THE UNDERCOVER STRIKE

c h a p t e r 6

Chris picked me up to work today. We had a huge argument based on the music because Chris liked old-school soft music while I debated to play rock or punk. We turned on the radio instead and hoped for our favorite songs to come on.
"Well imma be honest but i don't think there's something in that A13" Chris said randomly.
"You're scared, ain't ya?" I grinned.
"Uh no" He rolled his eyes "I just think we're gonna waste our time"
"Well, there's no other way we can destroy the toxin before it invades the whole city. This is the only thing we have right now. We have to do this." I said.
Chris blinked his eyes and nodded.

Soon we reached the triumph and entered into the A13 room. It was dark. A shiver ran through my body like an electric current. The floor board creaked as we stepped on it and nothing was in sight. We switched on our flashlights and walked through the room. Suddenly, my shoe hit something unusual. I hopped backwards and leaned onto the ground to look for it. It was a bag, a black bag with a paper sticking out. I took out the paper and it had some text written in Armenian.
"What is it?" Chris asked.
"I don't know-it's weird." I said pointing out my flashlight across the room.
"Look at that!" I said loudly.
There was a little part of the wall that was stuck on the outside with poorly-hammered nails at the corner of the room.
"It seems like a secret doorway to me" I said.
"Wait a second- No it can't be" Chris replied sharply.
"It can possibly be one"
"There's no way we're going inside!"
"Okay i'm going in there. It's okay if you don't want to" I rolled my eyes.
"Fine..FINE! i'm coming too" he said.
I didn't respond and kept moving towards it.

I took out the nails and removed the huge flat tile to discover a long path. It was perfect enough for me to fit in.
"Eh my biceps ain't gonna fit in that small thing" Chris said.
"I'm going inside. You can try coming in though"
I climbed up on the doorway and crawled through the dark path and turned around to look if Chris has fitted inside or not. Found out he did.
The path seemed to be never ending.
"Do you think there's a finishing point or we're just gonna keep crawling?" Chris' voice echoed from behind
"I don't know just keep on moving. We'll find a way" I shouted back.

We kept on wriggling for 10 minutes straight in silence without any goal or fear. I knew there was something inside and I didn't want to give up. And on the spur of the moment, I didn't quite feel my left hand in front of me but felt a sudden jerk and got suspended in the air that pushed against my face. I closed my eyes tightly and groaned.

I realized that I fell down from the way and hit the floor beneath me.
"Oh shit. Are you okay??" Chris' voice screamed from behind
I got myself up and brushed off my black pants.
I turned around and raised my voice and said
"I am fine! Be careful when you reach the end. There's a huge...room? here"
I found myself in an abandoned base room. Probably of the Vercetti grounds.
The floors had been a highly polished parquet, individual blocks lovingly placed and sanded to a smooth finish before the varnish was brushed on with fine bristles. The walls stood firm, the window frames were strong, glass triple glazed.

I was amazed to see this.
"Give me a hand would ya?" asked Chris from behind as he reached the end.
I offer him my hand and he hopped from above and didn't stumble into the ground unlike me.
He looked around in amazement as well.

"Woah! We reached the right place I think" He beamed slightly.
"Let's walk around to check out more"
We kept strolling through the room and found a huge door ahead of us. The door was solid metal. Nothing was going to budge it. The surface was flat and shiny like the outside of a stainless steel refrigerator. There was no handle, no lock, no hinges, nothing to get a grip on.

Instead..there was a glass screen on the edge  that demanded a password and had a keypad.
We looked at each other in an utter confusion.
Chris sighed.
"Now..what?" I whispered.
He laughed in awe and frustration.
"I think the password has to do something with the Armenian thing we found in that bag" He said.
"Do you have that bag right now?" I asked
"Do you think I would carry around that bag in that small thing?" He added. "But one of us can go back and bring that bag. Maybe there can be more evidences inside it? And we can type in the password hopefully."
"Okay then who's gonna...um..go all the way back and carry that bag and then come in here again?" I inquired.
"You" He taunted.
"No it has to be you! Come on!"
"Hey Hey Hey!! It wasn't my idea to come in here. Was it?"
"No but...let's decide through rock, paper, scissors. 3 chances and not a single more. Deal?" I suggested.
"Fine! Can't believe we're 20 year olds, very trained detectives working under the best-known company and choosing to win the debate with rock, paper, scissors." He teased.
We laughed..until we heard a sharp bumping sound from behind.
oh here we are in trouble.