“Brilliant ingenuity, Evan. How did you know we’d need this?” Theo asked.
“Yeah, it was part of my original vision. The one I shared only with Meg all those months ago.”
“Did your vision happen to show you how we were going to manage to inject the weapons into W-Arkdone?” Cole pressed.
“W-Arkdone? Really?” Sloan muttered.
“It’s faster,” Cole shrugged and offered her a crooked grin.
“No, I was hoping you could help me figure that part out,” Evan admitted.
“We’ll come up with something,” Margo waved dismissively though her thoughts were already racing with possible scenarios. “What Evan has given us is a means to cut off the heads of the snakes. We take out the leaders and their groups—controlled by fear and force—will disintegrate. Absolutely—‘checkmate’.”
“I’m going to have to go soon. I’m not done fortifying the house and I’m running out of time,” Meg explained as a shuffling sound could be heard on her end.
“Of course Meg,” Margo’s brow furrowed with deep lines.
“What’s your ETA?” Meg asked. Inwardly, cringing at what she knew she was about to hear.
“Jacobi and Trainer are burning fuel getting us there as fast as possible, but we’re still two hours, fifty minutes away from the jump zone,” Creed checked the countdown he’d programmed into his watch.
Meg chewed on her lip. “Yeah, I’m not sure what will be happening by then, but I know I’ll do everything I can to hold down the fort.”
Everybody sat in worried silence for a moment, mulling over her implications.
“I have faith in you, Meg.” The confidence in Creed’s voice was powerful enough to break the foreboding temperature drop they felt for Meg.
“Listen to me, Meg,” Creed continued. “You just stay alive. That’s your one objective. Use any means necessary. Hideout in the topography of the land. Build a fortress around yourself in the laboratory. Heck, dig a hole in the ground and breathe through a straw if you have to. But stay alive.” Creed’s love for Meg and his desperation for her safety was clear to everybody. “Will you do that for me, Meggie?” his voice softened, defining him as even more courageous in its vulnerability.
“I love you, Creed.” The emotion in Meg’s voice exposed her fears of letting her family down—of letting Creed down. “I love you all so much my heart swells with happiness, then crashes down with terror that I could lose you in an instant.”
“Meg, don’t talk like that.” Alik pinched the bridge of his nose, refusing to let his tears slip through. “We’ll be together soon and we’ll all be there to fight at your side.”
“I know you want to protect me little brother, but everyone has done the math. I’ll have at least ninety minutes of flying solo down here.” Meg looked around the lab, somehow seeing every detail of every piece of furniture, equipment, vial, flask and instrument as clearly as if she’d just donned a pair of three dimensional glasses. She swallowed hard at the taste of adrenaline, coppery sweet, rising in her throat. “A lot could happen in 90 minutes,” she added with a haunted whisper.
“Meggie,” Evan’s voice pleaded.
“Evan, you listen to me, baby brother. You too Alik. This is bigger than any one of us. Williams and Arkdone have to be handled, if not neatly by Evan’s weapons, then messy with multiple bullets in their heads. No matter what happens to me, Evan’s plan will still work. You have to make it happen. Promise me, promise each other, whoever is left standing will take up the cross and finish what we started—or die trying.”
Everybody’s eyes were red with emotion as they murmured their promises aloud.
“If we get separated we need a meeting point,” Farrow offered, discreetly wiping her runny nose, forcing herself to think like a soldier—a soldier who needed to force everyone to think of contingency plans.
“Give it two weeks from today. In two weeks time, if anyone was separated from the group, we will plan to meet at whatever remains of Paulie’s house on the west side of the Big Island.”
“Who’s Paulie?” Sloan leaned in to whisper to Cole.
“I’ll tell you later.” He reached for her hand and held it affectionately.
“Hawaii?” Farrow was asking the group.
“Yeah, Hawaii,” Theo breathed deeply before continuing. “I’ll have to dig deep, but I’ll make sure you have access to enough cash for plane tickets.”
“That won’t be necessary Dr. Andrews.” Vince Trainer, the straight-laced copilot who had been with them from the start, stepped through the cockpit door. “I’m sorry, Jacobi and I were listening through the intercom,” he blushed deeply. “You just get in contact with either of us, anytime, day or night, and we’ll pull the strings to make sure you get back to the Big Island on time.”
Theo stood and shook the pilot’s hand before pulling him in for a guy hug.
“Did you tell them, Vince?” Bob Jacobi’s voice boomed over the intercom.