Cyberlink Cove

Chapter 7

CYBERLINK COVE (SKYHOOK ISLE)-2077

 

The next day dawned gloomy and gray. It was drizzling softly, the rain falling like flurries of snow. Mina was roughly shaken awake, chain links clacking. She winced slightly as her blistered wrists and ankles rubbed against the cuffs, sending a burning sensation up her arms and legs.

 

Mina turned her head and saw Zander McLeod frowning down at her impatiently. She shrunk away from him, but all he did was unchain her and throw a new set of handcuffs on her. “Get up,” he ordered, his voice curt. When she didn’t respond, McLeod kicked her sharply in the ribs. Mina grunted as she felt something crack. She shakily got to her feet.

 

McLeod’s strong grip encased Mina’s bony upper arm. “Walk,” he commanded her. Mina complied. She barely had enough strength to put one foot in front of the other, her head spinning from lack of nourishment. McLeod steered her through the corridors, keeping his iron clamp on her the whole time.

 

Suddenly, a wave of nausea overtook Mina. She gasped, and would’ve collapsed if McLeod hadn’t been grabbing onto her. “Up!” he barked. Mina weakly steadied her footing and continued on, her vision blurry.

 

Soon enough, they reached the jail’s exit. Mina blinked as she felt rain hit her skin gently, as she breathed in fresh air for the first time in around a month. Not allowing her to savor the moment, McLeod shoved her up a ramp into a prison transport vehicle. She stumbled, and fell in. McLeod slammed the door with a clang.

 

Mina let her eyes adjust to the dark atmosphere. She jolted as the van started to move. Mina sat up hesitantly, leaning in a corner. The back of the van was dark, with no windows to let in light. She sighed, leaning her head back tiredly. 

Wonder where they're taking me, she thought to herself in trepidation. A sense of apprehension overtook her, and she brought her knees up to her chest, huddling in shadows.

 

In the front of the van, Thomas was driving, while McLeod slid into the passenger seat. “You got her?” Thomas inquired.

 

“Yup,” McLeod replied. While General Thomas drove, McLeod kept a watchful eye on the screen that showed the camera feed from a small security monitor installed in the back of the van.

 

Noticing where McLeod was focusing his attention on, Thomas glanced at him. He raised an appraising eyebrow. “What do you think of...all this?” Thomas asked him.

McLeod clenched his teeth. “She deserves it,” he said in a strained voice. “I can’t pity her. Not when they killed Alex.”

 

Alex McLeod was Zander McLeod’s younger brother, caught in the crossfire. He was a government agent who had been stabbed to death by an anonymous pirate; just another name lost in the maze of time.

 

Thomas sighed. “Zander……” he trailed off, letting his sentence hang awkwardly in midair, like a wingless bird.

 

“What? What, Daniel?!” he demanded, his leaf-colored eyes ablaze, a totally different picture from his normally carefree self.