Agent Weber stepped up to the microphone, and Sarah moved aside as naturally as if they’d practiced. It bugged Michael. He was sure the agent wanted to take all the glory now that it was time for the meat of the presentation.
“Thank you, Sarah,” the woman said, giving Sarah one of those professional smiles that said her mind had already moved on to the next thought. She turned to the audience. “I don’t think I need to tell you how much we owe Sarah and her friends. They’re under an incredible amount of stress. Suffice it to say that they’ve undertaken incredibly dangerous assignments for us on more than one occasion, and our debt to them is significant.”
She paused, and the other agents took the cue, finally erupting into applause. Michael swore he even heard a couple of hoots out there.
When it quieted down, Weber continued. “The information that our young friends have gathered is astounding. I think we can all be impressed—should be impressed. In twenty-four hours they’ve done something that none of us has been able to accomplish: they have isolated the central code of Kaine’s Tangent programming. I’ll be sending it to all of you so that we can begin the full analysis and develop a plan of attack. Our goal, and I don’t say this lightly …” She let that last word hang out there for a few seconds. “Our goal is to make a move within seven days’ time.”
This elicited a wave of fierce whispering, as if the idea was preposterous. Michael frowned. Was that too much time or not enough? In his mind, they should be acting yesterday. Kaine could move his base at any time. But they’d need to be prepared.
Weber held up her hands to quiet them down. “Time is of the essence. I’ll go through the final details and then let you get straight to work. As you can see from the map of Atlanta …”
Bryson leaned in to Michael. “These people are gonna screw everything up. Gah-ron-teed,” he whispered. He stepped back, not waiting for a response.
Michael hated how thoroughly he agreed.
An hour later, Michael was sitting in a small room, at a table, eating hot dogs. Not the most glorious thing to be doing after attending a meeting in the War Room of the VNS.
Bryson was next to him, picking through a salad, of all things. Sarah sat across the table, eating hot dogs slathered in chili and cheese. Weber had told them she needed to take care of a few details before they decided on a plan of action—after all, the three of them were fugitives from the law, even if they’d apparently convinced the VNS they were innocent of cyber-terrorism and kidnapping.
When Weber dropped them off in the break room, she’d introduced them to a man from the cafeteria, then instructed him to get the three whatever they wanted. And so it was that they ended up eating hot dogs and salad.
“I gotta admit,” Bryson said, talking through a bite of lettuce. “I tuned out big-time once that lady got going. Stuff we already knew anyway.”
Michael plopped a half-eaten dog back onto his plate. He’d had enough, though he figured that out a few bites after his stomach did. He leaned back in his seat and groaned. “Ugh. Ate too much.”
“Oh, really?” Bryson said snarkily. “I would’ve never guessed.” He gave Michael’s plate a disapproving look.
“Next time we’ll order one of your dainty salads,” Sarah responded. “And then a half hour later when we’re starving we’ll get some more hot dogs.”
Bryson responded by taking a huge bite of his rabbit food; he chomped on it and moaned with pleasure.
“You were good up there,” Michael said to Sarah. “Seriously. Official prediction: you’re the head of the VNS by the time you turn thirty. Then president of the country by forty. You heard it here first.”
Bryson made a pssshaw sound. “If we’re all still alive.”
It came off way more somberly than he’d probably intended, and the room plunged into silence. For just a few seconds, Michael had forgotten about all their woes.
“Thanks for reminding me,” he grumbled.
“Huh?” Bryson asked.
“Nothing.” As if in an act of defiance, he took another bite of his now-cold hot dog. If his stomach could talk, he would’ve gotten an earful of complaints.
The room went silent again as they all allowed themselves to be lost in their thoughts. Michael jumped when someone rapped loudly on the door. It swung open immediately—of course—and Agent Weber walked into the room.
“Are we finished?” she asked a little too cheerfully to sound genuine.
Michael exaggerated a groan while he doubled over, holding his stomach. He was getting too comfortable around this woman. Sarah snickered.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Weber pronounced. She moved closer to the table, looming over Bryson’s shoulder. He didn’t look up, though he obviously wanted to.
“I’m glad you’ve had a chance to eat and rest,” their host continued. “Because we need to get going.”
That perked Michael up. “What? Go where?”
“I need to get the three of you back into the NerveBoxes.”
Michael didn’t know if he’d heard that right. He exchanged confused looks with his friends. Sarah finally voiced what they were all thinking.
“What do you mean? I thought you and the agents were going to run through the data before doing anything.”
“Why do you want us in the Coffins, anyway?” Bryson added. “I thought our job was done. Isn’t that why we just spilled everything to your agents?”
Michael stared at Agent Weber, waiting for answers. Once again they were on the edge of a huge cliff, about to be tossed over.
“There are plenty of things my agents will be doing,” Weber said. “Trailing you, supporting you, providing backup the second you need help. Most importantly, trying to locate Sarah’s parents. I’ll stay here and work with them—for one thing, we need to hunt down any person who’s been transformed by this Mortality Doctrine. Start figuring things out. In the meantime, I’m sending you three back into the VirtNet to get the job done. You’ve proven yourselves over and over—I wouldn’t dare trust the lead on this to anyone else. You know Kaine like no others, and it needs to be a quiet operation.”
Michael looked at his friends, who appeared as stunned as he was.
“And I’ll take that as a yes on the mission, then,” Weber said, folding her hands together in victory. “Now come. I have something to show you.”