Laura glanced at her, then turned and ran down the tunnel, grabbing her backpack and heading away from where the SSAWPS were coming. Kalyia stood, throwing the heavy gun to the side, and followed Laura and the others down the tunnel.
**************
"How many deaths?" Ashlynn asked her officer.
"About 15." Came the reply.
"How many on their side?"
"At most 5."
Ashlynn continued to pace around the corridor with a limp. Luckily for her, the shot wasn't lethal, but it still hurt.
"We'll need back-up." The officer advised. "There's no way that we'll be able to find them with a fifth of our forces gone."
"I won't leave these tunnels until I have at least one captive." Ashlynn replied angrily. She wasn't going to risk her newly appointed position with 15 deaths and no captives.
"Our scouts report,"--the officer took out a crudely-made map of the sewers--" that the Danes went from this tunnel," she pointed to a tunnel," to their right. If we've mapped these tunnels correctly, we can find a way to trap them with the remaining sources we have to be able to fulfill your goal."
"We'll need to act quickly then," Ashlynn responded.
*****************
“So, if you’re Irish, how come you don’t sound like everyone else?” Zamyr asked the auburn-haired kid.
“I’m not really Irish,” Aengus answered, shaking his head.
“What about your brother?” Zamyr questioned. “He sounds pretty Irish to me.”
“What brother? So far as I know, the only person that could possibly be my brother is a dope living in the docks named Fítheal,” Aengus said. “Yet he can hardly spell his own name.”
“You have the red hair,” Zamyr pointed out. “So you must be of Irish decent.”
“My hair is brown,” Aengus said defiantly. Zamyr raised an eyebrow at Aengus, but the kid kept his face forward, searching the streets with a glare. Zamyr sighed and turned away. Just then, something appeared out of the shadows. It was a man with a round face, buzzed red hair, and a short Irish beard and mustache.
“My name be Quin. I expect ye be looking for me, yis?” the stranger said. “Well now, I just be taking you to the shipbrokers now.” He headed off down the street.
“Wait,” Zamyr said, and Quin turned. “We don’t need you to take us there. Just tell us where to go and we will be on our way.”
Quin cocked his head to the side and made a twisted expression. “Are ye a cod, bucklepper? I very well may be calling you the eijit, boyo. The streets of Ireland ain’t no place for foreigner like ye to be wandering about getting yeself lost.”
“I’ll take him, then,” Aengus said, stepping forward and pointing to himself.
Quin leaned forward and squinted at the boy. “Ye?” He straightened with a laugh. “Ye be acting the maggot if ye believe ye could fill my job.” He looked around. “I don’t be seeing yer brother ‘round here, I don’t. This means ye probably be trying to play the hero yerself. We have no time for games, so run along now, ye. Go dodder with yer own time.”
This time, Zamyr stepped forward. “Aengus is right. He has taken me this far, and he can take me as far as the quay.”
“Aengus? Little Aengus? Taken ye thus far, now? Ye be pure out of your mind, me lad. By the divil, ye do be acting mentaller,” Quin laughed. “Ye have me or ye don’t. The advice be going with it.” Zamyr rolled his eyes, tired of everyone telling him that if he wanted something from them, he had to take them with him. But apparently Aengus was even more annoyed with people calling him an idiot, and stepped forward, taking a hard swing at Quin. “Whoa,” Quin said, stepping back. But Aengus’ fist nicked his jaw, and he put his hand to his face. “Be wide, ye cheek boyo,” he warned. “Ye don’t want to be startin’ a quarrel with me.”
“Wanna bet?” Aengus answered, and punched him in the eye. Quin’s head snapped back, and when he pulled it forward again, he did it slowly, his eyes dangerous.
“Now ye got me cheesed off, eijit. I be making flitters of ye yet,” Quin snarled.
“Bring it on,” Aengus growled. Just then, Fergus grabbed Aengus and held him by his arms. “Let me go!” Aengus shouted.
