Fated (Sequel to Timeless)

Chapter 7

Once I had disguised June and Sofia, we left the office building and emerged back onto the sidewalk. The street was busy, and the smell of exhaust hung heavy in the hazy air. Traffic was slow, and the sound of blaring car horns was a bit overwhelming. Circe motioned for us to follow her, and we trailed behind her to another back alley where a dilapidated Volkswagen van was waiting, its engine sounding sick.

"This is our ride?" Sofia asked scathingly, eyeing the van uncertainly.

Circe crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Sofia. "Sorry it's not up to your standards, princess."

I stepped in between everyone quickly, sensing a fight about to break out. "Okay, why don't we just calm down, everyone? Let's just get this over with."

I heard Sofia huff as I pulled open the van door and climbed in. Once I was inside, I spotted a large man sitting up front. He had a floating skull for a head, and empty eye sockets save for glowing purple pupils.

"This," said Circe as we all settled into our seats, "is Mac. He's gonna be our inside man; gonna help get us to our destination."

June leaned over to me as Circe continued to talk. "Okay, so what exactly are we doing, here?" she whispered to me.

I shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person, man. But from what I can gather, we're busting someone out of prison. My mom used to know 'em or something."

"Yeah, that definitely clears that up, thanks."

"Yup."

We were snapped back to attention by Circe's commanding tone.

"If, under any circumstances, we are caught, you are for no reason whatsoever to blow Mac's cover. We don't know him, he don't know us. Got it?"

We all nodded, and I had an uneasy pit in my stomach.

Mac tipped his trucker hat at us all before pulling out into the busy road. Then he started briefing us.

"Alright," he began in a deep cockney accent. "So, the facility we'll be going to today is a top secret black site. No one's supposed to know the place exists, except for the people who work there. It's got top level security, and infiltrating would be nearly impossible."

"Great," Sofia muttered.

"Which is why you lot won't be infiltrating."

"What do you mean?" June asked him in confusion.

Mac smiled a ghoulish grin at her in his rear view mirror. "We're gonna parade you in through the main entrance, love."

The plan was insane, but just insane enough to work, provided we could pull it off. We were to act as convicted criminals, being held at the black site until a second transportation convoy could be secured. That's what Mac meant when he said we were going to be paraded through the front. He and Circe provided fake hand cuffs, and voila; we were criminals.

We stopped in front of a heavy chain-linked fence with looped barbed wire on top. It was a gate, and there was a small guard house to the left of it. Mac exchanged a few words with the security officer, flashed his ID, and with an awful scraping sound, the gate slowly opened. I felt my heart start racing and adrenaline start rushing as soon as we were in. I focused on trying to keep my breathing steady and normal.

The van stopped again, and two more guard stopped to talk to Mac. He handed them paperwork, and I was impressed by how quickly they were able to forge papers for the five of us. All of a sudden, the doors abruptly slammed open and we were being jerked out of the vehicle. With a quick, discrete wink at Circe, Mac was off.