Free Fever by Kailin Gow Page B

someone pick out Location Thirteen if they don’t know roughly where it is, but once they do, it can lead them in.”
                Jack focusses on it, taking us towards it. There really isn’t much of a glow there. I guess that if I didn’t know what it was, I’d think that it was something natural. Strange, but natural. Jack brings our helicopter directly over it, bringing us down slowly. I wonder if people inside Location Thirteen know that we’re there? They must, mustn’t they? I can’t imagine Faders who don’t want to know when people are getting too close to their bases.
                Jack’s touch down is perfect. I barely feel it. In the dark, working purely by the helicopter’s dials and readouts, that’s pretty impressive. Not as impressive as hiding us beneath a waterfall, maybe, but still impressive. The rotors whir to a halt, and I jump out of the helicopter, looking around. Thanks to my abilities, I don’t have a problem with the dark.
                I reach back into the helicopter, grabbing some of the bags from inside. Dr. Florence is still there, looking around and apparently not seeing much. I grab a flashlight and throw it to him. Jack is busy grabbing branches from the closest tree, pulling out camouflage netting from within the helicopter and pulling it over it.
                He steps inside, helping me to unload bags. No one has come out from Location Thirteen. Either they don’t know we’re here, or they’re simply waiting for us to come in. Maybe they don’t feel like sending out a welcoming committee to help with the bags. Talking of which, Jack throws a couple of bags at Dr. Florence, who catches them inexpertly. I think he’s just trying to spread the load, but then I realize that it’s a move that leaves Jack’s hands free.
                He takes Dr. Florence by the arm. “There isn’t enough time for me to run all the tests on you that I’d like to,hat I’ۀe to,h Jack says, “but you’d better believe that until I’m certain about exactly who you are, I’ll be watching you.”
                Dr. Florence nods. “I understand.”
                I don’t say anything. I know Jack likes to be careful. Besides, if his instincts are telling him that we need to be that careful, then maybe I should listen to them.
                We set off walking through the dark, down to what appears at first to be nothing more than a natural fissure in the rock. We step through one at a time. It’s colder inside, and it gets colder still as we make our way along what turns out to be a passageway heading deep into the rock. That passageway twists and turns before finally stopping dead at a heavy steel door. There’s a surprisingly old fashioned looking key hole in it.
                “I hope you have a key,” I say to Jack.
                “Every Fader has the key,” Jack assures me, and puts his finger in the key hole. I realize then that it must be one of the fancy biometric locks the Faders love so much. “The key hole is just in case someone wanders in by accident. They just think it’s an old storage room, or a mine, or something. They don’t see the level of technology that’s here.”
                The door grinds back slowly, revealing a brightly lit corridor beyond, with a trio of elevators lined up on one side. Jack pushes a button to call the middle one. Throughout all this, Dr. Florence is staring at everything like he can’t quite believe it.
                “What is all this? Another research facility? Those materials on the walls… I thought you weren’t anything to do with Hammond?”
                “We aren’t,” I assure him. “Trust me, once you’ve met more Faders, you’ll understand.”
                Jack nods as the elevator doors open, pushing Dr. Florence inside. “If you’re lucky, you might even get to