Atlas

by Alanna K Puzak

  I start making my way back through the office into the main bedroom. I took down three men and I swear there was one more at least. As I make my way through the end of the office, I notice a reflection on the sliding door, he is standing there waiting for me. I pause. I duck as I slide out, he hits my head but it was not that bad of a blow. I take the rifle out of his hands and twist the strap pulling his arm all the way up and causing it to choke him.

  I see another man running at me, I am still holding on to the gun so I rip underneath the man causing him to flip and belly flop on to the floor and swing kick the next man to the ground. I take the butt of the gun and hit one in the temple and shot the other in the shoulder.

  One last one. He is coming at me strong so I run at him. I go straight for the neck and bang his forehead against my knee. That did not seem to work. He comes at me again so I twist around and bang his head into the corner of the dresser.

  “Fucking finally!” I ran over the bodies ignoring the red graffiti I had just painted on the walls and made my way to the staircase.

  I take my knife from my bra and go from behind to the man standing at the staircase obviously making sure nobody gets in, or out.

  All of a sudden I felt a man jump on my back trying to choke me with a fishing line. It is piercing into my neck. I try to put my hands between my neck and the line to keep it from finishing me. I say screw it and flip the man over my head. We both tumble down the winding bamboo staircase. Hitting stair, wall, and rail with every part of our bodies. As we reach the bottom, I notice he is knocked out. I bunt him with the back of his rifle just to make sure.

  I get up and fix my hair, wipe the blood from my mouth and check the gash on the top of my head. “I will be ok,” I mumble.

  At that moment, Atlas had hopped the balcony, landing on the man who had been following us the entire night. He grabbed metal wire out of his pocket and wrapped it around the gentleman’s neck. Pulling it so hard blood gushed everywhere, ruining his nice attire.

  The next guy comes from behind and grabs Atlas putting him into a chokehold. Atlas can't get out of it so he runs himself and the man into the glass door shattering everything and laying them on the couch. He then beats the shit out of that guy and gets up like nothing happened.

  We nod at each other to go scout the place to see if we are clear. The second I walk back towards the stairs, Atlas hears a man by the bar. We hear a gun trying to be loaded. He quickly jumps to the bar causing the man to stand up. Atlas slams the man over the bar breaking every bottle creating a waterfall of sticky madness. Beating him to a pulp.

  We are finally clear …

  As we were sitting there with dead bodies lying all around us, my ex-director and the apparent head honcho of all this, Director Radinson walks in applauding us.

  “Nice job, nice job!” He shouted from across the doorway. “I knew you two had it in you!”

  “What the hell are you talking about!?” Atlas replied while wiping his lip of the cold blood on his face.

  I yelled, “You have explaining to do ass hole!”

  Both of us were very confused. He went on to tell us he had been running this cartel to find answers about Rio. He needed them killed before word got out so he created a fake mission to bring us together and do the dirty work… but both of us thought that could not be the real reason. We both shared the look and just knew to go with it and we would figure out the truth later.

  “You two are our best agents in the system, I needed these people taken out and I had to make sure you were ready.”

  “Ready for what,” Atlas grudging said walking closer and closer. “Ready … for … what!”

  Radinson went on to explain, “I know you both think I am the bad guy here. But really this was all part of the plan.”

  He took a drink, “You see we needed it to look like the bad guys were setting you up Mel and to make it look like you Atlas are on the right side and not on the side of the government.”

  He put the glass down, “People were catching on and we could not have that. I knew about the crush, the night on the beach, the fight that made him leave. I knew it all and hoped for it all to happen. I made you and the Diablos both think I was working for the bad guys trying to undo the government. Haven’t you ever heard keep your friends close but your enemies closer?”

  Atlas and I looked at each other in deep confusion.

  “How the hell do you know all of this,” I yelled.

  “I have ears everywhere honey.”

  He cracked his neck. “Anyway as I was saying, I knew you were doubting us Mel and truly falling for Atlas. Soooo I played my cards right. I needed to know you were really in it for the right thing, and that is when I ordered you to kill him.”

  “Wait, so you knew I would fail at my mission, so you did it on purpose?”

  “Yes. I needed to know that you truly loved this man and would do anything to protect him. I knew you were falling for him, Mel. The second you told me you could not do the mission my way on the first night I just knew I was going to have to work it differently to get what I wanted. If you failed and he left to Rio I knew he would know I was after him. Then if he was truly on the right side he would do anything to keep his cover. And I knew that if you had these true feelings that I could look deeper and find out the real meaning behind Rio.”

  “Sir I am not sure I understand, you wanted me to be manipulated, lied to, and almost killed so that you could trust us.” Atlas pondered while stating these words.

  “We know about you guys. You think it would not be such a big deal considering you work so well together but it is.” Radinson continued while putting on his white gloves to start cleaning the weapons and hide prints from the guns.

  “Atlas you are our best agent in RED and we cannot afford to lose you. So I am going to give you an option. You either work for me or you are both exposed and done.”

  I rolled my eyes, “So you are playing it off as the good guy but then you turn around and blackmail us?”

