Chapter 41:
I woke as the back door swung open, bringing in the cold night air like a vacuum. No dreams tonight. Julian had rolled over in his sleep, so his head rested on my chest. The sleeping quarters here were much too tight. To save him the embarrassment he would feel when he reached full consciousness, I shoved him off and quickly got to my feet.
Ian stood in the doorway. It was hard to see the expression on his face—as the only sources of light were the moon and a couple of nearby streetlights—but I didn't need to. I could feel his terror reflected there; probably something to do with his breathing.
“What is it?” I moved groggily over to the door. “Did you find something... Kyle?”
He shook his head, saying nothing. Turning he walked back around the side of the van. I followed. There, half concealed by the shadows stood Shay and Audrey. They stared at the side of the vehicle. Following their gaze, I saw it. It was spray painted onto the flat, white surface.
Not now Jaylee
Three simple words, but enough to make my stomach drop down to to my feet. They knew where we were. They knew I was here, yet they had made no attempt to either recapture or kill us. What was the deal with this ominous message anyways? Were they trying to scare us? Was this some psy-ops intimidation trick?
“Is that?” I spun around. Julian must have followed us out of the van. “Is that Kyle's handwriting?”
At his words, I took a second look. He was right. The black scrawl was unquestionably that of our friend. Or was it? Handwriting could be reproduced.
“Didn't you guys hear anything?” Audrey asked, her voice barely audible.
I shook my head. “We were all asleep. Jake wanted watch.”
An image of the Hispanic boy, slumped forward onto his keyboard, flashed through my mind. He must have been exhausted, yet frustration and anger still surged through my body. How could we have missed this? We had been a thin sheet of plastic away from him. He'd been a thin sheet of plastic away from us, yet he hadn't even stopped in to say hi. What had they done to him?
Somehow, the three words looked condescending to me, like in writing them he was looking down on us. I was reminded uncomfortably of how Nea had acted, all those years ago. Was it possible? Had he turned robot?
“It's not true!” Julian yelled, kicking the van hard enough that it left a small dent.
I instinctively winced at the ringing sound it created.
“It's not really them,” he rambled on. “It's a fake, or a trick... or-or, or there's a new kind of procedure or something. We know them. We've known them all our lives! They'd never give in, not without a fight. Maybe they're just doing it not to get tortured.” He was probably still groggy, not thinking straight.
“It would be so easy for them to run,” Ian said what I was thinking.
Every member of our group had their own moment of shock, as they woke one by one and stepped outside. I stayed silent, watching as their expressions transformed to match ours. Caught in a new kind of atmosphere, we sat in a circle in the center of the van. The time on the computer monitor read four o'clock in the morning.
The new course of action seemed clear to everyone, in our half awake, unargumentative state. Tomorrow, when Dale met with this leader, Kyle was sure to be nearby. We would grab Dale, regardless of if we could find Kyle. They knew where we were, they were practically mocking us. We were running out of time, and one friend was better than zero.
The next morning, Dale left around nine. The car he and his friends were in did lots of unnecessary twists and turns. Our van would have seemed much to obvious. Thankfully, traffic was heavy during rush hour, and Jake volunteered to walk along side, so we could hang back. He was the only one of us Kyle and Dale wouldn't recognize.
It took an hour and a half to travel a distance of about five miles. The van sat parked in a side street, as we waited for Jake's call. No one spoke, the air thick with tension. Curious, I turned my head to see what Ian was doing. He sat with his back against the wall, unmoved since the last time I'd glanced over.
Removing his clip from where it lay on the ground, he slid it smoothly into his pistol, with a click. Shifting the gun from hand to hand, he removed the clip again, setting it back on the floor. The same action, repeated again and again, in an endless cycle. I was trying to think of something to say when the cellphone lying on the desk began to ring.
Being closest, Audrey lunged for it.
“Hello?” She hit speakerphone, her hand shaking slightly.
“Hey, Audrey?” Jake's voice was hard to hear. It was almost completely blocked out by the sound of his panting. “I uh...” He took another few heavy breaths, directly into the phone. “I uh, almost lost them. They turned off onto to this little street, and I had to run to keep up.”
“Well?” Ian got to his feet and walked over to the phone. “Did you?”
Jake's breathing had become a little more regular. “Nuh-no... I thought I was going to lose them, but suddenly they started slowing down. At first I thought they'd seen me, but then they turned into a garage. They haven't left.”
“Where are you?”
Before Jake had a chance to answer, the van roared to life. Shay must have slipped into the cab without anyone noticing. Jake gave us step by step directions. The drive was only two minutes. To be safe, we stopped a block away from the building Jake spoke of.
“Alright.” I loaded my gun, and reached for the door handle. “Shay, Julian; you're coming with me. Audrey and Emme are going with Ian. Denis will hold down the fort.”
The little blond boy nodded from his place at the computers.
My team would be responsible for finding Dale, and safely extracting him. Ian's was in charge of Kyle. In theory, I had the easier job. We knew where Dale was, and instead of a highly trained team of Compound operatives, we only had to deal with a few terrorists.
Ian's group stayed behind, using our new equipment to pick up any strange radio frequencies, that might lead them to Kyle. Julian, Shay, and I slipped through back allies, until we reached the building Dale's car had entered. It appeared to be some kind of warehouse. There were no windows, and no doors facing in our direction. There were also no security cameras, as far as we could see. In fact, the only thing in the alley was a pile of rotting garbage. I wrinkled my nose as I passed, trying to quell an instinctive gag reflex.
