A few moments after Jackson leaves the basement I turn to follow. When we get back upstairs Jackson looks down to the ground shaking his head. "Why the hell does she have Mansdale in the basement?"
I sigh and shrug my shoulders, "I don't know, Jackson. But we have to trust that she has a reason."
"Trust. You want to trust her. After everything she did to us?" Jackson looks up to me, in shock and anger. "Kat, we had to leave Africa, our home, because of her book. She sold out!"
"She tried to set the record straight. The Shepherd Hunters would have come after us either way. She tried and she failed, but at least she tried." Jackson just shakes his head before scoffing. "You know it's true, Jackson."
Jackson takes a deep breath and nods his head before turning and heading back downstairs into the lab, "Come on, we have work to do."
As the two of us make our way down the stairs to the lab, we see Mitch. Upon seeing him I call out, the three of us meeting at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, Mitch. Did you know that Jamie is keeping Mansdale prisoner in the bottom of this plane?"
Mitch nods, "Yeah. And, on the one hand, it is dark and horrible. On the other hand, the Shepherds did almost wipe out all of humanity. Oh, and also the whole vigilante thing is kind of working of me."
I shake my head, "Okay... did not need to know that."
Mitch cringes slightly, "Sorry. But you can't tell me that half the things Jackson did when we were trying to stop the shepherds and cure the animals didn't turn you on, just a little bit."
I take a deep breath before nodding as I shrug. Jackson just lets out a loud sigh, "Mitch, this isn't a joke. We have to keep an eye on her."
"Okay." Mitch nods and looks around.
I glance into the lab and clear my throat, "We should be close to New York by now, I don't think we'll get a lot of work done."
Mitch nods, "The lady's right. Plus, I think we could all use a break from volcano erupting, burrowing vultures anyway."
"I think I could go the rest of my life without seeing them again and wouldn't feel bad at all." I smile over to Mitch. Mitch nods and heads back in the direction he came and I wrap my arm through Jacksons, "Come on, let's head back up to the bar and relax for a little while."
"I don't think alcohol is the best idea right now."
"Then we won't drink. But we can still talk and just relax for a few minutes. No vultures. No shepherds. No Jamie. Just you and me."
After a minute or so of thinking, Jackson nods and the two of us head upstairs. Once we get up there Jackson sits on one of the couches and stretches out and I sit next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. "You know I don't think I can remember the last time we sat like this," Jackson comments as he wraps an arm around me.
"I can't either. We haven't done a lot we use to do these past few years."
"We haven't really had the ability to."
I nod and take a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right."
"But we have time now and we stayed together. That's what matters." Jackson looks around the room before standing, "You know what else we haven't done in a while." Jackson doesn't look back to me as he walks across the room to the stereo, "danced." he turns back to me and smiles, the same smile a mischievous child would give before he selects a song. Once Jackson picks the song and presses play, the stereo begins to play.
I hear the drums echoing tonight.
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation.
She's coming in, 12:30 flight.
The moonlit wings reflect the stars the guide me towards salvation.
(Africa by Toto)
I chuckle softly as I shake my head and stand, "Africa, really?"
Jackson shrugs, "I thought it was a good fit for us." he takes a few steps toward me and meets me halfway, placing a hand on the small of my back and taking mine in the other, as I place a hand on his shoulder. "Plus, I thought you loved Toto."
I chuckle, "I do, but I haven't heard this song in ages." As the song hits the chorus, Jackson starts to sing, for nothing more than the purpose of making me laugh.
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had.
I laugh softly as Jackson and I place our foreheads together and sway to the music. A few moments later we hear Abe calling out for the doorway, "Well, it's nice to see you two are still just as in love as you were 10 years ago." he chuckles, "and still complete goofballs."
Jackson and I laugh, as Jackson turns to Abe, "Only when it's completely appropriate."
