Gunnar wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of Travis' fancy athletic shirt. Peter, the other recruit, patted him on the back and wished him a good evening. Gunnar put his taser back in the holster and left it on the table of weapons. They'd been practicing how to take down angry residents. He wasn't too big on the electric weapons, but he had to admit they worked all the time on the dummies. His physical tackles would only get Peter half the time.
"Good work today," Mr. Dugin, the older man from the trials said and placed a hand on his shoulder. Gunnar tensed. He still didn't like the guy. "You've almost completed your first week of training, Travis. Your father will be impressed. You really know your stuff."
"Thank you," Gunnar said. He threw his bag over his shoulder and left as quickly as he could.
Olivia was out for the night working on something she didn't want to share, so he planned to use her absence to his advantage.
"Quinton," he hissed into thin air. It was getting easier to talk without moving his mouth very much. He made sure to smile back at the people who passed him in the hall and wave. Travis was far more social and well liked than he was.
"What's up?"
"I need a favor." The line paused for a second. He hadn't earned a favor from Quinton, but Gunnar knew the guy's weak spot. "I'll talk to Mischa when we get back, tell her you're an alright guy and whatever."
A moment of silence passed. Quinton's voice came through with a touch of annoyance, "Tell me what you need first."
"I need you to find someone on the cameras and tell me where they are. You can't tell Olivia."
"Should I be worried?"
More people rushed past him chatting among themselves and giving him waves, so Gunnar tucked into an emptier hallway. "I just want to see how she's doing and make sure she's okay."
The pause on the other end led Gunnar to believe Quinton was going to bail. Gunnar stared up at the camera, uncertain if Quinton could see him.
"Okay, who am I looking for?"
Gunnar gave him as many details as he could remember about the people she hung around with, the classes Matt had asked her about, and her appearance, the one thing he knew well. The line went silent for a few minutes and Gunnar continued his walk toward the common area, hoping to get lucky there. He hadn't in the past nights and far too many people recognized and distracted him by wanting to hang out with Travis. Having a circle of friends was exhausting not to mention Melinda, whose sneaky actions he still hadn't figured out. He was looking forward to going back to being his unnoticed self.
The earbud crackled and Quinton spoke again. "I found her. You're not far; pass the lounging area and head toward the library. At least I think it's her. If you go straight to the middle then turn left you'll find a girl who looks a lot like you described."
"Thanks," Gunnar said. If anyone was going to be in the library it was Aida.
He'd never really liked libraries given that he could hardly read, but Aida used to drag him into a few so she could finish school projects. She figured out how they could use the internet for free and take out books, not that he ever bothered. He mostly watched videos without sound while she sat around all day with a pile of books and a notepad.
The smell in this library was the same, musty and old even though this place was pretty new. There were even fancier computers here with big colorful monitors. The bookshelves were set up like a big target, circle after circle. More people than he expected sat at desks with green lamps. He got to the center and turned like Quinton had instructed.
"The other left," Quinton said.
Gunnar scowled, everyone else could get directions right, but he needed landmarks to figure them out properly. Now Quinton probably thought he was an idiot.
Gunnar walked slowly until he saw his sister at a long wooden table with a couple of other kids her age. She was showing one boy something in her notebook, but he was more interested in watching her body than what she was explaining.
Gunnar's jaw stiffened. He had to fight his brotherly urge to deck that kid in the face. He was Travis, not her brother. She and Gunnar had always been pretty thin because of the poverty diet, but after a few months here Aida's shape was quickly becoming more womanly. Once he got her out of here, they'd sit down and have a good chat about dating and how big of idiots guys could be especially teenage ones.
He passed their table by a few rows, grabbed a glossy book of a shelf, and found a desk where he could still see her. His actions were selfish and risky, but after thinking she'd been dead for so many months, even getting to see her from across the room reassured him. He needed to see that she was happy, that she had friends, and that she was doing well.
He cracked open the book to a random page then redirected his attention to Aida. She laughed at a joke that her 'study' buddy had whispered in her ear. Gunnar's fingers gripped the book tighter.
He fought with the decision of leaving her here where she was doing well, according to Matt, or bringing her back to the others where she could be free -- free to fight for her life and eat smaller rations. Matt warned him about this place though, something about world war one gases that they were making. Finding Rob here also scared the shit out of him. If Gunnar didn't stay to watch over her, he couldn't make sure that Rob left his little sister alone.
"She's a little young for you, Travis."
The hairs on the back of Gunnar's neck rose as the voice of his worries spoke.
