Xander is a Genius!!!!
She smiled.
“Well done, Xander. You really are a genius,” she said as she clapped. Just then, there was a clanging from the gate outside. Suzanne opened the door and looked. It was Aaliyah and Joel.
“Welcome, guys,” she said as she took out her bunch of keys and opened the gate. “I take it you have good news.”
Joel spoke once they were behind closed doors.
“Oh, we do. Turns out, Aaliyah, here, has some crazy connections. We met up with eight groups of people who led large groups of rebels and misfits. Now, they are all afraid for their lives and are preparing to cause a stir tomorrow.”
“Great. I’ll be unveiling the whole plan tonight. Let’s just wait for the last set of people to arrive,” she said as she made chocolate tea for them.
An hour passed, and Stephen with Bucky hadn’t arrived. Suzanne began to get worried. She pulled out her mini-tab and texted him. She waited. There was no reply. She stood up.
“Everyone stand up!! We need to leave immediately. I think we’ve been compromised. Stephen has been killed, and if they have the faintest whiff of what’s going on, they’ll be coming for us,” she said as she picked her bag. Everyone stood up too.
“Hey, hey, calm down. We aren’t sure of that yet. We should wait,” Joel said.
“I will wait. Just not here. I want Xander and Aaliyah to return to their families and to pretend that this never happened. You can return to your family too. I’ll figure it out from here on,” she said as she pulled out a USB cable from her bag.
“Xander, upload the program on your device and give it to me,” she said, handing the cable to him. He did as she asked. When he was done, he returned the cable and his device to her.
“Help me dismantle the computer system. We need to destroy everything they can use to track us,” she said as she unplugged the wires from the monitor. After dismantling it, she found a golf club and lifted it to smash the CPU.
Just then, she heard a clang on the gate outside, and she froze.
“Everyone hides. I’ll go and check,” she said as she dropped the golf club and headed for the door.
Joel held her hand.
“I’ll go with you. Two are better than one,” he said.
Suzanne swallowed and nodded. Together they went to the door. Opening it, Joel peered out. When he saw the people at the gate, he jerked his head back in. Suzanne tensed up, ready for a fight. Her hands went to the gun at her waist.
Suddenly, Joel began to laugh as he opened the door wide.
“Relax, Suzanne. Our friends are back,” he said.
Suzanne looked out to see Stephen, Bucky, and an unknown dark-skinned man beyond the gate. She glared at Joel.
“What was that for?” she asked as he laughed.
“Are you guys going to open up or what?” Stephen asked.
Soon, they were all seated on the couches.
“What took you guys so long?” Aaliyah asked as she served the three men chocolate tea.
“There was so much explaining to do back at the barracks. They held us captive until we could explain what had happened,” Stephen said.
“So, are you going to introduce your friend, Stephen, or is he going to do it himself?” Suzanne asked.
“Or Troy is going to do more than introduce himself,” Bucky said instead.
Suzanne looked at Troy. He spoke.
“My name is Troy Fraser. I’m a sergeant from Fort Hamilton. These men came to our camp today and told us some things that shook our beliefs. As it stands, some of our teammates are being detained by us. We are confused and disturbed. We were supposed to move to the Harbor tomorrow, but things are too unclear. We need to know what is going on. Who are you? What’s the cause of this EMP? Tell me that all we have heard is a joke, please.”