Hero Reborn (Keepers of Justice, Book 3) by Dee J. Stone Page A

gives us a small smile. “I’m sorry. I keep repeating over in my head that you three are alive and well. I was so worried…”
    “It was Stretch.” Kale smiles to me. “After we saw the safe house was attacked, he quickly thought of his parents’ house.”
    “Good, smart thinking. Had I known the address, I would have rescued you sooner.”
    “We’re sorry about going after the Blades, Dad. That was very stupid of us.” Kale smiles sheepishly. “Good thing you stopped us in time, but how’d you know where we were? We couldn’t contact you for days.”
    Samson takes a deep breath as he clasps his hands together. “I suppose I should start from the beginning. From the attack.”
    K ale says, “We’ve figured some stuff out on our own.”
    Samson raises an eyebrow.
    “We know that the wall surrounding the Tower was destroyed. We know that Lindsay was used to do it. Only her energy could break it.”
    “Yes.” Samson rubs his forehead. “I should have told her how vital it was for her not to flee from the mansion. I should have been more attentive to her feelings.”
    “ Can we still go after the Blades?” Kale asks. “Vlayne doesn’t know we know that she tricked me. Maybe if we can go to the location she showed me, we could find her or the Blades and save Lindsay and others who might have been captured.”
    Samson doesn’t say anything.
    “Dad?”
    “Saving our League mates is very important, but I’m afraid we need to attend to a greater issue.” He looks at all three of us. “Do you know why Vlayne attacked us?”
    “To get the formula for the antidote,” X says. “She infiltrated the military because she knew we wouldn’t fight back.”
    Samson cocks his head to the side. “Yes, she was correct i n suspecting we wouldn’t fight the military. It’s hard to accept this, but fighting the military would only result in deaths. It was smarter to flee and regroup. You have my word that our captured League members won’t be harmed.”
    I want to believe him. I really do, but I’m worried. I don’t know what to make of all this. I know fighting the government is wrong. They were just protecting their people. But it sucks that they invaded our home and tore us apart.
    “Vlayne also used the military because she wanted the normies to lose trust in the Keepers,” Kale adds.
    His dad nods. “You’ve figured all this out.”
    “Not everything,” I say. “Did she get the formula?”
    He shakes his head. “Her plan was to kidnap Brain and the rest of our scientists.”
    “Doesn’t she have her own scientists?” Kale asks. “I don’t get it.”
    Samson leans forward. “Vlayne’s a smart woman. She knew the formula wasn’t hidden in the League Tower. I assume she searched for it to no avail. Her next option was to kidnap Brain. She didn’t need the formula—she needed him. He was working on the antidote and had the knowledge of the formula. He may not have known it by heart, but the information is in his brain. Since he was already working on it for us, Vlayne wanted him to work on it for her.”
    He pauses for a bit to let all of this sink into our heads. “When we were attacked,” he continues. “We didn’t have the antidote synthesized. The formula has two components, as you are aware of. One removes the virus, one regenerates the damaged cells. When we created the cure for Kale, we isolated the component that regenerates cells. That was much easier to synthesize than the first component. After Kale was healed, Brain and the others worked day and night to create the antidote for the humans. However, it’s quite complex and difficult. I’m afraid they didn’t have a chance to complete it before we were attacked.”
    “So what happens now?” Kale asks. “Brain and the scientists are in the Blades’ custody. They’re going to kill off all the normies.”
    Samson’s got a tiny grin on his face. His eyes are still sad, though.
    “What?” Kale asks.
    Samson lowers his gaze