BooksBarbecue
Back Unleashed Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. Part Two
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. Part Three
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. Part Four
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. Part Five
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. Epilogue
  54. Acknowledgments
  55. About the Author
  56. Back Cover

“I’m not telling you that they might implement it. I’m telling you that it’s already happened. My mom was part of the beta test. She’s been updated.”

Tobias folds his arms across his chest, his bottom lip jutting out. “How can I believe you?” There’s a tremor in his voice. “I don’t need this.” He walks off into the darkness.

“Tobias!” I say.

Ashley grabs my arm as I attempt to follow him. “Let him cool off a bit. He’ll come around, I promise. It’s just a big deal.”

“A big deal?” says Kai. “It’s huge.”

I turn to all of them. “We have to stop it from going any further. This can’t be rolled out to level one and two bakus. I mean—my mom has already been changed. We can’t let it happen to more people.”

“But how?” Ashley asks.

“Yeah, what can we do about it?” asks River.

“That’s just it. We need to get back into Moncha HQ and find out where they’re keeping Monica. She’s the only one who can take back control from Eric and get him to reverse it.”

The cage door jangles, and we all look up. Tobias is back, his fingers wrapped around the metal webbing. He looks so sad.

“Lacey, I’m sorry for storming off. I still can’t believe this is something Team Happiness is involved in, but your mom… She was so kind to me in the hospital. If something has happened to her—I want to be there with you.”

“There’s a good man,” says a gruff voice from behind Tobias. Tobias almost jumps out of his skin.

I scramble up off the floor to see Paul’s face staring at us through the wire. His eyes are dark.

I swallow, wondering how much he heard. By the looks of it—maybe everything.

“Everyone, this is Paul. He lives in my building.”

“So it’s true,” he says. “Team Happiness has been activated.”

My jaw drops. That’s definitely not what I was expecting him to say. I move to hide Jinx instinctively, knowing if Paul’s here, his baku George can’t be far behind. He grunts, acknowledging my gesture. “Don’t worry, George won’t give anything away. I disconnected him from the Moncha cloud years ago.”

I start in surprise, but then I nod. Paul grits his teeth. “Besides, I think I know where Eric would hide Monica Chan.”

“Where?” I ask.

“At the secret Moncha testing facility. Lake Baku.”

17

“Lake Baku?” I ask. “Where is that?”

Paul shakes his head. “I don’t know exactly. I’ve only heard rumors about it. Asking too many questions was one of the reasons I was forced to leave the main board of Moncha.”