The Traitor

Chapter Twenty-Seven: If They Were Really Your Friends

Jasper quickly explained the plan, which was interrupted multiple times by various explosions coming from different parts of the building. I knew they had to be using one of the lower leveled explosives, which only caused minimal damage, because if they were using a level four or five, then the entire building would be on fire. But I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just blow up the entire building at once.

Another explosion echoed much closer to where we were and the three of us glanced around in panic.

"Jasper, we have to go," Savannah rushed him, looking up at the ceiling as if it was about to fall down on top of us, though I wasn't completely convinced that it wasn't about to.

Jasper nodded and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the door. I followed quickly, exiting the room just in time to see a giant section of the building fall right where we had been standing just moments before. Thank goodness for Savannah, I thought. Wow, that's something I never thought I'd say. 

Jasper led us down the hallway and up a long staircase to the main floor. I recognized where we were as one of the hallways I had passed while sneaking in. How long ago that felt.

We heard some yelling coming from down the hallway and we sprinted toward it. A group of guards was gathered by the front entrance, arguing loudly over something I couldn't quite pick up, though it wasn't hard to guess that it was something concerning the surprise invasion.

The group of men quickly silenced their debate as we approached, turning toward us. One of the men noticed me standing behind Jasper and yelled, "The traitor! Everyone get down!" All of the guards quickly took fighter stance, positioned so they were facing me, weapons drawn. The first guard aimed his gun at me and shouted, "Get on the ground!" I looked over at Jasper and Savannah in panic as I quickly lowered myself to the ground. I wasn't about to risk getting hit.

Then Jasper stepped in between where I was lying on my stomach on the ground and where the guards stood, ready to defend themselves against who they thought was a traitor. "Stand down, gentlemen. The prisoner is with us." The guards quickly lowered their weapons and returned to a non-defensive stance. Jasper reached down and grabbed my arm, helping me up. But I quickly yanked my arm from his grasp as soon as I was standing. 

He laughed and said, "You may resume, gentlemen." The guards obeyed, immediately going back to whatever they were arguing about, and we continued down the hall. After about five minutes of winding our way through the empty halls, we found ourselves waiting outside one of the only locked doors in the entire building. The only thing that gave me a clue as to where we were was a little sign to the right of the door, which read, 'HQP Office.' I assumed the 'P' stood for President and my theory was confirmed when the same man who told me we were going to blow up the Daine Head Quarters, opened the door. His expression turned to surprise as his eyes panned the three of us, stopping coldly on me.

"Don't worry," Jasper spoke up before he too drew a weapon on me. "She agreed." If he was surprised before, it was nothing compared to the look of utter shock written all over his face after hearing that.

"Oh," he replied, switching his confused gaze between me, Jasper, and Savannah, as if to say, 'Really? She actually joined?'

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Can we please just get on with it? I wanted to say, but I refrained.

Jasper gestured to the inside of the office with impatience and annoyance written clearly on his face, and the man quickly stepped to the side. "Oh. Please, come in." That made me wonder if he was actually the President, and not Jasper since he seemed to be pretty afraid of the teenage boy. I almost laughed.

We all gathered inside the office and the first thing I noticed was the fact that one wall was completely covered in TV screens, all displaying different parts of the building. I realized they were all security cameras and we watched as the room we had been in earlier completely crumbled to the ground, leaving a large pile of rubble as the only thing left of that room. But neither the man nor the RAYs showed any concern, and I wondered if they even noticed it fall.

"So what's the plan?" Jasper asked, taking a seat on a large couch that faced the screen-covered wall. Savannah took a seat next to him and I sat in a large armchair beside the couch. "I mean, we heard all of the explosions, but where are the Daines?" Jasper scanned each screen, looking for any sign of the Other Side.

The man sat down at a desk near the front of the room. "They're just outside the front gate. They launched a few level two bombs at the building but still have not advanced past the gate. They're getting ready to do that now, so we need you three to guard the entrance and hold them off. I have complete confidence that you will be able to finish the battle there once and for all." There was an icy edge to his voice that I couldn't quite comprehend, almost making it sound like that last part was a threat. "However, if you don't, there will be guards spread out around the front interior of the building who will then advance and fight alongside you. But I trust you won't be needing back-up."

Jasper shook his head. "We can do it. How long do we have before they get inside?"

"Only a few minutes. After they finish setting up their explosion that will eventually allow them to get past the front gate, they will ignite it, then clear the area. Their explosion will reach a diameter of about twenty yards, which will take out a small section of the front wall as well, but not more than you three can handle, I'm sure." He gave Jasper a look that I think was supposed to be intimidating, but Jasper just gave a confident nod.

"We can take it."

"I know you can, now that Teya has agreed to join the cause." He turned to me. "Welcome to the team." I didn't reply. He turned back to Jasper. "You better get in position."

Jasper nodded once more and stood from his place on the couch. "Of course," he responded. "But one more thing." He walked over to the man and lowered his voice to the point where neither Savannah nor I could hear what they were saying. I ignored it and glanced up at the screens. Something moved on one of the higher screens and my eyes immediately landed on a scanning of the front property, where I watched people working together to build something I couldn't quite see. It dawned on me that those people were the Daines, building up the explosives to take down the front wall. I felt a pit begin to form inside my stomach as I watched Connor place a large piece of explosive on top of the already towering mound.

'He tried to warn you...' a voice inside my head told me, but I shook it off, countering the voice with, He also didn't believe me about not bombing the train. Who cares anyway? What's done is done. I ripped my eyes from the screen in anger just as Jasper and the "President" ended their silent conversation.

"Let's move," Jasper ordered.

I obeyed, not even taking a moment to glance back at the screen which showed my friends.

'If they were really your friends, they would have believed you.'