While Alex, Ken, and Louis left Yvonne's house, Lincoln, Riley, and Dangles waited with bated breath for HALLE to figure out who hacked into their system.
Lincoln impatiently paced back and forth. "This is useless. How slow is this thing?"
After drawing in a sharp breath, Riley tightly shook his head. "It's complex tech, Mr. Ambrose. Let her take as long as she needs."
Squinting, Lincoln pointed at Todrick's wrist. "The watch is a her?"
Riley rolled his eyes. By this point, Lincoln had asked him hundreds of questions about HALLE. Sadly, none of the answers quelled his curiosity.
"I wasn't referring to the watch. I was talking about the AI," Riley explained. "HALLE isn't just in the watch. She is installed on all of our computing systems. It's almost like she's her own entity."
Lincoln stared blankly at the watch. He obviously didn't get it. "Ah," he said. "I get it."
[SFX: Beeping]
The men jumped as the noise from the watch echoed through the room. HALLE's scan was complete. Her voice reverberated through the watch's speakers. "Update, the algorithm can be traced back to Halethrope, to a house located right by the river, owned by Yvonne Wheeler."
Lincoln groaned. "Of course, that neurotic psychopath bailed Alex out." The old man grabbed Todrick's wrist and held the watch up to his face. "Thank you, HALLE."
After Todrick pulled his arm away from Lincoln, his shoulder hunched over. He knew this was bad news. "I guess that means Alex is on his way."
Riley scowled. Alex foiled their plan yet again. "What do we do?"
Lincoln clenched his jaw. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Mainly, he was concerned about his and Justin's safety. After a moment lost in thought, Lincoln addressed the two men. "Justin and I need to retreat. If something happens to either of us, everything falls through. You buffoons can take on Alex."
Riley raised his hand as if he were taking an oath. "I will take on Alex by myself. I almost beat him once before. I'm ready this time. I can do it."
Warily, Lincoln shook his head. "What about Dangles?"
Riley scoffed. "Dangles is useless. He got his eye scratched out by a cat."
Unashamed, Dangles adjusted his eye patch. "I can pay a little visit to Ms. Wheeler. I think it's time she pays for what she's done."
Much to Riley's dismay, Lincoln smirked at Dangles. "Good thinking, Todrick. Now, let's take down Alex Ambrose once and for all."
With that, the three men went their separate ways.
While Lincoln, Riley, and Dangles had waited for HALLE to figure out who hacked their location, Justin continued to interrogate the captives, Debbie and Mark.
Justin pulled over Lincoln's comfy office chair. He rolled in it in front of Debbie and Mark, then sat down.
He cleared his throat. "What's my brother been up to nowadays?"
Debbie rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"
Justin shot her a cold, intimidating glare. "I could do without the sass, Ms. Clifton."
A nervous chill ran down Debbie's spine. She couldn't deny that Justin was a force to be reckoned with. She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Alex is trying to recover after the super soldier attacks. He's helping Baltimore get back on its feet. I don't know if you noticed from your ivory tower, but half the city has been destroyed."
Justin cocked his head to the side. "I noticed, and I've seen Alex running around, trying to do some good, but that's not what I care about. What are his plans? Where is he taking my family's business?"
Debbie bit her lip. "Thanks to you and your little friends, he hasn't had much time to think of business strategies, Justin. He's fighting for his life every other day."
Justin laughed, comfortably relaxing into the chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Debbie, you and I both know he loves the thrill of the fight. Alex doesn't know how to let things go. My brother and I may be different, but we both love being in the spotlight."
Debbie felt her cheeks heat up. "That's not true. Alex doesn't care about the spotlight. He would do everything without any recognition. And he doesn't want to fight. You all are relentless."
Justin scoffed. "Think whatever you want. I've known the guy my whole life. I think you fall for his do-gooder act. All you see are his pretty little eyes. You don't know that he's a liar, just like the rest of us."
Debbie lurked forward, her restraints serving as a constant reminder that she was stuck. "You know what I think?"
Mark, who had been listening intently to the whole conversation, whispered in Debbie's direction. "Debbie, stop. He's trying to get a reaction out of you.
Justin smiled, baring his pearly white teeth. "Don't listen to him. Enlighten me, Princess. Please, tell me what you think."
Debbie furrowed her brow. "I think that you're jealous. You could never live up to the precedent that Alex set. You're lazy. You don't want to work. You want to rely on your parents' trust fund. It kills you that Alex is such a good man because you're a terrible one."
Justin stood up, clenching his fists. "Oh, sweetie. You don't mean that."
Debbie pursed her lips. "I assure you, I do."
Justin stepped toward Debbie and cocked his fist, but he didn't have the chance to strike the woman.
