Page 35 of Maverick

“I can help,” said Marilisa, coming into the room. “I wasn’t in the school, but I can add some coding to her AI messaging that would tell us how much time each person is taking to look at the message or if they return to the message multiple times.”

“What would that tell us?” asked Eric.

“If it’s a random message, a young woman will move on to find something more interesting. But if it’s something that catches her eye, a nice handbag, shoes, something that sparks a memory, then she’ll stare at it, think about it, maybe even save it or forward it to friends.”

“You can’t put a photo of the school on the message,” said Luke. “That’s too obvious.”

“It is obvious, which is why we won’t do it. Something we all remembered as we were thinking about how to attack this was a music memory,” said Chelsea.

“A music memory?” they all chimed.

“There was always music playing in the background on the two main floors of the building. We never thought much about it, and then your grandfather, Mr. Matthew, he was walking through the gardens the other day humming a tune. I asked him what it was, and he said it was one of Irene’s favorite songs to dance to.”

“Grandpa was humming a tune, eh?” smirked Luke.

“What was the music they were playing?” asked Cam.

“That’s what makes this strange and assures me that others will recognize it. There were three songs played over and over again. “I’ll Be Seeing You,” from 1938; “I’ll Never Smile Again,” from 1939; and “You Always Hurt The One You Love,” from 1944. That’s it. That’s all that was on the loop.”

“And you guys never thought about that?” asked Hex.

“Honestly, no,” said Katelyn. “Don’t you think that’s strange? Ashley said she thinks they may have implanted the music or lyrics into our brains, making it a sort of call for us to work.”

“Why those three songs?” frowned Luke.

“They’re all slow songs, the lyrics are simple, yet poignant, and they all were recorded on very old technology,” said Chelsea.

“There was no way to alter them unless they were re-recorded,” said Luke. “It’s like creating a brainworm that won’t go away.”

“Alright, how will this new message work?” asked Cam.

“We’re going to simply put the music to random photos of young girls walking in plain beige linen dresses. It was what we all wore to our Sunday dinners. There will be something embedded in the message that will tell them how to reach out to us if they’re safe or if they need help. AJ, Hiro, and Tanner are going to field the responses and let us know what we find.”

Luke looked at the other men, then back at the amazing women in front of him.

“This won’t harm them, will it?” he asked Rachelle as he pointed to Chelsea, Katelyn, Victoria, and Marilisa.

“No. It won’t harm them,” said his Aunt Rachelle.

“Alright. Do it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Thanks for coming back to get us, Chipper,” said Mav. “We didn’t realize there was going to be an entire cargo hold of stuff to get home.”

“It’s no problem,” smiled the older man. “In fact, I think I have a surprise for you, fellas. While I was coming back, air traffic was a bit busy in the area, so I had to reroute. I flew over something you might like to see.”

He nodded toward the windows, and the men leaned to the right side of the bird. Below them, hidden beneath a canopy of trees that were now bare because of the winter, was an identical building to the one they’d just explored.

“Fuck me,” muttered Pax. “Can we get down there?”

“You remember how to repel, don’t you?” smirked Chipper.

“It’s like fifteen degrees out there!” said Brax. Chipper just chuckled, shaking his head.

“Suit up. I can’t stay hidden forever. Well, I can. I just don’t want to.”

While the men suited up in their winter gear, Chipper found the perfect spot for them to repel into the area. Unlike the previous location, there didn’t seem to be any alarms or cameras.

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