Michael Vey: Rise Of The Elgen Part 21

"It is also the decision of the board that the electric children should be reintegrated into normal society. An endowment will be established for each one allowing them to pursue further educational or vocational opportunities.

"As for Vey, you will reunite the boy with his mother with sufficient monetary remuneration to guarantee that there will be no lawsuits filed. We expect you to work with Legal to ensure that this delicate situation is handled discreetly."

Hatch was speechless.

"This is not a censure, Doctor, this is simply a change in course. We appreciate your devotion and the success that your efforts have brought to our company."

Hatch clenched his hands behind his back, his jaw tightening. "Do you have a time frame for this action?"

"We desire an immediate shutdown. We expect you to be in Peru within two days to begin the process. We realize that your relations.h.i.+p with the children is as personal as it is professional, so your timeline for that transition is up to you and the children to decide; however we expect that all business related to this matter be finalized before the end of this calendar year. We ask to be kept informed in all aspects of the transition. We thank you in advance for your expeditious handling of this matter, and we trust that it will be more successful than the shutdown of the Pasadena facility."

Hatch looked around the room, veiling his contempt for most of the gathered body. "Yes, sir. I'll see to it immediately." He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Tara and Torstyn stood as he entered. "Come on," he said. "We're leaving."

Walking to the helipad, Torstyn asked, "Where are we going?"

"To Rome to gather the others. Then we're headed back to Peru."

Within minutes the three of them were hovering over the Tyrrhenian Sea on the flight back to Rome.

"What did they say, sir?"

"They want to dismantle the NSG program."

The kids looked at each other.

"What?" Torstyn asked. "How come?"

"What about us?" Tara asked.

"I'll tell you on the plane," Hatch said. He glanced down at his satellite phone. "No! No! No!" he shouted. He pressed a b.u.t.ton on his phone. "Get me Dr. Jung immediately."

"What is it?" Tara asked.

Hatch looked at her with a dark expression. "Tanner just tried to kill himself."

The Elgen helicopter landed around 7:00 p.m. atop the six-story Elgen building just outside of Rome. Bright orange lights flashed at the corners of the structure, silhouetting the waiting guards dressed in the Elgen black uniform.

"Welcome back, sir," one of the guards shouted over the sound of the helicopter's rotors.

Hatch shouted to Tara and Torstyn, "Get something to eat, then gather up the rest of the family in the conference room by eight." He turned to the guard. "Where is Tanner?"

"He's in restraints in the bas.e.m.e.nt detaining cell, sir."

"Where is Dr. Jung?"

"He's in the bas.e.m.e.nt with him, observing, sir."

"Come with me."

They took an elevator from the roof. Tara and Torstyn got off on the second floor while Hatch and the guards went all the way down to the bas.e.m.e.nt level.

The marble-tiled corridor was dimly lit and the only sound was the echo of their footsteps as they walked. The observation room and detaining cells were at the end of the hallway. One of the guards opened the door, and Hatch stepped in.

Dr. Jung, the resident psychiatrist, was sitting in a chair facing a two-way mirror that looked into the adjacent room. He stood as Hatch entered.

"Dr. Hatch, I was just-"

Hatch raised his hand, silencing the psychiatrist. He leaned forward toward the gla.s.s to better comprehend what he was seeing in the next room.

Tanner, one of the seventeen electric children, was cuffed and curled up in bed in the fetal position, softly whimpering. His long, red hair was tangled up around his face.

Hatch studied him for a moment, then turned back toward the doctor.

"You incompetent worm. I told you to fix him. Do those letters before your name even mean anything?"

The psychiatrist was red in the face. "I'm doing my best."

"And your best is in restraints curled up in the corner of his room."

"He's not a machine, sir. He's a boy. You can't just go in and change out a few parts and make him better."

"But I can change out a few doctors," Hatch said.

The psychiatrist took the threat seriously. He'd heard rumors about what happened to those dispatched from the Elgen service. Most became GPs. Some of them just disappeared. He began stuttering, "W-w-what do you want me to do?"

"Why are you asking me? You're the shrink. Give him a pill. Give him a hundred pills, just fix him."

"He has a conscience. If you killed a thousand people, you'd have trouble sleeping at night too."

Hatch leaned in toward him, his eyes narrowing. "I never have trouble sleeping, Doctor. And if you ever insinuate anything like that again, I'll see to it that you never have trouble sleeping either."

The doctor swallowed. "I didn't mean to imply . . . Tanner's just really stressed right now. He's been worked too hard. Children need downtime. We need to let him spend some time with the other teenagers. And his parents."

"His parents?" Hatch said softly. "You think he should see his parents?"

The doctor looked terrified. "He said he misses them."

