Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The Greenway Council

I turn on the machine and it quickly whirres around Angela. Once the machine has lifted Angela begins to stumble. I catch her and stand her on her feet. "According to that machine, you had over 23 trackers all over your body." "23?!" "23. Now, you have none. All of them have been deactivated." I escort her out of the shower and into the demolished bedroom. "What are we going to do about the house?" "I-" "Wait! Lemme guess, you have a guy that can do it in ten minutes." "Ten minutes? I wish. Try about a day." "Wait, really?" "Yea, the guy's amazing. He can be in and out in record time. If you want to grab the kids and go to the garage I'll call him and turn off the lockdown." She nods and walks upstairs while I walk over to a keypad on the wall. I insert a key and type in a code. I hear a mechanical whirr followed by the keypad displaying "Lockdown Mode Disabled." I pull out my phone as I walk to the garage. "Hello?" "Bill? It's Richard. I got a project for ya." "And what would that be you crazy ass fox?" "I may have blown up my bedroom with a tank while chasing armed assailants trying to kidnap my wife." I hear a long pause on the other end, followed by laughter. "Coming from anyone else, I would be asking several questions. But I've learned to never question you." "Soo, can you help me out?" "I'll be there in an hour. The pin still 1967?" "Yea, and thanks again. I'll leave some pictures of the house out so you have a reference." "Got it." I hang up the phone and meet Angela, my parents, and the kids by the garage access door. "Before we leave, what are you going to do about the massive tank in our living room?" "Giovanni will take care of it." "Alright then, let's go. We are taking my car or one of yours?" "Let's take my Ferrari FF. It's got a back seat for the little ones." Joeliene puts her hands on her hips. "What about us?" "I was just about to get there." I open the key box and pick up a tan key inscribed with the red Bugatti logo. I toss them to Maddox. "Take this. Scratch it, and you might be coming back in a Yugo. Or a hearse, it depends on how bad it is." Maddox stares wide eyed at the key. "Yea, yea. Sure. No scratches. Yugo." I turn back to Angela. "Let's get going. I've got a hotel lined up and a full day for us tomorrow." I grab a Ferrari key from the key box and ring a small bell. A minute later, a small Fennec Fox in a butler's uniform walks over. "Yes sir?" "Gio, take the house repair pics and leave them out for Bill. Also, do you mind taking care of the tank as well?" "That's my job sir. I'll get right to it." "Thanks Gio." "Anytime sir." "And quit calling me sir." "Yes, uh…" "Just go." He scampers off and I open the garage. "Dad, I would get moving before you drool on my keys." Maddox snaps out of his daydream. "Right. Joe! Let's move." They walk off, clicking the key in search of my Bugatti Chiron. "Should we leave them alone?" "Ah they'll be fine. Besides, I think that they need it." We walk to the opposite side of the garage and load into the yellow Ferrari FF. I check on the kids before pulling out of the garage and into the driveway, stopping and waiting for my parents to emerge. "Oh, Richard, did you get all the kid's stuff?" "Yup. Had Gio take care of it earlier." "My god he's helpful." "That's why I hired him." My parents finally pull out of the garage and stop behind us. I slowly drive down the driveway and carefully pull onto the highway before slamming the accelerator and leaving the Chiron in the dust. "Ha! Let's see if he has the balls to hit it and rocket past me." I check the rear view mirror and see them coming up behind us, and fast. "Hm, I guess he di-wait." "Angela gets a concerned look. "What?" "My father isn't driving, my mom is." As I end my sentence, Joeliene pulls up beside me, smiles, then guns it past me and down the highway. "Well then. I guess she had more than he did." We continue to speed down the highway, never catching sight of the Chiron until we pull into the hotel parking lot next to it. "Guess they found the GPS too." I unload the sleeping kids while Angela unloads our luggage, and the both of us walk into the lobby. I check us into the penthouse suite and carry up our luggage while Angela tends to the kids. Angela puts them in cribs in the next room before closing the door and joining me. "So, what's the plan now Mr. Senna?" "I need you to take everything off and lay face down on the bed." "Alright then. Bit early for you but I'm not complaining." "What are you talking about?" "Aren't we going to- OH! What the hell are you doing back there?" I fiddle with some knobs on the small contraption above Angela's back. "Scanning those trackers to see if I can trace them back to someone. What did you think I was going to do?" "Uh, nothing, I guess." She sighs and puts her head down. I heave a radiation blanket over her head. "This will protect you from radiation while I do the x-ray." "Mmpf" "Ready?" "Mpmfp" "I'll take that as a yes." I turn on the scanner and it whirres to life, scanning the entirety of Angela' s body. Within a few seconds, the machine gives me an x-ray image. I zoom in on one of the trackers, get a 3D scan of it, then save the file. I repeat the process until I've compiled about 13 models. I lift the blanket and x-ray machine off of Angela and place them on a table. "You done with me?" "Yea. Put a robe on. I want you to see this." She walks into the bathroom while I send the files to a 3D printer, printing out enlarged replicas of the trackers. Angela walks up beside me. I hand her one of the prints. "So this is what's been giving us so much trouble." "Yup. And I want you to look at the markings on all of these." I gesture to the small text engraved in each of the trackers. "All the text is the same." "The Greenway Council." Angela mutters. "Where have I heard that name before?" "Try Greenway Computers. They sound familiar?" "Yes. But isn't that a small tech company in Sweden?" "You're right about the Sweden part. But not the small part. The Greenway Council is a multi-billion dollar technology cooperation. They make everything from computers to vacuum cleaners, and apparently, trackers. Unfortunately, these trackers aren't tagged to a customer. Fortunately, I can fix that." "How?" "The computer systems back home have hacking and encryption software that allows me to access anywhere on the web as anyone and do almost anything. I can get into their systems, scroll the customer list, and match it to the tracker's part number." "Well what should we do in the meantime?" "I propose we spend some quality time with our children."