Agent 34 (Book 1)

20. Round two, anyone?

Sorry, things at my Grandma's house have been hectic. But it's mostly all over. Finally got rid of the smell, redid a good chunk of flooring, fixed some appliances, and yeah. 

In between all that, I had bought my sister a cup for her birthday like two months in advance. It was one of those custom snowglobe tumblers. It was Minnie Mouse-themed, and absolutely beautiful and she likes having different tumblers so I figured she'd really like it. So, long story short, she loved it except whoever made it, did so incorrectly and mold had begun to grow inside the snowglobe part of the tumbler.

So in addition to everything that's been going with my Grandma's house, I've also been fixing and redoing my sister's tumbler (never done one of these things before in my life but I've been figuring it out). I tried messaging the person who had made it asking if there was anything that could be done (basically if they were willing to fix it, replace it, or whatever) and they ignored my messages and never replied. That kind of irritated me but there's nothing that I can do about that. Still, if the damn thing was made correctly to begin with, there wouldn't be mold growing in it. I've mostly fixed it myself at this point and just need to seal it. So I've also been busy with that.

Anyway, I realize you all are more interested in the chapter, so here you go.

Everly's POV

Alejandra helped Ian to his feet and then Ian held out a hand to me. I took his hand and allowed him to help me up.

"How did you two end up down here?" I asked him.

"Same way you did," Alejandra replied.

Ian grimaced and nodded. "Went down another tunnel and the floor opened up beneath us. Noelle and Tessa were able to jump out of the way. Alejandra and I were not so lucky." He shined a flashlight along the walls of the tunnel we were standing in. "We've been looking for a way out of here but have been unsuccessful so far. This place is a damn maze."

I nodded. "Pretty sure that's the point. You can't get out unless you know where you're going and we don't have a clue." I took a second to stretch my aching joints. My adrenaline was wearing off and between the fall and fighting the mercenaries my body was screaming protests. I ignored all of them as I usually did because there was still a job to do and I was not yet finished.

After it was all said and done I could rest, but not now.

"What happened to Ryan and Eric?" I asked Ian, almost dreading the answer.

"They're fine," Ian said as he passed me a second flashlight and we turned down the split in the tunnel neither of us had been down. "They're with Noelle and Tessa. They were wearing their bulletproof vests so they're a little bruised up but not dead." He paused for a second before tapping his ear. "Ryan says hi."

Alejandra scoffed. "He said more than that."

"Well, would you like to be the one to repeat all of it?" Ian asked her before turning back to me. "I'm assuming you lost your earbud since we'd been trying to get a hold of you for a while now."

I nodded even though he was walking in front of me and couldn't see me. "Probably fell out when I fell." I shrugged. "Whatever the reason, I couldn't find it. How long ago did you lose touch with me?"

"An hour ago," Alejandra replied.

"An hour?" I repeated.

Ian frowned as he looked at me over his shoulder. "You mean you haven't been running around down here this whole time?"

I shook my head. "I was unconscious on the floor this whole time," I replied. "And now I'm very curious as to why I was just left on the floor this whole time. There are mercenaries walking these tunnels they had to have seen me. I've only been causing problems for around ten minutes now." I paused in my tracks as another thought came to mind. "Have they been shooting at you?" I asked him.