CHAPTER SEVEN- The Last Resort
Finding nothing but a vacant lot where Douglas's house had once stood, Adam and Bree had resorted to wandering around town, looking for Chase on foot. Both of them knew it would probably be fruitless, but it was better than sitting in the lab, waiting for the GPS locator to go off.
They walked in silence most of the time, other than to say things like "right or left?" or "did we check this street yet?" Although her mouth was quiet, Bree's mind was running on overdrive. She kept thinking of the fight they had all had, and of the last conversation she had with Chase. She could have made things right between them, but she hadn't. And now she may never get that chance.
"Adam?" she finally said when she could stand it no longer. "Do you think that…that Chase left because of us?"
"What do you mean?" he responded as he peered into the window of an abandoned building
"I mean, first Chase took off by himself to go to Antarctica after we gave him a hard time. 'Hustle and muscle' and all that. And then, last weekend we had that huge fight, and then he took off with Douglas. We both know it's not like Chase to go off by himself. Do you think we drove him away? That we made him go over to Douglas's side?"
Adam turned away from the window and thought for a moment. "I think that, if Chase did go with Douglas willingly, he had a good reason for it. Maybe he thought he could take him down. Or maybe he was trying to protect us or Mr. Davenport."
Bree felt ashamed. Of course Adam would think the best of Chase. He was loyal, like a dog. Almost to a fault.
"Anyway," Adam continued, "I don't think Chase knows what he's doing right now. I think Douglas is controlling him. When he attacked us in the lab, he looked different. His eyes."
"What about his eyes?" Bree asked. She had been locked in her capsule, too far away to see Chase's face up close.
"When he looked at me, it was like he didn't recognize me. Like I was a stranger, and a threat. I know it sounds weird, but it was like Chase wasn't really there."
Bree shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Being used and controlled by someone like Douglas was one of her worst fears. And now it was happening to Chase.
"Do you think we will get him back?" she asked as they began to walk again.
"Yeah, I do. I know we'll get him back," he replied. For once, Adam's simple way of viewing things was a comfort rather than a frustration.
Bree stopped walking and gently touched his arm. "When we do, do you think he'll be the same person he was before?"
Adam stared back, surprised by the question. Bree realized that he had not considered that possibility yet. And now he's thinking about it, because of me. Will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut and stop being selfish?
Finally, noticing the stricken look on her face, Adam pulled his sister into a hug. "Chase is still in there, Bree. I don't believe that Douglas can take away who we are, even if he can control our bodies."
She leaned against him, grateful for the support, until the chirp of her cell phone disrupted the silence. She pulled it out and read the screen.
"Mr. Davenport wants us to come back to the lab," she explained to Adam.
"Did he find Chase?"
"It doesn't say. Let's go find out." Adam hopped onto her back and they took off for home at top speed.
Chase leaned his head back against the capsule wall and sighed in frustration. He had been trapped in the capsule for the whole day, except for a few brief minutes when Douglas let him out to use the bathroom and get another drink of water. He had kept the remote clutched in his hand the whole time, and Chase had not risked trying to escape again.
Douglas had spent the entire day bent over his computer desk, running programs and making adjustments to their codes. He rarely looked up, and he never stopped to take a break or get anything to eat. Chase had seen this same intensity in Donald whenever he was wrapped up in building a new invention. Sometimes Tasha had to literally drag him out of the lab and up to the dinner table.
Although he was glad that Douglas was not trying to hurt him, having his creator wrapped up in his work left Chase alone and bored. His body ached from sitting on the hard floor. His stomach had been growling for the past hour, the bowl of cereal from earlier long since digested.
Being locked up had also left him with a lot of time to think. It was blindingly obvious now that coming here alone had been a really bad idea. He should have learned his lesson after the avalanche, but he hadn't. He had rationalized his actions this time by telling himself it was to help Adam and Bree. But deep down, he knew that he wanted to prove something to them, and maybe to himself. To prove he was the best, and that he wasn't a little kid who needed his big brother and sister to help him. And now, he was in the exact position that he had been trying to avoid.
Even worse, Douglas was planning to control him. He would use Chase to hurt people, to rob people, to start wars, to commit assassinations…the possibilities were endless, and terrifying. He could not and would not let himself be someone's puppet. He would have to come up with a way to escape, and soon. And if he couldn't escape, he would have to…
"kill myself," he whispered, too quietly for Douglas to hear. "I'll have to kill myself."
The thought of ending himself had been circling in the back of his brain for hours now. Actually voicing it out loud was terrifying. But it also gave him a renewed sense of control. There was a way out, though it was not the way he had hoped.
Chase Davenport was not just a person, he was a weapon. And dangerous weapons that fall into the wrong hands have to be destroyed. He didn't want to die, not at 15 years old, with so much left to do in life. But he would not let Douglas control him and force him to do things he wouldn't be able to live with later.
"I've done it!" Douglas called out suddenly, rousing Chase from his thoughts. "I've modified the Triton program. It should be much more effective now. This is amazing. I'M amazing!" He practically sprinted over to the capsule and unlocked the door. "Come on, come on, let's try it out!"
Chase obediently stepped out of the capsule. He glanced subtly at Douglas's hand. In his haste, he had not pulled the remote out of his pocket.
Immediately Chase grabbed his uncle and threw him across the room. Douglas landed against the wall, surprised but unhurt. His hand went into his jacket pocket to grab the remote.
