Michael Vey: Rise Of The Elgen Part 5

"What if the door's b.o.o.by-trapped? I saw this show where the bad guys had rigged all the doors with plastic explosives, so when the cops opened the door-ka-boom!" Ostin threw his arms out in demonstration. "Everyone's dead."

We all just looked at him.

Ostin shrugged. "It was a cool show."

"I'll open the door," Zeus said. He twisted the doork.n.o.b and pushed the door open, then stepped inside the dark house. "Hey, McKenna, how about a hand?"

"Sure." She lit up her hand, then stepped into the house behind him.

"There's the switch," Zeus said.

Taylor and I walked in, followed by everyone else. Jack was the last to enter. He still looked anxious and glanced around before shutting and locking the door.

The home's interior was as ordinary looking as its exterior, which, I suppose, is what a safe house is supposed to look like. I mean, if the place stands out like a zit on your nose, it's not going to be very safe, right?

We were standing in the kitchen. On the counter was a bulky, brown envelope, and I picked it up and pulled back its flap. It was filled with money.

"Check this out," I said, holding up the cash. "They left us money."

"That's some serious coinage," Jack said.

"I'll count it," Taylor said, taking the envelope from me. She riffled through the bills. "Ten grand," she said. "Even."

"That was fast," I said.

"I'm good at counting."

I took a handful of bills and put them in my pocket, leaving the rest on the counter.

From the front room Ostin shouted, "Michael, check this out! This is one sweet computer."

I walked into the other room. I was no expert on computers-I left that to Ostin-but it looked like a serious piece of technology. "Can we use it to get the data out of Grace?" I asked.

"I'm on it," he replied.

I was glad he had found something to distract him from his parents.

"Is there anything to eat?" Taylor asked. "I'm really hungry."

"Me too," Abigail said.

I opened the fridge. It was empty. "Nada."

"We pa.s.sed a pizza place about a half mile back," Jack said. "Wade and I could go pick up something. What kind of pizza do you guys want?"

"Pepperoni and anchovies," Wade said.

"No anchovies," Taylor said. "They stink."

"I second that," Ostin said. "Who eats anchovies on pizza?"

"Only about a billion Italians," Wade replied. "And they're the ones who invented pizza, so they should know how to eat them."

Getting a history lesson from Wade, especially about food, was more than Ostin could stomach. "In the first place," Ostin said, standing, "no one knows who invented pizza. In the sixth century, Persian soldiers baked bread flat on their shields and covered it with cheese and dates. So you could argue that they did. Secondly, there are not a billion Italians in the world, not even a hundred million. In Italy there are-"

"Agh!" Wade shouted. "Will someone shove something into his mouth to shut him up?"

"Pizza would do nicely," Ostin said. "Without anchovies."

"Just get a bunch of different kinds," I said to Jack. "There are ten of us. How about three large?"

"I'll get some drinks, too," Jack said. "Everyone's good with cola?"

"I want lemonade," Taylor said.

"Me too," said Abigail.

"Diet cola," McKenna said.

"Write that down," Jack said to Wade.

Wade looked around. "With what?"

"Then remember it," Jack said. "All right, I'll be back. But not too soon. I need to test out the Hummer."

"Can I come?" Abigail asked.

Jack looked pleasantly surprised. "Sure."

"Thanks."

Taylor looked at me and grinned. Jack had told us earlier that he thought Abigail was hot.

"Wade," Jack said, "you don't need to come anymore."

"What?"

"Abi and I can handle it. Just chill here with everyone else."

"He can come," Abigail said.

"No," Jack said. "He doesn't want to." He looked at Wade with a threatening glare. "Do you?"

Wade frowned. "Nah, I'll just chill."

"Let's go," Jack said, opening the door.

"Okay, we'll be right back," Abigail said.

After they left I said, "C'mon, Ostin. Let's start uploading." I looked at Grace. "Are you okay with that?"

She nodded. "That's what I do."

Ostin powered up the computer, then turned to Grace. "So how do you transfer data?"

"First I need to touch a metal part on the computer." She glanced back at us. "I should sit down. Bringing it up is hard."

"Hard?" Taylor asked. "In what way?"

"I guess it's sort of like vomiting," Grace said.

"Oh," Taylor said.

Grace put both hands on the computer and began concentrating. Suddenly her eyes rolled back in her head and she began trembling.

"Holy cannoli," Ostin said. "Look at that."

Files suddenly began filling the screen. Grace continued until a screen popped up that said MEMORY FULL. She groaned, slumping forward.

"You okay?" Taylor asked, taking her by the arm.

She nodded. "Yeah. It just hurt a little."

"Wow. You filled the computer," Ostin said. "It has a terabyte of storage. You must have downloaded most of their mainframe." He looked at me. "We need a bigger computer."

"We got a lot of it, though, didn't we?" I asked.

Ostin nodded. "We got a boatload. Let's see if we can find your mom." He lifted his hands above the keyboard as if he were a pianist about to start a performance. He typed my mother's name into the computer's find function.

I held my breath. Taylor took my hand as we waited. A screen came up.

NO MATCHING FILES.

My heart fell.

"I'll try 'prisoners,'" Ostin said.

NO MATCHING FILES.

"Maybe they use a different word," I said. "Is there a GP file?"

"Let's see."

Ostin typed in "GP." About two dozen folders came up. "This one has the most information, let's see what's inside." He clicked on it. "Holy cow," he said. "Look at that."

There were thousands of records with names and mug-shot-type photographs.

"What are those numbers?" I asked, pointing to a series of numbers that appeared beneath each record.

Ostin glanced through the numbers looking for a pattern. "I'm guessing the first is the GP's serial number, like they give convicts in prisons. The second, based on the recurring sequence, appears to be a date, probably when they were admitted. I know how to verify that." He typed in a number. A picture of a terrified Wade appeared on the screen. "Yep. It's the day admitted. The third . . ." He hesitated, slowly rubbing his hand over his forehead. "Hmm. The list is sorted by the serial numbers, but you'll notice the last numbers seem to show up in clumped sequences. I'm betting it's where they're being held-they're just using a number instead of a location."

"That's not going to help us," Taylor said.

"On the contrary," Ostin replied. "It will tell us how many Elgen facilities there are."

"What's that?" I said, pointing to a folder that read: CONFIDENTIAL MEMOS: STARXOURCE PLANTS.

"No idea," Ostin said. He clicked on the folder.

MEMO.

Mr. Chairman, Please find requested report of Starxource development. Note: All countries with populations of fewer than 15,000 are deemed irrelevant unless there are recognizable political ties that may allow us future development in larger economies; i.e., Saint Barths-France. (Grid Infrastructure development will be detailed in alternative report.) Beta Control Countries Anguilla (Starxource Functioning 100%) Christmas Island (Starxource Functioning 100%) Cook Islands (Starxource Aborted) Falkland Islands (Starxource Functioning 96%) Saint Barths (Starxource Functioning 96%) Operational Starxource Plants/Combined Populations: 115,597,166.

Palau 21,000.

British Virgin Islands 28,213.

Gibraltar 29,441.

Monaco 35,881.

Saint Martin 36,824.

Cayman Islands 54,878.

Greenland 56,890.

Bermuda 64,237.

Dominica 71,685.

Jersey 97,857.

Aruba 101,484.

Tonga 103,036.

Grenada 110,821.

Samoa 184,032.