by Natalie Reid
“I’m sorry,” she said, speaking the words to the window because she didn’t have the courage to turn her head and face him.
“It’s not for you to feel sorry over.”
“I mean, I’m sorry I got you into all of this. None of it’s your fault. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You were just trying to keep us both alive. It’s my fault you’re an outlaw now.”
“Actually,” he said, taking his hand off hers and making it feel cold. “I’m living nicer now than when I was in BLES. Ritter let me join up Denneck and your father. They have me staying at this house on the west-end.”
Jessie’s shoulders shuttered at the mention of her father, and Tom picked up on it.
“You should come with me and see him,” he said, reaching out for her hand and giving it a small tug. “He’s been—”
“I can’t. Not right now. I don’t think I can face him.”
Tom had managed to pull her a few feet from the window, but she drew her hand out of his grasp and turned back.
“I should be getting back. I can’t be gone for that long,” she said. She blinked her eyes hard as she said this, glad that Tom could only see her back. She didn’t feel like the brave pilot he had first met. She didn’t feel nearly as strong.
She stared blankly out the window as he told her how to find the house they were staying at, explaining the streets to turn down and the number of the house and who she would find waiting for her inside. He said that he hadn’t told them about Ritter, but had explained how she was working with the Resistance at the moment.
He also told her about the young woman named Harper and how she was trying to find a way to clear Jessie’s name, even trying to discover some way to broadcast a message all over Aero City. Jessie had felt a pang of jealousy, realizing that the two of them were spending a lot of time together in a cozy, west-end house. It made her feel a little better when he commented that Harper’s enthusiasm about government conspiracies could get a bit tiring at times, and that Carver and Denneck were lucky they weren’t at the house all day like him.
When he had finished speaking, she still stood at the window, too scared to turn around. Turning around meant saying goodbye. Turning around meant she would have to go back inside the cave and put on a warrior’s face and lie to everyone and say she was alright when she knew perfectly well that she was not.
“Jessie?” Tom whispered.
His voice was close. She didn’t know when he had come so near behind her. When she didn’t move, his hands gently held her shoulders, and he guided her to turn around and look up at him.
“What are they having you do down in the Resistance?” he asked.
His hand reached up and slid across her face so that his thumb brushed a bruise under her eye. She had gotten that bruise during the fight she had started herself, so that she could look beaten and defeated. However, as she felt his hand on her face, she forgot that it was even there. Her head felt dizzy and her mind didn’t want to think clearly.
“I actually started the fight that got me that one,” she finally answered him.
“Ritter told me what you’re doing,” he said, dropping his hand from her face but still remaining unnervingly close to her. “That you’re helping him so that you can find your mom again.”
She angled her face towards the floor. The wind from his words had been near enough to shake the wisps of hair near her ear.
“I would do the same thing if I had a chance to see my mom again,” he said. “Just… promise you’ll come back when it’s all over.”
She nodded her head in quick jerks and turned her body so she was facing the window. She didn’t want him to see her face. Being around Tom made her emotions even worse. He was like an amplifier to the thoughts and fears already swimming around in her head. And the soft hand on her arm didn’t help matters either.
Finally gaining enough courage to face him, she turned her head, saying, “Tom, I…” but she was cut off as he swiftly placed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
Her eyes closed in bliss the second she felt his lips on hers. Her heart thundered in her ears and her blood ran in circles through her veins as if it couldn’t remember which way it was supposed to run. Though his kiss was innocent, like the movements of a youthful boy in love for the first time, she felt the will of a man behind it. When he pulled away, she found her eye-lids weighed as heavy as lead and her breath had been stolen from her.
“I know, you have to go,” he said quickly, acting as if nothing had just happened between them, like the past few seconds were no more than a hiccup in time, and therefore his kiss never existed to be rejected or reciprocated.
When he took a step back, she wanted to reach out and stop him from going, but she was frozen to the spot.
“Bye Jessie,” he whispered, meeting her eyes for a brief moment before turning around and heading for the door.
She didn’t watch as he left, didn’t hear the door as it closed. Her mind had been taken captive by a cruel bandit. This bandit wasn’t like the ones up in the skies or hiding inside the tired bodies of desperate men. This one was different—a painfully personal bandit that taunted her with every confusing thought she could think of, paraded around in her head, danced on the nerves of her eyes, and pounded on the soft tissue of her brain in a jeering song, telling her how far back she had truly been longing for that kiss. Whether she deserved it or not, the one thing she could agree on with the bandit was that she had no time for it. Aero City demanded her to play her part in its game, and there was only one role it wished for her. For better or for worse, she had been labeled a fighter.
Chapter 11
Proof of Innocence
The small kitchen inside the house at Bunker City was normally a place of quiet meals and wordless gestures. Though Jessie could sense that the man she shared the house with offered her some sort of respect—in that he had gone out to get an extra chair for her to sit on—he still did not make any effort to speak with her.
