Bane

“Do you have family back home?” I pull Elena close to me, enjoying how the weight of her feels against my side.

“Um hmm,” she says sleepily. “My father.”

“Are you close?”

She’s quiet at first and I wonder if she fell asleep. “I don’t know if I would say we’re close. He runs the reporting company that I work for and he highly encouraged me to follow in his footsteps. But, does he know what my favorite flavor of ice cream is? No.”

“But he wanted you to work for him.”

“Yes. It’s an important job, makes our family name respectable. It sure hasn’t made it easy on me with the other journalists, though. They all think I just got the job because of who my dad is, not because I actually have a brain or anything. It feels like I’m constantly trying to prove myself to them. It’s exhausting.”

“Were they mad that you were assigned to the diplomatic mission?”

“Oh yeah. That’s why I want to do a good job on this assignment. I want to prove that I can get the job done, and not just the bare bones. I’ll work to get all of the story, even the parts of it that no one wants anyone else to know.”

“We’ll figure it out. We’re close.”

“It feels like we are,” she says, agreeing with me.

“We are.”

Eventually her breathing evens out and I know that she’s asleep. I hold her and listen to the noises outside of our window. I let myself imagine just for a minute what it would be like to be able to have Elena forever. I’d do whatever I could to make up for the mistakes I made in my past and I’d spend the rest of my life making sure she was happy.

I feel the tracker in the back of my neck and every day I swear it becomes more apparent. When she finds out that they’ve been able to track me all along, she won’t trust me. She’ll wonder what my motives are and I don’t blame her. But nothing is as simple as it was when I first agreed to this mission. I’ll find a way to make things right, even if Elena wants nothing to do with me afterward.

It only takes a few hours for the high-speed commuter train to deliver us to our destination. Surprisingly, the coordinates are located in another large town called Nox, not far from the Embassy.

We exit at the train depot and go the rest of the way on foot. There’s a bite to the air, forcing Elena to pull her cloak tightly around her and turn her face from the wind. Nox is the most technologically advanced town I have seen yet, even more so than the outpost. Large screens line the main square, flashing advertisements and news updates. There are many small vehicles jetting around the narrow streets, causing traffic jams and chaos.

Ignoring the hustle and bustle around us, I take Elena’s hand and lead her away from it all, toward the flashing button on her device that I carry in my hand. We walk to a section of the town that doesn’t look as busy. It’s just off the main line of buildings, set back from the road in a quieter section of town. It almost looks as if this area was once abandoned but now slowly, one by one, each building is being restored and brought back to life.

There isn’t a lot of activity around this area and it makes me uncomfortable. We’re way too easy to spot out here in the open like this.

“Come on,” I say, pulling Elena down the narrow alley between two of the buildings. “According to this flashing red dot, the place we’re looking for is right around the corner. You stay here while I go check it out.”

“No,” she whispers, adamantly. “I’m going with you.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know, it feels like the right thing to do. And I’m going with you. I want to see what’s going on with my own eyes. Besides, we should stick together.”

And suddenly after a lifetime of working on my own, I find myself with a partner in crime.

“Okay, fine. But stay with me.”

“I will. Let’s get the show on the road.”

I just look at her, confused by her words. After a minute, she shakes her head, motioning with her hand to move and says, “Come on.”

I slip out around the building so I’m in front of her, leading the way. Her hand slips into mine and I can feel how close she is behind me. We stay pressed against the buildings as we make our way to the one in question. It’s confusing to me that it looks so simple. I expected it to be a huge facility with the best technology, buzzing with activity. Instead, there’s no one around and it looks like we could walk right through the front door.

To be cautious, I lead Elena around the building. I want to check it out before we go inside. That’s when I notice some of the things that don’t fit. There are panel locks by the doors, way too advanced for this type of building. Now that I’ve seen that, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are secret security cameras by the doors. We must be in the right place, despite appearances. There’s something inside worth protecting.

“This is definitely something,” I tell Elena, whispering just like she was earlier.

She gives me a questioning look and I simply point to the doors and possible security cameras. She nods that she understands. I’m looking around for a possible entry point when she tugs on my arm. As soon as I look at her she points to something behind the building. “Those are the vehicles we saw outside of our hotel.”

She’s right. There’s a large warehouse type building further back behind the main building. The large utility vehicles that we saw at the hotel are the same ones stored back here.

“Come on.” I pull her along behind me as we make our way toward the other building. If we’re lucky, it won’t be as difficult to find an entry point through here. We’re able to slip inside and maneuver around the vehicles, all the while I’m searching for a door or access tunnel that might just lead us where we want to go.

“There!” Elena says, pulling me to a stop and pointing to a large steel door on the ground. “Maybe?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Once we’re standing practically on top of it, I look it over for locks or alarms or anything that might give us away. There’s nothing that stands out, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Reaching down, I grab onto the handle and pull up.

Nothing. The door is stuck in place. It must have a lock that I don’t see, or maybe it isn’t a door to a tunnel like I thought.

“Locked.” I say. “I guess we know there’s something good in there. The place is locked up tight.”

“Yes, but how are we going to get inside? I’m not leaving without seeing what’s going on behind these doors.”

“We’ll get in. You forget who you’re here with.”

“I haven’t forgotten, but it’s fair to say I don’t really know much about what you can do in a situation like this.”

“I have a few tricks I can try.”

“Excellent, I was hoping you would say that.”

I get down on my knees so I can do a closer inspection of the door. There isn’t a panel which means this entrance is our best chance. No need to worry about scanning our fingerprints.

“Maybe it’s latched on the inside or something like that,” Elena says.

“It’s possible.” I look around the warehouse for something to use to slip under the door. My eyes land on a metal structure against one of the walls. It looks like it could be for storage so I move quickly to see what’s inside. All of the vehicles are run using fingerprint identification but sometimes there can be glitches. Inside of the cabinet are tools for the vehicles when things aren’t working properly. I grab the thinnest tool with hopes that it’ll fit under the door enough to undo the latch or break a lock. I’m fine with either option at this point.

I hurry back to the door and get right to work trying to free the latch. So far there have been no signs of life, but I don’t want to push our luck. Eventually someone will come and I don’t want to be here when that happens.

I slide the tool under the door until I can’t any longer. “I hit something,” I say to Elena. Pushing the tool forcefully, I try to dislodge the lock under the door. It’s louder than I’d like, making us both pause to look around. Then, I try it again. With both hands, I yank the tool towards me in an effort to dislodge whatever is holding the door in place. It still doesn’t dislodge, but it moves, that’s progress.

“I’ve almost got it.” Two more pulls on the tool and something slams back, the noise loud enough to echo through the building.

“Shit,” Elena says as she looks around again. “Quick.”

Tossing the tool aside, I stand up and lift the huge metal door. The air below us is frigid. It’s dark with a strange musky smell but there’s a set of stairs leading down.

Elena doesn’t hesitate. She nods at me quickly before beginning her descent into the darkness below.