She took him through the underground tunnels to one of the accommodation units, at each checkpoint she made certain his pass was functional. The room he had been allocated was at the far end of the wing, high up and by the time they reached it, trekking up several staircases she could feel her body straining, her hands starting to shake a little. She checked the door number and punched in the code to open the door, the door opened slowly, brushing against the carpet and she stepped aside to let Jay in first. Inside it was sparse, there was a double bed, a bedside table with a drawer and a telephone cord but no phone, a table and two chairs and a wardrobe. He headed straight for the window, it had bars on it and she wondered for a moment if he realised that all the rooms had barred windows…not just his. He reached through the bars and opened the glass panel, sticking his arm out. She laid the paperwork on the table and opened the door to the bathroom. “You should have most things you need…” she started but he held up a hand.
“Please…” she fell silent, watching him. He slid his arm back through the window and wiped it on his face. “The rain…” He murmured softly. “I miss rain.” She found herself smiling in spite of herself. “Until you have been locked away you do not realise what you will miss.” He slipped off the flip flops and padded across the room to look in the wardrobe. There were a few shirts hanging in there with some trousers and at the bottom a stack of underwear beside a pair of leather shoes. He snatched them out and smelled them, then drew out some clothes, stripping off his t-shirt and shrugging into a shirt, she looked away suddenly realising she was still watching. “Are you married?” She started, looking up suddenly.
“N…no…no I’m not.” He grinned.
“Then nobody cares if you see me.” He spread his arms and she felt herself flush.
“That is not appropriate.” Her voice was low and she looked away, he studied her while he changed into some trousers and found some socks. He had seen her hands begin to shake as they reached the room, the tell tale flutter of the papers she had carried showed him that. He laced up the shoes slowly, enjoying the feeling of proper shoes.
“I am sorry if I made you feel nervous.”
“Why would I feel nervous of you?” She shot back suddenly, he held up his hands and sat down on the bed, facing her. “I am not afraid of you.”
“I did not suppose you should be…” She shifted in her chair and he just waited, watching her.
“I was imprisoned you know?” She looked up, she looked…hunted. “For nine months…” She stopped and cleared her throat. “I need to know why you want to fight for us.” The question hung in the air between them, the tension hitching up a few notches. He crossed the room and looked out of the window again.
“This is because I joined the army from school…we were told we were going to create a new world for our people, better lives. We believed them, we wanted better. Our country is poor, war torn, it is not a life for anyone there. I trained hard and for many years, then one day we were put into ships and brought over the ocean. When we got here we were met first with a lot of military resistance, it seemed a fair fight. Then as we moved away from the coast and spread our forces out our orders changed.” He looked down at his hands, swallowing hard. “We were expected to kill on site, not just soldiers…anyone.” She realised her hands were clenched into fists. “There was one day…we moved on a farm, told it was empty and we could take supplies. It was not empty…” He stopped abruptly, she could see a muscle in his jaw work as he gritted his teeth. “Inside there was a family, children. My commanding officer had to re-state his orders…again and again. We killed them all.” He stopped speaking and sat down heavily, he’d gone pale. “That night I left. I walked up to the gates here and cast down my weapons, came in voluntarily. What we were doing is wrong, what they are still doing is wrong and I want to help.” He slammed his hand in to the table and Lara jumped. “I must help…make amends.” He looked at her. “You will help me?” She nodded wordlessly. “I will be useful, I was an officer, I lead patrols, I oversaw base security on three of the ones we took. I know how the operate.” He spoke quickly and emphatically, tapping his hand on the table for each statement.
“Are you a good soldier? All those things are all very well but if you can’t support a patrol team in the field they are no use.” He flashed her a grin.
“Yes I am good.” She nodded and wrote down a few notes to report back.
“We need to do some fitness and health checks on you, then I will assess your target shooting and hand to hand fighting techniques and we’ll go from there.” She rifled through the papers and drew one sheet out. There was a low boom and she stopped talking, going still. Jay got to his feet slowly and went to the window. “That sounded close.” She whispered, he beckoned and she moved to stand beside him, hesitant. There was a stream of jeeps leaving the compound, several with a mounted gun on the back.
“What does that mean?” She whirled round looking for the phone.
“Fuck.” She snatched the radio from her belt and flicked it on, it crackled. “Come in control this is Daniels, over.” Nothing happened and she tried again. “Control come in this is Lara Daniels, requesting an update on possible explosion, over.” She looked at Jay. “Come on.” In the corridors people were beginning to emerge from their rooms. They moved quickly and she took a shortcut through a training hall, Jay kept up with her and they reached the control room in minutes. The doors didn’t open and she thumped them with a hand. “Christ.” She looked at the number pad at the door and narrowed her eyes, giving it a shake, it was solid.
“Here.” He drove the heel of his hand into the base of the box and it began to come loose so that he could jiggle it free.
“Thanks.” She ripped out the wires and sorted them quickly in her hands, licking her fingers and counting under her breath. “Hold these two.” He took them from her, there was another deep boom and the floor shuddered under their feet.
“We have to leave this building.” He muttered urgently.
“If we don’t know what we’re running from there’s no point.” She hissed under her breath. She drew a knife from a holster on her leg and cut the wires he held, tapping them together, they sparked and the doors hissed open. “Bingo. Inside.” He stepped in and she let the doors close behind them. She threw herself into a chair in front of a large screen. “Let’s hope my passcode still functions.” She muttered, tapping at the keyboard. The screen flickered and a satellite image came up. She sat back, her heart beating too fast. “Oh my God.”