Lincoln barged back into his office. He paid no mind to Debbie and Mark as he grabbed Justin by the shoulder. He leaned in next to his ear. "We need to go. Now."
Justin raised a curious eyebrow. "What happened?"
Lincoln lowered his voice so that Debbie and Mark wouldn't hear him. "Alex. That's what happened."
Without a word, Justin followed his grandfather out of the room.
Debbie squirmed in her chair behind the men. "Where are you going?! You won't get away with this!"
Her pleas didn't stop the men as they slammed the door shut behind them.
"Her voice is grating," Lincoln said. "How did Alex put up with her?"
As the two continued to walk down the hall, Justin shrugged. "She's got great tits."
Lincoln stopped at the door to one of the elevators. He pressed the down button. "Yeah, well, Kylie has great tits too."
When the doors to the elevator opened, Justin briskly walked through them. "Hers are fake. It isn't the same."
Lincoln followed his grandson. "Once you get to my age, kiddo, you don't discriminate between fake and real."
Lincoln pushed a button to another floor. It seemed like the elevator was the only thing he could control at that moment. A heavy silence fell over the two.
Eventually, Justin cleared his throat. "What exactly is going on, Lincoln?"
Lincoln ran his hand through his slicked-back hair, messing it up a bit. "Alex is on his way. He and his little cronies were able to track down Debbie's location."
Justin clenched his fists. "Great. I told you, we should have had Dangles take the two straight out of Baltimore. He would have never found her."
The elevator came to a stop, and when the doors opened, Lincoln led the way out of the elevator to a storage closet. He opened the door and gestured for Justin to go in. "Let's lie low and hide in here until everything blows over. Then we'll escape."
Just then, Lincoln's cell phone rang. His ringtone blared so loud it almost made Justin go deaf.
Justin ripped the phone out of his grandfather's hands and shut it off. "Way to lie low, Gramps."
***
In the city of Baltimore, Alex's Maserati flew around the corner.
Ken held on for dear life as the car careened through the busy streets. He took a deep breath. "I don't think I've ever driven this fast."
Alex gripped the steering wheel, pressing his foot harder on the gas. "Well, when the love of your life is in danger, you don't really have a choice."
Louis held his phone in his hand. He had shouted directions at Alex for the entirety of the ride. "At the end of this street, turn right. Then, we should be there."
Alex offered his friend a curt nod. "Got it."
Luckily for them, the traffic light turned green. Alex barreled through the traffic.
With a single smooth turn, Alex parked the car directly in front of Enrichment. He, Louis, and Ken gazed up at the building.
With a crack of his knuckles, Alex tightened his hands into fists. "Well, guys, are we ready to go?"
Louis took shallow breaths. "Do you think there will be more super soldiers?"
Alex shook his head. "I would hope not. Riley did burn down the whole building, and we haven't seen any sense, but you never know."
Louis gulped. "I guess we'll find out."
Alex and Louis shared a knowing glance, then stepped out of the car. They strode toward the building, side by side.
Ken, on the other hand, lingered back by the car. He looked over his shoulder.
After he noticed Ken had fallen behind, Alex turned around. "Ken, what are you waiting for?"
As Alex looked back, he saw Ken's whole film crew. Cameramen, sound operators, production assistants, and the like strolled toward Enterprise. His jaw dropped. "Ken… you didn't."
Ken erratically rushed toward Alex. "Hey, don't worry about it! Alex, you won't even know they're there!"
Alex gripped the sides of his head. "Why? Why did you call the film crew?"
The reporter put his arm around Alex. "You never know when you'll make movie magic, Alex Ambrose. The perfect shot could strike at any moment."
Alex removed Ken's arm from his shoulder. "Okay. Fine, but if any of that crew gets in my way, I'm pushing them to the ground."
Ken nervously grimaced, but then, he turned around and motioned for the crew to come over.
With the film crew in tow, Alex, Ken, and Louis stalked toward the front of the building.
Before they reached the front door, a gang of security guards stopped them in their tracks.
Louis leaned over and whispered into Alex's ear. "Well, at least they aren't super soldiers."
Alex cocked his head to the side, fixing his gaze on the watchmen. "You have a problem, gentlemen?"
A muscular security guard stepped forward. "I have to ask you to leave the premises, Alex. You're not welcome here."
Alex raised his fists. "I'm not going anywhere."
Ken Stokes turned around toward his crew and gestured for them to move even closer. "Just like I said… movie magic."
As Alex, Ken, and Louis faced the security guards, Todrick Dangles snuck out of the building. He ducked under the security guards and ran across the street. Somehow, he managed to weasel his way through the crowd, going unnoticed by Alex.