Scene 9 - The Call

Foss and Declan had just got a new truck and arrived at another part of the town. The parted near an abandoned factory, Foss said. "Ok, I am going to make the call the Mike Kasperson now, keep alert, don't say a word while I am on the phone, tap the dash board three times if you see anyone approach."

"Got it."

Foss pulled out another burner phone, turned it on and called a programmed number using it, the other end answered after three rings.

"Hello?" A rather sharp voice answered.

"Hello, Mike! This is Tom Foss." Foss said in his usually flat tone.

"Oh hello, Tom, it's been a while, what's going on?" Mike replied slightly surprised.

"Yes, it had been a while, been taking care of things after Adam died."

"Of course, I am sorry about that, we are all sorry to hear that, everyone at the Latnok board is disheartened by the news, some more than others." Mike said sincerely.

"What about Sarah Emerson, did the board know about her?" Foss enquired.

"We lost track of her, it seems that she ran off and disappeared again." Mike answered.

"Is that what Latnok thinks?" Foss wanted to know if Latnok had anything to do with Sarah's death.

"Yes, do you know anything different? Last we've seen of her was with Jessi."

Foss wasn't sure whether to believe him and changed the conversation. "What about Grace and her son, Cassidy?"

Mike was a little taken back by the sudden change of conversation, but he had known Foss for years, he knew better to push it. "I am not sure, I feel like they have been planning something big without the board knowing, at least without the whole board knowing. But there isn't much we can do about that, Grace is gaining more and more power on the board ever since Adam had left, even the new kid on the board was recruited by her, so she can secure 7 votes out of the 11 of us on every decision we make."

Foss nodded taking everything in, "What's the board's stand with regards to Kyle and Jessi?"

"This is one thing we can agree on, we may not all have the same interest in him, but we all want Kyle with us, and Jessi would be a bonus if she could join as well. We all would like to see what they can do, not just their extraordinary their abilities, but what they can do with their intellects, after all, Kyle was the reason Latnok was created in the first place. So I am sorry to say that, no matter what Adam said, the board just can't let 20 years of work running free and let all that potential go to waste. So we, I mean Grace had sent Cassidy to recruit him into the Latnok, and Cassidy had reported he was making good progress getting Kyle to trust Latnok. Basically we want him bad, and nothing can change that."

"Well, you may just get the chance, but one thing has to change, Cassidy." Foss said sternly.

"What do you mean, what did Cassidy do?" Mike asked, puzzled at Foss's request.

"Everything Cassidy had done was making Kyle more determined to not work for Latnok. Cassidy had abused his access to Latnok's resources, and had just sent a security team from Latnok to kill Kyle's family today."

"What? I thought things were going well?" Mike exclaimed.

"Believe me it's anything but well. But Kyle knows how powerful Latnok is, and he also wants to give Adam's friends a chance, so he had agreed to meet with the Latnok board and will work with Latnok on limited basis on one condition."

"What's his condition?" Mike enquired.

"A guarantee that Latnok will leave his family, his friends and everyone he cares about alone." Foss said firmly.

"I am sure that can be arranged." Mike answered, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Set up a meeting, and put a leash on Cassidy now." Foss said with a hint of anger.

"Cassidy is out of my control, but I can talk to the head of security. If he uses mercenaries from other sources, there is nothing I can do. He is Grace's son, without anything to go on, we can't touch him" Mike said desperately.

"That will have to do for now. And Mike," Foss paused to consider his choice of words. "Set up the meeting quickly, don't even think about setting any traps for Kyle. I know Latnok has a psychological evaluation on him, trust me, he is nothing like that anymore, you don't want to find out what he can do now." Foss said sinisterly.

"What do you mean?" Mike was a little worried, Tom never bluffs.

"Cassidy's face would be a good indication, text me a time and location by tomorrow 1600, you don't want him to change his mind." Foss hang up, satisfied, he then turned the burner phone off.

"You didn't tell him Jessi is coming?" Declan observed.

"No, I didn't. In case it's a set up, they will have much harder time to deal with both Jessi and Kyle if they didn't know she was coming." Foss explained.

"I didn't think of that." Declan replied in awe.

"It's Ok kid, I will teach you everything I know, in time. Meanwhile, let's see if Kyle left anything on that roof."