Hidden Under Perfection

Chapter 19: Claire

Two weeks go by and every day John goes to work and feeds us information about The Clandestine and their head quarters. We get a map of the building and the passcodes to the building during the first week and while John is at work we spend our time memorizing it. We get the access codes for the the main computer and we take a picture of those on each of our eyescreens. John sends us a map of the city with key points that correspond with the generators power. We put together all of our knowledge and soon our plan starts taking form. We decide that we will make our move in one more week. Doran and Lynn will go to the generator and John and I will go inside the HQ. My dad will stay home with jennifer and hack into The Clandestine's files. After we hack into the generator from inside the main computer we will start writing a virus that will destroy all of the previous code that the Clandestine programmed. From there Doran and Lynn will physically destroy the machine. Our code is not reversible and the damage on the generator will take at least ten years to repair, nut we are going to tell the world that The Clandestine have been lying to them and that will ruin their reputation. They won't be able to come back from that.

I am reading my book on Doran's bed when he comes out of the bathroom, straight from taking a shower. His red, damp hair clings to his forehead and he grabs a pair of sweat pants from the drawer, then he goes back into the bathroom. I am so emersed in my book that I almost don't notice when he comes to sit next to me on the bed. He kisses my shoulder and my heart does a somersault in my chest. I close the book and then put it on the bedside table, before flopping onto my back. Doran quickly follows suit and we lay there staring at the ceiling. Thoughts are racing though my mind, most of them concerning John and how he is taking this. From what I can gather, he isn't holding up well.

I turn my head towards Doran and he and I share a worried look. I reach over and grab his hand, he squeezes it and my breathing calms slightly. I tilt my head so that it rests on his shoulder and he reaches over and brushes my hair out of my face absentmindedly. We lay there and then Doran tells the lights to turn off and he turns to face me. I throw one of my legs over his and he kisses the tip of my nose. Soon my heart beat matches his and together we fall into a deep sleep, but tonight I get sucked into a dream.

It starts out pleasant, Doran and I stand in a meadow somewhere. The grass is yellow underneath our feet and the sky above is yellow as well. We are outside the gate. We stand an armswidth apart and surrounding me is a thin membrane like bubble that radiates light out, there is a similar one shielding Doran. Then lighting cracks across the sky and it starts to pour. Mist rolls across the grass and a dark figure appears durning the next lighting strike that illuminates the world. In his hand is a knife, and he prowls towards me. He takes measured steps and pauses when he reaches the bubble, but then presses his hand against it and it dissolves away. He comes towards me and out of the corner I see Doran struggling to break free, but before he can the man stabs me in the stomach and the agony makes my vision go dark.

I wake up sputtering and my stomach hurts, right under the healed over wound. There is a thin sheen of sweat on my forehead and my lips are chapped. My breathing is ragged and my heart is racing to keep up with my mind. Doran is sitting up in the bed next to me, rocking back and forth on his knees, his eyes show love and his face is wrinkled in worry. I grimace as another wave of pain hits me. I search for his hand and he grasps mine in his. I squeeze his hand so hard that I am afraid that I might break it. When the pain subsides I stop clenching his hand and he bends over and kisses my temple. His body is shaking and he I sit up onto my elbows so that I am closer to him. He bends down closer so that we are close enough to share a breath. I stare into his beautiful hazel eyes and he stares back into my green ones. I assure him, "Everything is going to be okay."