I didn’t like that the Cabal soldier who came to help him wasn’t with him, but I didn’t say that over the comm.

Over the comm, I said, “If there’s no one else around, you might as well. That said, The Nine have had teleporters in their bases before, so that might change.”

Jaclyn groaned, “That’s right. And even if they don’t have one here, Cabal soldiers can jump half a mile or more. Blue, keep on your guard.”

I felt as if I could hear Izzy’s frown as she replied, “I couldn’t stop listening to everything around me even if I wanted to.”

“Going in,” Jaclyn said.

Jaclyn’s view on the wall screen changed. She’d been standing in the road a couple of houses down from the house where Prentkos was lying on the couch. It wasn’t hard for her to stay out of view. It was a country road running next to a river. Trees covered the house lots, making it hard to tell that there were houses. If you hadn’t been paying attention earlier on the road, you might not even realize there was a river. The small ridge that the houses rested on obscured it.

The view on her screen changed as she jumped upward, past the trees and into Izzy’s view of the scene. In Izzy’s view, I saw Jaclyn begin to fall toward a tree, but at that moment, she moved sideways in a move that had nothing to do with gravity and everything to do with the small anti-gravity unit I’d placed in her costume. It wasn’t enough for high-speed flight, but it was all she needed to adjust her trajectory when she fell.

She landed on the concrete porch in front of the door, slowing as she hit to a degree that would have been impossible but for the device in her costume.

Over the comm, Izzy said, “He hasn’t heard anything. He’s still on the couch. It will be to your right when you open the door.”

Jaclyn began to raise her hand toward the door handle, thought better of it, and stepped through the door, hitting it with her shoulder. The wooden door exploded as she hit, but it didn’t slow her down.

She burst into the living room, making it inside to stand over Prentkos’ couch before he had the chance to move.

He laughed and raised his hands, “I surrender.”

He’d taken off his cowl, revealing his face. He had short brown hair, and a square, handsome face. I’d been right to guess that he was our age, but something about him didn’t seem quite right. It might have been the way he stared. Maybe the loss of blood was affecting his actions, but that didn’t fit.

Then he shook his head, “I’d have unlocked the door. I’m not going to be able to fight you right now. Look at me.”

He was still wearing his red and grey costume. Blood stained the leg around where my bots hit, the stains partly covered by the pink foam I’d sprayed to plug up the wound.

Jaclyn looked down at the wound, noticing I bet, that I’d sprayed it into the wound. It would probably be fine. The substance was non-toxic and broke down as a result of the body’s natural healing process. Still, it had been designed with shallow cuts in mind, not holes that went straight through a leg.

She said, “You need to see a doctor.”

Prentkos smiled with his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “I know, but in case you somehow found us, I was given a message for you.”

“Really?” Jaclyn stepped back with her right foot, putting her into a fighting stance even if it wasn’t obvious. Next to me in HQ, Haley tensed.

Over the comm, Izzy told everyone, “His heartbeat spiked. I think he’s going to do more than talk. Oh, and I’m not seeing anyone else getting closer to the house.”

Prentkos nodded, “That’s right. The Nine want me to tell you that they want Steven Vander Sloot. If you continue to protect him, they’ll not only kill you but the following people—“

At that point, he started listing the parents of everyone in the group, pausing between names, and ending with, “—I don’t know who these people are and I don’t care. Let us take Steve Vander Sloot and we won’t hurt anyone else.”

Kals, meanwhile, had been staring at the screen, “Did you hear that hitch when he spoke? How he's been pausing a little too often? Someone gave him contradictory commands or too many all at once. He’s stopping because he’s trying to keep it straight in his head.”

Haley frowned and spoke into her comm, “Watch out. Prentkos is mind-controlled.”

Prentkos opened his mouth as if to say something more, but then his hands blurred, going for the belt around his waist and he lunged forward off of the couch.

Despite being able to process information more quickly than normal people, it was still a blur to me. I could tell that he held something pointed and that Jaclyn backed up a step, but not what he was holding.

Within less than a second, Jaclyn had moved forward again, hitting his arm, and knocking the device out of his hand. Prentkos didn’t dive for it, but now there was a bloody spot on his neck. He hadn’t cut the jugular. It wasn’t spraying. It was just a dot with a bloody trickle.

At the same time, one of the spybots near Haley’s house showed the Cabal soldier I’d fought standing across the street. He wasn’t doing anything, but it made me feel nervous.