"Brennan, try to locate the last destination where Jesse took the Helix.
That might give us a clue as to where he may be," Adam instructed, ticking
off the to-do list in his head. "Emma, try to connect to Jesse psionically,
see if you can find out where he is. He might be putting up some mental
blocks like how you've taught everyone, but in his current weakened state,
hopefully the shields are not too strong. Try hard." Emma nodded and ran
toward the Dojo so she could meditate and concentrate.
"Where do you want me?" Shalimar asked quickly, not wanting to be left out.
"Shalimar, you go through all the programs run by Jesse in the Sanctuary's security system in the last three days; I can't shake the feeling that he might have done something to throw Elaine off, now that we know she'd go to every mutant she infected to kidnap them."
"Got it." And off she went.
Then Adam himself sat at the computer, the very computer where Jesse used to sit day in, day out, his mind racing in time with the beatings of his heart, growing faster with trepidation and anxiety with every second. The only thing on his mind was Jesse.
How the hell am I going to get him back?
***********************
Safehouse 3, St. Charles Avenue
"Nothing over here," a very ordinary-looking man quipped from the room next door. Elaine walked over to the small table hidden discreetly behind the safehouse's enormous refrigerator. True enough, there was a nondescript broadband transmitter taped to the side; pulsating with the tell-tale wavelengths it was giving out.
"Jesse, you cheat," she whispered, wanting to laugh. "I've got the first one wrong it seems. But I'll get the next one right." Then she straightened and spoke loudly to her agents, "He's not here. Let's move it."
As she headed for the steps, she whirled around. She'd suddenly thought of a suitable punishment for Jesse for playing around with her. Let him lay in wait for her all he wanted. But he'd have to do it in excruciating pain. She was going to stretch the time as long as she pleased. "On second thought-let's spend some more time here shall we?"
Her next command would send chills down anybody's spine.
"Destroy everything and anything."
****************************
Safehouse 11, where Jesse actually was.
Jesse finally had to resort to taking some drugs. He was glad he did though; it succeeded in taking off the edge of the pain but thankfully it didn't cloud his thinking processes, which honestly, weren't doing so great at the moment.
Now he was taping the last of the special device he'd prepared to the leaf of the main door. Good thing he'd done this once to play that trick on Brennan as a practical joke. The poor elemental had to sleep outside on the couch in the living room with his day clothes on because he couldn't get the door to his room open after he'd closed it for lunch and no matter how he zapped it, it had remained shut tight.
Jesse had had his share of fun that time, but after half a day, he relented and dismantled the locking device he'd taped to Brennan's door the day before. But Brennan had certainly learned his lesson and he made it a point from that day onward not to 'borrow' any more aftershave or mouthwash or Jesse's expensive cologne from Jesse's room whenever he ran out.
But now it wasn't a practical joke any more. Jesse was fighting for real. If the agents showed up anytime soon, he wanted to be ready.
********************************** "Adam, I found something," Shalimar bellowed from upstairs. Adam jumped out from his chair and raced up.
"Find anything?" He snapped.
"Sure did." Shalimar pointed to the monitor. "Here's an inventory list to all electronic devices developed and created using the Sanctuary's electrical system. Jesse used it yesterday to create a transmitting device specially made to give out frequency signals of a certain wavelength-and he built two prototypes."
"And I also found out that the Helix has made three stops since Jesse took it out earlier before he sent it home, I've only managed to find out where one was-it's our Safehouse number 8 down in Kensington and Sheffield. I'm still in the process of finding out where the other two stops were," Brennan reported from the computer station next to Shalimar. He frowned. "I wonder what Jesse was doing there. We shut the place down months ago."
Adam couldn't stop thinking about what Brennan said. "In that case get a list of all the safehouses we've closed down. Wherever Jesse might be, if he's hiding in one of the safehouses, it'd be one which has been emptied. Shalimar, refresh the page and bring up the blueprint for the stereotype Jesse built."
"Got it." Whatever Jesse did, he didn't bother to delete the files from the Sanctuary's database and in just a matter of seconds, Adam was inspecting the manual of the transmitting device on the computer.
Why would Jesse have needed to build a transmitter of such type and such specificity?
"And there's more, Adam." Adam looked at Shalimar, dreading what she was about to say.
"Security records show that there's been some disruption to the radar sensory system, sometime yesterday, a few hours before Jesse's disappearance."
"What kind of disruption?" And now even Brennan was listening.
"It was some kind of interruption to Sanctuary's radar which jumbled up radioactive signals from missiles or any foreign crafts from both air and sea. If anyone were to attack us yesterday, they would have succeeded." Shalimar looked serious. "The signals seemed to have been scrambled by an unusually persistent vibration of 15000Hz-"
"That's the frequency of the wavelength given out by Jesse's transmitting device!"
"Exactly." Shalimar's eyes narrowed. "But at the time it wasn't given off by any of the prototypes since records show that he hasn't built them yet. Yet it came from inside the Sanctuary itself."
"So what you're saying is. . ." Brennan's voice trailed off, eyes narrowed with confusion.
"Radar signals only returned to normal at 1845 hours." She bit her lower lip. "The interruption only stopped after Jesse left."
"It came from Jesse," Adam whispered. "Dear God. . ."
"Adam?"
Now he knew why Jesse left.
"That's how Elaine tracks down her victims. She detects them through the waves their own bodies send off-a by-product of the neurotoxin-induced carcinogenic mutations-Jesse found out yesterday."
