Shadow Assassin

Chapter 18

I'm not sure running away is the right thing to do anymore, I've been thinking about it for the last three hours. Geez I forgot how long it took to get to the compound, plus it's like midnight.

I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket, I pick it up and see its Charlotte. They all must be so worried.

"Hey" I say.

"We heard what happened." Or not. "We were instructed to drive to the compound too, I guess we will see you there in a couple of hours"

"Ok."

"Wait" Charlotte says causing me to pause "What actually happened?"

"So they didn't tell you the whole story?" I whisper.

"No. Can we talk about it when we get there?" She whispers back.

"Yes. I will tell you" I say back to her.

"Okay, see ya soon" Charlotte hangs up and I look forward to the road and see that we are nearing the compound or what the compound looks like, which is a cover.

The cover for the compound is an office building, with most of the lights turned off at this time of the night. Most of the compound is underground and the top half mainly contains some of the bedrooms of the less important people. Like the receptionist.

We pull up into the large parking lot outside of the building, like the rest of the compound the other parking lot is underground. Caleb couldn't really be bothered to park in that car park, this matter is probably too urgent for him.

We get out of the car and quickly walk to the entrance of the building, the doors slide open and a small young woman sits at a desk in the corner. She looks up and smiles.

"Hello Caleb. What are you doing here?"

"Business, babe" The word 'babe' makes me cringe. I hate it when people are called that.

"I think that the Elders are expecting you" she looks at me "Both of you".

"Yeah. We know, babe" Caleb says winking at her.

"Go right through" She says smiling, roll my eyes. Caleb is such a con.

Caleb nods at her and we walk through a doorway into a dark stairwell. I mind my step because it is hard to see, the stairs are covered with a thin layer of dust.

"No one usually takes this way. This is my special short cut" Caleb says reading my mind. I roll my eyes and we continue walking down the stairs.

We come to a hallway at the end of the stairs, this is also extremely dark. I try to see about five metres in front of me but I cant. What is down here?

"This used to be the old living quarters, used during the war" He says probably reading my mind again.

"How is this connected to the compound?" I ask him.

"You'll see" He says in the dark next to me. I see a small light at the end of the room and I squint to try and see it. As we get closer I hear the rumbling of something near the light, maybe a generator? Maybe it is a power thing?

I see a door from where the light is coming from, I no longer have to squint to see what the light is. It is a candle lit room, Caleb opens the door further and leads me in.

"This is my pad. Not the official one though. The other one is down there" He says pointing a the floor.

"Does anyone know you have this?" I ask. Is this where he escapes to? To be free and have his own space?

"Only the Elders. They don't bother me 'cause I'm so great" Caleb says.

"Nice" I say smiling. "Wait, what are we doing here?"

"I just need to pick something up. Then through that-" He points to a door way in the far corner of the room "Doorway."

"Right."

I see him walk to a cupboard and see him getting something from it. I see the familiar black glint, its a gun.

"What is that for?" I ask him, he turns around and stashes it in the back of his pants.

"The Elders."

"What?" I say shocked.

"Don't worry. You should have learnt they were dangerous people. They killed your family. They could turn on you any minute"

"Take Azrael with you"

"Azreal?" I question.

"You know? Your knife?"

"Oh. Why call it Azreal?" I question, I think it means something like One Whom God Helps.

"Your father named it. I don't know why he named it that" The mention of my father makes me feel depressed. He and mother left so suddenly, well, they were killed. I couldn't say goodbye.

I looks down to the floor and my hand finds the outline of Azreal, my knife.

"Don't worry. I am sure you can make them pay someday, right?"

"I guess..."

"Lets go." Caleb says wandering out of the other door, I frown. Why does he get his own entrance to the compound? Isn't that a little dangerous?

We walk down yet another set of stairs, I sigh getting tired. I have been up for hours by now. Can't I get some sleep before we see the Elders?  I rub my eyes to make sure I am staying awake, I wipe off a bit of sleep from the corner of my eye before staring at the blackness of the stairwell.

The stairs stop and so do we, Caleb unclicks a lock on the door and opens it revealing the compound. The light slightly hurts my eyes and I blink continuously. We step through and Caleb locks it behind us, I guess it really his own secret entrance.

I see few other people dressed in the same black as both Caleb and I but going in opposite directions, if I recall the meal hall is one way and the other way is just a large amount of hallways. I explored this place when I was given some sort of freedom.

"This way." Caleb says tugging me on the shirt a bit, tonight I am not paying attention. I just remember the ghastly things that happened in this place.

We go down a tangle of hallways, ones I have never been down before. I notice things are getting older in this section, this was probably one of the older sections. Maybe where the Elders convene.

I start to feel dizzy in someways, maybe from sleep deprivation or hunger. I feel my stomach grumble at the thought of food. Oh, how I could wish I could have some food right now.

We walk into a very large room at one end of the one of the many hallways, I look around and see about fifteen elderly men. One of them remains vaguely familiar, the one in the middle.

"Heey Elds!" Caleb says with open arms, some of the Elders look at him in disgust while others looks at him in amusement.

"Caleb." The one in the middle says, he is one of the ones looking on with amusement. "Nice to see you again"

"You too Sandor!" Caleb replies. So that's his name? Sandor?

"And you. Cameron." He says nodding to me. "So you have completed two or three kills. Congratulations!"

They all clap for me. I don't enjoy it, I don't want to do it. I feel like saying that to them. So they know what I really think. I want to kill them all or mortally injure them. Either is fine. I know how to kill now, so it doesn't really make a difference. Caleb said I might get my revenge.

When everyone has finished clapping Sandor says "Now let this meeting finally convene!".