Around 10am the next morning, we went down for breakfast. We all did our best not to sleep off. We came back from our operation by 5am this morning so we didn't get enough sleep. After breakfast, Anita took us on another brief tour round the grounds. She took us to another pathway of buildings and told us what went on in there. After the tour, she turned to us and said;
"It's been lovely having you people here. Charles' birthday is tomorrow. You'll be given the opportunity to celebrate with him after his conference tomorrow. Any questions?"
We shook our heads, too tired to speak. After the tour, we were allowed to go back to the game room.
My thoughts were all over the place. We've been here for one day, we've found out clues but we still don't know what Charles is up to? What can I do? Who are those people? We have less than 24 hours before the materials will be distributed.
My teammates and I gathered round each other. We were too tired to explain what happened to Choi and Mike yesterday. While Chen and Victoria explained, I tried to gather all the clues. Maybe I could make some sense out of it. I laid out the blueprint of Charles' factory on the table. Where could Charles be hiding his secret operations?
W7
My friend worked on mind control. He made a lot of progress but I burnt it all down due to how unethical it was.
I remembered what my dad said in his book. I snapped my fingers. That's it! Why didn't I think of it before? Charles is obviously the friend he was talking about. I'm so stupid to not have thought of this before.
Of course, Charles is working on mind control. That explains the androids and the blindfolded people. They were probably the lab rats. I got it!
"Guys!" I called "In the conversation Anita and the man had yesterday, he spoke of trying out things on the patients"
"So, the patients could be the blindfolded people?" Choi asked.
"Exactly" I snapped my fingers "Remember in my dad's book of conspiracies, he said Charles was working on mind control. It makes sense. That's why he has androids. It's been his experiment for years"
"So, what does this have to do with the pens?" Chen asked "Now, we know he's planning something evil"
"We need to get to his secret lair. Those pens probably have mind control properties"
"But how?"
"I don't know but we have to find out. In my dad's book, it said something about W7 and The Council mentioned it too"
We all looked at the map. The lair could be anywhere. How can we even find it?
"It's just a thought" Victoria said "But 'W' could stand for West as a cardinal point"
She calculated the center of the map and circled the West region. "The 7 could mean the 7th angle" she tried to find it with a longitude and latitude method but it was a dead end.
"We should go check it out" I said "It might be a dead end on the map but it could be a building or something on grounds. If he's experimenting on people, it has to be somewhere hidden"
"Ada, it was just an assumption. I'm not even sure"
"But you could be correct. That's the only sensible explanation. See, we don't have enough time. Let's split up and go. If the rest of you don't hear from us in a while, try to call or come look for us. It could be a dead end but we just have to try"
My instincts were telling me that Victoria might be correct. W7 might not just be a person. It could be a coordinate on the map or something- the location of where the experiments were taking place. Why else will my dad have it in his book?
Gosh! Where the hell is Zoandra when you need her? I haven't even seen her or Nicole since we came here. Maybe they work on another side of the factory. This place is literally gigantic. Whatever the case may be, I hope Zoandra is okay.
If she was here, she would have guided me on what to do. I just wish I had listened to her when I had the chance.
"We have to leave now" I told them "We're running out of time"
Without another word, we all stormed out of the game room and made our way to the location from the map. When we got there, I was distraught. It's a hidden deserted large piece of land.
"It's a dead end" Mike groaned.
Victoria shrugged "Told you, I was just guessing"
No no no! It can't be a dead end. This place has to be it. If this isn't our clue then we have nothing else to do or look for. It means we've failed the mission. If not for anything else, we can't afford to leave those patients there. Only Lord knows the kind of torture they're enduring now.
Unwilling to give up, I walked around the area, looking for something- anything that could give us a hint to his secret lair. By the second time I paraded the grounds, my shoes came in contact with something hard that made me trip...like a metal. That's weird. I looked down. The area is covered in grass. There has to be something under there.
I got on my knees and started digging.
"Um...Ada" Choi started "What are you doing?"
"I don't even know"
I kept digging until I found the metal. It was a huge wheel. By the time I had cleared off all the grass, I discovered it was a wheeled door. This might be a secret exit or something.
"No way am I going down that thing" Victoria stated.
"Come on" I urged her.
"No. It was just a guess. This thing could lead us to a place of no return or even an endless rabbit hole with no exit. We could die."
I saw the unconvinced looks on the faces on my teammates. It seemed like they were all going to agree with Victoria. Honestly, I don't blame them. I'm scared too.
"I'll go alone then" I shrugged.
"What?" Chen shrieked "That's crazy"
"And dangerous" Choi added.
"Then so be it" I said "My dad has been missing for ten years and only Lord knows where he is. If Charles really is the person he was referring to in that chapter, then a lot of innocent lives are in danger. It means the entire country is in danger. Imagine people being experimented on for years like lab rats, having their minds invaded into and controlled over and over. If none of you want to risk it then I will because I have to stop it- if not for myself then for my dad because it's what he would have wanted. Now, I might get hurt. I might even die but I'll rather die trying than not try at all. That's what real spies do. That's what real heroes do"
I tried to roll the wheel but it was too tight. Before I could try again, my teammates gathered round and helped us. I was a bit stunned by their action.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked them.
