A/N: Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've just been pretty busy. So, what did you think of this chapter? Was it intense? Suspenseful? Sad? Upsetting? Why do you think Emma was addressing the video to Max? Does he know something that the rest of the ROP don't? And what about Jason? Why would he recruit Emma to take down the satellite? Do you think Daniel and Brooke will stay true to the mission or will they turn in the rest of the ROP? Please comment your opinions down below, I'd love to hear from you. Have a great rest of your day and stay tuned for the next upcoming chapter! xx :)