Chapter 369
When Jake met Rex at the HQ entrance, he used Mind Reader on him, placing his identity as a backup option. He no longer needed to pretend to be Aaron and could now assume Rex’s identity.
Before doing so, however, he looked around for any surveillance cameras. There was indeed one in the corner facing the door leading to the roof. Jake was sure Rex wasn’t currently monitoring the feed; otherwise, he would have already spotted him entering HQ from the roof and sent one of his men to intercept him.
Still, just to avoid raising an early alarm, Jake positioned himself just below the camera to ensure he was out of its line of sight before disguising himself as Rex. Once that was done, he continued to descend the stairs.
Having viewed Rex’s memories, Jake knew the pilot was held captive in the basement, so that was where he was headed. He entered the first floor and made his way down the corridor toward the stairs leading to the basement.
Up ahead, a guard stood leaning against the right-hand wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Jake approaching, and when he turned his head to look at him, a perplexed expression crossed his face.
“Boss?” the guard said, his voice tinged with surprise. “What are you doing here? Thought I saw you go upstairs to play with your new toy.”
Jake mustered as fierce an expression as he could while looking at the guard. The human immediately wiped the smile off his face and shut his mouth. He straightened up, staring at the opposite wall, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
The guard was clearly puzzled about why his boss was suddenly in a bad mood, but he knew better than to draw Rex’s attention to himself. Jake’s ruse was working perfectly.
Jake stormed past him and continued toward his destination, pretending to be in a foul mood. He ran into a couple more guards along the way, but the moment they caught sight of his face, distorted in anger, they wisely kept their mouths shut and refrained from asking any questions.
As Jake continued toward his destination, he kept his head lowered to make it harder for the surveillance cameras to get a good look at his face. It was merely a precaution to buy himself some time. He knew that if Rex glanced at the feed and spotted him, even if he didn’t immediately recognize the doppelgänger, he would still wonder who it was and likely reach out to his people to intercept him.
However, Jake suspected that Rex wouldn’t act immediately but would instead choose to observe him for a little while, trying to determine if he was an infiltrator who had somehow managed to sneak into HQ or simply another guard he didn’t recognize. By the time Rex came to a decision and decided to contact his people, Jake would likely already be on his way out.
It didn’t take him long to reach the basement. He found himself in a corridor lined with cells on either side. All were empty except one, where the pilot was locked up. Next to the door stood a guard who turned her head at the sight of him. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but Jake immediately shot her a furious glance, causing her to swallow whatever she had intended to say.
Jake stopped at the door and peered at the pilot through the bars. The pilot, a young man with a thick layer of grime covering his skin and several days’ worth of stubble, rose from the bench he had been sitting on and shot Jake an angry look.
“How long are you planning to keep me here?” he demanded, indignation lacing his voice. “You can’t just hold me here indefinitely! Skullface won’t be pleased when he finds out about this. You’d better not make him angry!”
Jake simply stared at the pilot, using Mind Reader on him. He then activated Morph Disguise to store the pilot’s identity as a backup option.
Once that was accomplished, he turned and headed back to the exit. As he passed the guard, he noticed a puzzled look on her face, clearly wondering what his visit had been about.
“Is everything alright, boss?” she dared to ask.
Jake didn’t even glance at her as he walked by.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” the pilot shouted from behind him. “Get back here and let me go! This won’t end well for you, you hear? Let me go, or there will be severe consequences for you! Skullface will skin you alive, you bastard!”
Jake returned to the first floor and headed for the exit of the building. As he got closer, he expected one of the guards behind him, who he knew were watching him leave, to call out and order him to stop.
However, the real Rex must have never noticed him on the feed and therefore hadn’t ordered his men to intercept him, so Jake left the building without anyone trying to stop him.
Once outside, he made a beeline for the helicopter sitting on the helipad on the southeastern side of the compound. As he moved, he noticed some guards glance at him with puzzled expressions, but nobody tried to approach.
Half a minute later, Jake was in the cockpit of the helicopter, settling into the pilot’s seat. He turned on the control panel, and the hum of machinery came to life around him. He activated the engines, pressing the ignition button. With a low rumble, the turbines roared to life as well, sending vibrations thrumming through the frame.
Jake watched as the rotor blades began to spin gradually, gaining momentum. The sound intensified, a steady whoosh as the blades sliced through the air, gradually gaining optimal takeoff speed.
Through the bubble canopy, he could see the guards staring at him, clearly not comprehending what was happening or where their leader was going. Some of them even waved and pointed at him, but Jake completely ignored their gestures.
Once the gauges indicated all was ready, he tightened his grip on the controls, gently pulling on them and feeling the helicopter lift off the ground. That’s when the HQ door suddenly swung open and Rex burst out, accompanied by several guards.