He Who Calls
Chapter 29
"This is an extremely important story, and I realize that, but what about Odd's leg?" asked Yumi.
"I can take care of it," said Juanita. "The Man in Grey isn't as good a shot as he used to be. Normally you would all be dead. As it is the bullet barely penetrated his skin." She picked up Odd and laid him out on a cot. "Do you feel all right?"
"Yeah," said Odd.
"I can give it better attention once we're sure the Man in Grey is gone. A long time ago I put a tracker on him. I haven't checked it since, but maybe now there's a use for it," said Juanita.
"Where is it?" asked Milo.
"The terminal is in the other room," she said. Then she palmed a remote control button and a computer screen flipped open. "Go check it, I have to make sure Odd isn't infected."
"It's flying towards Portugal," Milo said. "I think it will arrive in one hour."
"All right. Milo, Jeremy, Aelita, get programming. Odd, I'll take care of the bullet. Ulrich, Yumi, you two are on Man in Grey watch. Keep an eye on the tracker and the other computers around it," said Juanita, flipping open more computer screens all around.
"Okay," said Milo. "I'll set up the Mini-Scan mainframe and scanners, Jeremy, you work on Troy, Aelita, you work on Xanadu."
"All right," they said, and ran to computers. Milo pulled wires and boxes out of his suitcases. He started plugging things in and crossing wires very quickly.
One hour later, everyone's work was starting to take shape. Odd was bandaged up and the bullet was removed, Xanadu, Troy, and the Mini-Scans were all almost complete. The one bad thing was that the Man in Grey had arrived in Portugal, gone to Milo's adoptive family, and then set a course for America. Then didn't know what he had done in Portugal, but they could guess. A few minutes later, confirmation arrived.
"Dear Juanita Black and Milo Salian," Ulrich read off one of the screens he had been watching. "We regret to inform you that Alfred and Madison Black were murdered in their house in Portugal at 7:03 p.m. The perpetrator is as of yet uncaught. We assure that we are doing everything we can to bring him to justice. Yours truly, the Portuguese Police Department. Milo…"
"Are you okay?" asked Aelita tentatively. Milo walked out of the room without saying a word.
"He isn't okay," Jeremy translated bluntly. "Juanita, are you okay?"
"Enough to keep working," said Juanita. "Milo may be a while. This is the second family he's lost."
"The Man in Grey set a course for America," said Ulrich. "The Della Robbia family!"
"We can't do anything!" said Juanita. "Any communications out of this house will be monitored by the government."
"We can say an unknown force is trying to assassinate us and our families," said Jeremy.
"All right," said Juanita. She typed a few things in, addressed it to Odd's parents, hit send, and then a horrible look came across her face. "The government is blocking our communications."