Tyler shook his head. "Teenagers. All right, wait a moment." He climbed back up to his tower, typed his password into the controls, and the gate opened.
"Thanks," Ned shouted as they walked in.
Tyler sat back down again, repositioned his legs on the table, and grabbed up his notebook. He wrote a few descriptive paragraphs about the blue-eyed girl, stuff he could never let his wife see.
Ned had seemed off tonight, had been awfully polite, and hadn't even called the girl a bitch—which was his favorite word.
Wonder what was up with him? Maybe he needed a raise too. Whatever.
He'd followed his orders, and now his promotion was secure. Mr. Steele had told him that a brown-haired girl with blue eyes would come tonight, and he'd told Tyler to let her in. So he did.
Chapter 112 – Sam
The rough hand of the guard pushed me through the gate and past the guard in the tower. Once we'd cleared his line of site, the man before me shifted and morphed, his hair growing longer, body trimming down, and shape twisting... until he was a she. Robyn leaned over, short of breath, and fear for her unborn baby tweaked my conscious. Maybe she shouldn't have come; we had no idea what her particular para-power would do to her child, but she'd wanted to, and I didn't want to stop her.
I needed her to find my own child. Selfish, but there it was.
Darren had knocked out the real guard and hidden him outside the gates. I'd been ready to mind-control the guy at the gate, but he hadn't put up nearly the fight I'd feared. In fact, he seemed to know I'd be coming, or someone who looked like me, but then he was so lecherous I wanted to vomit. He was probably just glad to have fresh meat to chase.
Didn't matter; we'd made it, and now it was time for the next phase. Since Lucy was the only one I could effectively connect with in a two-way conversation, I used my ear piece to contact Norm. "We're in. Start bringing everyone through."
The two of us waited behind a secluded building, and within a few minutes Norm flew over the fence carrying Gary. One by one he went back and retrieved another team member, until we were all together again. Norm flew Toby in last, and Drake frowned and crossed his arms. What were we going to do with the boy, leave him alone at the hotel? Besides, we'd all been training to do missions by his age, and Toby had spent his life on the streets, so he knew how to watch out for himself. It was interesting, though, seeing Drake so protective.
Robyn had shifted back into a guard to do a quick scan of the area, and came back to report. "There are a few guards patrolling the main facility."
I nodded. "We'll use mind control to make them look the other way."
Drake pulled out a purple vial and drank it. "I'm on it."
I sighed. He shouldn't waste what little of that he had on something I could have done, but he seemed anxious to prove himself helpful. I couldn't blame him; I wanted to do everything I could to find Ana.
I took the lead as we walked down a path to the main building. We passed a few guards on the way, but Drake took care of them. A quick scan of their minds proved they had been compelled to forget ever seeing us. I wondered vaguely if people ever dreamed of the memories they lost due to mind control.
Once we reached the main building, I linked to Lucy. "We're in. Robyn will be leading the team to help you."
Robyn tapped her ear, to make sure her comm piece worked. "Lucy?" Her voice quavered a bit. She was the most nervous of the group, but that could work in her favor, make her more careful. Hopefully, it wouldn't freeze her at a critical time.
"Lucy will tell you where to go. She can see you."
Robyn nodded. "What about you?"
"I'm going after Ana and Steele."
Drake stepped forward. "I'm going with you."
Then Darren, naturally. "So am I."
Toby turned himself visible and was already standing by Drake. "And me."
I rolled my eyes. Boys.
"Look, I appreciate the support, but Drake and I will handle this. The rest of you, get Luke, Lucy and the other IPI agent to safety. Save our friends."
Robyn responded to something only she could hear—had to be Lucy giving directions—and she waved and turned left, with Norm by her side. The others followed her, though Darren kept looking back over his shoulder like a lost puppy waiting for me to call him back.
I hated to admit it, but I was glad Drake was with me. If anyone could come close to caring about Ana as much as I did, it would be her father, and he was powerful, especially with access to his para-powers.
As we walked, I reached out with the powers the Seeker had downloaded into me. Bright dots of light floated in my mind as I connected to the hundreds of paranormals in the buildings. Narrowing my focus, I sought the one signature I knew better than anyone's: that of my daughter.