Nigel awoke to the sight of four beautiful women. He was cold and sweaty. His head hurt, the dreams were starting again, and he felt as if his mind was cracking. The churn inside him that Mr. Henry incited was gone. Blanka gave him a look of concern. Vedrana was seated nearby, sharpening her sword. Her long auburn hair concealed half her face, and most of one leg was visible. Nigel admired the smoothness of her milky skin. He remembered her soft embrace. Eva was cleaning her gun. He had watched her do this seemingly mundane task before, but it still gave him the chills. Aiko sat near a radio, headphones on, taking notes. A lump formed in Nigel’s throat as he remembered their tense encounter with Mr. Henry. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. The man used phrases to enrage and control Nigel, and he was helpless to stop it. He massaged his head, which helped release tension.

“He’s awake,” Blanka said.

All eyes were on Nigel. He felt like an animal on display and was ashamed as he remembered his actions. He had no control, but he couldn’t shake the feeling—the violation.

“You had us worried,” Blanka said.

“Where were you? I tried—”

Blanka kissed him.

“They’re here, Nigel,” Aiko said.

“Who is?”

“Sally, April, and Jet.”

Nigel’s heart sank as Jet’s name was spoken. A well of emotion flooded in. He thought of his last encounter with her, that kiss—then disaster. He had helped The Cabal incite one of the most devastating cyberattacks in history. No wonder Jet didn’t want to see him again. Feelings of shame and rage welled up. Part of him wanted to beg forgiveness, and another part wanted nothing to do with her. He didn’t know what that meant, and it scared the hell out of him.

“Where? In the encampment?” Nigel asked.

Aiko shook her head. “On their way. I’ve sent Erik to guide them from the United Nations building.”

“What happened to Mr. Henry?”

“After you passed out, he started bleeding from his nose. As we tried to stop it, he took a piece of broken glass and slit his own throat. It was—horrible.”

Nigel gazed into her eyes, tears welled up. A pang of pain shot through his heart.

“Did he survive?”

Aiko shook her head, then gave him a hug. He had not ever seen her like this, and it frightened him. She was one of the toughest people he had ever known. The pain and suffering were almost too much. He trembled with fear and excitement as she pressed against him. Eva and Vedrana gave him a knowing smile that was more playful than mischievous.

“I think we should prepare for Jet’s arrival,” Blanka said.

Aiko broke his embrace, wiped tears from her face, and resumed her post at the radio.

“Why are they coming here?” Nigel asked.

“You’re not the only hacker. In case you have not been paying attention, we’re on the losing end of a war. We’re fighting enemies from all fronts. Doc Chop’s cyborg army has been testing our defenses on a daily basis, and our numbers are diminishing. I don’t know what we would do if Blanka and her team hadn’t come back.”

Nigel felt like an idiot; he had been putting his foot in his mouth since he arrived, and they were no closer to solving the riddle of Plymouth Rock. He stood and headed to his backpack and fished out the laptop. Luckily, it hadn’t been destroyed in the altercation with Mr. Henry.

“What are you doing, Nigel?” Blanka asked.

“There’s something strange about Plymouth Rock. I intend to find out what it is,” he said.

He put his headphones on and opened the laptop. The logo of High Tower OS, which consisted of four elongated rectangles, soon became visible. Nigel logged in, then moments later his saved work session appeared. The brute force attack he had been running was finished. His heart raced as he opened the decrypted data packet. It was garbled, but a picture of a bar appeared. A faded green sign that read Scouts Irregulars caught his eye. Under the sign were two men; he recognized one of them as Professor Paladin, who was pointing at something out of frame. The other man had salt-and-pepper curly black hair, a mustache, and wore glasses. The caption below the picture read: The view from the bar is a gas.

Nigel loaded the picture into his image decoder and extracted the coordinates for the photo’s location from the metadata. After a quick map check, he determined the bar was just south of Boston. He found another folder named “control.” When he opened it, a prompt for a password appeared. He tried several guesses, but nothing worked. Finally he tried “notsoB,” Boston spelled backward, and the file opened. He held his breath as the file revealed a series of other files with file extensions of drw which he recognized as computer aided design documents. Architects and engineers used this file format to bring complex designs to life. Nigel opened Outside-In, a file viewer, and an engineering schematic with circuitries and machinery. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The image was on the screen so briefly he caught only the fleetest of glimpses, but what he saw seared into his retinas. He had to see more, study the file. His computer seemed to hang for a moment before responding again.

