Rising From The Flames

Chapter 13 - Breathe

Jake sat out on the balcony, eyes scoping over the ocean before them. The digital clock on the kitchen oven read 1:37 and Calvin was just on her way in. 

The woman knew what she was doing. She had every pathway, every escape route, every road mapped out and timed for on foot transportation. Every time she pressed record, the tracers popped up on his screen at the route she was running. Survellience of the security around the facility saved itself onto his computer as well. She was hard at work, planting the bugs, setting the wires, all while he made sure they were functioning from behind the safety of his room. 

Of course he always wanted to be in the action, but killing people wasn't really his thing. That was something he always hesitated on. It's the reason Calvin was out there and not him. If you hesitated in the field you were dead-- Calvin doesn't hesitate. 

Knowing that it was her, Jake didn't panic when he heard the hotel room door open. It was the only thing he did hear. Her footsteps were silent, the shifting of the hardwood floor when someone walked on it wasn't there. Nobody could do that but her. 

"Did you get everything?" 

For a moment, she didn't respond. He waited, eyes still out towards the ocean, his laptop running the pathways she mapped out for him beside him. "Yeah." She finally croaked. 

This mission was just one big mystery to Jake. Step by step she would fill him in, but never the big picture. It was something that bothered him to his core. Calvin was hiding the end game, he wasn't stupid. 

"So what's next?" He sighed taking one last look to the ocean. Then, his steady body stepped away from the balcony and spun back towards the room. It was a soft glide, his footsteps trying to mimic the silence of hers. 

The dark room made it hard for him to see, but as soon as her silhoutte was visible- the nerd's footsteps sped up. 

"Cal, what's wrong?" 

She was leaning against the wall, hand gripping her thigh and eyes closed. Inch by inch, her body fell to the ground. "I'm okay."

"No Cal. What happened?" Jake crouched right in her face, his large hand moving hers away from where it was holding. Immediately he could see the blood seeping through her fingers, so, he pressed firmly against the wound. 

She swallowed hard, body resting against the floor. "The ridge line caved." she breathed lightly, "I went with it." 

Not wasting another second, Jen picked her up bridal style and carried her into the bathroom. She sat on the tub, hands falling away from his shoulders to grip the edge of the white tub. Her bloody finger prints left their mark just as they had done before. "Do you know what cut you?" he came back from the bedroom with some medical supplies. 

"Rock, something on the ridge line, I don't know." 

"Well you're lucky it didn't get your head." he breathed looking at her wound. 

This looked to be a whole new Jake Jenson to her. He was stern, serious... it took her to a whole new world. 

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"No. I'm not leaving you."  his words wrecked her brain. 

She was back in the elevator, the warm thick liquid dampening the ground around her. It was an irritable feeling, the stickiness that she couldn't get rid of. 

"You have to go Jake." The dry words left her throat. Each breath was burning, and with the burning a weight pressed further and further upon her chest.