The A-Game (new version)

Chapter 14.

"-They also happen to be right next to the dot I'm looking for."

Fishing my phone from my pocket, I was sorely disappointed to see that it had been destroyed from the water. It seems as if the hemisphere's special energy saving powers didn't extend to water-proofing. I turned my phone around to the back. The hemisphere was now attached only by it's thread-like wires, but the light on the hemisphere still glowed. So to simplify, my phone was destroyed, but the hemisphere wasn't. They could still track it. Maybe if I pried it off from my phone, and threw it to over onto the platform, the guy would come looking for me and find, instead, the detached hemisphere. No. That would be a bad idea. If he saw the dot move, then he would know I was in here. Unless.... I held my phone, hemisphere and all, gingerly in my hand, and with as much force as I could muster, I thrust it straight into the center of the water, where the light of the hemisphere soon disappeared beneath the surface.

     "Boss," a second man's voice said. "One of the dots just moved."

    "Where is it now?" growled the familiar voice of the first man.

    "The middle of the water tower, but it isn't moving anymore. Do you think the object we're looking for... fell in?" A long pause followed afterward, as I supposed the first man scrutinized the possibility. I saw the faint outline of a head appear in the opening of the hatch.

    "No," the man replied grimly. "It appears as if the accomplice just took a swim and left our treasure on the platform somewhere. We'll have to go down."

   "But sir," the second voice said. "How can you be sure that it's not the object we need in the water, and the person on the platform?"

    "Because these people are after it too. They wouldn't drop it in the water and stop all of us from getting it. If they did then they would be even stupider than I suppose they already are."

    "Alright. So... who's going first?" the second voice asked wearily.

   "You, Jerod. Take this flashlight and jump down into the water. See if you find their accomplice. If you do, shoot them and then move on to what we're looking for..."

    "NO! PLEASE!" Janice shouted. I saw the light of a flashlight flicker over the opening before flying down beside the dark shape of a man. A tidal wave of water rippled to where I sat and sloshed against my butt and legs. I scooted as far back as I could until my back pressed painfully against the wall of the tower. The man resurfaced and took a deep breath. The flashlight dangled from his wrist and cast a bright beam along the thick waves of water. He gripped it in his hand and redirected the beam along the platform.

    "There's no sign of an accomplice or anything for that matter..." Jerod said.

   "According to the phone, there should be something to the left of you..." the first man said. The man turned left and I was blinded by the beam from his light. When my eyes adjusted, Jerod was looking at me, his eyes wide.

    "Boss I- I found the accomplice..."

    "Well shoot him! What are you waiting for?" I looked at the man. He seemed in his 30s, with a thick matt of gray brown hair plastered over his head. Along his chin, I could make out a good few weeks' worth of stubble.

   "It's... It's just a- just a girl. We can't hurt her..." the man's eyes were wide and soft.

   "We don't have time for sentimentalities. Shoot her and get it over with."

   "NO! PLEASE! SHE'S JUST A GIRL! SHE'S MY DAUGHTER!" Janice lied.

   "Well then you should've been a better mother," said the merciless voice of the first man. Jerod looked at me as he treaded water. With no further word he held a finger to his lips, placed the flashlight between his teeth and pulled out a gun. But he didn't point it at me. The sound of the gunshot rang throughout the entire enclosure. My ears pleaded for mercy against the sound of it ringing all around us. The man gestured for me to be quiet as he shouted up to the first man, "She's dead!"