“Yeah, Theo. They are just guys—like you and me. Nothing they have can’t be taken away. They’re conducting illegal businesses like human trafficking, trauma-based mind control and medical experimentation on humans! Shit like that doesn’t go unnoticed forever. I don’t care how powerful they think they are.”
“Who’s going to believe us? It’s our word against a US Senator who’s in line to receive his party’s backing for president. The other guy actually has our daughter and could retaliate by killing her if we force his hand. And you know what? Death may be better for that poor girl because Williams, the sick bastard, could do much, much worse to her than kill her!”
“What? Like erase her memory? Trap her in a cell with no food or water for days and inject her with microscopic weapons that would kill the people she loves if she steps close enough to them?” Greg flung his hands up in frustration. “Theo what have you got to lose?”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Burns?” Theo’s eyes shot daggers of warning at his best friend who met every one with his own.
“I’m saying you need to get the authorities involved before it’s too late for your family.” Greg enunciated each word as though talking with someone hard of hearing.
“I can’t,” Margo’s weakened body in no way weakened her spirit. She looked up defiantly at Greg Burns. “What happens after the authorities rid the world of Williams and Arkdone? Do you think the government is going to let my children walk away?”
“There will be a huge price to pay if we go to them,” she continued. “They will act like they’re just trying to learn about the children, then they will need to keep them for more ‘testing’ and eventually, they will do the same thing Williams and Arkdone have been trying to do: duplicate the formula and create more metahumans to use for what they will call ‘national security’ but really, they’ll be creating soldiers of war.”
Margo took a steeling breath and continued, “You want me to put my children in the hands of an even more powerful machine than the two monsters we’re fighting now. I don’t care how altruistic the government’s reasons for stalking, collecting and testing my children—they will never let them live in peace. No one will.”
“That’s right, Margo. Everything you just said could come to pass, but here’s the kicker: If you don’t involve the authorities, the children will be hunted to extinction. Period! There will be an end to this, and it won’t be a happy one.”
Theo had moved to stand between Burns and Margo. Their faces were close enough to smell each other’s last meal. Both men stood poised with clenched fists. No one could push Theo’s buttons like his best friend, and while Greg didn’t usually press issues so intensely, he was not backing down on this.
Anger was still flashing bright when a muffled noise came from the hallway. Little bare feet came scurrying into the living room. Danny looked around the room at the three grownups before putting his three pudgy fingers up and touching his lips twice with his index finger—sign language for water.
Theo looked from the little boy back to Greg.
“He won’t be spared either. You know they’ll come for him, too.” His voice was barely above a whisper but his words cut Margo deeply.
“Come on Danny. Let’s get you that water.” Margo forced herself to smile through her tears at the little boy who’d fast become the light in everyone’s eyes.
Margo rolled her chair away from the two men and turned toward the kitchen while Danny ran up to her and climbed in her lap for a ride.
She heard the men still talking in hushed tones, but tried to ignore them as she spoke with the little boy in her lap. “I thought you were sound asleep, Danny Boy.” She said patting his back briefly before forcing her hands to keep propelling her wheelchair forward. He turned around, his little knees digging painlessly into her thighs and wrapped his arms around her neck before leaning back to study her tearstained face.
“What is it, little man?” she asked, trying to read his facial expression. The blue of his eyes glistened in the soft light of the kitchen and his recently rounded cheeks were a beautiful sight on his handsome face.
Danny put one hand on each side of Margo’s face and leaned his head in to put his forehead against hers.
“Don’t worry, love. We’ll figure something out. We just have to have faith.” Even to her own ears her words sounded hollow.
Margo leaned back and smiled at the little boy. She helped him scoot off her lap so she could reach the cups in the drawer next to the refrigerator. Still deep in thought, she only sighed when she noticed all the cups were gone and she’d have to devise a different plan. Though Greg had done his best to adjust his home to Margo’s disability, some things just hadn’t been addressed. The kitchen was one of them.