Feared

Twenty-Six: The View

"Stop the car," Wallace hissed cutting through Ian's trance. He was exhausted, driving on instinct rather than actually paying attention to the road. Ian indicated, trying to stifle a yawn and his lack of concern at Wallace's obvious worry, and pulled the car onto the hard shoulder, the white and black SUVs following suit.

"What's wrong?" he exhaled, too tired to care. Charlotte was still asleep. There had been no stir from James or Alison still sedated in the back of the car. There was no need for her panic.

"I need to talk to Ethan," Wallace said slipping out of the car with a speed that even surprised Ian giving that everything everybody else did always seemed so slow.

He rubbed his eyes and gazed out at the view that lay before them. Light was seeping back into the world, a grey tinge over the eastern horizon. The valley stretched out before the car, the road winding its way down to the river basin. The Potomac snaked along the valley, black in the early morning light, but then it disappeared, swallowed by dark clouds for a stretch before it emerged once more on the other side. The clouds were dense, streaked now and then by white lightening. Ian frowned. The storm was contained, tiny and yet vicious.

Ian glanced back at Charlotte, still sleeping on the backseat and sighed. He didn't have the heart to wake her now that she had finally managed to find some relief. He left the engine running and clambered out to where Ethan, Carrie, Ronnie and Wallace had gathered.

"That's Kuba Lysek," Ethan muttered, gazing down on the storm.

"I left Matt with instructions - what to do if this happened. Ronnie organised three buses and had them parked at the back of the warehouse. They had an escape route if they needed it," Wallace said.

"If what happens?" Ian asked, not sensing the need to be as panicked as the others.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ethan growled, ignoring Ian's question.

"Because if you knew I expected an attack you would have been conflicted between getting these five back or protecting the rest and we needed to get these back".

"An attack?" Ian frowned, glancing back at the black smudge that marked the storm.

"Yeah but it was all a bit... easy wasn't it. We more or less just collected them," Carrie added. "Maybe that was the plan all the time".

"Distract us at the prison while they attacked the warehouse?" Ronnie frowned.

"No, look at the helicopters. Our kind wouldn't have been as... openly visible as that. They wouldn't have needed to be," Wallace said, pointing towards the smudge.

Ian squinted. If he squinted hard enough he could make out black dots moving outside the storm, like hovering flies.

"Man you must have good eyesight," he frowned, shaking his head at Wallace.

"So it's the police? The FBI?" Carrie asked.

"Looks like good old Ramsey found us after all," Ethan growled. Ian wasn't used to seeing Ethan as visibly angry as he seemed to be now. He decided it wasn't a good thing.

"So what do we do now?" Ian asked.

"We have another hideout. If Matt and the others got out that's where they're going," Wallace pressed.

"And what if they didn't get out? How can we be sure they had enough time?" Ian asked, watching Ethan, expecting him to explode.

"Well... we can't," Wallace sighed, "but we can't exactly go and check. We'll just have to trust in their abilities to read the situation and hope they managed to get out safely. There's nothing we could do now anyway".

Ethan glared at her.

"Here goes," Ian whispered, his words leaving his mouth so fast he knew they were nothing more than a strange, garbled sound to the others.

"Wallace do you see what's after happening down there?" he breathed, jabbing a finger towards the river.

"I know what you're going to say and..."

"And nothing! You will listen to it anyway. That is another way for them to paint us as the bad guys, an example of our powers to terrify the world. Right now that storm cloud and god knows what else is being played on every screen to show people that not even the government's trained officers can cope with us. They are making us out to be monsters. That is more propaganda for the likes of Ramsey. Can't you see that?"

"Ethan I..." Wallace looked outraged.

"You should have said it sooner. We could have moved them on if you thought there was even a chance that there was going to be a raid!"

"You should have seen it too, but you were too busy..."

"You know perfectly well what I have seen and not seen. You should have caught my mistake," he whispered he's words heavy with disappointment and anger. "You want us to trust you, going behind our backs like this isn't how to do it".

"Ethan..." Wallace's face was a jumble of emotions her brows crinkled as she tried to think of a reply. "I'm sorry. I should have said something, but you know we can't go down there we have to..."

"Ian, Wallace will tell you where she wants us to go," Ethan said turning away from them. "We'll be right behind you". He didn't wait for her to finish her reply. It was clear he was done listening to her.

"Aye, aye captain," Ian said standing to attention and saluting Ethan as he marched back to his car.

Wallace stared after him for a long moment before turning and retreating to the station wagon.

"Well I think she's lucky Charlotte wasn't awake to hear that. Whatever Ethan said, Charlotte would have kicked her ass," Ian sighed to himself as he darted back to the car.

He didn't say a word to Wallace as he began to pull back out onto the road. He didn't need to. He took one more glance down at the smudged storm marring the early morning view. It might have been his imagination but it seemed to be getting smaller. He hoped that wasn't a bad sign.

Thanks for reading Feared! I hope you enjoyed this little bonus chapter this week! I must be in a good mood and wanting to treat you all! Please don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments!

I can not wait to publish the next chapter! I don't think many will approve of my direction with this... but all the more fun!! Sorcha x