“Sofia didn't make it either” Mateo said, holding back a tear, “I helped Monique and Olivia get out though, they should hopefully be here soon”.
Gina and James' twisted stomachs twisted another rotation, more grief to contend with. They both had to sit down and take deep breaths. They all knew that the whole plan was risky, but it had to be done. There was never any guarantee that they would all make it, but that didn't make it any easier.
“So, Monique and Olivia are on their way” Mateo repeated, “Jarrah and Emma are already at the compound”
“The compound? Is that what it's called?” Gina asked. She knew they were going somewhere but hadn't really thought about what it was called.
“We're also waiting for Niel, Mike and David” Mateo said, ignoring her as if it was just a rhetorical question, “I'm not sure if you've seen the smoke back over the city or not, but some rebel factions have been bombing the downtown area”
“Yes, and why is that Mateo?” Brandon said sarcastically.
“Okay, yes, that's sort of my fault, it was so we could all get out of the city while the Elite were distracted” He replied.
“Hey don't go stealing all the glory for my plan” Joaquin shouted over, half-jokingly, but also half menacingly.
They all sat down, continuing the waiting game. The guards passed round some bottles of water, thirst now starting to take hold of them all. The adrenalin was subsiding, allowing them all to think about other basic things, of which water was the most prominent. The guards all complained about being hungry though and a box of chocolate bars was pulled out of the van.
“How can they eat at a time like this?” Samir said.
“Beats me” Mariam replied, sipping water so messily that it rolled down her chin.
They relayed more of the journey to get to where they were, each one of them joining in with the almost unbelievable tales. Their story-telling was interrupted by the sounds of another approaching vehicle. Mateo sprung to his feet to see who it was, the guards all jumping up too, their weapons appearing from nowhere.
“It’s okay guys” Mateo said, “It's two of ours”.
The guards all stood down and Mateo approached the car as it slowed to a stop. Monique and Olivia stepped out, both of them looking ten years older. They weren't prepared for what they had just seen, Monique's blouse dyed with blood and Olivia's with speckles of vomit. Despite the blood, vomit and tears, Mateo ran over to them and gave them both a big hug.
“I'm so glad you guys are okay” He said, more tears welling in his eyes. It was one tearful day for him today.
Olivia pulled him closer to them, hugging him harder, thanking him over and over again for helping save them. He told her it was nothing, but to Olivia it was everything and she owed him so much that she knew she could never fully repay.
“I never want to touch a gun again” She said to him.
Monique never said anything; she just continued the hug, feeling numb. Eventually they walked over to the others and they all greeted each other closely, happy again to have more friends join them safely. Mateo noticed a flash emanate from his laptop and he picked it up to investigate. There seemed to be some tracking device around them somewhere, which gave him a sudden chill down his spine. It only appeared when Monique and Olivia arrived. He zoomed in closer to try and find where the signal was. He found it strange as it hadn't appeared on their journey, as if it was deliberately turned off.
The chills down his spine were getting colder as he suddenly realised that the Elite had turned whatever was tracking them off, so that Mateo never knew it was there, and now it was back on again. He typed away on the laptop crazily, hacking into the signal, trying to locate its exact position, trying to get a feed from it. The screen flickered to life and he could see it was tiny Nano-bot, sitting somewhere on Olivia. His heart sank, his pulse quickened, this was a worst-case scenario for him. He intercepted the signal, hacked into the tiny machine and caused a momentary power surge to blow its circuits and destroy the signal. Olivia let out a quick scream as something in her hair sparked, singeing some strands.
“What the hell was that?” she cried rubbing her hair confused.
Mateo ran over, riffled through her long auburn hair and retrieved the tiny robot.
“We got a huge problem guys” He shouted in a panic.
THE COMPOUND
Rashid knocked at the door and Sheryl told him to enter.
“You don't need to knock”
“Sorry, just a habit I guess” Rashid replied, “I've been checking the feeds and there's been issues back in the city with some factions, they've started an indiscriminate bombing campaign”.
Sheryl sighed; she expected this to happen, but not quite as soon as this. She poured herself a small glass of gin, pulled out another glass and poured some into that too, handing it over to Rashid.
“I had a quick message from Mateo, most of them have arrived, we are waiting for three more to turn up” She said taking a long slow sip, letting the flavour linger on her tongue, “Two of my team didn't make it”.
“Sorry to hear that Ma'am” Rashid said bowing his head a little in respect, before taking a sip himself.
“Sheryl, please” she replied, “As soon as the last three have arrived I'll give you the signal and we'll get the helicopter over to them”.
The two guards who escorted Jarrah and Emma to the compound were the pilots, and the state-of-the-art helicopter Sheryl had commissioned was going to be handed to them on completion of the mission, as an extra thank