  Radinson went on to explain how part of the CIA had been compromised but he did not know by who. The Diablo Cartel that Atlas had been investigating down in Rio was now in control of that part of the CIA which happened to also be the one in control of RED.

  “If we took this offer does that mean we would be separated for good,” Atlas so blatantly asked.

  “Atlas, you have no choice but to accept,” I explained, “If you do not go, all of RED could crumble to the ground and the very thing we have been fighting for could be done. I have done you wrong and I have no explanation, you don’t need me in your life.”

  “I do not give a flying fuck what these fuckers had you up to in the past. You proved your love to me and I won’t leave you, not again. I promise you. Besides, I had everything I wanted when I left you, but I realized I wanted everything I gave up.”

  He remembered. He remembered my smart-ass comment. He must really have forgiven me. “Wait what! How can you just forgive me like that?” I said snapping my fingers.

  “I screwed you over Atlas, I was ordered to kill you! Everything we started on was a lie.”

  “Every relationship has drama, and with our line of work it makes sense that this would be ours.”

  I look at him like ok I know a fucking screw is loose for you to just up and forgive me like that.

  “Mel, I have had a lot of time down in Rio and a lot of time to think about everything. I forgive you. You did not know any better.”

  “I know, just forget about us for one second. And think, if we don’t do this now who knows what will happen. RED could crumble, we could cost many lives, we could be separated forever. This is something we have to do. It is the right thing to do.” I thought to myself, did I just give him the ok to leave me again. Seriously what is wrong with me?

  “Not without you,” Tears filling up Atlas eyes as he grabs my ears.

  “If what I did to you could not keep us apart now then I guarantee nothing with keep us apart again I promise.�
�� I try to take a deep breath while about to say goodbye.

  “Excuse me can I please interrupt this soap opera for one moment.” Radinson continued, “Atlas we need you, plain and simple. And either you come with us with your damn knowledge on how to end this fucking war or you are done.”

  We both shook our head yes and were on our way.

  He gives me an address, a kiss, and then I see him leave as the doors slowly close. I hold in my tears until the doors close. Is this where we give it all up?

  “Wait!” I yelled running to the door stashing that piece of paper in my bra. “James, could we just have one night where we all get our stories straight and figure out the next step in all of this?”

  James rolled his eyes and gave me the gasp of exhaustion, “I guess I could give you guys that since I did in fact almost kill you.”

  CHAPTER TEN: ONE LAST TIME

  S ince James had been so considerate to let us spend one more day and night together, he sent us off to an old shaggy underground warehouse in the desert known as Mojave in Nevada. We had not really talked since Aspen, granted it was only a fresh wound that had been open for less than a day.

  I know we apologized but did we really mean it? Not a word on the car ride to the plane, not a word on the plane, we did not even sit next to each other. Just sat down and passed out until we reached Vegas. Got the car and made our way over here.

  We pulled up in a truck. So rusted it would probably break if a baseball bat hit it the wrong way. The warehouse was that of an old gas station. Broken metal pumps with cut plastic everywhere. Taped up and boarded windows covering anything looking in, and nothing around for miles.

  We got up and turned the car off in the beaten up shack behind the main entrance so nobody would know we were there. Empty bottles and broken glass kissing, rotten food and their dying wrappers covered the floor. The cash register beaten to shreds. No lights, nothing.

  We looked behind us at what used to hold cigarette cartons, a sticky note, “pull me.” We looked at each other and I gave Atlas that look like, “what is the worst that could happen.”

  He pulled the old carton that had looked like it had just been stocked. The whole shelf and we, rotated around and dropped about 80 feet. A new roof covering our heads to what I am assuming created a new floor right where we were standing.

  We dropped to a room that looked as though we had just walked into a video game. Computer screens covered the walls. Seeing multiple cities, transactions happening at that moment, ships, planes, faces popping up left and right. Someone was searching for something.

  We turned around as the doors were closing behind us to see a living room with beds and a nice big couch sitting right in front of a huge TV and record player. A brand new kitchen with everything you could need. It looked like some billionaire had created his apocalypse hiding grounds. As we both started looking around then someone walked out of the bathroom on the farthest corner from us.

  “Hey guys!”

  “Kate! What the hell are you doing here!” I ran over to give her a hug.

  She jumped over the chair in front of her, “Radinson came to me. He said that he needed help cheating all systems, and well that is my specialty.” She explained lifting the laboratory goggles off her head.

  “What do you mean?” Atlas aggressively asked.

  “Well …” She sits back in her wheeling chair and starts pointing from binders of papers to computer screens.

  “You see the reason Radinson had to do all these fucked up things and play with everyone’s minds is because he thinks someone from the system is playing everyone like little puppets.” She said dancing her fingers around like a string master.

  “You know I am really sick of people trying to confuse me and fuck with my head,” I said putting my backpack down on the couch, leaning against the back of it.

  She went on to explain that Radinson thinks someone we all know is behind everything going on in Rio, the CIA, RED, everything. That he needed to combine people he could trust and test their limits to see who they really were. She continued, “He needed to find the trust in people so he could find out what is actually going on.”