Abe nods and smiles, "We are about to land, we need to get ready to head out." Jackson and I nod before we follow Abe down to the lab, where Mitch and Jamie are already getting ready. Mitch meets us at the bottom of the stairs and Abe hands him a small glass tablet. "Use it to track the bacon. I've had luck blocking the hybrid signal before, but this beacon is a whole different beast."
Jackson nods as he hands a few of the devices Abe was able to make to Mitch, "okay, so we are gonna work on a solution here and we'll talk you through it once you find the beacon."
"In the meantime, use these things for signal dampening."
Mitch looks over to Abe a little confused. I chuckle softly, "Wrap it in tinfoil. Use the copper wire to.."
Mitch nods, "Yeah, I got it. Make it all electric-y." Mitch looks down at his arms that are a pill of tinfoil, wires, and other things."
Logan walks into the lab from the vehicle bay. "Ready to go?"
Jamie grabs a bag and looks over Mitch, "Yeah, let's go."
"Be careful guys, especially around Abigail," I warn.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine." Jamie smiles as she shrugs.
The three of them head out, leaving Abe, Jackson, and I on the plane to try and figure out how to deactivate the signal. I sigh softly as we begin, "This would be so much easier if we could go with them."
Abe nods, "Yes, but we can't risk you two being spotted by Shepherd hunters."
"I know, I know." I take a deep breath as the three of us get started.
After a little while, I glance around and Jackson looks over to me, "What is it?"
"Have either of you seen Clem or Dariela?"
"No, why?"
"It's not like Clem to miss something like this. With that big brain of hers, I figured she'd be all over this. Same with Dariela. I'm gonna go look for them, make sure everything alright."
Abe and Jackson nod, letting me head out to look for the girls. When I get out to the cargo bay I see Dariela talking to Clem, "Going somewhere?"
"After all my tune-ups, it turns out the truck is just missing a fuel cell relay. It must have come loose when we were getting out of that cabin. Luckily, I know a few good garages in the area."
"I don't think you should go out by yourself," I call out to Clem when I do the two turn to me.
Dariela nods, "I agree. Let me come with you. It'll give us something to do while those guys work on the beacon."
Clem chuckles, "I appreciate the concern, but I think I go this one." Without more, Clem starts up her bike, slides on her helmet and speeds off.
I walk down to Dariela, "She does realize that's not a smart thing to do right now?"
Dariela shrugs, "I don't know. She's almost as smart as all of us put together, so I'd assume so." she crosses her arm and looks out the back on the plane.
I head back to the lab and hear Mitch on the speaker, "Guys, guess what? Abigail's gunning for Reiden Tower. So whatever you're cooking up, better make it fast."
"Yeah, we're on it." Jackson nods before looking for to me, "Did you find the girls?"
I nod, "Yeah, Clem is out getting a part to fix the car, and Dariela is waiting for her to get back."
Abe chuckles, "Seems backwards. Saving Reiden Tower."
I shake my head and walk over to the two of them, "We're saving New York City and, perhaps the entire East Coast."
Jackson nods and clears his throat, "Alright, so, look, this is hopefully what Mitch has access to inside of Reiden. We'll need to boost our hybrid signal to match the intensity of the beacon."
I glance down at the things in front of us as Jackson starts to wrap the hybrid in tinfoil, "Lemon Juice?"
Abe looks over to me just as confused, "I know it's a good conductor, but why do we have so much?"
Jackson shrugs, "Apparently, Jamie makes a mean Tom Collins. It's nice to know she had so much time for hobbies in between destroying lives. You lost a lot because of her, Abe."
Abe shakes his head, "You need to stop using me as an excuse. Jamie was just doing what she thought was right. Despite everything that's happened, I'm glad we're back together. No matter how messy it gets, we're still a family. You, me, Kat, Dariela, Jamie, Mitch... Clem..." Abe pause before saying, Clem.
Jackson looks over to him, "What's going on? What aren't you telling us?"
"I need to find Dariela."
I shake my head, "Abe, we need to talk."
"I'll be right back. Just use the electrical tape and the lemon juice, okay?" I look over to Jackson a little confused. Abe has never acted that way before.