“And you, Mom! You can walk again!”
“It’s a miracle. Danny prayed over us in the Fayed Oasis, and wow—yeah, I still haven’t had time to wrap my head around it!”
“I’m so thankful you’re healed, Mom.” Meg swallowed hard at the lump in her throat. “I feel as if we could spend two weeks straight, talking and catching up, but we just don’t have the luxury of time right now.”
“I know, Meggie.”
“So,” she cleared her throat, “back to business. Would you please put me on speakerphone so I can talk with everyone?”
“Of course. One moment.” She looked down at the screen and tapped the image of a speaker. “Can you hear me?” She asked, raising her voice over the jet’s engine.
“I can. Hello everybody!” The family had been staring, slack-jawed at Margo since the moment Jacobi stepped out of his cockpit. Now their faces burst into wide smiles. The collective relief at the sound of Meg’s voice was palpable.
The family broke into a chorus of greetings.
“I love you all,” Meg spoke above the voices, “and I know we have a lot of catching up to do, but it’s going to have to wait.”
“Of course Meg,” Alik responded immediately to his sister’s take-charge tone.
“I need to tell you what I know of the forces amassing and what I’ve done so far to fortify the house. And by the way Alik, excellent idea.”
“What?”
“Parachuting in—excellent plan,” Meg praised.
“Thanks,” Alik beamed at Farrow as if to say, isn’t she awesome?
“Evan, you need to talk to everybody about your plan in just a moment,” Meg began. “It’s a brilliant idea, little brother,” she reassured.
“I’m glad you think so,” Evan blushed and glanced toward Kylie—the only other person in the world to have an idea that he’d been working on a secret project back in Cairo. Kylie smiled and nodded encouragingly.
“Okay, listen up.” Meg began telling the family about the leader of Company 17.
“Do you really trust him, Meg?” Theo asked point-blank.
“Yes, sir. I do.” Meg’s voice was steady, absolute.
“Well, you can read people better than anyone. If you’re confident in the Company Leader’s loyalty, then so are we.” Theo and Margo exchanged expressions of conviction.
“There’s more,” Meg sighed before she continued.
“What is it, Meg?” Creed asked. His tone was serious.
“Williams and Arkdone have formed an alliance for just this one purpose. They are joining forces, in the effort to finish this, once and for all. Having Company 17 on our side helps tremendously, but you have to understand...Arkdone has assembled all his metamonarchs and Williams is bringing all the metasoldiers who attacked you in Cairo. We have to assume the enemy will number anywhere from eighty to one hundred, all of whom will be heavily armed and highly trained.” Meg’s words hung like weights around her family’s necks.
“The odds aren’t looking good,” Cole voiced what everybody was thinking.
“I know, but we have some advantages they don’t, Cole.”
“Please remind me because right now I feel as if I just tried to swallow a bag of cotton balls.”
“They have weapons. We have weapons and our gifts. They think they have the element of surprise. We know they’re coming. They are banking on overwhelming us with their numbers, we have three dozen soldiers secretly on our side. They think they’re holding all the cards. They aren’t. We know this area, the house, the barn, the land. They will underestimate us at every turn.”
“Um, yeah. Inspiring speech. So why do I still feel like I’m going to hurl on my boots?” Cole moaned.
“You’d be crazy not to be scared.” Creed offered a tight-lipped smile.
“Evan, you’re up.” Meg’s words had everybody turn to look at Evan with curiosity.
“Right, okay. Well, while we were in Cairo, I spent a lot of time at the University’s Student Lab secretly working on two projects. With Kylie’s help, I finished them hours before the attack on the yellow house.”
“What projects?” Alik asked, his blue eyes searching.
“Remember when Arkdone planted nanoweapons into our bodies designed as triggers and explosives to keep us from being in close proximity to one another?”
“I’m sure everybody remembers that,” Meg’s voice took on a hateful edge as she recalled clearly the day she was subjected to the device that gave her “The Perfect Concussion.”
“Right,” Evan continued. “Well, that gave me the idea. I created my own nanoweapons.”