She had learned from Red that his name was Kurt, and that he was one of the best fighters the Resistance had. Aside from that, the rest was a mystery. Red had also so graciously added that he didn’t like talking to people, but that was about as useful as reminding her that they were underground.
However, at breakfast that morning, instead of digging into the barley and oat cereal that he ate every day, he lifted his head up to look at her.
“You’ll be coming up top with me today,” he stated. His eyes were blank and hard as he stared at her.
She had been walking into the kitchen as he said this, but chose not to respond to him right away. Instead, she went over to her chair and sat down.
“I’ve seen your speed,” he said, after swallowing a bite. “Jason assures me that you’ll be a valuable asset on the ground.” He took another bite and didn’t bother to swallow his food before announcing, “If you’re not, I’m sending you right back down.” He finally swallowed, and she watched the lump of food slide down his throat. “Don’t assume you know everything just because you were in the military. Up there you were a pilot. Down here things are different. So you either do what I say, or you can racking leave.”
“Yes sir,” she replied simply.
He raised his eyes to hers and dared her to look away. When Jessie stared back, she saw a fellow soldier. She could read him like he could read her, and they were both saying the same thing. They had seen war, and they knew how to survive.
Taking a guess, she asked, “How long has it been since you left Task Force?” She made sure to keep her eyes fixed on his as she said this, not backing down from the mental battle he had initiated.
Kurt hid his shock well. “I figured you’d catch on eventually.”
“You out for revenge?”
He shook his head. “As long as I want to take down Ward and his Task Force, it doesn’t matter why I’m here.”
He went back to his cereal. There was silence once more. His chair squeaked as he pushed it away from t
he table and stood up. He gave her a nod. It was time to go.
They walked to the building at the front of Bunker City; the one Jason had called their Operations Building. Since then, she had not been back. The building was where the brains of the Resistance were held, and Jessie was no more than a weapon. She didn’t have any say in how decisions were made.
When they walked in, Jason was leaning over Teresa’s chair, staring at something on the screen. Red was off in the corner, tinkering with some gadget in his hands, and two other men were standing by the door, as if waiting for them. Jessie had seen these two men with Kurt before, and figured they were the other members of his team. She tried to study their faces in the dim light of the operations room. If she was going out in the field with them, she would need to be able to recognize their faces in an instant.
Jason turned when he heard them walk in. Kurt motioned with a flick of his hand to Jessie, saying, “We’ve waited long enough. I’m taking her up top today.”
Even though Jason was in charge, Kurt did not ask, so much as give the courtesy of informing him. Jessie looked between the two men. It was obvious that Kurt was older and had more experience, and that Jason felt slightly intimidated by this.
Jason gave his answer by nodding, and then returned back to the computer screen, as if he had given permission for something as trivial as going out for candy.
Kurt turned to the other two men and nodded. Jessie began to realize he did most of his talking through nods and gestures. The four of them made for the door and began to walk out of Bunker City.
As they were riding the elevator up towards the tunnels, brief introductions were given. She learned that the two men were called Liam and Alex. They were extremely ordinary looking men, the type that would be easy to lose in a crowd or mistake for someone else. Liam had light brown hair cut short, a subtle beard growing under his chin, and dark eyes. Alex looked nearly the same, with hair a shade darker, and eyes a shade lighter. Much like Kurt, they did not favor speaking, and so did not utter a peep on their journey up top.
Once they reached the main tunnel, they went down a branching vein that Jessie had never taken before. She made sure to make a note of each direction that they turned and add it to the mental map of the underground city in her head. After a few turns, they came to an end. Instead of a lift, this one simply had a ladder leading up to the top, and a much smaller hole to climb out of.
Figuring out direction and distances, Jessie pointed to the ladder and commented, “This will take us up just shy of the business sector.”
“Into the drainage system,” Liam informed her. “Then we’ll take that up and exit through a man-hole right in back of Division Bank.”
“And what exactly are we doing once we get up?” she asked.
Kurt stepped up to the ladder and placed a hand on one of the rungs. “We’re going to attract a few Task Force agents to us, lead them somewhere a little more secluded, and then knock them out for their uniforms and ID cards.”
“That actually works?” she asked.
Kurt didn’t answer as he started up the ladder.
Alex looked at her and shrugged, saying, “Sometimes.”
After the four of them climbed up into the drainage system and then out through the man-hole cover, they found themselves in the busy morning streets of the business sector. Jessie found it a little unnerving, being so close to the headquarters of the people that wanted her dead, but it was also something she had learned to get used to. All her life as a pilot, she had lived near her enemies. The only difference was, these weren’t Bandits.
When they reached the streets, Kurt took out a black beanie from his pocket and threw it at Jessie. She looked down at the tattered fabric before dutifully placing it on her head. Though her face might still be recognizable, at least it would make it more difficult to spot her in a crowd.
