“Can you stand?” Lars’ voice wasn't particularly kind when he spoke to the man, nor was his grip especially gentle when he reached down to pull him up. When the pale figure remained standing, however, Lars allowed himself a soft sigh of relief. No amount of quick thinking would have saved them if their new companion couldn’t at least stay on his feet. “…Good. And I’m going to assume your silence isn’t a sign that you don’t know what I’m saying?” The lack of response was less encouraging, and he glanced over at Anai.
Anai paused before moving closer to the pair, resting a hand on one pale arm but quickly pulling back when it flinched under her palm. “Hey… can you understand us at all?”
There was a brief hesitation but then a nod. Lars’ eyebrow arched. “Fine, since he answers you, you can stay with him.”
“Me?” Anai frowned, “What about you?”
Lars was already on his way toward the door, “We need a distraction, and out of the two of us I’m much more likely to be able to take care of that without getting myself killed.” That could have been a quick dig, but if it was Anai didn’t even notice it. “You said you parked the hover against the wall to the south. I’ll draw the guards to the East Wing while you bring Silence over there out with you. Let Aeneat know what’s going on when you get back.”
Anai didn’t look impressed. Even if this was surprisingly considerate of Lars, it sounded far too much like he was signing himself up for a suicide mission. She opened her mouth to say so, but he interrupted her smoothly. “Unless you’ve got a better idea..? I’m sure the guards will think to check this room sooner or later. Especially when they realize they’re short a man. Just don’t get caught.”
She hesitated but nodded a moment later. As much as she hated to admit it, Lars was more likely to be able to hold out until she could get back to the base and fetch Aeneat. When it came down to it, she wasn’t good at anything that required stealth. Loud explosions, sudden bursts of fire: those things she could manage. Neither would help much at this point. That was, unless…
Lars found the way Anai suddenly brightened to be rather concerning, but there wasn’t enough time to convince her not to do whatever scatterbrained thing she had gotten it in her mind to do. Instead, he shot her one last warning look. Then he was gone.
Taking a deep breath, Anai closed her eyes and whispered a brief prayer on Lars’ behalf. Then she dropped to her knees, unzipping her pack. Over the last few years, she had discovered that keeping a disabled bomb with her was usually a pretty good way to expand her options. Now, for example, she just had to finish preparing the detonator and she would have a fully functional if fairly miniature device to work with.
It didn’t take long for her to complete the circuit, and she set the device to go off in a minute and a half. She reasoned that would be more than enough time for them to get away if the guards had taken Lars’ bait. If they hadn't, she would have bigger things to worry about. Pushing herself to her feet, she set the bomb on the dais with a slight smile and cued the countdown. If all else failed, she knew they’d still leave the compound with one hell of a bill.
“Alright,” Anai took hold of her charge’s hand. “You stick close. We’ve got to gun it out of here!”
The man didn’t say anything and stumbled a bit when she first pulled him forward. After that, however, she was relieved to find him fairly nimble on his feet. She wasn’t sure what Lars had done to gather so much attention, but whatever it was he'd done it well. They didn't see more than a couple of guards during their dash down the hallway, far fewer than it took to stop Anai from fleeing a bomb when she had a weapon in her hand. Evidently, the compound had not only skimped on quality with the armed personnel, but they also appeared to have favored an economy sized team when drawing their contract. Nothing there made any sense at all. The government wasn't usually so stingy when protecting its bases.
Gunfire rang out to the northeast, and Anai felt her heart leap into her throat. It got stuck there when the bomb went off with far more force than it should have, the explosion triggering an artificial downpour when the sprinklers clicked on. There must have been something particularly volatile in that room -- nothing else could explain the strength of what should have been a relatively small blast. There was a silver lining to consider, however, and Anai managed a faint smile in response: if that didn’t get some of the guards off Lars’ ass, nothing would.
Anai called the base while they were on the road, relaying what had happened and reciting Lars’ ping number. By the time she made it back, she had just enough time to watch Aeneat slip on a helmet and speed off on one of the motorcycles in the opposite direction. Anai told herself things would work out, that Aeneat could fix this and bring Lars back without any extra bloodshed on their part. She had to believe that; she could handle costing them the objective, but she wasn’t prepared to be the reason they lost another comrade.
The group had lost quite a few recently, all due to botched missions. This job had been in response to that. The files were, of course, important -- some top secret information about a program that officially didn’t exist -- but pulling this off would have dealt another blow as well. They would have been able to say they’d infiltrated a top level compound, gone straight to its heart, and scooped something out. It would have brought in some new recruits, which they needed. Desperately. You couldn't stage a revolution without revolutionaries.
Anai sighed as she punched in her key code, opening the first of several doors that led to the abandoned bomb shelter's interior. She didn’t regret botching the mission. Not really. Leaving a man immobilized in a dark room wasn’t something she could ever justify. But if Lars died because of it… she didn’t let herself finish that thought. As much as he annoyed her, she wasn't sure what she would do then.
Shaking herself out of increasingly guilt-ridden thoughts, she turned back toward the silent man behind her. Beating herself up about something that hadn't, and wouldn't, happen wasn't doing anyone any good. The least she could do was be productive. She'd get her new acquaintance settled and then get to work preparing for the next mission. She smiled faintly, giving the man's hand a light squeeze. “Alright you. Lets get you dry and put you in some clothing. Can’t have you running around all naked forever. Might distract the natives. Then maybe I'll get you to talk to me a little bit.”
There was, of course, no answer but he certainly seemed to be listening. That apparently was enough encouragement for Anai to keep up a steady stream of chatter while they went downstairs. As it turned out, none of the natives were home. She could only hope that everyone was alright.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Chapter Three
