“I don’t get it,” Ashlynn admitted. “Why kill Jorgia just because she didn’t find the special arsenal first?”
“Survival of the fittest,” Mors said disturbingly. Ashlynn stared at her in shock, but Mors’ eyes were dark.
“Cyan wait,” Jude commanded. Cyan wasn’t listening. She continued to grab random weapons and stick them anywhere she could find a place to carry them. “Cyan, you don’t know how any of those work.”
Cyan looked up from a pile of spears and glared at Jude. “Who cares?” She forgot about the spears and walked towards the door where they had entered.
“Cyan, stop,” Jude commanded.
Cyan turned quickly, her eyes dangerous. “I’m not going to let her die.” She stepped through the door and disappeared.
Without a word, Mors began collecting weapons, too. She buckled a random belt around her waist, grabbed a spear, and walked towards the door. “If you don’t come, I’m leaving you,” she said before following Cyan out the door.
With a start as if someone had kicked her in the back, Jude started collecting weapons, too. She grabbed two identical sticks and shoved them into her pants. She took a square device and clipped it to her belt. She glanced at a table and picked up something that Ashlynn didn’t quite see. While she was doing that, Ashlynn looked around helplessly, searching for something she could use with one hand. She looked down at the hatchet in her hand and realized she could only use one weapon at a time, whatever she chose. She moved to the table Cyan had been at and took one of the sticks, shoving it into her pants the way she had seen Cyan do. Something that had the basic shape of a gun she tried clipping to her belt, but she couldn’t do it with one hand in a cast. Giving up, she set it back down on the table, took up the hatchet she had set down, and walked towards the door. Something on one of the tables caught her eye. It was a simple ring with a rounded blue lapis lazuli mounted to a silver loop. She thought it an odd thing to be in a place like this, and quickly set down her hatchet to inspect it closer.
“What are you waiting for?” Jude’s voice came at the door.
Startled, Ashlynn grabbed the ring, slid it on the middle finger of the hand in the cast. It was a surprisingly good fit. She picked up the hatchet and walked out.
***************
The DANE had only been traveling for half an hour when Laura's voice echoed through the passenger section of the plane:
"May I have you attention please, we will be flying through turbulent areas for the next few minutes. If you want to land with your necks intact, I suggest you sit down and buckle up, now!"
A few seconds later, the plane tilted sharply to the left. They heard some gunshots, then an explosion. The plane then barrel-rolled to the right downwards.
Several agents started screaming. The plane stopped rolling, then sharply tilted upward. Oxygen masks fell out of their compartments, but half of the agents were already unconscious. The plane started to stall, then fell from the sky.
"We're going to die!!" several agents screamed out.
Laura smiled. She loved to stall the planes. She had to focus, though, because she had two missiles on her tail and a fighter jet ready to kill. She already made one fighter pilot parachute away and had lost another missile from her barrel-roll. The stall forced the other two missiles to stop working. She then heard the Danes screaming.
"Great," she thought. "I really don't need shouting in the background while I'm trying to escape from a fighter jet in a passenger plane."
Laura pulled out of the stall and turned the booster engines on. The plane surged forward for about 30 seconds, then stopped. She checked the radar, but saw no signal of another plane. Laura did not relax or sigh with relief. She would not relax for a long time.
*************
Daniel was still confused. Kate had given him a long and complicated history of agent stuff, but he was still confused.
"OK, tell me if I'm wrong. You guys are all top secret agents. So are Rebecca and Laura, both of whom happen to be some of the best agents in the-" Daniel paused. "HIA, right?"
"Yes," Kate confirmed.
"But Rebecca is way better,"Hayden added.
"No, Laura's better," Chris argued.
"Rebecca used to be in another agency. And the GCA is way more technologically advanced than the HIA," Hayden replied sharply.
"Ha!" Chris responded. "Laura used to be in-" he stopped himself.
"Used to be in what?" Hayden mocked.
"I can't tell you. Laura only told me because it was crucial for me to know for a mission, but under strict confidentiality," Chris retorted.
"Laura has a lot of secrets. So does Rebecca. We can't judge who is better when we really don't know much of their background," Kate said. "Now stop arguing."
"And we're flying to Japan. Why?" Daniel changed the subject.
"Because Laura might be there," Hayden answered. "You speak Japanese, right?"
"No!" Daniel retorted. "I'm Chinese, and I don't even speak that!" He paused. "Why would Laura be in Japan?"
"We're checking all the places that Laura has been for missions. Here, see the list for yourself, " Kate replied. She handed him a sheet of paper.
Daniel read through the paper.
"My sister has been to Japan, China, Australia, France, England, Russia, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Guatamala, Montenegro, and America in the past four years?"
"Wait, Laura's only been to America, Montenegro, Japan, and Mexico," Hayden said. "When has she been to all of those other countries?"
"Chris, come take the wheel," Xarissa commanded from the cockpit. Chris got up from his chair and relieved Xarissa, who took Chris's seat.
