NaNoWriMo 2014

Chapter Eight

He was lying face down underneath a desk in a pool of blood, I could tell without checking that he was dead, his skin was white and he wasn't moving an inch. "Amanda!" I called, "I found someone!"

She came over to take a look. "He was my field agent." she said simply and left it at that. She moved on and motioned for me to continue as well.

Her field agent? I guess she had mentioned something about SS but I still didn't know what 'SS' was. I moved off in the opposite direction away from where Amanda was going to let myself be alone with my thoughts. It wasn't much longer though when she called out in alarm. "I found him!"

"Who?" I called back, already moving towards where she was. When I got closer I saw that she was kneeling beside a man who was trapped beneath a table carved out of solid stone. It had to have been heavy. The man was gasping with every breath like it pained him. He was still conscious but Amanda was telling him not to talk.

"If you talk now Raphael it could cause further injury and I don't want that; help is on the way, they'll fix you up and we can talk then." she assured him.

"What can I do?" I asked.

"At the other end of the room is...or was, a water cooler, see if there's any left and bring it here in any thing you find to carry it." answered Amanda, not even bothering to look in my direction.

"I'll be right back." I promised.

The water cooler was right where Amanda had said it would be. I saw a large ornamental bowl sitting still intact on a table near by and used it as a vessel to carry the water. As I was threading my way carefully through the mess I saw another person, a woman, lying on the floor in the middle of my path. I placed the water dish carefully down on top of a chair and bent down to check for breathing. She was. "Amanda, I've got another live one!" I yelled to the other side of the room.

"Do they have any obvious injuries?" Amanda called back.

"None that I can see other than a huge bruise on her head." I shouted to her.

"Leave her alone then and bring that water. We'll let the medics take care of her." said Amanda is a slightly calmer tone.

I got up, and taking my water I made my way back over to Amanda and the man named Richard. "Here, I found the cooler still intact." I said to her.

She dribbled small amount into his mouth and when he opened his mouth again for more she poured a little more in. She continued to do this until he kept his mouth closed and blinked his eyes to indicate that he was finished. "Okay Ralim, please stay here with Rich while I go and check on that other person you had, could you please do that for me?" Amanda asked me.

"O, okay." I answered.

"Alright," said Amanda, getting to her feet, "I'll be just over there, call me if you need help with anything."

I watched her as she strode over the unconscious woman and crouched down out of sight. "You were right, Ralim, she only knocked out, nothing serious. The medics should be here any...."

She was cut off as the door burst open and a team of twelve police and six medics burst in the door. There was a chorus of gasps and curses from the mass and immediately Amanda stood and said, "I've got an unconscious woman over here and there is a conscious man over there by Ralim who's pinned underneath a desk.

Chief Sandongsky was with them and I saw him start slightly when he heard my name but after Amanda finished speaking he spoke commands quickly and calmly to his officers, "You four, head to the north end, your four, south end, you two go with those three medics and take care of the woman over there, the last of you stay here and guard the doors, you three remaining medics come with me to the man with Ralim. Check the building for any remaining soldiers or survivors. Keep your guns drawn and if anyone fires upon you return fire. Go, go go!"

With that last command the entire group split up in their separate directions with the chief and three medics coming my way. As they got closer I stood up to give them more room. The chief came to stand beside me to watch as the medics lifted the heavy table off of Richard and began to strap him onto a body board.

Chief Sandongsky began to speak, "Ralim, you seem to be trapped in the midst of things today don't you." He said this as a statement, he wasn't expecting an answer. "The Judge told me that Amanda will be taking care of you, when you turn sixteen you become of legal age to join the military. I'd like to offer you the chance to train under me as a junior manager. You would work with me and learn the ways of the force and offensive and defensive tactics in gunfights. If I put in my recommendation for you after serving in my force it would be an instant promotion if you joined the military. If you didn't, when you became of age you would become one of our managers in the force, still working under me. You have until twelve before you can join, that is still eight moths away but I'd like you to start thinking about it. It's a noble career and there is potential for a large income and great personal satisfaction."

The medics had nearly finished and were beginning to lift Richard up to carry him out. The chief made a move to follow.

"Think about it, Ralim. I'd be glad to have you in the force." finished Chief Sandongsky. Stepped forward and escorted the medics out the door, checking the hall before he allowed them out.

Amanda walked up now and asked me, "What was that all about?"

"Chief Sandongsky just offered me a job in the force when I turn twelve." I answered.

"He what!?" exclaimed Amanda.

"He offered me a position working under him and a full job working there when I come of age." I decided not to mention the military, Amanda didn't seem to be entirely happy with the proposition as it was.

"I don't know how happy I am about that, Ralim." said Amanda.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, that's pretty young to be in the police and going to all the crime scenes." said Amanda.

"Don't think it's like that. I'm pretty sure it's just office stuff and learning military tactics." I said.

"Military tactics?" questioned Amanda.

"Yeah, you know, for if I get a job there when I come of age." I answered, backtracking a bit to keep from saying it was for the navy.

"Well, let me think about it for a bit could you?" asked Amanda.

It wasn't as if I had a choice. "I guess so." I answered reluctantly. My mind was already made up. I wanted to work in the Navy and this seemed to be my key to the position. Not to mention that the Chief seemed to be nice enough and if I had to work anywhere it'd be a better place than any to be.

Amanda spoke quickly to the lead medic and arranged to speak to Richard tomorrow once they had him patched up. She wanted to know what had happened and nothing but a first-hand account would do.

After the reassurances that Amanda would be the first one they would message, we left through the door and walked down the hall to the elevator. We passed the chief and the medics on the way out to the roof. He spoke quietly to me as we walked by, "Think about it Ralim, shoot me a text when you make a decision," and then continued on.

Amanda shot him a dirty look that was never seen by the Chief. I made the assumption that she was not impressed with his offer.

The flight home after that went uneventfully, I didn't even feel hungry for some reason, it made no sense, I should be starving after the events of the day but nope, not even slightly. I was just exhausted. I said goodnight to Amanda, gave her a kiss on the cheek and collapsed on my bed without even bothering to take off my clothes first. Within seconds of lying down I had slipped into a dreamless sleep that lasted the whole night.