"Of course he misses them, you idiot. That's why he's been taken from them. So you think he should spend a little quality time with them? And what if he tells his parents what he's been doing, and they tell him they would rather die than have him drop another plane from the sky? Add that to your list of mental problems." Hatch walked across the room. "You're on probation, Doctor. Don't disappoint me again."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll figure him out."

"You better. I'm taking both of you with me to Peru. I expect the boy to be heavily sedated. Heavily. I don't want to be along for the ride when he decides to take his life again. We leave first thing in the morning, oh five hundred hours."

"Yes, sir."

Hatch looked back at Tanner for a moment, then turned and walked out of the room. On the way to the elevator Hatch's phone rang.

"Dr. Hatch, Captain Welch is on the line."

"Put him through." Hatch paused in the hallway. "Did you capture Vey?"

"No. We lost him."

"How do you lose a tracking device?"

"He must have discovered the RFID tracers in the GPs and disabled them."

Hatch's anger reached a new high. "Find them now!"

"Yes, sir. We'll find them, sir."

Hatch threw his phone across the hall. "Vey!"

The guard retrieved his phone and held open the elevator door. "Your phone, sir."

Hatch took it from him. "Fifth floor."

Quentin, Tara, Kylee, and Bryan were sitting in the Elgen dining room waiting for Hatch to arrive. Torstyn was on the opposite side of the room, looking through a stack of Soldier of Fortune magazines.

"What's Torstyn's power?" Bryan whispered.

The kids rarely talked about one another's powers, and Torstyn had been separated from them for so long that some of them had forgotten what he could do.

"He's like a human microwave oven," Tara said.

"That could come in handy," Bryan said.

"Yeah," Quentin said dryly. "Around lunchtime."

Torstyn suddenly looked up from the magazine he was browsing, and Bryan quickly turned away. Torstyn stood up and walked over to the group. "Hey, Tara," he said. "Do that thing again."

"What thing?"

"You know, what you did on the helicopter with your powers."

Quentin looked at Tara, and she blushed. "I don't know. . . ."

"Oh, come on. You said you needed to practice."

Quentin's eyes narrowed. "Whatever it is, she doesn't want to do it. So leave her alone."

"I wasn't talking to you, pretty boy. Mind your own business."

"I'm the student body president of the academy, so Tara is my business."

Torstyn grinned. "That is pathetic. Never before has so little power gone to somebody's head. And in case you didn't get the memo, school's out, loser."

Quentin turned red in the face. "Don't push your luck, Tor-Stain."

Torstyn pushed his face into Quentin's. "Do you think I'm afraid of you? While you've spent the last year and a half lounging around California in designer jeans and polo s.h.i.+rts, drinking girlie drinks with little umbrellas in them, you know what I've been doing for fun? I hunt anacondas alone in the jungles. No gun. No machete. Just me." He rolled up his sleeve to show a ragged scar across his biceps leading to two large puncture wounds.

All the kids stared, and Torstyn was pleased by their response. "Last January, during the rainy season, I was wading through a patch of jungle when a thirty-foot anaconda shot out of the water and grabbed me by the arm. It tried to drag me into the river."

"No way, dude," Bryan said.

Torstyn smiled. "As it was wrapping its coils around me, I looked it in the eyes and cooked it. Its brain exploded out its ears."

"Whoa!" Bryan said. "Awesome!"

"I had some of the servants drag the snake back to the compound, and I had boots made out of its skin. The thing was a monster. I could have made a dozen pairs." Torstyn looked at Quentin and sneered. "I'm guessing the scariest thing you've faced in the last year was too much starch in your shorts, pretty boy."

Quentin didn't back down. "You want to see how much you scare me, Tarzan?" Quentin said. The air around him began to crackle with electricity.

"Don't start what you don't want me to finish, tough guy," Torstyn said.

"C'mon, guys," Tara said. "This isn't cool. Someone could get hurt."

"Shut up," Bryan said. "I want to see them fight. Battle of the t.i.tans."

"There better not be a fight," Hatch said sternly, walking into the room. "Stand down. Both of you." He looked at Torstyn. "You weren't thinking of using your powers on another family member?"

Torstyn fidgeted. "Uh, no, sir."

"And you, Quentin?"

"No, sir. I was protecting Tara's honor, sir."

"That sounds n.o.ble," Hatch said facetiously. "You were going to protect her 'honor' with your powers?"

He swallowed. "It hadn't come to that, sir."

"You both should be glad for that. Remember my rules, gentlemen. Then remember the penalty for breaking my rules."

"Yes, sir," they both said.

"Now listen up. We are flying out first thing in the morning. So pack up tonight. We'll be gone awhile and where we're going there are no shopping malls and no concierge desk. You're going to be roughing it. So bring extra necessities. Especially you young ladies."

"How long will we be gone?" Kylee asked.

"More than a month. Possibly as long as a year."

"A year?" Tara said.

Quentin raised his hand. Torstyn rolled his eyes.

"May I ask where we're going, sir?" Quentin asked.