The Hunt

Chapter 32: Hanna

"Garik, you didn't have to do that to him," I snap.

We are sitting in the dark control room, because he said he wanted to speak with me.

"You know as well as I do that it was the only way. He never would have told us anything otherwise," Garik replies.

"He's just a kid," I grumble.

"Hanna, he is a criminal. You saw how insane he is, how dangerous and unpredictable he can be. That is how all exiles are. Many are much worse," Garik is very stern with me, like he's talking to a child. That's all he'll ever see me as.

"Well whatever you found, it better be good," I turn to the screen he has open.

"While I was interrogating Javaar, he mentioned something that Naya had in her possession. Some sort of device, he said, that lit up and displayed dots and signals," Garik explains.

"An MBT? How does she have one?" I say, shocked.

"If she really is the exile who planned the ambush, she would have had access to all the dead bodies of your team, and we believe she took one of the men's MBTs," Garik points to the screen. On it is the same map of the forest I've been using to try and find her.

"Can you track her using that?" I ask.

"See for yourself," Garik types a code into the computer, "We don't know exactly which one she has, but all we have to do is put all the codes of each MBT into the computer, and it will show their location. Then we just find the one that is farthest away from the ambush areas, and that will most likely be the one she has."

I nod and lean forward.

He types in a few more codes, and then the screen refreshes. There are now dozens of blinking dots everywhere around the forest.

"A lot of them are far away from the ambush site. Which one do you think is hers?" I ask.

"That one," Garik points after a minute of thinking.

The one he's pointing to is moving across the screen, ever so slowly, but still moving.

"So what should we do with this information?" I ask.

"You figure that out. It's your mission. Bad enough I've had to help you this whole way," Garik grumbles, and stands to leave.

I bite my tongue, keeping down comments that would probably make my situation worse, "Thank you Commander in Chief."

Back in the dorm, I am writing down coordinates and copying Naya's trail, how she moves. If only I had a visual, so I would be able to see what condition she's in, I could decide if she's weak enough to go after personally. She must be almost starved, considering I made it impossible for her to go through Tanek safely.

Suddenly, the door opens behind me.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jonas pulls up a chair next to me.

"Never better," I mumble, not looking up from the screen.

"I just thought, after yesterday, with Javaar...." Jonas trails off.

"I'm fine, honestly."
Jonas shifts in his chair, "I saw your face when you walked in the room; I saw how you looked when he was screaming on the ground. Are you sure you're okay with that?" Jonas puts his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine," I snap, and shrug his hand away. Why is everyone always babying me? Garik, Jonas, my team, and probably even the entire city of Surga thinks I can't do anything on my own.

Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not.

Jonas sighs, gets up, and kisses my forehead. I stop typing for a minute, but don't look at him.

"Good night Hanna," Jonas collapses onto his bed.

"Goodnight," I whisper, and then suddenly, I wish I could tell him everything. How I'm not okay, how everyone hates me and is waiting for me to fail, how I can never focus on anything else besides finding Naya, how Javaar's insanity is the reason I can't sleep without nightmares. I wish I could tell him all of it.

But I can't. I've got to do this myself. It's my problem, I have to deal with it.

Jonas is right. I'm not okay. I can still hear Javaar's screaming, like a constant siren in my head.

But now at least I can pretend I don't hear it.

"Finally," Stephan growls.

"Relax, it's not war. We just go in, arrest Naya, and come out," I shake my head.

"Our first real mission," Viktoria is buckling her boots already.

"What weapons do we get?" Trent asks eagerly.

"We're not here to kill as many exiles as possible. The guns will be self defense," I explain.

Stephan laughs, "Not if we pull another Jonas."

Jonas hits him, and everybody is wrestling. Except for Minea, who has the decency to gather her things in focused silence. For once, I am relieved she's part of my team.

"Let's go. Your MBT's are at the door, you know how to use them, let's head out," I wave, and go out the hall.

Outside, we're blessed with nothing but cold gray skies. No snow or rain to slow us down, just crisp air nipping at our skin. My breath comes out in billowing clouds of precipitation as I wait for my team to assemble on the grounds.

The guards by the boundary are expecting us.

"Captain Laine, how much time in the forest is requested?" a soldier asks me.

I glance down at my MBT, and look at the map I've downloaded onto it. It's the same map Garik and I have altered with the live dot of Naya's MBT

"Four hours. If something happens, I'll call to open the gates, and get my team back in," I explain to him, and he nods.

The guns they pass out are small, not even as big as the ones we used to train with. They probably don't want us using the nicer guns.

"Hey, I asked for bullpup rifles, not this crap," I tell the soldier, as his men pass out the small guns.

"Garik has instructed us to give you these weapons," he says.

I curse, and turn back to my team. Jonas comes up next to me.

"They're not budging, huh?" Jonas whispers.

"No. I can't believe Garik. I know he has a limited budget on this mission, but it's not like we're going to be spraying ammunition. This team is well trained, we know how to use weapons," I mumble.

Jonas puts his hand on my back, "It's fine. We're not in for a fight, anyways."

"You're right," I sigh, and shout to the team, "Let's move!"

The large gates open up with a thundering rumble, and we're jogging through. Almost as instantly as they open, they are closing.

I look at the rest of my team. That's when I realize this is the first time in the forest for all of them.

"Alright," I whisper to myself, "Let's get this over with."