Josie scrolled through the photos, a lump rising in her throat. “Yeah,” she said hoarsely. “Yeah, I do. This is what she was killed for.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We were trying to figure out a way to use the X-FEL laser to open a new portal, and Pen had an idea of how we could get it to work without killing us all. Then she had another idea. Long story short, she thought we might be able to apply the same principle to the antidote, using it to phase-shift the antidote itself, before the subject’s been inoculated. Which would make it about a million times easier to get rid of all the Nox.” She looked at the equations again and laughed. “It’s like crop-dusting on an epic, quantum level. And the only way the injectable might actually work. I can’t believe no one thought of it before.”
Nick whistled. “That’s enough to kill for.”
“Yeah.” Josie paused, thinking about the various pieces of this conspiracy: Dr. Byrne and the Grid, Tony’s formula, everyone’s missing family members. A plan was forming in her mind. “If we go to the warehouse, we’re dead, right?”
“Pretty much.”
“Nox again, would you guess?”
Nick nodded. “Most likely.”
“So what if,” Josie said slowly, “what if we’re ready for them?”
Nick looked at her sidelong. “What do you mean?”
“We have Penelope’s equations. We have the formula. Why not just zap the Nox right out of the universe?”
Nick scratched the back of his neck. “We’ll need a laser,” Nick said. “You heard my brother. The one in the storage shed isn’t powerful enough.”
“Then we get him a laser. There’s one up at Fort Meade?”
“Josie,” Nick said, eyeing her cautiously. “We cannot break into Fort Meade. No way.”
“Of course not.” Josie smiled. “But Mr. Byrne has security access, right? You two can go borrow it.”
“Mr. Byrne?” Nick looked skeptical. “I don’t know if we should get him involved.”
“What choice do we have?”
Nick was silent for a moment, mulling over the idea. “We don’t,” he said at last. “Make the call.”
Josie pulled out her phone and powered it up. She’d turned it off at the warehouse and completely forgotten about it. As soon as the network connected, the phone beeped a dozen times in rapid succession. Voice mails, all from Mr. Byrne.
“Dammit,” she said. “He’s probably scared out of his mind wondering where I am.”
“Well,” Nick said with a sly grin, “maybe he’ll be so relieved you’re alive he’ll do whatever you ask?”
Josie dialed Mr. Byrne’s cell phone. “Or ground me for the rest of my life and ban me from ever laying eyes on you again.”
“Josephine!” Mr. Byrne gasped, picking up a half second into the first ring. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Oh, thank God. I had no idea where you were.” His tone changed from relief to anger. “Why was your phone off? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Daddy, I’m so sorry. Something happened and—”
He gasped. “Something happened? Where are you? Where’s Nicholas?”
“Is he pissed?” Nick whispered.
“He’s here with me,” Josie said, smiling weakly at Nick.
“Well,” Mr. Byrne said, his voice stern. “I’m seriously questioning his decision to keep you out this late. I thought he was more responsible than this. My phone has been ringing off the hook tonight with reports of elevated Nox attacks, and I can’t get a hold of you; I don’t have Nicholas’s phone number. We’re going to have a long talk when you get home tonight.”
Josie looked up at Nick. “Yeah, he’s pissed.”
“I have every right to be pissed,” Mr. Byrne said, laying special emphasis on the last word.
“I know. Daddy, let me explain.”
“Where are you right now? Where are you calling from?”
Nick made a circle movement with his hand, motioning for Josie to get on with it. Right. They were running short on time.
“Daddy,” she said, her voice crisp and businesslike. “I need your help.”
“I knew something was wrong. Where are you?” She heard a jangling of car keys on the other end of the line. “I’m coming to get you.”
“Daddy,” she said slowly, trying to calm him down. “Daddy, you need to listen to me, okay? This is important.”
Something about her tone must have struck a chord with Mr. Byrne. He paused, and when he spoke again he seemed calmer. “What is it, princess?”
Josie took a deep breath. She wasn’t exactly sure how to say it gently, so she just blurted it out. “Mom needs our help.” Well, at least that wasn’t a lie. “But what I’m going to ask you to do could get us all in a lot of trouble.”
“Princess, what is going on?” Mr. Byrne said slowly.
“It’s about Project Raze,” she said. Nick nodded, encouraging her to go on. “And the experiment Mom was working on when the accident happened.”