The Limit [Book 1]

Chapter 5

It was well into midday before we began the journey to Li River. After Jace explained the workings of the organization, revealed to be referred to as Black Angels, a name I had laughed at previously, he began to walk me through the preferred trail we were to take.

Our destination, a small safehouse much like the one we were in, is located a few miles south of the river after crossing the Pyth Bridge. There's a man there named Jordan who is a close accomplice to Jace and they were the partner that was assigned to my high school. A highly skilled hacker, as Jace described. He would be able to get us across the country to the Black Angel headquarters undetected if all goes well.

I took one last glance at the map of the country, tracing the trail and committing it to memory, before stowing it away in a backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. Jace tossed a jacket to me from where he's standing across the room. I caught it in one hand and slipped it on, tying up my hair so it doesn't fall into my face.

"Ready?" I nodded, heading out the door after the soldier. The early summer sun beat down upon us as we trekked through the plains, constantly getting farther away from the familiar place I knew. I swiped the back of my hand over my forehead, ridding my skin of the perspiration that gathered there.

"We'll reach the destination in about an hour or so. Do you need a break?"

"No, I'm good, thank you for asking," my voice came out evenly as I stopped momentarily to adjust the backpack on my shoulders. In this open field of endless tall grasses, a grove of skinny trees broke the pattern a few miles in front of us. "We should hurry, I feel uneasy in this clearing."

Jace nodded his agreement as the both of us picked up our pace, practically jogging as we reached the edge of the forest. We didn't dare break the momentum even when under the coverage of the greenery.

Just as Jace predicted, about an hour after entering the forest, a small wooden building came into view. We avoided the skinny dirt path and forced our way through the lush underbrush that had grown thicker since our entrance into the forest. I stepped out from behind a tree and neared the side wall of the safehouse.

Just as I placed my foot on the dirt, there was a faint click under the sole of my shoe. I froze, the sound reverberating through my head as I tried to decode the cause of the unnatural sound. A gear clicked into place in my mind as the answer came to me like a wave, draining the color from my cheeks.

"Vera, what are you doing? We have to go through the back."

"... you're sure this is where your friend is, correct?" I asked, my breath becoming more and more uneven as I willed myself to press my foot harder into the ground.

"Of course, we're partners. We have our stations and he won't abandon it without informing me first."

"... okay, but... I think I," I drew in a breath to slow down my heart, "... just triggered a landmine."

There was a moment of silence before I heard Jace curse and his footsteps approached me. He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and crouched down to observe the ground around my shoe.

"It's amazing that you heard it. Jordan is excellent at creating bombs." He drew out a knife and slipped it carefully under my shoe, his eyes solely focused on the spot in the center of my foot. After struggling a bit, he released a puff of air and withdrew the knife. "Normal maneuvers won't work on his bombs. Stay here, I'll go find him. And do not move."

I nodded and leaned my weight more onto the foot to avoid releasing the trigger. After another moment of silence that echoed through the leaves of the tall trees, a pair of voices sounded to my left. They were too far away to distinguish the words but they clearly knew each other by the familiarity in the tones. The sound disappeared all of a sudden and there was another small click from the dirt beneath my foot.

"You can lift your foot now, Jordan disabled the bomb." Hesitating just slightly, I stepped back from the stiff position and turned to look at Jace, the color slowly returning to my face. Jace led me on the correct path until we reached the rusty wooden door at the back of the safehouse. The room inside was dark, no sign of electric lights anywhere, and it smelled strongly like truffles. A shadow moved from behind an open doorway, the person stepping into the natural light that streamed through the window.

He was young, with a boyish look and soft cheeks. His eyes were large and rounded innocently and his full bangs were slightly messy from nights without rest. Despite that, however, I could bet that he was older than me but not by much.

"Vera, this is Jordan, the one who'll get you out of this godforsaken city." I held out a hand for him to shake. His hand was firm in mine; proving that one shouldn't judge by looks alone.

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, same."

"Alright," Jace clapped a hand on Jordan's shoulder before walking past him and into the other room. "Let's get to work, we don't have much time." I took one last glance at the young boy before following Jace.

The room I emerged into was incredible, a line of computer screens and keyboards were pressed to the far wall, maps and radars on the other side. I suppressed an air of awe as I observed the many screens on the wall, most displaying a list of neon green symbols that flashed by at a pace that was too fast to read.

"Jordan, brief me on the statistics." Jordan stepped in front of me and joined Jace at one of the computers.

"As of the current moment, we have a clear path to the compound. I've disabled SS's tracking devices so they shouldn't be able to find us for now and I hacked into their A-Users so it'll take them a while to catch up with us even if they somehow broke through my firewall." Jace nodded in contentment as he observed the moving simulation on the screen.

"And the others?" There must be other partners active right now. Makes sense, there are about 250 schools testing today.

"Team Nine has confirmed their completion of the mission, Team Eight is on their way to the secondary safehouse, and Robin has collected his package, heading here right now."

"Good, send them a message saying that we'll meet at the secondary safehouse. We'll wait until Robin joins up with us then make our way there as well." Jordan nodded and strode across the room to a laptop. I observed over his shoulder as he began typing in an encoded message into the forum.

After watching the pattern of symbols he typed into the laptop, I began associating them with the correct letters.

"'Meet at second. Zero is back, package received. Will wait for Nine.' Wow, short, to the point. Kinda rude how you referred to me as an object though." I backed away as Jordan swiveled around in his chair, eyes widening up at me. "Why do you look so surprised? You guys have been smuggling geniuses across the borders for who knows how long, shouldn't you get used to our minds by now?"

"Vera, come here. I'll inform you about your role now."

"Okay, coming." I gave one last look before turning around and pushing through the door to the other room, meeting Jace at the kitchen island. I pulled a chair over and placed myself on it, meeting Jace's gaze as he handed me a glass of water."So... what will happen to me after we get to the compound?"

He didn't answer for a while, staring intently at a spot on the counter and sipping on his own drink. "There are two options for people like you who are rescued." I nodded and twisted my body to face him.

"You can live in secrecy for the rest of your life. Our technology will be able to wipe your identity off the face of the earth as long as you follow simple rules. Do not associate yourself with anyone else besides the rescued that you might meet. Do not go into a public place without proper disguise. And most importantly, do not get caught." I nodded in understanding.

"And the second option?"

He faltered at his next words, seeming to dread speaking them for a reason that I couldn't even begin to understand. Jace took a big breath before speaking, "... you can join Black Angel and become a Wing."