Olympus

Chapter 36

Shanghai, China

Ricardo accelerated the SUV through the highway like a mad man, swishing in and out of traffic without concern for the law or the motorists screaming at him. "Is the signal locked yet?!" he shouted to the teenagers in the back seat with their eyes intently fixed on a tablet in their middle.

"Still working on it," Adolf returned.

"Work faster!"

"Hey, dude," Kei looked up, very pissed by Ricardo's statement, "you wrote the program. If you find it unsatisfactory, then change it." She shoved the tablet in front of him and would have caused quite the commotion if Megan hadn't grabbed it from her hands.

"Enough!" She cut out whatever retort Ricardo had in mind with a look. "We're on the same side here, there's no reason for us to turn on one another."

Ricardo seemed to cool down then. "I'm sorry," he said as much to Megan as to the kids, "I got a little too excited back there. Won't happen again."

"Whatever." Kei shrugged carelessly as she sat back in her seat, but Adolf and Jay seemed more open to the apology and they nodded their understanding.

Just then, the tablet beeped. "The signal's getting stronger," Megan announced. "Rick, turn right on the next opening."

Ricardo drifted the SUV onto another highway with a screech that abruptly cut off two vehicles and Megan thought for a second that the cops would surely be on their tails for that, but they weren't and she relaxed again. Guess we aren't that much of a rulebreaker as I thought, she thought.

Just then, she caught Ricardo looking at her, somewhat concerned. "What is it?" she asked.

"I'm just wondering if you're okay with all these," he replied.

Megan quirked an eyebrow. Umm, strange much, Rick? she thought, confused. "I don't understand," she said, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, the last time you faced Martin Greene-"

"The last time you faced Martin, you froze up just because he knew your secret and allowed him to escape with a very dangerous weapon," Kei cut in from the back and all eyes turned on her. "What?" She shrugged in defiance. "We're all thinking it."

Megan closed her eyes, suddenly feeling the need to laugh; and she did.

"You're all concerned about that?" she asked as she opened her eyes again to look round and saw that Kei was right even though they weren't admitting it. "Look, I'll admit that I didn't do well the last time we crossed part with the Nameless, but that's why I'm here: to make amends. I owe you all, as a leader and teammate, to be at nothing but my best; and that's exactly what I'm going to be on this mission."

The statement seemed to please the others and they smiled.

"To be at nothing but our best," Adolf proposed with his hands stretched forward and Megan took it, the other joining in after; even Kei although she had needed a prompt from Jay, but she was smiling and it pleased Megan that they were all on the same page.

And just in time too, she realised when the tablet beeped in her hands once again and a notification came on. "The signal's locked," she announced. "Item 13's at somewhere called Haodong commercial centre."

Quickly, Ricardo synced the SUV's GPS with the tablet and the coordinates popped up. "Everybody, hang on," he said as he revved the engine and the car shot through the road like a speed demon.

"You know, I don't get something," Jay said as they went, "why would the Nameless choose to bring Item 13 all the way to Shanghai to deploy it? And in a commercial building no less."