“There be no more of that,” Fergus said in a deep voice.
Quin wiped his lip. “Thanks, me man,” he said. Then he stepped forward and punched Aengus hard in the gut.
“Hey!” Zamyr yelled.
“Ye be getting no help form me,” Quin said, and turned back towards the alleyway.
Fergus let go of Aengus, who dropped to the ground. “I said no fight!” the brute said stupidly. He stomped up behind Quin and punched him in the back of his neck. Quin flew forward and landed with a hard thump on the pavement. He was out cold. Fergus turned and walked back to the group. Aengus was coughing and sucking in air through his teeth in ragged breaths. “I sorry, little man. I didn’t know he attack.”
“It’s okay Fergus,” Aengus answered. “It’s not your fault.” Fergus held out his huge hand. Aengus took it, using it as leverage to stand. He brushed the dirt off of his clothes. “I think I know where to go,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
**************
Tyler rest on the bottom mattress of the bunk bed, lying on his back with his hands behind his head. “Well, this is boring,” he said.
Conner was pacing the room, worried. “I wonder what the SSAWPS is going to do now. The shields we created aren’t set up yet.”
“The SSAWPS?” Tyler asked, turning over to look at him. “I would be more worried about Sarah and Katie.”
“I’m worried about them too,” Conner agreed. “But if the SSAWPS finds out where the POAF is now, and that its defense systems are low, making it basically a sitting duck…Sarah and Katie won’t be the only ones in trouble.”
“So what? We’ll just tell the SSAWPS that we were captives. They will have to believe us.”
Conner stopped pacing for a minute to give Tyler a skeptical look. “You really don’t know anything about the SSAWPS, do you?”
Tyler sat up. “No…but I’m guessing they don’t take prisoners?”
“Not from what I’ve seen,” Conner answered, and continued to pace. Tyler watched him for a bit, then laid back down on the bed. After a while, Conner turned towards Tyler again. “Do you ever wonder what Rebecca is doing?”
“Rebecca?” Tyler asked, surprised. “No. Why?”
“Well, last time I saw her was when I informed her that the ASW had exploded.”
“What?!” Tyler exclaimed, jumping up from the mattress and hitting his head on the bed above him. He held his head, ducked, and stood out from the bed. “The ASW exploded?”
“You didn’t hear?” Conner questioned, surprised.
Tyler rolled his eyes. “We’ve been carting that big lug named Armaan around everywhere. Tonga wasn’t a good place, so we decided to come here. Then Katie…gah!” Tyler smacked his head with his hand. “She said she had enemies in Fiji, but we didn’t listen to her. Now I feel so stupid.”
“If Katie’s here, then where is Armaan?” Conner asked.
Tyler paused. “Good question.” He started to pace the room, just like Conner had been doing before. “They said something about going to…what was it? Gosh! I wish I could remember. Armaan and Katie left to go somewhere else while we came here…”
“Wait, so why is Katie here?”
“Shh!” Tyler hissed. He crept carefully towards the heavy door they had been thrown into just minutes earlier.
“Don’t tell me you heard something behind that huge door,” Conner said, rolling his eyes.
“I did. It sounded like…something hitting a pipe.”
Conner threw his hands up in frustration. “Now you’re hearing things!”
“Sh! I’m not! I heard it again!” Tyler explained, his ear pressed against the door.
Conner turned towards him. “If you are joking right now…”
“I’m not!” He stepped back from the door. “It wasn’t coming from the door, though. It was from somewhere else.” He searched the room, looking everywhere. Then his eyes glued to the bed. He walked towards it and grabbed one side. “Help me with this.”
“What are you doing?” Conner questioned, confused.
“Just help me move the bed away from the wall,” Tyler answered. Conner walked over and grabbed the other side. They hefted, dragging the bed over about an inch, then let go. “Come on, don’t give up,” Tyler said. They grabbed the bed and began moving it again.
************