Shields

Chapter 17: Reunited

Narian put her hand on the glass, her eyes wide in the clear liquid she was suspended in. A tube came out of her mouth and into the open air, providing her with oxygen. Her hair was longer than it used to be, just down to her shoulders now. She wasn't even touching the floor of the glass tube either. She just floated in the liquid, eerily calm.

I put my hand over hers, stunned. "Narian?" I whispered, tears forming in my eyes.

She stared at me silently. Just seeing her like that nearly broke my heart in two. "I'm going to get you out, Narian. I promise. Just give me a minute and you'll be fine."

A gun cocked behind me and Achmetha cleared his throat. "We've, um, got company, Dem," he said nervously.

I turned around and found myself face to face with a giant of a man holding an automatic machine gun. He spoke, his voice quiet, but still booming somehow. "I don't know who you are, but I suggest you tell me now."

Achmetha spoke quickly. "I'm Ernie and we call him Jackal," he told them.

I tried to keep from laughing. Jackal? Better than Ernie, I suppose, but really?

The man raised his eyebrow, managing to make it look like an extremely dangerous move. "That's the worst couple of names I've ever heard. Why are you lying?"

I shook my head. "We'll tell you our names if you tell us who you are and who you work for," I bargained.

"It's a secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you," the man said. "But I don't work for Julius," he added after a moment.

"We don't work for him either," I offered.

The man poked me. "I didn't think you did. Too puny. At least their guards put up a fight when I came in here," he said.

I blinked. "Well, you snuck up on us and pointed your automatic rapid-fire machine gun at us. What do you expect us to do? Commit suicide?" I pointed out.

The man grunted. "I'm Harry," he said, offering me his hand.

Hesitantly, I reached out to take it, and then thought better of it. "Hi," I said instead.

He grinned. "At least you're smarter than the guards. But you won't get away with lying to me. What are your real names and what's your business here?"

I shrugged. He would probably now if I tried to lie to him, so I decided to tell the truth, at least partially. "I'm here posing as a mechanic so that I can get up to the fourth level and my friend can hack the system to shut it down."

Harry's eyebrow went up again. "That's your plan? Well, it's at least slightly better than some people's ideas in my group. But there's still a bit of a problem there. The fourth level's a trap. The system was never in there. Trust me; I tried to get at it. Lost some good men in there."

I nodded sympathetically. "Look, we can't tell you our names. I know you told us yours, but uh... we're kind of like wanted criminals here and we can't risk it."

"Doesn't matter. I think I know who you are anyway, but even if I'm wrong, you still need to come with me. I know someone you may want to meet."

Puzzled, I frowned at him. Tapping came from behind me and I turned to Narian. She held something up. The simple silver band I'd given her when I proposed caught the dim light in the basement and shone.

"I don't understand," I said, holding out my hands in a helpless gesture.

Tapping and scratching at the glass with the ring, Narian stared at me intently. Slowly, I began to decipher the message. "Get me out."

"I know, I'm working on it. Hang in, okay," I replied, glancing behind me.

Harry poked me with the gun. "If you want to get her out before we leave, you should probably hurry up about it."

I frowned at him. "Whose side are you even on?" I questioned.

He smiled grimly. "Mine." He moved past me and jammed his gun into the glass. It cracked and when he swung the gun into it again, it shattered, pouring goopy liquid everywhere.

Narian spit her tube out of her mouth and collapsed into me. "You took so long," she said softly.

She sounds so shaken. Why couldn't I have gotten here sooner? Why did I have to go and leave her on the side of the road like that? Guilt rose within me and tears dripped down my cheeks.

I squeezed her. "I'm sorry. I thought..." I choked up and had to start over. "I thought you were dead."

She stared into my eyes lovingly. "I don't die easily," she said, just before pressing her lips to mine.

I let myself enjoy the moment, wishing it would last forever. It felt like time stopped as I pulled her closer to me and deepened the kiss.

Finally, I pulled away from her. "I just can't believe you're alive." I whispered.

Harry interrupted us. "Right, well we've got places to be, so let's move, people."

I looked at him. "Can't you help us find the system so we can hack it?" I asked.

"Uh, no. You are not going up there without more backup. It's swarming with guards everywhere. I can't be late for my rendezvous either, so let's get moving."

Achmetha crossed his arms. "Who said you could order us around?" he demanded.

"Don't annoy the guy with the gun, Achmetha," I said.

He snorted. "We could take him," he said.

"Really? I never took you to be suicidal, Achmetha," Narian commented.

"There's a lot of sides to me that you don't know about," Achmetha said with a grin. "But I suppose if our mission isn't going to happen, then we can take a detour."

Suddenly, Brikan's microphone came to life in my ear. "Dem, you need to get out of there. They're onto you. And what are you doing in the..." his voice cut out, but I got the message.

"We need to leave now, while we still can. I can't lose any of you again," I snapped, interrupting Achmetha mid-sentence.

Harry nodded. "Finally, someone with sense. Come on, I know a way out."

We followed him down to the last purifier, which was on. Odd... it wasn't on before. He must have turned it on. I thought, slightly puzzled. But why?

He pulled a smart phone out of his pocket and attached it to the water system. Tapping an app, he clicked a few buttons, typed in a password and then clicked a button that said 'terminate power'. Immediately, the water purifier turned off and something opened on the far wall.

I stared at the strange tunnel. The wall had looked complete, without a single line to mark where the door ended and the wall began, and yet now, with it open, it could clearly be seen as a door.

Inside the tunnel was almost completely dark, but what was visible was covered in cobwebs. Achmetha grinned, stepping forward and examining it.

"Whoever made this should get me one of them. These things are awesome," he said. "How'd you activate it?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You may not work for the government, but we still can't reveal all of our secrets, much less this one."

Achmetha shrugged and opened his tool box, grabbing a flashlight and flicking it on. Fearlessly, he stepped into the tunnel and started off.

I shrugged at Narian, who shrugged back. "Ladies first," I said.

She grinned and entered the tunnel behind me.