“Aw, come off it, you,” Aengus said, rubbing his fist into Fítheal’s dark-haired head. He pulled away and stepped into the middle deck. “What are brothers for?”
Fítheal stood on the ramp, wide-eyed, as his jaw dropped. Zamyr bumped him as he passed, but Fítheal didn’t notice. “Brothers?”
Aengus turned around. “Well ya, unless you don’t want to be.”
“In yer boot!” Fítheal answered, heading into the middle deck. “Brothers we are!” Aengus headed towards the stairs leading down to the cabins, and the other two followed. Fítheal went to step ahead of Zamyr, but bumped into him. “Oy! Watch where yer goin’!” he exclaimed, stopping. “Whoer ye anyways?”
“Zamyr,” Zamyr answered plainly, waiting for Fítheal to continue down the stairs.
“What kinda name is that?” Fítheal questioned skeptically.
Zamyr gritted his teeth. “It’s Albanian,” he said, pushing past Fítheal. The kid was starting to get on his nerves.
“Ye got a last name, fruit loop?”
“Why should I tell you?” Zamyr asked, continuing down the stairs.
Fítheal didn’t have an answer to that one, so he followed Zamyr down the stairs, wondering how he would get the name out of him.
***************
“Wow this wall is old,” Conner remarked, sliding his knife in between the bricks. The mortar crumbled as he shook the brick, and he pulled it loose.
“You know, I can still break the wall open,” Armaan suggested. “It would be faster.”
Conner shook his head and loosened another brick. “Bad idea. We don’t know how stable the rest of the wall is. The whole thing could collapse.”
“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing,” Tyler said, annoyed, as he lay on the bottom bunk of the bed. They had been working on the wall for at least ten minutes now.
Conner turned around to give him a skeptical look. As he slid on his knees, he kicked up a small cloud of mortar, and Tyler coughed. “Stratagem,” Conner said simply, and went back to work.
Tyler rolled his eyes. He knew Conner was right, but this was taking way too long.
“Done,” Conner said, standing and dusting himself off. He stretched and slid the knife back into his boot.
“Finally,” Tyler answered, kicking his legs off the side of the bed and standing next to the wall. “Looks big enough now.” He stepped in through the hole, and Tyler followed.
“I think I know where the girls are, but they’re in a room to the north, which is a newer part of the building. It won’t be as easy to get them out,” Armaan said. “We need to cause a distraction or something.”
Tyler stood there for a moment, then smiled. “I think I have an idea.”
***************
Ashlynn paced the floor, then stopped. There were voices up ahead. The trap wasn't working.
"Let's go." She whispered to the back-up group. They began to hurry towards the end of a tunnel, where Ashlynn bumped straight into Laura.
**************
Laura had been sprinting at a good pace with the others behind her, invigorated by the sudden fear for their lives, when she suddenly fell on the floor with the SSAWPS leader. Laura scrambled to get up while the other girl lay on the floor. Laura reached for her knife in her boot, grabbed the back of the agent’s suit, and thrust the girl up on her feet. Laura then wrapped the girl's arms behind her back and placed the knife threateningly against her throat. All of this had happened in the matter of a few seconds, and the agents from both the SSAWPS and DANE all gawked at her. Kalyia and Imraan looked completely confused and flabbergasted. The SSAWPS's leader's eyes widened with fear.
"Let us go, and we'll spare your leader," Laura demanded.
The agents looked at each other uncertainly. Then, one by one, they placed their weapons on the floor. Laura jerked her head to the end of the tunnel, and the other agents quickly moved towards the exit of the tunnel. Laura followed slowly with the leader.
"Give her back!" one SSAWPS agent demanded.
Laura paused. Then she responded, "No. She's obviously the only smart one in your group. If you go directly west from here, you should find an exit. No offense, but I'm surprised that an intelligent person actually joined your cause."
And with that, Laura backed away into a corner with their leader in front of her as her shield.
**************
"I demand that you release me!" Ashlynn shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Gag her," Laura simply commanded one of the DANE agents.
"Let GO of me! Let me go! Let me-AGH!" Her words were interrupted by the gag.
"Kan vi ogsaa finde nogle reb til at binde hende med? Jeg bliver traet af at holde hende saadan. " Laura called out. There was some murmuring among the agents, then Imraan came forward with some thin rope.
"There we go! OK, go on ahead,” Laura said. Ashlynn's arms were twisted into an awkward position, then bound with the rope. She tried to move her arms, but the only success was that she moved into an even more uncomfortable position.
"Don't even bother. It's a polyester rope, specialized for agents in these types of situations. Almost like Chinese handcuffs in this particular knot, except they're stronger and not easily escaped from. Not to mention the metal wiring, so don’t even think about trying to cut it. And you know what,"--Laura opened a container in her utility belt belt--"we might as well blindfold you." She whipped out a sleeping mask and placed it on Ashlynn's eyes carefully. "Let's go!" Ashlynn heard Laura call out.
"Lmargha, ghu'vhe ghut to ghret mhe ghro!" Ashlynn said through the gag. Laura apparently ignored her, because the only thing that happened afterwards was the steady pull from some people beside her and a random turning in circles to confuse her of which direction they were headed.
****************