Rachel Shore's Answers

11: New Member?

I had to give myself 3 pep talks before I was ready to go on this mission to convince Timothy to be an ally.

"You ready?" Asked Chris.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

We had discussed earlier that only one of the guys would go with me. This was to ensure that our group wasn't too large to be stealthy. They like using spy words like that.

I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

"Let's do this!"

He smiled at me and we walked to the car.

"Don't be nervous. I wouldn't let you on this mission if it were too dangerous. Also, if it doesn't work we will be no worse off than when we started."

I looked at him and smiled "Thanks. That helped more than all of my pep talks combined!"

He laughed at that and I joined him.

"Look I was really nervous the first time too. I thought I was going to mess it up or get myself killed. Neither happened. I have messed up a few missions but it doesn't really matter. This is a war and you can't win every battle."

I smiled and nodded. Mostly what I got from that is that it's ok to mess up. I don't know if that helps clear out my fear of failure though. We parked near the warehouse hidden in the trees. Chris slowly walked listening closely for any strange sounds. I was surprised when he didn't enter the warehouse. Instead of entering it he started walking in the direction of the trees. When we made it to the trees the warehouse looked like it was the size of a small house. We walked a little ways into the trees when he gently rubbed his hand on a small engraving on the trunk of a tree. There was a small area where the bark had been cleared off. It couldn't be larger than an inch in either direction. There was a simple image of a bird etched into it. He started walking again and grabbed a handful of dirt. When he started to pick it up I realized it wasn't just dirt that he had grabbed. A square of dirt lifted by his hand and I realized this was just a trapdoor.

"Charlie and I placed this here so we could come and go whenever we pleased. This was before we decided to leave them and start rescuing people."

"Wow this is so cool. Do they usually enter through the warehouse?"

"Yes, but you cannot enter without someone opening it from the inside. That is supposed to keep invaders or police out. The entrance is also impossible to see. Even if the warehouse started to be used again no one would find the entrance."

"I guess that's a pretty good way to do it. No unwelcome visitors. Unless you have two young enterprising ex-prisoners on the loose."

Chris laughed and shook his head at me. I followed him as he climbed down a series of poles, ladders, ropes and other various available hand a footholds. I started to hear voices and footsteps. Chris and I paused and held our breaths. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest like a jackhammer. Chris smiled. Slowly the voices faded into the distance. He started climbing down again.

"This happens every time"

"It does? No wonder you didn't panic."

I could still feel my heart pounding against my chest.

"Relax you're doing great!"

"Thanks." I didn't feel like I was doing well.

He finally made it all the way to the floor. He didn't even pause for a second before starting to walk down the hall. He turned into a short hallway that led to a few rooms. It looked vaguely familiar.

"Johnny will be here in about" he paused and checked his watch "2 minutes. When he comes just say whatever comes to mind don't force it."

"Ok thanks for the tip." I was worried my nervousness was coming out in my voice.