.The Eraser.

vingt-six

                                                                  -26-

The door closed beside her and Atara looked down at her laps and pulled the seatbelt straps over her waist. A shuffling noise entered her ears and she turned her head to the right, observing Onyx with interest. 

After a bit of squirming in his seat, he also buckled up and brought his headphones to his ears. With an expression that conveyed lack of sleep, he glanced at her and Atara did not hesitate to lift her own headphones to her ears. 

Onyx's fatigued eyes moved around them, as if searching for anything suspicious. Then his back curved a little, giving his hand a better access to the shiny red button. As his finger put pressure on the button, an immediate rumble of the helicopter's engine filled the air, mixing with the other sounds of cars and people. 

'This is it.' Atara thought with a high sense of purpose. 

To her relief, the unbearable stress and self-pity of yesterday had evaporated from her and replaced by a new energy of grit and courage, despite not getting a wisp of sleep during the night. Also the hostility she was feeling these past months had viciously increased, providing her a greater reason to want to tear the terrorists' bodies, limb from limb for abducting the Erasers. 

Atara's gaze moved away from Onyx- who was pressing away at other controls and buttons- and rested on the wide glass in front of them. Her eyes moved over the other sky scrapers standing tall in the midst of the morning grey sky with no sun in sight. 

She fought the urge to grimace as her mind replayed the way she had been crying and feeling sorry for herself just a couple of hours ago at the base, before Onyx arrived. It was pathetic. Erasers were not supposed to show weakness, especially to an enemy.  

Louisse would have said, ''haven't I taught you well?'' while sipping her usual hot drinks. 

The turbine engine continued to grumble on in the background and she found herself thinking about how funny fate could be sometimes- although she was far from amused with everything happening to her. Not in a million years, would she have accepted being in a position of receiving assistance from a member of the wicked organization, Jean had been trying to track down for years. 

''Ready?" Onyx's voice cut through her thoughts and she glanced back at him, giving him a curt nod. 

Then almost instantly she heard the rapid noise of the rotating rotors on the helicopter's roof cutting through the chilly December air outside. They were ready to take off.  

Their eyes locked for a second or two and then Onyx abruptly turned his torso away from her to face the front. He wrapped his slender fingers around the helicopter's main controller and Atara could see his knuckles turning white as he tightened his grip in deep contemplation. 

He stayed in that position for some seconds, but to her, it seemed like an eternity. Time was going by quickly. Was he having second thoughts? She wondered as he closed his eyes and exhaled. 

He looked forward in concentration and pulled the controller slightly closer to his body. Immediately Atara felt the heli begin to lift up in a gentle manner. 

In surprise, she moved her eyes from Onyx and looked out of her side window. To confirm what she felt, she observed how they had begun to hover over the platform that the aircraft rested on only ten seconds ago. 

There was no turning back now, for both her and Onyx. 

Her heart jumped in excitement and anxiety as they continued to escalate above the government building they had just lifted from.