Silently, the four travelled through the streets and towards Task Force headquarters. As they grew nearer and nearer, more agents were visible on the streets, driving their bikes or loitering in front of shops. When the base of the building was finally in their sights, they began to try and single a few agents out. At first they were looking at a man that was talking to a civilian, but then he received a call and started hurrying towards headquarters. So they changed their sights to a couple of men that were drinking coffee near the side of a building.
Slipping out of the crowd, Kurt led them around to the back of the building. He grabbed Alex by the cuff of his shirt, and dragged him to the side so that the two agents could see them. Kurt began punching Alex, which either proved to be an excellent display of acting, or a tremendous sacrifice on Alex’s part. The sound of the one-sided fight was enough to draw the agents’ attention, but upon seeing what was happening, they did nothing to stop it. It wasn’t until Kurt reached his hand into Alex’s pocket and took out a wallet, that the two agents started running down the alley, shouting at them to stop.
Instead of running away like normal people did when they saw Task Force agents coming at them, Kurt and Alex stood their ground. When the agents rounded the corner to the back of the building, Liam leaped out at them, aiming for their legs. He collided straight into their bottom halves, sending them flying to the ground. Once there, Kurt and Alex quickly grabbed each man and pounded their heads to the ground. By the time they dragged the two men back to where Jessie was waiting for them, they were both rendered unconscious.
They stripped the men of the outer parts of their uniforms and grabbed the tablets and IDs from their pockets. Liam and Kurt kept a look out, while Alex and Jessie slipped their uniforms on over their clothes. Jessie had to roll the sleeves back a bit and use the same pants she was wearing, but she hoped having the shirt would be enough to identify her as Task Force.
When they were dressed, Kurt took a folded piece of cloth from his jacket pocket. He unfolded it and unfolded it until it was a large, thin tarp that he could lay over the two unconscious men and hide their bodies. Turning to them, he flicked his head towards the street to tell them to get going.
The two of them rejoined up with the street, walking casually as if they had only run around to the back of the building to throw away their coffee cups. They made their way towards headquarters just as casually, and were soon standing outside its steps.
Guards were stationed all around the building, watching the street. They paid no attention to them as they rounded the corner to the back. There was a stairwell that led down to the basement. A segment jutted out of the wall next to the door for an ID card.
Alex leaned against the wall right next to the stairwell and whispered, “We have to wait for someone to come out. Only the sergeants have ID cards that open this door.”
Several minutes went by until the door finally opened, and an agent stepped out. Alex angled his body so he was hiding her from view. In the cold, Jessie could still smell the scent of sweat and harsh soap coming from his neck. She titled her head down and listened as the agent made his way up the steps and down the alley. When he was far enough away, Alex whispered to her, telling her to go. She stepped away from him, spun herself over the railing of the stairwell, and rushed to the door in time to grab it before it closed.
The hallway they came to was underground and dimly lit. There were doors on either side, each with a small window on top. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. They made their way down the first stretch, and could hear a set of voices coming from one of the doors, but they passed it with little problem.
As they made their way down the hallways, they carefully peeked inside each room to check for any sign of The Thirty. At regular intervals, there were rooms that housed a single prisoner inside. It was possible that they could have been part of The Thirty, but most likely they were unrelated prisoners that Task Force had nabbed.
They continued to search for several more minutes. A couple of times they had to duck into an unoccupied room and wait for an agent to pass by, making sure to keep the door open j
ust wide enough that it wasn’t noticeable. However, it wasn’t long before they reached a set of stairs that led up to the main part of the building, signaling the end of the basement. Alex gripped his fists in anger and turned to Jessie, shaking his head. She nodded in understanding. The Thirty weren’t down here.
Turning around, they started to head back the way they had come. They had only one more hallway to cross before they reached the door, when they heard a pair of voices speaking. They were down the final hallway, blocking their exit. Alex and Jessie dashed back to the previous hallway, peeking around the corner to see which room the voices were coming from. A door in the middle of the corridor was open a crack. It moved slightly as a muffled voice spoke from inside, as if they were holding onto the door, about to go out.
“Careful!” a voice suddenly shouted from inside the room. “You want to get us both killed!”
A quieter voice muffled an apology. The door began to open. An agent stepped out, carrying a small, metal box in his hands.
“Straight to Vin!” the man inside the room ordered.
The agent nodded, the door closed, he started forward.
Alex and Jessie looked to each other, knowing that he would need to come down this way. They tried a few doors, hoping to hide before he got there, but they were all locked. The man was just a few feet from rounding the corner now. He was walking slow, handling his box with care, but it wouldn’t be long before he spotted them.
“You should go without me,” Jessie whispered to Alex. “You don’t look suspicious. You have a better chance of making it out. I’ll grab his attention to make sure he doesn’t follow you.”
“Are you sure?”
The man’s footsteps were almost around the corner. It was a matter of a couple seconds now.