System Message: Please answer in order to proceed (attempt 1 of 3).

I am a symbol of profound history, A mighty stone where legends roam. Landing aground of a voyage grand, In America, where new hopes were fanned.

Set upon this vast land, Witness a moment that lasts forever. Where Pilgrims anchored, dreams unfurled, Can you unravel this gem’s hidden world?

What am I?

Nigel rubbed his head; this file encryption was stronger than anything that his tools could deal with and would likely take a much longer period to brute force. Time he didn’t have.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

This has something to do with Boston, but what?

He entered the first thing that came into his mind: Plymouth Rock.

System Message: Incorrect. Please answer in order to proceed (attempt 2 of 3).

His heart jumped and seemed to settle in his throat. He was so confident of his answer, but it, like most things in his life these days, was eluding him.

After some more reflection, the word pilgrim came to mind. He typed the word into the prompt and hesitated as his finger hovered over the Enter key.

This has to be it!

He held his breath as he tapped the Enter key and the next response from the computer was as effective as any punch in the gut he’d ever received.

System Message: Incorrect. Please answer in order to proceed (attempt 3 of 3).

Type ‘Hint’ for would like to receive one. Remember, this branch of the directory tree will self-destruct upon the third incorrect response.

After several moments of anticipation, he typed the word for the nudge he so desperately needed.

You must enter an integer value.

Nigel’s eyes widened. How could he be so stupid? He berated himself. It’s the year!

He typed in 1620, then paused. Nigel was almost 100% sure he was correct, but with his recent brain fog, he didn’t trust himself. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the image of the Plymouth rock he had seen so many times. He involuntarily pressed the enter button, and the screen went blank. After several moments his screen filled with several schematics of various vehicles.

I had no idea Doc Chop was so advanced.

As he reviewed the documents, a wave of dread overcame him.

“I know where their next target is,” Nigel said.

He was so focused on his hacking that he hadn’t noticed Jet’s arrival. He removed the headphones. Aiko was in the corner with Sally and Jet. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but he intended to find out. Nigel stepped between Jet and Sally, interrupting their conversation. Jet moved her wheelchair back a good distance away from him.

“We were talking, Nigel,” Sally said, giving Nigel a look of annoyance.

“Did you hear what I said? I know where Doc Chop is and how he’s going to strike.”

Aiko gave him a blank stare. Sally rolled her eyes. Jet gave Nigel a hopeful look.

“Why do you say that, Nige?” Jet asked as she cracked the briefest of smiles.

Nigel’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered the first time he had that feeling. The concept of the Dark Web was new to him and he was surprised he paid enough attention to learn it given his body’s response to the girl teaching it to him. It was love at first sight, but that was a lifetime ago.

“I cracked one of the files that was on the flash drive. It contained plans for something brilliant and evil.”

Nigel combed a hand through his hair, then put his hand in his mouth and bit down. He didn’t remember closing his eyes, but when he opened them, everyone shot him a shocked and concerned look.

“What’s wrong, Nigel?” Jet said, so quietly that he barely heard her.

“Doc Chop has his delivery system, and he intends to use it somewhere around Plymouth Rock.”

“How do you know this?” Aiko demanded.

“All clues point to it. I even saw a picture of Professor Paladin and Doc Chop in front of some dive bar. I looked it up, and it’s near Boston.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, except they are best buddies,” Sally said.

“I find it convenient that the doctor knows Paladin. He needs to operate on people to make them into cyborgs… to-to—get the chip in,” Nigel said as he smacked his head.

His head was pounding and a dull pain formed at the base of his skull.

“Are you okay?” Jet said in a concerned tone.

“It’s like I have this radio in my brain—you know?”

Blood oozed from one of his nostrils. A blackness formed around his head, and something squeezed his temples. It was like his head was in a vise. Blood drained from both nostrils now.

“Holy shit! Get something to stop the bleeding,” Jet said.

Nigel’s vision blurred. Voices and shouting echoed from all around him. He couldn’t make out anything. It was like he was at the bottom of the ocean trying to listen to a conversation on a boat. Blackness ensued.

