And I Thought the Year Would be Boring!

(26) The Beginning of The End.

My mind burst with consciousness. My whole body ached. I tried opening my eyes, trying to focus better. The room around me seemed blurry. I squinted and slowly tried to sit up, propping myself up on my elbows. That's when I realized I was in a hospital room. Pristine white sheets, a heart monitor next to me and a table laden with flowers. When I looked to my left, I saw Liam fast asleep on a chair, evidently waiting for me. I gently tried sitting up straighter and let out a groan of pain.

Liam jerked up, his face tired and alert. "Nikki! You're awake!" He grinned widely.
I grinned back, starting to relax.

I was jerked back into worrying when I remembered. "What's happened? Are you okay? Where's Nate? And the nuclear codes-"

"Shh, shh. Relax. it's all over now."

I rubbed my eyes, trying to process everything.  "What happened?" I asked, open-mouthed.

Liam took a deep breath. I looked at him expectantly. He cleared his throat and began.

"Well, after you passed out, you were  still hidden. Which was VERY lucky. If you had passed out immediately, they would have killed you for sure. So, anyway, the minute I had confirmed you were hidden I went to find Nate. Nate was already in the Control room, and he seemed to be under control. He was holding the nuclear codes in his hand and was threatening the Generals."

I interrupted. "Liam, who do you mean by "Generals"'?

He exhaled, pain written all over his face. "The Consulate Generals. My parents, Nikki. I had known Taylor way before I joined. Her parents and mine would work together all the time. We idolized the work our parents did. Wanted to be just like them. But the minute I figured that they were the wrong side, I went against them. I defied them. But Taylor, she still went with whatever her parents thought. They had instilled in her, that they were the good, and what the good side represented. In her eyes, what our parents did was hero-worthy."

He avoided my gaze the whole time. I looked at him quietly, imagining how much he must have gone through.

He shook his head and quickly resumed the story. "So, the Generals seemed to be getting more and more tense by the minute. He had them gripped. Their entire nation's security and freedom was at stake, why wouldn't they be tensed? I was still standing outside when I realized that Nate was counting on the feds arriving soon. So, I gave 'em a call, making sure I had the roamer on - so they could automatically find my location. What happened next is the strange part - it's as if they knew the place, coz they sent me a message, two minutes later saying 'Stay where you are. Location confirmed, Mr. O'Riley". And this was strange. Why? Coz they seemed to know Nate was here."

I scratched my head in confusion. He had a point. "What happened next?"

"Well, now that they confirmed the location, there was nothing left to do but wait. God, I was so scared. Nate was still handling it in there. I guess he threatened to destroy the codes if they tried to harm him. Anyway, he didn't look like he could hold them up much longer. Thankfully, feds can travel pretty fast, and they sent me another message "We're one floor beneath you. We will take them down from the control room. Stand back, the S.W.AT. shall handle it. Go downstairs via passage 4. Medical attention will be given if needed.''

So, I went downstairs as quickly as I could, not to get into S.W.A.T's way. They were surprised to see me, I think they expected Nate. They were skeptical, as they knew I was the Consulate's kid. I had to convince them and finally, they took action. That's all I know, coz I passed out on the stretcher."

I jumped up. "I gotta find Nate. He's hiding something. First, the texts from the feds, and it's not the first time that something weird happened."