When Tobias had made contact with him, telling him about all of the high-ranking Controllers gathering inside a large Safeway, Tommy saw that one of the walls had been smashed in. That was what Tobias had been wanting to show them, as it turned out.
(You'd never notice it from ground-level,) Tobias said, sounding more than a little pleased with himself. (But from a bird's eye view, it's pretty obvious.)
(Something fast hit the ground, it skidded across the parking lot, smashed through the wall, then started a fire,) Jake summarized, as they all took turns circling around the damaged Safeway, looking down at the tarp blowing in as it was hit by the breeze.
(It must have been late at night,) Cassie said, as they all made another pass over the parking lot. (Otherwise, there would have been cars around, and someone would have seen it.)
(They might have even been hit by it, depending on where they were,) he said, looking down at the gouges that had been ripped out of the asphalt.
They led right into the missing patch of wall, and as Tobias led them in another, tight circle of the grocery store, each of them managed to catch a glimpse of Chapman. Their assistant principal, one of the more high-ranking Controllers in the school that they knew of, was the one in charge of the clean-up crew. It reminded him again of the way the Controllers posing as his foster parents had been talking about moving to Angel Grove.
He was still going to need to let the rest of the Animorphs know about what was happening, but for the moment Tommy's attention was focused on the Controllers in the building and what it was they might have been guarding or searching for.
Jake yelped, drawing Tommy's attention back to the Safeway and all of the high-ranking Controllers gathered around it. That was what all of them were trying to focus on, not the impending departure of one of their own. Even if he was going to be close enough for Tobias to call him if they needed him.
(Oh, good. Another rushed, unplanned, last-minute mission,) Marco groused, in response to Jake's assertion that they should all head in to check out the Safeway tonight. (Those always turn out so well.)
(It's not ideal,) he allowed, wanting to let Marco know he'd been heard, but also wanting to keep up the morale of the rest of the group. (But we've handled things like this before.)
(Yeah, barely,) Marco said, sounding like he'd have been rolling his eyes if any of them had been capable of that at the moment.
They circled the Safeway a last time, using the momentum to slingshot themselves toward the woods to that they'd be able to meet up with Ax more easily. Deciding that he'd bring up the fact that he was moving as soon as this latest mission of theirs was over and done with, Tommy folded his wings and prepared to land with the rest of the Animorphs.
