Spy School: The Rise of Gama

Chapter 36: A New Partner

"You're not moving fast enough, come on!" the boy with silver hair yells at the three girls as he leads them through the winding tunnels. It's the most emotion they've heard in his voice since Adela taunted him from the cell.

"We're doing the best we can here," Adela responds. She's supporting Ahara who is limping heavily still. "Maybe you could help?"

"I'm helping by leading you out. Now keep up."

"Stop fighting," Liz calls from behind. She's in the back of the group, armed with a gun the boy had tossed to her when he'd released the three of them from the cells.

"How am I supposed to know if you're actually leading us out of here? For all we know, you could be leading us into a trap or another lab. We don't know this place, we wouldn't know any better," Adela shoots back at the boy, ignoring Liz's plea. "You have no reason to be helping us, you're one of them."

"If we make it out of here alive, I'll be sure to explain my reasonings," he responds sarcastically. "Now keep quiet and move."

The tunnel the four are running through trembles, dust and pebbles raining down on them. The lights flicker, a few of the bulbs having already shattered. It's a miracle the tunnel hasn't been plunged into darkness yet. The ground beneath their feet begins to slant upwards, the air that fills the tunnel feels slightly warmer.

"How close are we? I can't keep this up much longer," Ahara says, her breathing coming in small gasps of pain.

"Just a few more minutes. They concentrated the forces near the labs, we should be in the clear," the boy responds, his voice having returned to its previous monotone.

"Hey, you!" a voice echoes from behind the group. "Stop!"

The boy stops moving, straightening up. "Don't shoot," he tells Liz as he moves next to her.

"What are you doing?" Adela hisses quietly.

A man dressed in a uniform similar to the boy's approaches the group, weapon raised. He lowers it once he sees the boy. "What are you doing with the hostages, Holgate. Mancera wants them reporting to main control," he speaks with a heavy accent.

"I was ordered to take them to the helipad for pickup. Mancera wanted them transported to a different location," the boy responds calmly, looking the other guard directly in the eyes as he does so.

The guard frowns, looking between the boy and the three girls. "None of them are cuffed and one is armed. If I did not know better, I would say you are helping them."

"Good thing you know better then," the boy responds before whipping the butt of his rifle up and knocking the guard beneath the chin with it, causing his head to snap up. The boy then brings the butt back down, smashing it into the guards head and watching as he collapses to the ground. He turns and pushes his way to the front of the small group once more and silently starts leading them away.

"Your name is Holgate? Like the toothpaste?" Adela asks, the first to break the silence.

"That's Colgate. And Holgate is my last name," the boy responds, not looking back. The floor is sloping more steeply now, causing even him to lose speed.

The hallway ends at a solid metal door with a keypad. The boy types in a code and there's a loud click as the metal door swings open, revealing a staircase that's been carved out of the stone of the cave. It's a slow climb for all of them, especially Ahara, but they all make it to the surface.

The four of them emerge from a hole in the ground that's surrounded by bushes and trees. They squint in the sudden brightness of the afternoon sunlight, the bright blue sky above visible through a small break in the trees. In the distance, gunshots ring out, muffled by the trees.