"Helping you" Mike answered "It's our mission too"
"Besides" Choi says "When one of us goes down a rabbit hole, we all go down together"
"Spy rule number 9" Chen said.
Spy rule #9: if one teammate goes anywhere dangerous, the others follow. There's no 'I' in team. Never abandon a teammate!
"You don't have to" I said.
"Nonsense" Victoria scoffed "Just know that if I die, my spirit will haunt you forever"
I chuckled "Okay"
I smiled at all of them. Mr. Ade was right. The agency really did assemble the perfect group for a world saving mission.
Agile-Mike
Smart-Choi
Loyal-Chen
Admirable- Victoria
Compassionate-Me
That's probably why I was made the leader. I always put others first before myself and that's the best quality a leader can have. Together, we're the perfect team. At first, I thought it was just a mere coincidence but now, I realize that it's not.
With one more roll of the wheel with all our strength, it became free. We rolled it until it became loose and was able to open. We all looked at each other.
"Whatever happens" I started "I could have never asked for better teammates"
"Me too" they all chorused.
I even saw Chen reach out to hold Victoria's hand. They smiled at each other. The sight of them warmed my heart.
I looked down into the dark hole. Time to go in. I went in first by climbing down the ladder there until I got to the ground. My teammates came down after me. Choi was the last person so he closed the shut the door before he came down.
With the aid of our spy glasses, we were able to walk through the darkness. As we walked further, we discovered the place was a tunnel. How big is this factory? He even has an underground tunnel.
Victoria screamed.
We all turned back to see what happened. I got scared, thinking she was hurt.
"What's wrong?" I questioned in fear.
"A rat ran over my leg" she cried.
Choi face palmed himself. I'm sure Chen is probably rolling her eyes right now.
We continued moving. The further we got, the darker and narrower it became. It seemed like a never ending hole. After about a hundred and fifty steps, (yes, I counted), we found a second tunnel branching off to the right so we followed it.
This tunnel was even darker than the first one and it had water in it reaching to our ankles. I'm sure we walked for close to thirty minutes. We were already out of breath. Deep down, I hoped we were going to get somewhere. This cant all be for nothing.
Alas, we reached a dead end. In front of us were seven more tunnels leading to different directions.
"What do we do now?" my teammates asked me.
We were all tired and breathing heavily. I closed my eyes and thought of something. If we go through the wrong tunnel, we're done for. No one knows what's down there.
Think of something.
Seven tunnels
W7
7 patients
7 paintings on both sides of the walls
7 paintings in the room
I have seen good and I have seen evil. They are both....very human. (14 Letters, a multiple of seven)
That's it! Charles is obsessed with the number 7. he probably has a case of arithomania. The seventh tunnel is the right one but the problem is it could be the first tunnel or the seventh one, depending on the direction you're looking at it from.
When designing the tunnel, they wouldn't have looked at it from my point of view because they wouldn't expect anyone to come in through the exit. I turned to face my teammates.
I brought out my hand to the left. The 'west' cardinal point is to the left which is w7 so it's the last tunnel.
"It's this one guys" I said.
"How do you know?"
They all looked confused. I would be too.
"Just trust me. I figured it out. Come on"
They followed me down the tunnel. My breath was running out and my legs felt like they might fall off any minute but I didn't care. It's all for a good cause. We're getting closer, I can feel it.
When we reached the end of the tunnel, there was a ladder which led to a platform. With the little strength left in us, we climbed up the long ladder and got on top of the platform.
When we were all settled, we stopped for a while to catch our breath.
"Are you guys okay?" I asked them.
"At least, we're not dead" Victoria responded.
After a few minutes, we stood up and walked forward. There was a door in front of us but it was locked with a heavy padlock.
"I got this" Choi said "Back away, guys"
My eyes widened in surprise at the realization of what he's about to do.
He wouldn't. He can't.
He spun around mid-air and delivered a heavy kick to the padlock, breaking it free. The rest of us cheered.
Then again, it's Choi, master of martial arts. I remember seeing him and sensei Zhang breaking blocks with their hands and legs in class.
"Wait" Mike said "We could have just picked the lock, you know?"
Choi chuckled "Where's the fun in that?"
Mike pushed him lightly "Show off"
We opened the door. It seemed rusted, like it had been locked for a long time so we had to use a lot of force.
When it opened, we were almost blinded by the bright light emitted from the room. We've been in the darkness for too long. It'll take a while for our eyes to adjust to the light.
We looked at the sight in front of us in awe. It was a huge laboratory with white walls. We took cover behind a table and peeked from the top.
This is the biggest laboratory I had ever seen and the busiest too. Scientists marched up and down, doing one thing or the other.
In one part of the room, seven patients were tied to a chair. Their eyes were red and they were being controlled by a scientist. Those are probably the androids.
In another corner, people carried and arranged boxes. These are the boxes that were loaded into the truck that night.
In the middle, other scientists were seen mixing chemicals into beakers and stirring. There was a loud bang and a huge puff of smoke emerged from the beaker. They clapped, happy with their achievement.
To our left, seven blindfolded patients were strapped to beds.
"Those are the people from yesterday" Choi said.
Some scientists stood beside them in a corner, observing what was going on. Another scientist brought a box and opened it. The box was filled with the pens Charles was going to distribute. He shared it among the patients then removed their blindfolds.
Chen and Choi gasped loudly.
"Mom?"