"Laura gave this list to the Adm. before the attack, which was the last time we had seen her. It includes her missions before the HIA, when she was an agent for the FBIT."
"FBI for Teens. That's really hard to get into. Not as hard as the HIA, but close," Hayden answered. "But that doesn't make sense. The minimum age to join is 13. Laura joined the HIA at 13. How was she an agent for the FBIT before?"
"Nevermind that," Xarissa said. "You guys remember Jace a few months ago?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"Who's Jace?" Daniel asked.
"He's a new agent that used to be a terrorist. I haven't seen him since the attack," Kate explained.
"Anyway, the Adm. said that I should trust him more than Laura," Xarissa said. "The Adm. thinks that Laura is keeping back more secrets than Jace is."
"That's ridiculous!" Kate exclaimed.
"Yeah, we've worked with Laura for 4 years. Why should we not trust her" Hayden argued.
"How many of you knew that she was an agent for the FBIT?" Xarissa asked.
"I did," Chris said from the cockpit. "Laura and I had to work with some agents from the FBIT for a mission and she had to explain to me why she knew some of those agents personally."
"And did she ever tell you any details?" Xarissa asked.
"No. I asked, but she said the same thing that she always says about her past, 'It's confidential'," Chris answered. "All I got other than the FBIT fact was from another one of the FBIT agents who was about 18 then. He said that Laura was the youngest to ever join the FBIT, but he wouldn't tell me how old she was when she joined."
"Like I said," Xarissa continued. "We think that we know Laura, but I'm guessing that we really don't. With Jace, we know his past. We know that he used to be a terrorist. With Laura, we only know what she told us. And how do we know when she's lying?"
Daniel, Kate, and Hayden all looked down and started fiddling with their clothes or their fingers. Xarissa turned and sat next to Chris in the co-pilot seat.
Nobody spoke again until they reached Japan.
***************
"If you could return to your seats and buckle up, that would be lovely. We are about to land," Laura's voice rang through the small plane.
Kalyia was in shock. Imraan, who was sitting in a window seat, saw most of the fight and had not hesitated in telling Kalyia every detail while it was occurring. Imraan was impressed with the plane. Kalyia was impressed with Laura.
"GCA technology. Fantastic!" Imraan whispered to himself.
"When did Laura learn how to do all of that?" Kalyia mused out loud.
"Oh, I'm sure that all HIA agents can do that. Part of their training and such," Imraan answered.
"But I'm training in the HIA and I've never seen people fly like that. I've never seen or heard of anybody training to do those maneuvers," Kalyia retorted.
"Maybe it's just super secret and advanced training for agents like Laura," Imraan responded. The plane started to descend.
"Where do you think we are?" Kalyia asked.
"Oh, easy. We're in the middle of Greenland," Imraan answered.
"Greenland? Huh. I must say, I never saw that one coming. Why do you suppose we're in Greenland?" Kalyia asked.
"Greenland, I've figured, is the 'other place'."
"No duh."
"I wasn't finished!"
"Of course not!"
"Greenland is large and is only populated along the south by the coast, so the center of Greenland is the perfect place to hide a hide-out. The harsh weather would make it the last place for your enemies to look."
"I would have never thought of that."
"Well, that's why you need super-intelligent people like me." Imraan smiled.
"Naturally."
"Yes, yes-wait. Are you being sarcastic?"
"Maybe."
The plane jostled, revealing that they had landed.
"Well! Back to work!" Kalyia said happily. Imraan groaned.
The plane slowed, then rolled to a stop. The passengers looked outside the windows but saw nothing but darkness.
Laura had to admit, her landing was rather rough. She had to ignore that. The door can be fixed as soon as everyone gets out of the plane. She opened the door to the passenger section of the plane.
"Does anyone have a flashlight?" she asked.
"Ya," came a reply. A young agent walked up to Laura and handed her the flashlight.
"Nobody leaves the plane until I come back. Understood?"
The people nodded in agreement. Laura opened the jet door, ejected the ladder, and climbed down.
Several minuted ticked by.
"I wonder if Laura was attacked by slender man," one of the agents said.
"If she was, slenderman would be dead," an older agent replied.
"You don't know slenderman," the agent muttered.
"YOU don't know Laura," the older agent replied. "Or the objects in here. You don't realize what danger lies just a few meters away."
The younger agent decided not to challenge the elder agent's authority and remained silent.
"What do you think he meant?" Kalyia aksed Imraan.
"This base probably holds several bombs or weapons, possibly information, but I don't think that it's the latter based on the context," Imraan theorized. The lights outside of the plane suddenly turned on, revealing a mide-wide base filled with boxes and old planes. Imraan saw Laura walking towards the plane by herself. Her face betrayed not emotions. She hardly seemed human. Imraan turned to tell Kalyia his theory, thought better of it, and decided not to. Laura climbed back into the plane, then said,
"Welcome, DANE, to the DANSK Base."
*****************