“Jaylee!” A voice hissed, coming from a shadowy space between two buildings. “Over here.”
Jake stood with his back against the brick wall. A bead of sweat dripped down his face. He obviously wasn't cut out for field work.
“What do you have?” Julian placed a hand on the shuddering boy's shoulder.
He swallowed. “There's an industrial sized door on that side.” He pointed farther down the alley, to where we had not yet been. “That's where Dale went in. There's another one on the other side. There's also a regular door over there.” He pointed back to the first side.
That was good. Only three exits, unless Jake had missed one.
“Thank you.” I took a step back. “You can go back to the van, and help Denis. It's a block that way.”
The relief on his face was obvious “Good luck.” He turned and sprinted back the way we'd come.
“This way.” I continued down the alley, away from where Jake had disappeared.
Just like he'd said, right around the corner from the street, was a door. The rusting metal was covered with graffiti. It was obvious this place had not been used in a long time. The handles were held together by a massive chain, with an equally massive padlock. Walking up the few stairs that lead to the door, Julian tugged at it.
“It's solid,” he stated the obvious.
For a moment we were all silent.
“I could shoot it open...” Julian removed his gun from his waistband, and looked at me for confirmation.
I had just started to nod, when Shay spoke. “That will make a lot of noise.”
It wasn't a disagreement, or challenge. It was simply a statement of fact. He was right, of course. With something as obvious as a gun shot, the terrorists would have plenty of warning, and time to run out the back. Wouldn't it be simpler to go in the same way they had? It wasn't like there was a great need for stealth. Once they saw us, it was too late. At this point, it wasn't like we had any particular opinion on what happened to them. If they didn't disappear immediately, I'd shoot them. Simple as that.
Directly around the corner was an industrial sized door, big enough for a truck. Much to our relief, there was no padlock fastening it to the ground. I knelt down and took hold of the handle.
“You ready?” I looked up at my two companions.
They both nodded. I stood, pulling the door with me. It made a quiet scraping sound, as I pushed it up into the roof. Directly inside was a garage area. Two cars sat side by side; the beat up one Dale had arrived in, and a new, shiny one that looked expensive. Whoever they were meeting, he was already here.
Behind the cars stood another door. Behind it a dim, high-ceilinged hallway.
“Did you hear that?” A heavily accented voice reached us from around the next corner.
“Don't be so paranoid.”
We crept forwards, our backs pressed against the wall.
“Are you scared, young martyr?”A voice I had not yet heard, asked.
Before Dale had a chance to respond, I stepped from the shadows. All four spun to face me. One pulled a gun from his belt.
“Nice to see you Dale.” I smiled, taking a menacing step towards my old friend.
“Najid?” The man holding the gun looked at Dale. “Who is this girl?”
He ignored him. “Nelly...” His eyes met mine; hard, unwavering. “We told you... Not now.”
Anger filled me. Did he honestly expect me to play along? If he did, he was in for a nasty surprise. It didn't matter if we had to drag him with us unconscious, Denis would find a way to unbrainwash him.
“Shut up Dale!” I pulled my gun from my belt, pointing it at his head.
It's what he would want, I reassured myself. I would rather die than work for them.
“Who is this Dale?” The man I presumed was the boss had taken a couple of steps back.
“This boy is not who you think he is.” Dale made frantic cutthroat motions. “His name is Dale Rao, and he's coming with us.”
The terrorist turned his gun on the frantic boy. So if they didn't work for the Compound directly, they were obviously being manipulated. Behind me, I felt the presence of Shay and Julian.
“We don't care what happens to you.” I looked up at the three men. “We just want the boy. I'd suggest getting out of here, before his employers realized what happened and come after you.”
They stood frozen, too shocked to move. Dale turned to make a break for it. Shay sprinted forwards, jumping through the air and tackling him to the ground. One of the terrorists was attempting to pick up a box. I fired my gun off into the air.
“Get the hell out of here!”
This time, they listened.
Dale kicked Shay off of him. Flipping him so that he had a leg on either side, he punched him in the face. Shay rolled over in pain, clutching his bloody nose. Julian was there to meet him, with a swift kick to the stomach. Dale grabbed his leg, twisting it down and wrapping his arm around his neck. This had to end, we needed to get out of here.
I fired my gun. It ricocheted off the concrete floor an inch from Dale's foot. Obviously getting the message, he let Julian crumple to the floor, still gasping for breath. Behind him, Shay was back on his feet, still clutching is face. He smashed the butt of his gun into Dale's skull. Julian and I both winced at the sound it made. He'd be okay. Shay was smart enough to know his own strength.
The boys both took an arm, and suspended Dale between them, his arms wrapped around their shoulders. Together, we began to move back towards the entrance. Suddenly, the other door flew open, revealing a group of black clad agents, complete with bulletproof vests and automatic rifles. And pushing his way to the front, was none other than Kyle. So Ian's team hadn't gotten to him.
Grabbing Dale's arm from around Shay's shoulder, I helped to lift him so that he was slung completely over Julian's shoulder.
“Get him out of here.” I gave the younger boy a shove. “Shay and I will hold them off.”
They both nodded.
“Stop... Julian!” Kyle yelled, as his ex-best friend disappeared around the corner.
Shay and I both raised our guns. The irony was not lost to me; being side by side with Shay, against one of the people I'd considered my closest friends. The black mass swarmed towards us. I tried to hold my ground, but found myself taking a couple of steps back.