"You mean, if Elaine succeeded in tracing him here, she would have found out the location of Sanctuary!" Shalimar gasped.
"And he was leading her away. From here, from us." Adam finished grimly. Stunned, Brennan slowly sank deep into his seat.
Oh man.
"Where do you want me?" Shalimar asked quickly, not wanting to be left out.
"Shalimar, you go through all the programs run by Jesse in the Sanctuary's security system in the last three days; I can't shake the feeling that he might have done something to throw Elaine off, now that we know she'd go to every mutant she infected to kidnap them."
"Got it." And off she went.
Then Adam himself sat at the computer, the very computer where Jesse used to sit day in, day out, his mind racing in time with the beatings of his heart, growing faster with trepidation and anxiety with every second. The only thing on his mind was Jesse.
How the hell am I going to get him back?
***********************
Safehouse 3, St. Charles Avenue
"Nothing over here," a very ordinary-looking man quipped from the room next door. Elaine walked over to the small table hidden discreetly behind the safehouse's enormous refrigerator. True enough, there was a nondescript broadband transmitter taped to the side; pulsating with the tell-tale wavelengths it was giving out.
"Jesse, you cheat," she whispered, wanting to laugh. "I've got the first one wrong it seems. But I'll get the next one right." Then she straightened and spoke loudly to her agents, "He's not here. Let's move it."
As she headed for the steps, she whirled around. She'd suddenly thought of a suitable punishment for Jesse for playing around with her. Let him lay in wait for her all he wanted. But he'd have to do it in excruciating pain. She was going to stretch the time as long as she pleased. "On second thought-let's spend some more time here shall we?"
Her next command would send chills down anybody's spine.
"Destroy everything and anything."
****************************
Safehouse 11, where Jesse actually was.
Jesse finally had to resort to taking some drugs. He was glad he did though; it succeeded in taking off the edge of the pain but thankfully it didn't cloud his thinking processes, which honestly, weren't doing so great at the moment.
Now he was taping the last of the special device he'd prepared to the leaf of the main door. Good thing he'd done this once to play that trick on Brennan as a practical joke. The poor elemental had to sleep outside on the couch in the living room with his day clothes on because he couldn't get the door to his room open after he'd closed it for lunch and no matter how he zapped it, it had remained shut tight.
Jesse had had his share of fun that time, but after half a day, he relented and dismantled the locking device he'd taped to Brennan's door the day before. But Brennan had certainly learned his lesson and he made it a point from that day onward not to 'borrow' any more aftershave or mouthwash or Jesse's expensive cologne from Jesse's room whenever he ran out.
But now it wasn't a practical joke any more. Jesse was fighting for real. If the agents showed up anytime soon, he wanted to be ready.
********************************** "Adam, I found something," Shalimar bellowed from upstairs. Adam jumped out from his chair and raced up.
"Find anything?" He snapped.
"Sure did." Shalimar pointed to the monitor. "Here's an inventory list to all electronic devices developed and created using the Sanctuary's electrical system. Jesse used it yesterday to create a transmitting device specially made to give out frequency signals of a certain wavelength-and he built two prototypes."
"And I also found out that the Helix has made three stops since Jesse took it out earlier before he sent it home, I've only managed to find out where one was-it's our Safehouse number 8 down in Kensington and Sheffield. I'm still in the process of finding out where the other two stops were," Brennan reported from the computer station next to Shalimar. He frowned. "I wonder what Jesse was doing there. We shut the place down months ago."
Adam couldn't stop thinking about what Brennan said. "In that case get a list of all the safehouses we've closed down. Wherever Jesse might be, if he's hiding in one of the safehouses, it'd be one which has been emptied. Shalimar, refresh the page and bring up the blueprint for the stereotype Jesse built."
"Got it." Whatever Jesse did, he didn't bother to delete the files from the Sanctuary's database and in just a matter of seconds, Adam was inspecting the manual of the transmitting device on the computer.
Why would Jesse have needed to build a transmitter of such type and such specificity?
"And there's more, Adam." Adam looked at Shalimar, dreading what she was about to say.
"Security records show that there's been some disruption to the radar sensory system, sometime yesterday, a few hours before Jesse's disappearance."
"What kind of disruption?" And now even Brennan was listening.
"It was some kind of interruption to Sanctuary's radar which jumbled up radioactive signals from missiles or any foreign crafts from both air and sea. If anyone were to attack us yesterday, they would have succeeded." Shalimar looked serious. "The signals seemed to have been scrambled by an unusually persistent vibration of 15000Hz-"
"That's the frequency of the wavelength given out by Jesse's transmitting device!"
"Exactly." Shalimar's eyes narrowed. "But at the time it wasn't given off by any of the prototypes since records show that he hasn't built them yet. Yet it came from inside the Sanctuary itself."
"So what you're saying is. . ." Brennan's voice trailed off, eyes narrowed with confusion.
"Radar signals only returned to normal at 1845 hours." She bit her lower lip. "The interruption only stopped after Jesse left."
"It came from Jesse," Adam whispered. "Dear God. . ."
"Adam?"
Now he knew why Jesse left.
"That's how Elaine tracks down her victims. She detects them through the waves their own bodies send off-a by-product of the neurotoxin-induced carcinogenic mutations-Jesse found out yesterday."
"You mean, if Elaine succeeded in tracing him here, she would have found out the location of Sanctuary!" Shalimar gasped.
"And he was leading her away. From here, from us." Adam finished grimly. Stunned, Brennan slowly sank deep into his seat.
Oh man.