Chapter 15
When Pierce learned that Danielle had shot his dog, he was furious, until Colt pointed out that it was a shape-shifting Thule and that somehow it had come from a program funded by the senate committee that Pierce’s own father sat on.
“As for you,” Colt said, turning to Jonas, “start talking.”
Jonas didn’t say a word. He just stared at the USB drive that Colt held between his fingers.
“He’s probably a shapeshifter too,” Pierce said. “You need to put him in restraints or shoot him with a tranquilizer or—”
“Enough,” Colt said, and for once Pierce stopped talking.
“It’s not what you think,” Jonas finally said.
“Okay, then what is it?”
“If I tell you, they won’t help me anymore.”
“If you don’t, you’re going to end up in one of those underground prisons,” Colt said. “The choice is yours.”
Jonas sighed. “Have any of you heard of the Tesla Society?”
None of them had.
“What about you?” Jonas asked, looking directly at Colt. “Has your grandfather ever mentioned it?”
“Not that I remember.”
“It’s kind of like the Illuminati, only most of the members are scientists and inventors. You know, people like Einstein and Steve Jobs. Anyway, the government wrote them a blank check and asked them to find a way to predict where the Thule are going to open the gateway, and then shut it down.”
“What does that have to do with the guy on the armored ultralight?” Colt asked.
Jonas closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as though what he was about to say was going to be painful. “I know one of the members. He has a theory that he can’t prove, so he asked me to help.”
“You?” Pierce asked. “Yeah, right.”
“Leave him alone,” Stacy said.
“My contact can’t send the data over e-mail, so he has it delivered,” Jonas said. “And since the information is . . . well, sensitive, he prefers to deliver it whenever we’re on patrol. That way it doesn’t go through inspection at the front desk.”
“What kind of data?” Colt asked.
“The coordinates for every active portal since we started tracking them back in 1956.”