  “You know there is starting to be a lot I do not understand about this whole damn mission,” I said while raiding the fridge for something.

  I came back to sit on the table right by Kate. She went on to explain that there was not one but two men that she never could catch the front of. She saw them at every big thing that happened.

  “See, you see them here right before this hijack in Iraq, and here before this shooting in Mexico. And here before this robbery right in Russia. Whoever these guys are, that is who we think is the lead in all of this. And they are here in Rio, but only when Atlas is not there.”

  I ponder my face to her lifting one eyebrow, “I don’t understand. How are all of these and Rio even somewhat connected?”

  “Look here …” Atlas and I slowly move up to the table where she has picture after picture laid out. “The hijack in Iraq, the only man reported dead was Ling Chu. Who is this you ask? Ling Chu was the developer of the CPU plans that the drive could be processed through. The shooting in Mexico, that is where Harishma developed the program … in that warehouse. Everyone who saw them go in or out … killed. The robbery in Russia, well, that is where half the minerals from Jupiter are kept.”

  “So you are telling us that these two men are maybe trying to recreate whatever the fuck Harishma created? But they can’t and I am the only one who knows how to work it.” Atlas said scratching his head.

  “Exactly. Why the hell do you think they have you down in Rio … the Diablos are supposedly working for these two. They want you close. My guess is they will do anything to get you even closer. That is why James wants you down there ASAP. He does not want your cover blown. He thinks they are almost done developing a bigger and better CPU and then they will come after you. This is all just speculation but doesn’t it kind of all add up?”

  “So he is playing us all until he can get to the real villain. Great.” Atlas grabbed a beer and headed back upstairs.

  I looked at him, “where are you going?”

  “Why does it even matter?” The doors closed behind him.

  “Ummm rude.” Kate so pleasantly stated as she swung her chair back around and started writing data from the screens.

  I grabbed a beer and followed him up.

  When I got upstairs, he was leaning against an old gas pump looking up at the stars and peeling the dying label off of the beer glass with his thumb.

  “Are you ok?” I asked ever so gently while coming up to lean against the pump next to him.

  “What the hell do you think Mel?”

  “Well honestly I don’t know.”

  “My whole life has been turned upside down because a stupid drama queen can't figure out what he wants to do.”

  “Well …”

  “Well, nothing Mel. He has played the both of us one too many times. Don’t get me wrong I am glad we met, but isn’t the way it happened just a little too fucked up?”

  “Yeah but what about everything you said in Colorado? Was that all just part of your cover?”

  “Yeah … well no …”

  I turned around and took a deep breath, a chug from my beer and cracked my neck.

  “What the fuck do you mean ‘yeah … well no …’”

  “Yes I meant what I said Mel but I only said it because I thought we were done for. I have been working on this mission for so long Mel and to find out that I am getting played as a pawn in an even bigger mission that I know nothing about puts so much rage through my blood. To think that because some guy wanted to take over everything I had worked on to come out on top just makes me want to … to …” He kicks the gas pump as hard as he can and takes a big swig of his beer.

  “So it was your any last words kind of fucking moment.”

  We started to get into each other’s faces.

  “I have been playing the system for so
long Mel, it is getting so hard to know who I can trust and who the fuck is against me.”

  “Well, Atlas haven’t I shown you by now that I am on your damn team! I mean yes I know I was hired to fucking kill you but I DIDN’T! I told you the entire plan so you could run knowing I might never see you again. I mean doesn’t that show you some kind of love!”

  “You have to understand where I am coming from …”

  I slammed my beer down on the ground breaking the glass causing me to walk through a pile of sticky knives.

  “No fuck that Atlas, understand where the fuck I am coming from. I am so tired of being the bad guy here. All I wanted to do was get out of the damn CIA, go to RED, be a part of something bigger, something better. But did I get my chance … NO! Instead, I got ordered to kill the man I loved and failed because guess what, that is how the mission was actually supposed to go. Then kill a shit ton of bad guys who were working for the good guy pretending to be the bad guy, all for what! For us to get one step closer in not blowing your cover and getting that fucking central processing unit!”

  “Calm down Mel.”

  I pointed my finger into his face, “Do not EVER tell me to calm down!”

  He grabbed my finger and twisted it to put me in a choke hold. He threw down his beer smashing it into the ground, turned me around, and held his hand tight behind my neck.

  “I am sorry I was upset. You just have to know where I am coming from. Can we just agree that this whole thing is fucked up and agree that the best thing that is coming out of it is you and me?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: YOU WRITE YOUR OWN FUTURE

  I t has now been two years since I had seen Atlas at this point. We had been through so much and I just can’t help but think of him every day. I think he is still in Rio. I have the address he wrote down for me in Aspen just in case. But I do not know if he is even still alive anymore. I am back in the office just waiting for his name to pop up every day of those who have been compromised. Those screens pop up every two minutes with a new face and I just hope I never see his. I watch them like a hawk but deep inside I just want to look away. I cant let him go but for the life of me I know I should.