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“No, shit?” laughed Eazee.
“No, shit. He’s willing to help with anything we need as long as we leave him alone. He just wants to sell his drugs and make money.”
“Is that all?” frowned East.
“I know it seems too much, East, but this is one of those cases where we need to choose our battles. He isn’t our issue right now. As you’ve discovered, the AI problem is stemming from Sutton, not from Rivera,” said Liffey.
“I know you’re right. It’s just leaving him out on the street is counterintuitive to everything we know.”
“I agree, but he’s given us quite a bit of information, and I think we have to keep our word with him. Our beef isn’t with him. At least not today.”
“I’ve got Thomas and Ace on the tablet,” said Tanner, turning the device toward everyone.
“We understand you need some help with a group of geniuses,” said Thomas. “Could someone explain a little further?”
“It’s not just any group, Thomas. They’re kids and women. I’m not sure where they’ve come from or what they were doing, but Sutton has them, and he doesn’t intend to do anything noble with them, I assure you.”
“There’s a school,” started Thomas. “It’s very small, or at least its remote locations are small. They only take about a dozen kids per year, but there are several different locations around the world. The teachers were all once students as well.”
“What is this school?” asked East.
“The Einstein Academy for the Gifted. There are a dozen or so around the world. London, Cairo, Chicago, Beijing. I’d have to look up the other locations. The schools aren’t well known. In fact, they try not to let anyone know of their existence for this very reason. Many of the children who attend don’t have any living relatives. It’s sort of an orphanage for savants and geniuses.”
“How do we find out if anyone is missing from these schools?” asked Liffey.
“You don’t,” said Ace. “The identifications of the kids and teachers is kept secret so that something like this doesn’t happen to them. Obviously, someone found out about it, and Sutton took advantage of it. If no one is keeping count of these kids, that means he can keep these kids, and there’s no way of anyone knowing anything or becoming the wiser.”
“We have to help these kids,” said Brooke. “I think we need to get into that shed and get them out.”
“How?” said East, shaking his head. “One way in, and one way out. And I’m the one person he showed that shit to. I want to get them out, but right now, they’re safe down there. Let’s get Sutton on everything before we rush in for the kids.”
“Let me get with Ryan and the rest of G.R.I.P. and see what we can do,” said Ace. “I’ve got the street plans pulled up, and we may be able to find a way to get to those kids without going through the tunnel. There could be something that we’re not seeing or something that we’re missing because we’re beating our heads against the wall.”
East nodded, staring at the others, looking as if there was something else on his mind. Genius kids with their entire lives ahead of them, waiting to be molded and impressed upon by mentors and leaders in their proposed fields. Among them could be the next great architect, engineer, scientist. Perhaps a president or a neurosurgeon. Someone who cures cancer.
“What? What are you not telling us?” asked Brooke.
“If we don’t get those kids out of there, once he gets what he wants, he’s going to sell them off like livestock to the highest bidders.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I can help them, Kegger,” said Morgan.
“No! Absolutely not. No.” His face was flush, his tone filled with anger. Not for her but for the man they both despised.
“Kegger, you don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do. I’m a grown woman who’s survived unimaginable pain and terror.” Kegger stared at her, propping his prosthetic leg up on the table.
“I’m well aware of what you suffered. I can understand better than anyone. But I will not allow you to risk your life because your father is a maniac. We will stop him, and we will get him out of El Paso.”
“I know that, and I’m sorry. I know that you understand what kind of pain I’ve been through. I didn’t mean to diminish your own. But I’m saying that I could get to the mansion, allow the federal agents in to see what’s down in that tunnel and underground spring, and that would help to build the case against him. He might not ever know that I’m there. The federal agents could tell him afterwards that I allowed you all in, remotely.”
“Oh,” frowned Kegger.
Morgan smirked at him, shaking her head. She pulled her chair closer to him, resting her hands on his upper thighs. She could feel where his prosthetic started, his own flesh no longer there.
“Kegger, I don’t want to die. I’m no heroine, and I have no desire to sacrifice my life for that hideous man.”
“You’re not going to die,” said Kegger, gripping her hands.
