Page 46 of Legend of Scorpio
“Meaning we’re fucked,” Scorpio huffed.
“Yeah, at least for a day or more. Luckily, I’ve got backups that aren’t connected, so I should be able to restore, but it won’t have the access I hacked into Cetus.”
“Bloody hell,” Scorpio paced, his body tense with agitation.
“One thing’s for sure, this Cetus isn’t some do-good climate group. That was some slick work, the kind that takes big bucks.”
Scorpio rubbed his chin. “I hate having to enter blind. Not to mention, where do I go? Office building or secret facility?”
Rebecca chewed the end of her thumb. “There must be another way to find out where they took it.”
“The longer we take, the more time they have to secure the orb, or hide it.”
Scorpio ranted the entire trip back to his suite. He paced, bristling with anger. “Fuck. I can’t believe they caught Aquarius poking. That’s never happened before. But even worse, they apparently know a little too much about us.”
“How would they have found out? I thought the whole Zodiac Warrior thing was a secret?” Rebecca flopped onto his couch.
“Who knows? Maybe they found an ancient text. Or someone broke their oath and opened their big yapper.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but they’re aware we’re onto them so their guard will be up. I should have hit them yesterday before they had a chance to beef up their security.”
“Um, unless they’re beaming across the planet, you do realize it’s something like twenty-plus hours to fly from Antarctica to the USA. More if there’s layovers. The relic is still most likely in transit.”
His lips pursed. “I hadn’t thought of that. But it gives me an idea.” He pulled out his phone, and his fingers flew.
“Who are you texting?” she asked.
“Aquarius and copying in Aries. Telling them to check for any planes registered under Cetus. Flight plans have to be registered, and something coming from Antarctica will stand out. If we can see where the plane goes, then we might still be able to intercept the orb.”
“Assuming they don’t offload it beforehand.”
He cast her a glare. “Not helping, Doc.”
“Sorry. Just pointing out possible outcomes. It’s a science thing.”
“You’re right. They could very well dump it to throw us off the scent, but finding their plane is the only possible clue I have right now.”
Only following up on it proved difficult. The computers remained inoperative, with Aquarius predicting at least twelve hours or more before he had them up and running again.
Scorpio didn’t handle the delay well. He wouldn’t stop pacing. A man too agitated to relax. It proved contagious, leading Rebecca to gnaw her thumb and tap her foot.
When his phone dinged, he read the text and smiled. “Bingo. Cancer called in some favors and might have found the plane. A private jet registered to Cetus left Ushuaia, which is on the tip of South America, and is heading to Maine, with three stops to refuel. We just missed the last one. According to its flight plan, it’s going to land at a private airfield in the next couple of hours.”
“Are you going to intercept it there?”
“Where they’re likely to have heavy security?” He shook his head. “Nope. We’re going to have it come down before that.”
She gasped. “You’re going to crash it?”
“No. But it’s going to need to do an unscheduled landing.”
“How?”
“They’re not the only ones with drones.” He grinned.
“How is a drone going to stop a plane?”