Chase super-speeded to his side just as the remote came into view. He kicked Douglas's hand, and the remote went flying and landed on the floor a few feet away. Douglas pushed himself up and made a mad dive for it, but Chase got there first. He snatched up the remote in his hand and squeezed, shattering it into dozens of tiny pieces.
"No!" Douglas shrieked, enraged. He made a desperate grab for Chase's leg, but Chase easily stepped away from it. He kicked again, and Douglas flew back into the wall, stunned this time.
Chase saw the stairs leading up and the door leading to freedom. He was off and running up the stairs and outside in a split-second.
A small part of him thought maybe he should have restrained Douglas before taking off, but the bigger part of him just wanted to be home. He could be back in the lab in a few minutes, where Mr. Davenport could fix him. Mr. Davenport could remove the Triton app, and make everything normal again. Just a little further and this will all be over.
But something was wrong. Chase felt himself slowing down. He was still trying to run, but his body wasn't responding. He came to a complete stop. He was alone, in the middle of the desert. His body turned around and began running back the way he just came from.
No! He tried to scream, tried to make himself stop. But he could do nothing
Douglas had control again.
In no time at all, he was back in the basement lab, standing next to the cyber desk with a grinning Douglas behind it. "You forgot the app was still in there, didn't you?" he said. "I've still got control. You're still mine. And once I install these upgrades, you will never be able to resist me again."
"Did you find Chase?" Bree exclaimed breathlessly as soon as she and Adam rushed into the lab. Leo was also there, trying to help though there really wasn't much he could do.
"No," Donald said, shaking his head.
"Then why did you call us back?" Adam asked.
"Because I don't want you two out there wandering around when we don't know what Douglas is up to. It's not safe."
"Are you kidding?" Bree asked. "If Douglas comes after us, he can lead us to Chase!"
"And we can take care of ourselves," Adam added. Both he and Bree glared at Donald, who glared back."
"That's probably what Chase thought, too," he retorted. "It's getting late in the day, and I want you both here before it gets dark. Besides, I have a feeling Douglas will try to contact us at some point, and I want us to-" an insistent beeping sound came from his desk, interrupting him.
-"be ready," Donald finished his sentence as he checked the source of the alarm.
"What is it?" Leo asked.
Donald looked up. "It's the GPS signal from Chase's chip. It's working again."
Adam and Bree looked at each other, excited. "Let's go get him! What are his coordinates?" Bree asked Donald.
Donald looked seriously at them. "He's about forty miles away, in a remote location in the desert. I'll send the coordinates to your chips. But guys, you need to be aware that this is most likely a trap. Douglas probably re-activated the GPS knowing that we would come and try to save him."
"It's OK, Mr. Davenport," Adam said. "We'll get him back. We can handle Douglas."
"DON'T underestimate him," Donald said sternly. "I'm sure he wants to trap you two, too. Don't give him the chance. Get Chase and get out, do you understand?"
They both nodded.
"All right." He pressed a button on the desk. "I've sent the coordinates to your chips. Go on ahead. I'll follow in the super-speedster and be there soon." Adam hopped on Bree's back and the two of them were off.
Donald turned to his step-son. "Leo, I-"
"-want me to stay here and monitor the situation remotely until you get back. I know the drill, Big D."
Donald smiled. "Actually, I have a job for you this time. A very important one." He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled a name and phone number, and some GPS coordinates on it, then handed it to Leo.
"This is the local FBI agent who has been trying to track down my brother for the last ten years. He told me to call him immediately if I ever found out where Douglas was. I want you to call him right away on my behalf and give him these coordinates. Don't leave a message, don't just talk to the secretary, don't take no for an answer- do whatever it takes to get through. Call every minute and use the most annoying voice you have if you have to. Leo…" Donald knelt down and looked him right in the eye. "I need you to be the most persistent, insistent, annoying Leo you've ever been."
Leo took the paper and grinned. "I got it, Big D. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being persistent and annoying."
"Upgrade complete," Douglas's computer said pleasantly. He bent over the controls, then looked up at Chase and smiled.
"Well? How do you feel?"
"Let me go. I don't want to be your cyber-solider," Chase said angrily. With Douglas standing right at the controls, he did not try to run away again.
"I think you'll enjoy it, once you get used to it, Chase. It's an enormous amount of power for one human being to have."
"I'll never enjoy something like that. And I'll find a way to get out of it. To escape, or to overwrite the program. I'm the smartest person alive, you know."
"The creation is never smarter than the creator, Chase."
"Adam and Bree will come for me."
Douglas looked over at a monitor hanging on the wall. "Actually, I believe they're on their way now." He motioned to two colored dots, racing across the desert. "That's their GPS signals. I set your GPS to start transmitting again. Donald must have picked up on it. Looks like they will be here any second."
Chase shook his head. "You can't overpower all three of us."
"I won't have to. That's why I have you." He smirked, and Chase recoiled in horror as he realized the full extent of what Douglas intended him to do.
"No…don't. I'll…" Chase swallowed hard, as the blips on the monitor drew closer. They were almost to his location now.
"I'll do anything you want. Just…please, don't make me hurt them."
Douglas was unmoved by this plea. "You're right about one thing. You will do anything I want." They both looked up as they heard the sound of the front door opening and footsteps upstairs.
"And right now, I want you to overpower and restrain your brother and sister by whatever means necessary."
He pressed a button, and Chase felt himself slipping away. This time, instead of landing in the back of his mind, he went much, much further. Everything gradually got dim and then completely dark.
Then, for a long time, he knew nothing.
END CHAPTER