Midnight

Chapter 11

     "Where is the Shadow?" Desmond hissed from under his hood, holding a thug at sword's length.

     "I-I don't know!" the man blubbered.

     Desmond pressed the point of his sword harder into the man's chest, "You're lying..."

     "But I heard that there's activity!" the man blurted out. "I-I heard that in Upstate, New York, there's some kind of an operation going on...in an abandoned air hangar!"

     "How do you know?" Desmond ordered.

     "You hear things...on the streets! I've heard rumors about it through other gangs," the old man gasped. "P-Please don't kill me..."

     Desmond released the man, letting him crumple to the ground. He sheathed his swords and darted away from his victim quickly. For hours, since nightfall, Desmond had been searching for any leads he could get on the whereabouts of the Black Dragon. His findings had led him all across the city, to many dead ends, and the night was growing old. The Shadow still had yet to be found and he couldn't dismiss any lead because it might lead him to his foe.

     Since the threat against the country the entire nation had scrambled to find the Black Dragon. However efforts were futile since the organization excellently covered all of their tracks. Essentially, it was as if the Shadow didn't even exist. But Desmond was able to go deeper than the police patrols by physically going around and questioning members of gangs known to have had affiliations with the dark organization. It gave him information that would have taken the police departments weeks to find; and it might only be hours until the terrorist attack.

     Olivia hadn't been seen since he had gotten back and it was because C.I.N.A. had kept her locked away, questioning her experiences. Desmond tried to find her but, like the Black Dragon, there was no Olivia Jones to be found. It troubled him that he didn't have the backup he needed because Olivia had always been there to have his back. After a while, and with a heavy amount of regret, Desmond decided to move on and press all of his energy into searching for the Shadow alone.

     Desmond ran to his parked motorcycle, a new one he had bought so he could travel around without having to rely on a ride, and mounted the vehicle. He gunned the engine and roared off into the night. The wind whipped against his face and Desmond had to duck his head so his hood wouldn't fly off. As he rode he pulled out his cellphone and looked up airstrips in Upstate, New York. Desmond swiped a little more and found an address to one of two of the only inactive airbases. 

     The night wore on while Desmond flew through the backstreets of New York. He passed buildings that were crumbling and through streets that seemed to be almost abandoned. His bike swerved to avoid hitting a peculiar black cat that scurried across the road in front of him. Eventually, he entered the region and made his way to the address that he'd searched up.

**

     He came up behind the shell of what had originally been an aircraft hangar. From the outside the entire facility looked abandoned; dirt and grime covered the exterior of the sloping building. Surrounding the perimeter was a rusted wire fence that was meant to keep intruders out. Stretching out from the hangar was a cracked air strip.

     In the distance dawn was approaching and turning the sky a dull gray. Desmond quietly parked his motorcycle at a distance from the hangar and crawled over to look through the surrounding fence. He peered across the street and saw a secondary hangar but it didn't buzz with activity. Desmond licked his dry lips as he chose the hangar closest; he would have to dismiss the secondary one.

     Desmond silently scaled the fence and landed on the other side. He sprinted towards the hangar and kept to the shadows. Nobody noticed him slip through a crack in the hangar's back wall. Inside, Desmond gaped in awe at a sprawling complex of people quickly maneuvering around each other and loading airplanes. Each one of the flying machines was loaded with a crate the size of three people, and then silently pushed towards the air strip. Above, walkways had been built for people to quickly get from one side of the hangar to the other without interfering with the massive operation below. Desmond squinted closely at one of the arms of the workers and he saw a snake spiraling across his forearm.