"Let's take a walk," Rob said. He had pulled out a knife that he used to carry around on their missions and held it to Gunnar's side without anyone else taking notice.
Gunnar left the book on the desk and tried to catch a few more glances of Aida as he left. Her smile and laugh stuck with him. He didn't dare make a scene because he didn't want to raise any unnecessary suspicion and give away his reasons for coming here.
Outside the library, Rob led him into an empty corridor. He looked Gunnar up and down and smirked. "Y'know Travis, at first I bought Manny's lie that you were staying clean 'cuz of your training. But the more I watch you, the more you remind me of someone." Rob narrowed the one eye he could control. "This guy, he was a real scumbag. He'd hurt or kill someone without flinching if it meant he'd survive. He abandoned his friend in the middle of the night, taking the food and everything, and left him to rot. The guy was annoyingly straight edge, rumor had it his mom was a junkie whore."
Gunnar's jaw clenched and he took a deep calming breath. He couldn't deck Rob without revealing himself.
Rob stepped close enough that the foulness of his breath made Gunnar cringe. "You know what I'd do to that sick fuck if I ran into him?"
"I don't know why you're telling me any of this. I can report you so easily to-"
"You report me, and I'll tell them exactly who you are, Gun."
Gunnar took another deep breath. He wasn't sure how much damage Rob could really do, but he didn't want to find out.
"You're high and clearly mixing me up with someone."
Rob smirked, though half of his scarred face missed the message. At least his face reflected his personality after the fire. "Show me your arm. If it don't have a Shadow tattoo on it, report me."
Gunnar folded his arm across his chest. He had stolen some of Melinda's makeup to cover it up on days where it could be exposed, but today he hadn't bothered since his workout shirt had long sleeves. Rob would have been smart enough to try washing it off anyway.
"I don't need to show you shit," Gunnar said and shoved Rob to the side.
"So it's a coincidence that you stop dealing with us and start watching Aida Holmstrom in the same week? She's pretty young, but she'll be a real looker in a couple of years. Wouldn't mind taking her back to my room and-"
Gunnar pushed Rob against the wall and grabbed at his throat. "You don't touch her, you hear me?" Gunnar let go before he drew too much attention to himself.
Rob took a labored breath and let out a deep laugh. "Your buttons are way too easy to find, Gun. Funny you never mentioned a sister all that time in the Shadows. We were supposed to be friends. I would have let her be, but after everything you've done, I think I'll screw her just to watch your blood boil."
Gunnar controlled the urge to stab him in the throat with his knife. It would compromise the entire mission, but solve all his problems. "What do you want?" Slime balls like Rob were always up to something.
A smile spread across Rob's menacing face. "I don't know what you've done with Travis, but I know that with that fancy new position of his comes with access to special areas, special supplies. When we ask, you deliver or I'll go after that pretty, little sister of yours."
"Yeah, deal," Gunnar muttered.
"See that wasn't so hard, Gun. Just like old times, 'cept now you have no friends and plenty of enemies."
Rob smacked him hard on the back and walked off down the isolated hall. Fighting the urge to hit someone or something, Gunnar went back into the crowds to reach his room. He was too shaken up to figure out how he'd approach Aida. When he had checked that Matt was still out, he slid down on the couch and let out a string of curses. He wanted to throw something, but it wasn't his shit to throw.
"I can see why you hid that from Olivia," Quinton said. "You're putting everyone at risk. I'm going to have to tell-"
Gunnar groaned; he was afraid Quinton would be a prick like this. "Not yet, let me talk to Aida tomorrow, then we'll get out of here."
"Gunnar, he's going to say something."
Quinton's concern seemed genuine this time, but Gunnar wasn't willing to risk leaving his sister around Rob.
"He won't. I know him. He's not going to risk losing his benefits."
"We need to get you all out sooner. Matt and the others have collected enough-"
"You gotta sister?"
"No, only had a brother."
"And if you could save him?"
"He'd dead. There's no saving him."
"But if you could..."
"I wouldn't."
That was cold, but Gunnar figured there must be more to it than Quinton being a coward or a dick.
"But I get why you're doing this. You'd better hope you're right or we could all end up dead."
Gunnar relaxed his shoulders and leaned back on the couch. "Thanks. I owe you; I mean that."
"Just worry about talking to her and getting out. We'll deal with that later."
Gunnar wasn't sure exactly how he would manage to get Aida to leave with them when she didn't even know who he was. Would she believe him and would she even want to leave? He didn't want to tell her about Rob's threat, but there wasn't much other motivation for her to leave.