War For The World

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

They began at night.

Or more accurately, whenever the base went into evening mode for the night. Days down there in Yosemite Square were beginning to blend together as the weeks slowly dragged on with little to no proper exposure to sunlight for anyone except the group of suspected spies.

It was a real pickle they were in, Alice surmised as she led Marcus down the empty hallway. Mistrust and espionage were a tough business to get into above ground, let alone confined to a prison like structure with a square foot radius smaller than that of a football field. Still, she knew to count herself lucky. Of all the adventures to crave a spy thriller had certainly been at the top of her list. She'd managed to easily stay awake past curfew, running through the plan in her head and all the possible outcomes that could occur.

The plan for that matter was a simple one. Surprisingly simple in fact and quite frankly incredibly straightforward, at least according to Alice when she'd been trying to convince Marcus to come with her.

They were to wait till it was lights out, sneaking out down the hall once they knew everyone was asleep and gone with the fairies. Yosemite Square consisted solely of governmental employees, meaning they had less of a tight grip on curfew hours and security than one would expect from an army base in the midst of the second world war.

Regardless, if all went well they'd have made their way through the living quarters hallway and into the wide-open space that was the main hall. Desks lay barren and empty as strategists and scientists had taken their work with them to bed. It was quiet and somewhat eerie, giving Alice a rough case of goose bumps all over.

Their target lay beyond the room. On the opposite side to the living quarters entrance was a separate door. This one was made of metal, not to dissimilar from the metal that made up the large elevator at the front of the room.

Alice had never ventured this far. The sign on the door clearly advised against such tourism, and up until her recent excursion she'd been much more preoccupied with making a name for herself. Breaking the rules would've clearly had an adverse effect.

Yet here she was, pressing the palm of her hand against the cool metal of the door as she got to work on the large padlock.

"Are you sure this'll work? Cause If we get caught I mean"-

"Oh shh" she hissed
"No ones gonna find us, they're all fast asleep. Besides... I've got this. Used to crack locks like this for fun back in the day, I'd read about it in books and when you've got a lot of time on your hands you seem to"-

Here explanation was cut short as the padlock dropped down with a clank. Alice cringed, the sound echoing around the room.

"See? What'd I tell you"

The weight of the door must've been lopsided, for the door slowly began to open on its own accord. Marcus held onto it firmly before it could reveal too much.

"Do we even know what we're looking for down there Alice. I mean, from what I was able to find out the archives they have down there are vast. We could be down there all night trying to find something of use"

Alice gave a half smirk as she placed her hand on his, pushing the metal door and letting it give way to reveal a dark hallway with stairs leading down.

"Then we best get started"

"I hate you" Marcus groaned.

"No you don't" Alice retorted playfully as the two made their descent down into the depths of the base.

***

"seriously though, remind me what I'm supposed to be looking for"