“A ransom note…?” Jack asked, making sure he heard correctly.
“I don't see you coming up with a better idea!” Tesla said as she threw her hands up.
“Besides, it would help us get closer to our goal!”
“Do you really think these people are going to have the kind of money that would make even a dent in what we need?” Jack asked.
“They run a coffee shop for goodness sake!”
“Well what else do you think is going to happen here?” the woman asked.
“We can't go back to the Monarch empty handed and we won't be getting any more leeway from Luna either….”
Jack shook his head.
“I don't like this…”
Tesla shrugged.
“The alternative is we get rid of her and you like that even less…”
Jack let out a long exhale.
“I presume you have something drafted already?” he asked after a long pause.
Tesla nodded and held up a data stick. Jack shook his head again and looked over his shoulder at Ace.
“Can you take care of this, please?” he asked.
Ace wordlessly pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and nodded to Tesla. She tossed the small plastic drive to him and he caught it effortlessly.
“The usual channels?” Ace asked.
Jack shrugged.
“Whatever you need to do to get this over with…” he said.
Ace nodded and left the room.
“Now what do we do besides wait?” asked Tesla.
“Go keep your boyfriend in check until this all is over,” Jack stated with a grim look.
“He is going to probably feel cheated out of something and will need a distraction.”
—-
Ace walked with a deliberate pace, not in a hurry nor taking his time. He grabbed his suit coat from the hook with a smooth ease and donned it in a single fluid motion as he exited the House 21 Casino.
He tapped the side of his round sunglasses, an accessory that most would deem unnecessary at the current time. What they wouldn't see is the high-tech display that was projected on the inside of the lenses.
With a series of specific eye movements and a few more taps on the side of the frame he had a map with a route to a location and a message prepared to be sent to a few numbers he had picked from the girl’s phone. He would send the message as soon as he was in position to monitor their designated drop area and would in turn deliver this Charlie to whoever came to retrieve her.
The complication, as always, was a conflict of interest with his friend and colleagues…
There was always something that two or more of the group were in disagreement over, especially between Jack and Maverick… which typically boiled down to the age-old battle between brains and brawn… Jack had all the brains and Maverick seemed to have none at all.
It was tiring.
Ace glanced at his map and did some mental math. Satisfied, he decided to send the message early and continued on his path. He sent a brief note to Jack to keep him in the loop then picked up his pace slightly.
—-
Adam stared incredulously at the message he received.
It was a picture of his sister, restrained to a chair with a text attached to it:
“Five hundred thousand credits payable to our accounts by tomorrow night, or else.”
“And this came from her phone?” asked Lance.
Adam only nodded, the frustration and anger having taken the words from him.
“Synchronize with the computer so O.R.A.C.L.E. can try to triangulate the network,” Lance stated.
“We might be able to narrow down where she is.”
Adam shook his head.
“That sounds a bit too far-fetched, even for your advanced artificial intelligence…”
Lance shrugged.
“Maybe, but it’s worth a shot to try,” Lance said.
“Besides, we have access to some of the most advanced technology on the planet right here in this bunker. I’m fairly certain we can ultimately trace your sister’s phone.”
Adam sighed and tapped the command on his phone, giving access to O.R.A.C.L.E. to examine it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave your browser history alone,” O.R.A.C.L.E. chimed.
Adam glared at the A.I.’s display.
“It was merely a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood,” she stated.
Lance stifled a laugh.
“Picking up on humor already I see,” he commended.
“You’re growing up so fast. Brings a tear to my eye.”
Adam glanced over his shoulder.
“Didn’t know you were capable of crying,” he said dryly.
“Something about unusable tear ducts?”
“That was also a joke…” Lance noted more soberly.
He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we will find Charlie.”
There was a long silence as O.R.A.C.L.E. processed the information she was gathering.
Adam took a long breath and rubbed his face.
“I’m not trying to be dismissive… I know you and O.R.A.C.L.E. are doing everything we possibly can…” he said.
“I am just conflicted on what to do here….”
He stood up and leaned over the console.
“It’s one thing when we are saving random people we barely know in the city… It’s an entirely different thing to have to save your sister,” he added.
“I’m just angry and worried about her well-being and safety.”
Lance stood next to him.
“I understand,” he said.
“We will find her and rescue her, I promise.”
O.R.A.C.L.E. pinged a screen.
“I may have a lead,” she noted.
“The signals from her device seem to have originated from the downtown area of Sector Four.”
“That at least gives us a place to search,” Lance noted.
“Let’s suit up.”
“Wait….” Adam said.
Lance looked at his friend from the overlay of the city.
“I want to loop Cody in on this,” Adam said.
“With his resources, he has just as much chance of finding her as we do, never mind that this is his little sister as well.”
Lance hesitated.
“We haven’t implemented the use of that ‘calling card’ idea yet,” Adam continued.
“This would be a good opportunity to do so and could help build trust with the law.”
Lance pondered the thought and closed his eyes.
“You’re right, it would,” he agreed.
“O.R.A.C.L.E., fire up that schematic to the printer and get those coded, please.”
“Wait, you have something already?” Adam asked.
“No, of course you do….”
Lance shrugged.
“I made some notes and am letting O.R.A.C.L.E. deal with the specifics,” he said.
“That’s part of why I made her.”
Minutes later a set of small plastic cards ejected from a slot on the opposite side of the command bridge.
“Cards are ready for delivery,” O.R.A.C.L.E. stated.
“They also work with most RFID-compatible systems to enable messaging from any platform equipped with a chip reader. If scanned by a mobile smart device it will create an encrypted app that can be used to communicate with us without revealing our signal origins”
Adam pulled one from the slot and turned it over, examining the sleek black device. It had a small logo that read “Vigilantes, Inc.” imprinted on its body.
“Nice.”
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