A World Without Trust

Chapter Twenty One

“Harry?” I whisper as we drop off from the group of guys.

“Yeah?”

“I think I saw Luke.”

“Really? Where your twin powers tingling?” Harry asks and I imagine his cheeky smirk underneath his helmet.

“I’m serious.” His head moves up and down and I make out that he is nodding. I now imagine him rolling his eyes. We follow the group of guys keeping our distance, all the while my heart thumping in my chest and I imagine what I will do if it does turn out to be Luke. Then it dawns on me that Harry and I never actually came up with a plan on what we would do if we found my brother. Panic sets in and the temperature starts to rise in my suit. Something suddenly doesn’t feel right, like something is different when I notice that Harry isn’t walking beside me anymore. I spin around franticly looking for him and my breathing starts to increase when he nowhere to be seen.

“Harry?” I whisper still looking around me. The group of guys have disappeared from sight now and I’m all alone in this big corridor. “Are you fucking serious!” I say to myself pulling off my helmet. Bad idea. As soon as I do I hear a deep voice behind.

“Are you okay there- wait what are you doing here?”

“Ahh…” I’m frozen to the spot still with my back to the man talking to me.

“Turn around please.” He asks a little more demanding. I slowly turn to face him. This is it I think, I’ve been caught and I am going to die. But just as I am thinking this the man asks me another question in a soft tone voice. Talk about one extreme to another! “Are you okay? I couldn’t help but see you walking alone up the hall and assumed you were lost. You do realise you are in the male quarters of the training facility? Are you new here?”

“How did you know I was a female?” Is the first question that comes out of my mouth.

“Well, I’ve never seen a male with such a petite figure before. I’m Liam by the way.”

“Oh right, hi.” I look Liam up and down. He’s wearing a white singlet and gym shorts and by the smell of him he’s fresh out of a hard workout. His broad shoulders tense as he folds his arms and looks at me with a small smile on his face. I suddenly realise that he may be able to help me find my brother. I forget all about losing Harry and put on my best ditsy ‘lost girl’ impression. “I was just sent here to give someone a message from head office, but silly me must have made a wrong turn.” I say with a small giggle at the end.

“Oh, well who were you looking for?” Liam asks without a hint of suspicion.

“His name is Luke.” I say with a sweet smile. Liam smiles back and nods.

“Yeah he’s here. Blond guy, kind of looks like you actually.” I swallow hard thinking that he’s figured me out and my cover is blown and at the same time relief and excitement bubble up inside me. “What was the message, I can pass it on if you’d like?”

“NO! I mean- no it’s a private message… sorry.” I cringe at my sudden outburst.

“Okay that’s cool. Follow me and I’ll take you to him.” He says casually running his hand over one of the shaved sides of his head.

After about ten minutes of walking up hallways and through mega doors, we finally come to a large room with literally hundreds of beds lined up around the edges of the concrete walls. Sun shines through the narrow windows situated high above the ground lighting up the dusty, worn out couches in the middle of the room. The smell of sweaty body odour engulfs my nostrils and I have to concentrate on not gagging.

“Goldilocks! There’s someone here to see you!” Liam yells from the door way to a group of guys splayed out on the couches. My stomach starts to do somersaults and I feel like bursting into tears as the familiar yet older looing face turns to look at me. The expression on my brother’s face is priceless, I have to give him a stern look as to say ‘act casual’. He seems to understand as his facial expressions turn neutral.

“What is it?” He asks casually.

“Would you please accompany me outside? I have some important information from the head office for you.” I say in the most official voice I can muster.

“Yeah, of course.” He jumps up from the couches and jogs over to where I am standing. He’s wearing a white singlet and black shorts similar to Liam and just as he reaches me I head out the door and shut it behind him when he follows.

We walk in silence for a few meters before embracing each other in a tight hug. Tears well up in my eyes and a huge smile grows on my face. The feeling of relief is unbelievable right now and I hold Luke even tighter.

“What are you doing here? Why are you wearing that? Did you get captured too?” Luke begins to ask looking down at my get up.

“I’ll explain later, right now we need to get out of here!” Suddenly there’s a gun shot that echoes out through the building. We spin around and see Harry stumble out of a door holding his stomach.