Next to me, Rachel said, "Does he really think he's going to stop Ray by himself?"

I didn't say anything. I'd pulled up my communicator. They'd given Sean one, and he'd managed not to trash it yet. I clicked, and got a GPS view of the team including Sean's dot.

He was flying toward the address Gimpius had given us.

Idiot.

I hoped he didn't plan to take on Ray by himself. If I guessed right, all he'd manage to do is pass his powers on to Ray. And that was a best case scenario. Worst case was that he'd be dead by the time we got there.

If I were Ray, I'd have picked up super-strength and invulnerability before I left the radio station. It's not as if those powers were in short supply among Prime's people. Fists weren't magnetic. He'd be able to pound Sean into paste even without a gun, and that was assuming he hadn't packed non-magnetic bullets just in case.

I called Sean's communicator.

He didn't answer.

"We'd better go," I said.

"Rocket, before we do, you need to listen to me. You know the address Prime gave us? Ray left a note inside with the same address. He's expecting us."

"So basically, we're walking into a trap?"

"Looks like it."

"I'd say skip it, but he's still got--" and I would have said, "Mom" except Liz stood with us, listening. "--a hostage," I finished.

"So we go," Rachel said, "and try to surprise him. He can't anticipate everything."

I clicked button on my palm, and the rockets lit. Rachel grabbed my shoulder, and I took off.

I barely got into the air before my communicator started beeping. Sean? No, Jaclyn.

I hovered, and took the call.

"Rocket, I've got your dad. He's safe, and still at his office for now. I'm getting him out of here."

"Why?"

"I just fought four mechs, and there might be more. He'll be safer with everyone else we freed."

"Just don't bring him home," I said. "Ray's got my mom."

"Oh, Nick... And you're trying to catch him? What's your plan?"

"I don't know. I'm just thinking that with Ray's power, I ought to get all of our armored people to help."

"Maybe I can swap places with Chris and send him over. Look, if you get stuck, even if Gunther's there, call me. We'll think of something."

We hung up, and I started flying.

Taken by itself, the flight there might have been fun. Summer, the real summer, the warm part, had started, and as anyone might guess from its name, 2913 Northshore Drive was on the north side of Grand Lake.

More than that, it wasn't directly on Grand Lake. The GPS showed the address as a dot near Lake Michigan, just a few miles north of Haley's family's cottage.

To get there, I flew over Grand Lake, seeing our harbor, a couple big ships at dock, the marinas, boats pulling water-skiers, and sailboats with their sails wide and catching the wind.

I barely noticed.

I knew I ought to be planning, but I couldn't talk to anyone to do it. To catch Sean, I'd given the rocketpack all the fuel it could handle.

The rockets' roar in combination with wind made talking over my wrist communicator impossible.

The communicator's GPS showed Sean as being three miles ahead of Rachel and I.

If we hadn't talked to Liz or Jaclyn, maybe we'd be closer. As it was, he'd reach the cottage before we did--probably a minute before, but a lot could happen in a minute.

What would we do when we got there? Gunther wanted us to wait for him, and he'd told me before that he felt confident Ray would kill me if we fought.

That argued for stalling until Gunther got there.

Except...

Sean wasn't going to go in there quietly, and we'd arrive just behind him, probably in the middle of the fight.

Obviously we could hang back, and let Ray do his stuff, but it wouldn't be right. It'd be like letting Sean walk on a mine.

So we had to go in after him, and maybe save him.

Or... Rachel could taser-glove him into unconsciousness. Either way, he wouldn't be screwing things up anymore.

Of course, if he'd already screwed up enough that Mom was dead before we got there, it really didn't matter.

I didn't know what I'd do then.

Once Rachel and I crossed Grand Lake, I stayed over land, figuring that it'd be easier to stay out of sight that way. To judge from the GPS, Ray's hideout appeared to be directly on Lake Michigan.

The dunes and trees would hide us better than flying over the lake would.

I got a visual on Sean. He appeared to be doing the same thing, but possibly not for the same reasons.

He flew over the county fairgrounds. People were already working on the midway. I recognized the race track, and wondered when they'd put up the Ferris wheel.

A truck joined him in the air. Even with the zoom, I didn't recognize the model, only that it looked old.

I hoped it was a leftover from last year's demolition derby. Otherwise, he'd just stolen it.