Crossfire ~ {Book 2 in the Emerald of Annihilation Trilogy} #Wattys2017

Chapter 10 ~ Foolproof

Lily glanced behind her as she and Dylan walked into XForce headquarters. They were dressed in business clothes and Lily held her Uncle's briefcase in her hand. "Hello, Jane." She addressed the receptionist. She knew her quite well, but her name tag gave away quite a bit. "Good morning Miss. Sir." Jane didn't look up from her computer, which Lily was glad about. 

"Names?" Jane asked, slothfully. "Malcom Trevor and Candice Joyce." Dylan recited as they had practised before. Jane looked up and took their fake id cards Lily slid to her. The two held their breath as she scanned the cards through the reader. "Clean." She slid back their cards with matching lanyards. "The tour had already started. They are in the hall of heroes by now I believe." 

Lily nodded and smiled. "Thank you Jane." She said, and turned to Dylan, nodding. "Do you need a map?" Jane asked. "Yes." "No." Lily snapped her head towards Dylan. Jane looked at them over her glasses. "My college is very bent on figuring  out puzzles." She smiled sweetly. "We've never been here before, A map would be nice. Thanks." 

Jane nodded slowly and pointed to a stack of maps. "They are free." Dylan grabbed one and pushed Lily in front of her. "Thank you." Jane watched as the two walked off. In the right direction, but never looking at the map. 

"That was close!" Lily hissed. "Sorry...." Dylan apologised. They hurried off to the Hall of Heroes, where the rest of the tour was snapping pictures and the guide was lecturing about the great sculptures and souvenirs of the past. 

"And this is the last and probably greatest sculpture of them all." The tour guide, who was none other than Kylah Standoff, the youngest of Alex's great team smiled up at the large marble statue. "Some heroes have holographic sculptures, but this hero deserved the time and effort of this statue." Lily looked up and her face fell.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, Alexandra Hamato. The great director and protector of the word for more than 17 years. Everyone clapped. Everyone except Lily. How could she look up at the heroic sculpture of her mother when the last memory her mom had of her was bad? Her mom was a world hero, and she was just an ant in comparison.

"Lily?" She felt Dylan's hand on her shoulder. Warm and comforting. "I'm fine, Dylan." Lily whispered, blinking back tears and looking up, trying to look interested. 

"Alex did many things for the sake of us all." Kylah gestured to a holographic device. "This is one of the inventions of our great Tony Livingston! With just one touch, it generates the memories of a person and projects them holographically." 

There were countless "Oohhhss", and "Ahhhs." Lily and Dylan did their best to blend in. "I shall demonstrate." Kylah pressed her hand on the pad, and a hologram shot up instantly. Scene after scene of Alex and her team fighting for their lives and the lives of their loved ones filled the dimmed room.  

Lily and Dylan watched in awe as the hologram showed scenes of Lily's mother risking her own life for her teammates and shouting orders for the others to follow. "She was a real hero." Kylah smiled. "At first, she risked her life to save me as a girl. My father made me promise to listen to her at all costs. She had saved his life from betrayal punishments."

As the tour moved on to the weapons room, Lily nudged Dylan and nodded to the case in his hand. He nodded. Ready for the plan they had worked out. Clicking open the case, Dylan pressed a button on a small robotic mouse, and dropped onto the floor. 

The mouse skittered to the side and through the detectors like they were nothing. "This is the weapons room." Kylah smiled sweetly and gestured around. "For everyone's safety, we have protected the room with invisible lasers and force fields. We're having a special guest and professional to talk you through the amazing things these bad boys can do and achieve. And if you're all lucky. A little history." 

She winked and turned. To the right of everyone, far off to the right, a door opened and Duke Dutch walked in, arms outstretched. "Welcome men and women to the Artillery storage area!" He grinned widely, a scar on his cheek stretching. "But as we like to call it, the weapons room." The crowd chuckled a little bit. 

Lily glanced at Dylan and nodded. He clicked another button on the device. The mouse attached itself to the control panel on the wall and injected a hacking bug virus. The invisible shields and Lasers went down. The mouse scurried back to Dylan and hopped into his pocket.

Kylah moved on to the next room when Duke was finished talking and they both moved to the next room, the tour following behind them. Lily and Dylan stayed a ways off. When the last person was out, they slammed the doors shut. 

"Dylan, hurry!" Lily shouted, barricading the door. Duke turned around and saw the door slam. "Raise the alarm!" He shouted at Kylah, who ushered the tour out of the room. With all his strength, Duke tried to push the door open, but it was locked shut.

On the other side, Lily and Dylan filled the briefcase with the weapons and gadgets they would need. Suddenly the door broke down, and Duke ran in. "Lily?!" Lily looked up in fear. Dylan stared at Duke, unable to move. 

Duke took in the situation and walked calmly over to them. He selected an m16 rifle from the top rack and tossed it to Lily, who caught it. "It was your mom's first." Lily looked up at him, dumbfounded. 

"Good luck you two." Duke winked and rushed to the door. "go on! The others will be here any second!" Lily and Dylan recovered their composure and bolted for the door Duke had come form at the beginning of the weapon room tour. 

The door led to an outside hanger. "Now what?" Dylan asked. Lily grabbed his arm. "Now we get to your car....fast!"

~~~~~~~~

Lily sighed in relief as Dylan drove down the road. His car smelled of him. Like Cinnamon with a hint of vanilla. She smiled a little and sniffed in long and happily. "So, now what are we going to do?" Dylan asked, parking at his apartment. 

Lily unbuckled and took a deep breath before turning to him. "Now, we call the rest of the gang. Tell them to meet us here. And tell them.....it's time."