Sometime later, Nigel awoke to Jet’s lovely face. From his orientation, his head was in her lap.

“You gave us a scare, Nige,” Jet said.

“I told them everything,” Aiko said.

Everyone in the room seemed to have received dire news.

“What’s wrong?” Nigel said.

“Nelson, one of the people you met when you first arrived examined you. He believes you are suffering from aphasia.”

“What?”

“It’s a form of brain damage. He’s seen it before.”

“What gives Nelson the right to—”

Nigel screamed and held his head.

“He’s a doctor, Nigel,” Blanka said, with tears in her eyes.

“How?”

“I will let him explain,” Aiko said, waving someone in.

A thin man dressed in an army uniform entered Aiko’s tent.

“Hello, Nigel. You have many symptoms of aphasia, but the cause is a bit of a mystery. Usually, the patient develops symptoms over a longer period. Your symptoms have only developed a few days ago. I can’t explain it,” Nelson said.

“I don’t understand why this is happening,” Nigel said.

His vision blurred, and he wiped away the tears. He was having trouble thinking. He couldn’t form one clear thought.

What’s happening to me?

“Aiko told me about the drink that this Professor Paladin gave you. I think it might be related,” Nelson said as he removed a bottle of “Newport’s Finest” from a bag.

“There’s something about this drink that makes you better. You were drinking it as you were hacking into that flash drive,” Aiko said.

“I want you to drink this entire bottle,” Nelson said.

Nigel licked his lips as he stared at the bottle. He nodded, then moments later, after two long gulps, he finished the drink.

Moments after guzzling the drink, the fog lifted from Nigel’s brain.

“It’s better now!”

Blanka gave Aiko a sideways glance.

“How is that possible?” Jet asked.

“I know,” Aiko said. She picked up a notepad next to the radio. “When Nigel was out, I received a call from Milo, one of Nigel’s friends. He relayed a message from Treeka. She’s confirmed that the drink contains nanites that are capable of constructing the chip required to create a cyborg.”

“Wait, if that’s true, then anyone who breathes in the gas and consumes this drink will turn into a cyborg? Just like that?” Nigel said.

“That’s crazy,” Jet said.

“In a way, that makes perfect sense. If Professor Paladin infects the water supply with nanites as Doc Chop is performing gas attacks, then it’s possible he will command an army in no time,” Sally said.

“Did Treeka say where she was?” Nigel asked.

“Boston.”

“That’s near Plymouth Rock. Sally, can we count on your father for backup?”

Everyone in the room said nothing for a very long time. Tears welled in Jet’s eyes and her lips trembled. Finally, she broke down, letting it all out. Nigel took a step back.

“What’s wrong?”

“He doesn’t know,” Jet said.

Aiko gave Nigel a pensive look for a long moment. He shifted uncomfortably in his makeshift bed. He opened his mouth to say something, anything. But before he could, Aiko relayed the harrowing story of the battle of the Dark Angels and Jet’s rescue.

“I’m so sorry,” Nigel said as he gave her a hug.

She returned the gesture reluctantly before nudging him away. Jet scooted to Sally and gave her a hug and a kiss. The embrace seemed to last a little too long. Blanka gave Nigel a sidelong glance.

Are they an item?

“Then that settles it. Sally is flying me to Boston,” Aiko said.

“But you’re needed here,” Erik said.

“Nigel is in no condition to travel, and—”

“It won’t work. It needs to be Nigel,” Sally said.

“Why is that?” Aiko demanded.

“For starters, Nigel cracked the code and there’s probably more encrypted files on the drive,” Sally said.

“I can manage my condition,” Nigel said.

“I agree. He just needs to take some of the infected bottles with him. When he gets foggy, then he drinks,” Nelson said.

“When do we go?” Nigel asked.

“Not until we get some fuel. I flew in on flumes,” Sally said.

“Where are we going to get that?”

“Crazy Jack on the West Side has all manner of fuels, batteries, and other things. If anyone in the city can help, it’s him,” Aiko said.

Nigel nodded in agreement. Time was running out, and he wasn’t sure if anyone else was equipped to handle Doc Chop now that the Dark Angels were out of the picture. Nigel’s heart fluttered as he realized that he was their last hope.