Fearless

chapter 11

The alarm clock rang at 5:00 a.m. sharp. Amazing, isn't it? It wasn't for me, either. When I remembered why I had to wake up so early, I jumped up and ran to the shower. Good thing we'd put the tank on heat yesterday.

I turned on the hot water and looked around for shampoo. It was on the shelf, with... Coffee-scented?! Oh my God! I would definitely have to thank Ian for that.

After happily washing my hair with this wonderful-smelling shampoo, I stood under the hot shower jets for a good ten more minutes. Then, when I came to my senses, I finished all my hydrotherapy and put on my loose, dark marsh-colored sweatpants and... and Ian's T-shirt. May he forgive me a second time.

When I got out of the shower, it was only 5:24, another forty minutes of free time. I hopped on the couch and picked up a book and a pencil.

"What are you doing up so early?" Jack grumbled sleepily from across the room.

"Nothing, I just slept in. I'll just read quietly, and you can go back to sleep." I reassured him and opened the book to the right page. And Jack wisely followed my advice and fell asleep.

The abrupt ringing of the alarm clock dug into my ears, drowning out the lines of the book. Jack cursed and turned it off. Then he got up, stretched, and went for a shower. I only had sixteen pages left. Normally, while Jack was in the shower, I should have set the table... but I didn't want to do it the easy way. I wanted to finish reading.

When Jack got out of the shower, I was already on the last page. He sighed as he looked at me and started to get the groceries. I finished reading and started scribbling the last comment. Then, after thinking about it, I wrote at the end, "I miss you." Then I changed my mind and looked for an eraser. It, as bad luck, was nowhere to be. I decided that this was fate, closed the book and began to help Jack with the food.

"How was the book?" he asked me good-naturedly.

"It's interesting. Very interesting."

"Isn't it? What kind of books do you like?" he suddenly asked.

"Well... that's a tough question. Lots of them. Adventure books, novels, fantasy, even science books, if they're not nerdyly written." I grinned.

"I wonder..." Jack echoed and took out a bag of coffee. "I also wonder if he has a coffee maker."

"I don't know about the coffee maker, but he has coffee-scented shampoo, would you like some?" I jokingly suggested it.

"Yeah, I will, sometime." He nodded and looked in the closet. "Found it."

Ten minutes later, we were drinking steaming aromatic coffee.

"I didn't know you make coffee so good." I was surprised.

"Ian taught me." Jack said, and I snorted into my mug.

"Let him teach me, too, sometime." I said playfully. I'm in such a good mood today... Whether it was the book or the coffee. Or all of it.

We had a quick breakfast, got ready, and sat down to discuss a plan of action. It was complicated by the fact that Jack's sister was twelve, and they could intimidate her, send her to camp, or do anything to her. These thoughts made my heart ache. I wanted her to be all right! Jack was very worried, too, but he tried not to show it.

We mapped out the exact route, worked out a plan to get inside. It would probably be one of the most dangerous operations of my entire life. Unless it gets cut short after that, of course. The beeping of the radio caught me at these sad thoughts, and I hurriedly dismissed them.

"Who is it?" Jack asked, glancing at my walkie-talkie.

"I don't know." I got up and walked over to the couch.

"Hello, Nell, it's Liam." I heard the phone.

"Hey, Liam. Change your mind about teasing me with Skull yet? Or Eagle..."

"Yes, I'm already confused which one of you Skull and which is not a Skull." He sighed.

"What do you mean, confused?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, the reason why I'm bothering you.. I mean, Ian came after you."

"Ian what?!"

"He came..."

"No, I got that. Oh, shit! Thanks for the heads up. Over and out." I said and turned off the radio. Jack looked at me reproachfully. I know Ian went because of me. Oh, shit.

"Oh shit..." I sighed and ruffled my hair.

"Okay. We're halfway there, so we'll get there first." Jack said firmly and got up. "Grab your backpack, we're going out."

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and stepped out into the tunnel, taking one last goodbye look at the snug bunker. Then I took a coin out of my pocket, wished I'd come here again, and tossed it. The coin bounced off my impact and landed somewhere on the floor of the bunker. Jack grinned and locked the door.

"This is to come here again, right?" He asked seriously.

"Yeah." I answered simply. "Where to now? Not back to your bunker, is it? Where's the exit?"

"Too many questions." Jack grinned. "I'll show you."

He turned to face the door, went to the wall on the left... and with a nod of his head called me to him.

"Here, look."

He opened the inconspicuous black window, scrolled the number wheels, and suddenly looked back at me.

"Why don't you ever write down passwords? No matter how many times I type codes, I've never seen you with a notebook."

"I have a good memory." I was embarrassed, but I wrote down the code just in case. The door clicked and creaked open. Jack grimaced and shook his head.

"He always doesn't grease the doors..."

We went into the dark tunnel, closed the door behind us, and went forward somewhere. After about 15 minutes, we climbed up the stairs and ended up in a wheat field.

Following the map, we walked on and on, leaving Ian's cozy bunker behind... I sighed and shook my head, pushing the sad thoughts away. I needed to focus on our case now.

As we crossed another field, there was an unexpected pop. A police car pulled up at the other end, about a thousand six hundred feet away.