That's the exact thing the angels taught me in their realm. Someone who is powerful should keep in mind the greater good for all instead of one individual. I get it now, but Charlie is too important to me to just let him die in vain.
"Well, she's going to have a big surprise." Dax stares off and balls his hands. "We've got to get in there."
He's more worried about the artifact, but I'm more concerned about my love. "He's right." I'm not sure if she was trying to talk me out of going, but there is no backing down. "We have to go. I have to save Charlie. He's the only one who understands, and I'm not sure if I could have survived this long without him."
She begins pacing back and forth, pulling at the ends of her hair. "Okay, fine." She stops and places her hands on her hips. "I'm in. I want to fight with you."
"No, you don't have to do that." I don't want her to get in trouble and have to deal with the fall out. I can always go back home, but this... This is her home.
"You saved me when I didn't deserve it." She snorts and glances down. "Hell, you've been the best friend I've had here. This is the least I can do, and I happen to know the layout inside."
"I'm sold." Dax points at her and nods. "Let's get moving. Brad and his group should be close to our meeting place if not already there." He takes off back in the direction of the beach.
"All right, let's go." Melody beams and heads after him.
Well, shit. I guess it's two against one, and I'm the freaking loser. I don't like this, but hell, what am I supposed to do? She's a grown-ass woman. I don't want to be the cause of anyone else getting harmed, and at the end of the day, we need to save Charlie sooner rather than later. I follow behind them, eager to get this thing done.
It doesn't take long to reach the beach. I'm surprised to find Brad and his little army there already. They are in a circle, and all but Brad are wearing matching clothes and bullet proof vests. They are dressed in all black with a gun on each hip. Each person there has to be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. I guess this is how everyone pays their dues and moves up?
Brad is in deep conversation with all of them, and the man on his left bends down and draws something in the sand. Huh, I wonder if you can draw in this sand.
The guy on his other side points at it and moves his hand higher, and Brad nods while rubbing his chin with him thumb.
So that answers my question. They are looking at something. We are now about five feet away from them, and there's a building etched in the sand that is very similar to the fortress we just saw.
"You guys have a plan?" Dax leans over and examines the drawing.
"We're trying, but we have limited information on the set up inside." Brad rubs his mouth so hard it opens half way. "It's kind of hard to form a plan if you don't know what's going on."
"That's where I come in." Melody grins and taps her foot as she takes in the drawing. "Okay, this section to the right," she says, as she motions toward the right side, "is Ria's room. There is a balcony right off her room that connects with Tide's."
That makes sense since there were two chairs and a table sitting out there. They must meet there at times. "I saw that. It overlooks the water."
"Yes." She bites her bottom lip and cringes. "Right across from their rooms are the entrances to the holding area."
"Holding area?" The guy on the left of Brad creases his forehead. "What do they keep there?"
"Here in our world, we don't have prisoners." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Ria thinks that people might be afraid of coming to visit us if we have criminals here. So, we don't have a prison; we have a holding area."
That may be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. People still come to Earth even though we have jails and prisons.
"It doesn't matter what you call it, the intent is all the same." Dax pinches the bridge of his nose and groans. "But that's a good thing. We know where Charlie is inside the building."
"So we are going here." The man on his right points to a spot in between the areas where Tide’s and Ria's room are.
"Yeah." She points to about the second level of the building. "Here is an entrance only we citizens know about. We have to scan our fingertips in order to get in. If you can take down the scanner, you can sneak in that way."
"How would we take out the scanner?" Brad purses his lips and stares at it as if it's the real thing.
"Guns." Dax scratches his nose and glances out at the ocean. "That's the only option we have."
"Well, I can scan..." Melody rubs her hands together and squints.
"Nope, you're not scanning anything." There is no way in hell I would let her do that. "We’re going to hide your involvement. They never need to know you helped us."
"She's right." Brad crosses his arms and stares off into the ocean. "We don't want you to wind up in the holding area. The best advantage we have is that they don’t know you’re helping us, and they won't be expecting you to attack."
"Where do we go once we enter here?" Brad's comrade on the left draws an X on the building where Melody had indicated the door would be.
"Oh, it's not far at all." She closes her eyes
