Natalie Diego and the Collegenappers

Chapter 18: Darkness to Daylight

            Nat and her friends followed the other two down to Madison Corridor. There they hid behind the corner and watched as Chris began to pull on random grates on the ground. She giggled a little, turning to her friends. In a whisper she divulged the joke of it. “You see the big grate nearest the wall? That‘s the most obvious one to pull on, seeing that it‘s the one with a ladder in it and a sign on it saying ‘To PreMadison’. But does he pull it? No, he pulls up the ventilation shaft covers that he would barely fit his leg in. ” The stifled sniggers were not heard, for the clang of the metal grates on the stone floor would strangle the sound of an elephant herd trumpeting and stampeding down the next hall.

            Christa grabbed his arm. “Chris!” she hissed. “We are trying to be quiet here! What are you doing?”

            Chris looked up. “We need to get to PreMadison, and that requires going down a level. The way to get down a level, I was told, is to lift one of these grates and go down the ladder inside. That is what I am trying to do.”

            Christa looked around, then pulled him to the wall. She pointed. He looked to see a large grate with a small sign that said, ‘To PreMadison Corridor’ which he hadn’t seen before. He sheepishly scratched his head. “That would be the one I‘m looking for. Thanks Christa.”

            Christa turned quickly and shushed him. “Don‘t use my real name, Chris! We need to come up with aliases when we’re down here. Daisy was telling me how if you use your own true name, you could be preyed upon at work and when you‘re at home. Look at Nat! She changed her name and no one here knows what her real name truly is. From there, she built her reputation on her other name, and someone cant just look in the phonebook and find out her number and where she lives. She has her personal life securely guarded; even we don‘t know her true name. She changed it legally to the one we knew. For all we know, she could have several names and identities. That has protected her for at least a decade. We should do the same.”

            Chris thought on it. “Okay, That makes sense. I think I‘ll go with my old nickname, Crash. Crash… I can‘t think of a last name.”

            “Okay. Umm… Smith, Cox, Johnson, Anderson…”

            “Anderson! Crash Anderson. Oh yeah!” He laughed. “Now you.”

            Christa frowned, deep in thought. “I like the last name Cox. But a first name is hard.”

            Chris, I mean, Crash chuckled. “How about Matilda?”

            She gave him a look. “Very funny, Chri…ash. Crash.” She laughed at herself inwardly and shrugged her shoulders. “I cant think of anything, so I guess you can call me Cox.”

            Crash opened the grate and slipped down the ladder. “Matilda Cox it is then.”

            “Crash! Though actually… no, never mind.”

            Crash’s feet hit the ground and he looked up at her. “You like it!”

            Christa came swooshing down the ladder. “Don‘t even go there!”

            Nat had been listening carefully from behind the corner, but something was bothering her. Something was making her uneasy, and it concerned her. She spoke her thoughts aloud, trying to figure it out. “I never really came this way when I was here on my missions. I can‘t help but feel this weird feeling about this place.”

            Mike leaned forward. “Do we need to go?” Amanda and Becky clutched each other closely, looking about nervously.

            Nat hesitated. The other two were already down on PreMadison. PreMadison? she thought. Why does that ring a bell? She got up, with the others close behind. “I don‘t know why I‘m feeling like this, but I do know we need to follow ‘Crash’ and ‘Matilda’, and we need to get out of here.” She scurried over to the opening, which Chris, or Crash, had left wide open, and halted her friends with her outheld hand. She quietly looked about, and, kneeling near the opening, stuck her head in and looked inside. She held her finger to her lips, and, grasping the metal edge, swung silently down to the next level. She saw them down the corridor a ways, and motioned for the others to quietly follow. Becky came down almost as noiselessly as Nat, and sneaked down the hall, straining to see in the dim section they were in. “Crash and Matilda” turned the corner. Nat was watching them and forgot for an moment that she wasn’t working with trained operatives like she normally would. That slip had disastrous consequences. Nat began to walk forward, leaving Amanda and Mike behind a bit. Amanda carefully made her way down the ladder, but when she saw Nat leave, she tried to hurry. She slipped in her haste, yelping in her distress. Mike cried out and grasped her hand, saving her from falling, but sound travels fast. The two ahead heard them and began to run, splashing as they went.