Infinity's Row - Interlude

Chapter 5

"'Interesting'?" Gentry gulps. "I really don't like the sound of this."

Neither do I.

"Let's give this tale a nice plot twist, one in particular," the man says. "Every five minutes that you don't deliver yourself to me, I'll kill someone. Easy enough to understand."

I want to hypothesize that he's simply bluffing. But why would he when my compliance is at stake?

Sure enough, I hear a woman's whimpering over the intercom. "No, please, don't!"

"Your five minutes start now."

Gentry's mouth is open, her eyes wide and horrified. She turns to me. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to take out that bomb."

"But what about that hostage over the intercom? You can't just let her die, can you?"

I don't answer.

Still she understands what I mean. "But. . . no, Elias, you can't!"

"We have to be reasonable, Miss Yate," I say. "Say that you and I were to actually succumb to their captor's demands. What then? There's no way they'd let us out of the room after that, and it's highly probable that they will simply kill everyone anyways. Going after the bomb is the best chance we have of saving everyone."

"Not everyone," she says. "That woman needs to be saved, too!"

I shake my head. "Her fate is already sealed. No matter what we do, she'll die. The best thing we can do is save everyone else."

"But there has to be a way!"

"Miss Yate. There isn't. Not one that will end well."

And I mean it. There isn't. Because of there was, I would certainly try it. No more blood should be spilt tonight on my watch.

I place my hand on the cool doorknob. "I'm going after the bomb. Wait here."

"What? No, I'm coming with you!"

"You're not."

"You know, you don't have to do everything alone, Elias!"

I look over my shoulder and cock an eyebrow. "Have I done this alone?"

"Well. . . No. I guess not."

"Exactly." I let go of the doorknob and turn to face her fully. "Although, you do strike a bit of a point. You are the first person that I have properly worked with in an extremely long time."

I clamp a hand on her shoulder. "Listen. I know that you want to fight. I know that you want to save your parents. I also know that you want to save them not only out of concern for their safety, but also so that you may prove yourself to them."

She looks at me in awe. "I. . . I never told you that."

"You never had to. It was obvious. But you're already wounded, and I don't know if I can save you should you get hurt a second time. I know you want to prove yourself, but you can't do that if you're dead, Gentry!"

She raises her eyebrows.

Then, somehow, she smiles. "You called me Gentry."

There is a pause. I drink in both the meaning and the context of her words.

I remove my hands from her shoulders. 

"So I did."

I turn around and open the door. "Stay here."

I step out and close it behind me before I can look back.

I break out into a run straightaway.

I no longer care for stealth or subtlity. Neither of them matter no longer. What does matter now is speed and efficiency. I have to get to the storage room before anyone else loses their life.