Secrets

Burn the Land and Boil the Sea

A green field of knee high grass, full of white flowers. A grove of trees in the distance, and birds. No singing but they were there, you could just tell. I sat on a blanket and looked at the sky. Footsteps in the distance. Still no sound but they were definitely there. I look to see kendra, in a beautiful white dress that flowed in the breeze, walking towards me. I get up to go to her and as soon as I'm on my feet--- BOOM!

"Kendra!" I yell, falling out of bed. Last thing i remember is Dustin working on my head. There's a ringing in my ears and ai realize it's Thornton trying to contact me. "Yes sir?" I answer, more a question than a greeting.

"Hurry and get dressed, full battle gear. This is na'y a drill laddie!" Thornton orders.

While I dress I search the system. It's gone down, standard procedure during an attack. The hard drive is given to a trusted officer for delivery to the Water Shed. A message on the system now reads, Emergency, report to battle stations.

Great, that's so helpful. I open the closet to find my weapons and remember that I left them in the armory after my last mission. "Damn!" I curse out loud. Contacting Dilan I run to the armory. Halfway there I meet a few old friends.

"Ah, good to meet again Olliver." He spits the name out like it tastes funny. "So glad you could join us. Look we're just here for you. Come quietly and we won't be forced to hunt down the rest of your team."

"Knowing you Clark, you already have." I predict, disappearing behind a corner, still moving to the armory. I need to find a way to take him down, Permanently.

Reaching the armory I don full battle gear and take a burst fire rifle along with my sword. Back in the hallway I move to Thornton's office, protocol dictates that I get the Commander first.

When I get there his door is wide open and his office is a mess. A blood stain on the wall above a dead body wearing the same armor Clark was wearing tells me he gave them a fight. I check the body, the black body armor is pretty spiffy looking, but also flimsy. Obviously made for the grunts and little people. Clark's is undoubtedly better quality.

"Oh good, I thought you were-" Carlee's relief is cut short, "Oh sorry Captain. I thought you were Thornton."

"Yeah I know. We need to find him." I reply.

"That won't be necessary." Clark is back with his cliches. "We have him here. The rest of your team is in the hangar. Come with us and we won't have to kill him."

Carlee and I submit and allow ourselves to be led to the hangar. Everyone is there except Kendra. "How do you know you have everyone?" I ask. Trying to get information.

He takes the bait, "We checked the duty roster. We have all operatives on the list. Why, is there someone I'm forgetting?"

"No, I was just asking. Making sure you were competent. Wouldn't want to be kidnapped by a complete stooge." I answer.

"That's what you'd say if I was missing someone. But we have them all. The rest have been locked in their own cells, I think you'll find we haven't made too much mess though. All of your prisoners remain." He replies slyly.

Good, now we know where they are. And we can hope Kendra is safe. We take our places on the floor with the others. "Now, give us the access codes to this base so we can fly away with no problems." Clark demands.

"I seem to have forgotten." Thornton says with a dark heavy voice.

Two gunshots are heard. "Maybe that will jog your memory. You have until we crack your system. Start thinking."

Everyone looks at Thornton, expecting to see bullet wounds. Instead I feel blood pooling around my hand. "Guys, I think he shot me." I look down to see a hole in my right leg and left hand. "Damn. I need a metal glove or something."

During the commotion of the team Thornton leans in close. "I have recently been told that in any situation where your body might be compromised you are to press the self destruct. It's right here. I was going to,tell you when we were attacked, the team knows." He indicates a spot in my back. I feel it, a slight lump.

After a while Clark comes back. "I don't know what you did with the hard disk but we cracked it. Naturally we didn't find anything. Now tell me the code." Silence. "Fine." He grabs me by the hair and drags me to the center of the room. My team protests but are powerless to stop him. I feel a gun on my chest. A bang.

I hear a beeping, a warning, specific to my robot brain. I've been wounded. He wanted me alive though so I can't believe he'd kill me like this. He'll bring me back somehow. I move my hand, closer and closer to the spot on my back. Suddenly, "warning, critical system failure." I press the lump, it sucks in and another pushes out. A countdown begins. I have twenty seconds. I hear gunshots, fast and loud. I pay little attention, I have nothing more to do here.

Shortly after the first shot Clark hits the ground next to me, okay one more thing. I check his pulse, ten seconds, no beat. Now I'm done here.

Kendra rushes to me. Her gun's barrel smoking."I've got you. You're okay. All safe."

Three seconds. I look at her and smile. "You saved me."

"Wait!" I yell, one second, and press the new lump. The countdown stops. "I have one more thing to do."

"What's that! What do you have to do?"

"Thank you. I have to thank you." I answer.

That'll take forever.