“You won’t need that,” came a voice. The agent turned quickly, pointing his gun into the shadows. “Whoa, someone is jumpy today.” A shape moved in the darkness, and the agent put his gun away.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” he hissed.
“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. A blind rat could see you crawling up here from the grass. Lucky for you, the people I work with are even more reckless.”
“Quiet,” the agent warned, “or they’ll hear you.”
“You’re just paranoid.” The figure’s smile was lost in the shadows. “But here it is.” A hand held something out to the agent in the dark.
The agent inspected it before taking it. “Thanks.” He shoved it into his pocket and turned to leave.
“Oh, Zamyr?”
The agent turned. “What?”
The figure smiled again. “One last kiss before you leave?”
He glared into the darkness. “In your dreams.” The last thing he heard was a giggle before the shape disappeared into the shadows.
*******************
"They're on our trail." Laura said suddenly from the back.
Kalyia had no idea what made Laura's ears so good, but when everyone stopped to look at her, she bent down and placed her ear on the floor. After a brief silence, Laura jumped up, turned around, and threw a grenade as hard as she could down the corridor. Everybody else understood what was happening and ran for it.
Seconds later, an explosion and high-pitched screams echoed through the tunnel.
Laura had been in the back, but she soon caught up to the rest of the group. She readied two Tasers and somehow managed to aim them through the smoke. One of the girls had actually been trained properly and caught the line before it hit her, then let go of it immediately.
*******************
Rebecca dropped the Taser as quickly as she had grabbed it. A fellow agent fell to the floor as a second Taser hit and electrocuted her. Ashlynn ran towards the source and tumbled out of the smoke into a group of ready Danes with guns aimed at her. She immediately raised her arms in surrender. It didn't matter. Backup was quickly coming. She then saw Laura and wondered if she could risk revealing herself to her. Then some darts flew by her and hit several targets. Her chance had passed by; the reinforcements were already here. She took out her own gun and started firing it at the Danes. Laura quickly ran up to her and started fighting, which was a foolish thing to do, seeing as she had a gun and back-up behind her. Rebecca nevertheless pretended that she was out of ammo and tossed her gun aside. Now way was she hurting her best friend fatally.
*******************
“Zamyr. We’ve been expecting ye.” Foalan O’Byrne rested comfortably in the wooden chair, his legs open. “Have ye got it?”
The agent glanced around the room before stepping forward and throwing the satchel on the table. “Yah, I got it.”
“My man!” Foalan said with a grin, standing. He walked over to Zamyr and thumped his back before grabbing the satchel. He opened it. “Hey wait, there be nothing in this satchel!”
“Hold up,” Zamyr answered. “I never said it was in there.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a disk.
“Oh, Zamyr!” Foalan exclaimed with a nervous laugh. “Almost an aresways ye made there.” He took the disk and turned around to put it in a small iron box on the shelf.
“Well?” Zamyr asked expectingly.
“Well…” Foalan began, turning around. “Ye must be flah’ed out. We got a scratcher in the back if ye wish to lay down for a rest.”
“I’m not tired,” Zamyr answered. “You promised me you could get me to St. Mary’s Quay in the Isles of Sicily if I got you the disk, and you will.”
“Hold on now, little bucklepper. Don’t be making yer run just yet. I amn’t about to be having a promise dishonored. If I said I will, than I’m after doing just that!”
“Good,” Zamyr answered, sitting down. “Now tell me where to go.”
“To be sure. Now first I have for ye some cash…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pile of euros.
“I don’t want your money,” Zamyr said.
Foalan looked at him skeptically. “This be no mere odds, me lad. Ye be a’needing this cash to be getting to the shipbrokers.”
“How do you figure that?”
Foalan stared at him like he was an idiot. “Come now, don’t ye be playing the cod. Amn’t no gobshaw, and neither be ye. Miren does not be after sending off ships to unpaying customers.”
Zamyr stood there, thinking. He knew Foalan was right, but he didn’t want to be in another person’s favor. “Fine,” he agreed.
“Good choice, me boy,” Foalan said, handing half of the money to Zamyr. “The other half I have coming with me.”
“No. I’m going alone,” Zamyr replied, stuffing the cash into his pocket and grabbing the satchel. He turned to walk towards the door, but the man at the door held his arm out to keep him back. “Let me through,” Zamyr warned.
“Hold on now,” Foalan said. “Ye very well know ye can’t be going anywhere with that accent of yers, so ye can’t. I’m after going with ye, I be yer voice. I have asked my good friend, Quin, to be joining ye. He’s good cop-on, and will aid us in getting ye to the shipbrokers and on the boat there. Fergus,”--he gestured to the man at the door--“will be going with ye also. He be staying with ye for the whole trip as a safe guard.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Zamyr answered with a glare.
“These are dangerous lands, me lad. Ye be needing all the help ye can get. He may seem like a gurrier at first, but ye will be grateful for him as the time passes, yis?”
Zamyr sighed heavily. Foalan was very stubborn, but he was also smart. Zamyr glared at the the guy at the door. “As long as he keeps up and stays out of my way.”
“Great!” Foalan exclaimed. Zamyr could tell he enjoyed being correct and wondered if Foalan was being just a little manipulative. Zamyr shrugged. It didn’t matter. At the first sign of an issue with his new Irish friends, he would pack up his belongings and disappear.
“I’m coming with you,” came a voice.
Foalan sighed and turned around. “No yer not, Aengus. Ye be staying here like Ma told ye to.”
“I amn’t about to sit by as you make a journey out of here. You know I can’t stay here. Ireland just isn’t for me.” A kid stepped out of the shadows. He looked to be about seventeen years old.
“Ye can, and ye will. Ireland is for every Irish man, even an eijit like you,” Foalan said sternly.
“I’m not an idiot. I’m not even really Irish, for that matter.”
Foalan took a short breath. “Who be telling ye these lies?” he demanded.
“What does it matter to you? It isn’t a lie, bytheways, and you know that,” Aengus answered.
“It was Fítheal, wasn’t it? That good for nothing kip. He be making a hames of everything,” Foalan growled.
“So it is truth. You cannot deny it. I wasn’t born in Ireland, and your Ma isn’t my Ma.”
“How could ye say that? After all we’ve done for ye!”
“What you done for me?” Aengus said with a fiery glare. “You done nothing for me except call me an eijit, an idiot, and push me back into your shadow. I’m tired of you, and I’m tired of this place! I’m going with Zamyr whether you like it or not!”
Foalan glared at Aengus, but he knew he could do nothing to stop him. So he turned to Zamyr. “Kael. Aen—”
Zamyr whipped out his gun, grabbed Foalan’s collar, and pointed it at his head. “What did you just call me?!” Zamyr’s eyes were dangerous, and Foalan’s eyes showed fear. Foalan didn’t know what this kid could do, and he didn’t want to say anything that would make him even angrier. He put his hands up in front of him and stared back at Zamyr. Finally, Zamyr let go of his shirt. “Aengus can come along, but you, my friend, are staying here,” he said to Foalan.
As Zamyr, Fergus, and Aengus left the room, Foalan stood still, wondering why he had accidentally called Zamyr by Zamyr’s brother’s name.
**************