FRIEND OR FOE?

Chapter 9-Another Day, More Suspicions

Humphrey awoke to the smell of something. It smelled like smoke. Getting up, he walked over and out into the main clearing to see what it was. Carl was standing there in front of a burning log. He glanced over at Humphrey and scowled at him.

"What happened?" Humphrey asked.

"None of your business," said Carl, "but if you must know, I'm burning my anger out."

"Why?"

"Like you'd understand, Mr. Favorite," Carl said. "I was just using it as a punching bag, apparently when I'm mad enough I can cause it to catch on fire."

"Well, have fun with your log," said Humphrey turning away, sensing it wasn't over. He was right.

"Hold on there, dirtface!" Carl said. "Look, everyone's saying Jason's a traitor. If we're right, and you happen to be the first person to see him, I want you to take care of him. I don't care how much of a friend he is to you, I don't give a damn! Do it, or you'll wake up with your intestines bleeding out."

Humphrey stared at Carl for a few seconds. "O-kay, then."

"I mean it, Humphrey!" Carl snapped. "If Jason's a traitor, we don't need him anymore!"

Humphrey turned and walked back to his room, ignoring Carl's shouts after him: "I mean it!"

Humphrey walked into his room, thinking. If everyone was suspicious of Jason, they might be getting suspicious of him, too. He was, after all, in the enemies' territory. You couldn't blame a hunter for shooting a wolf if the wolf was in the hunter's back yard.

"Humphrey?" Jason said, through the earpiece. He wasn't in the room.

"Yeah, Jason. What's up?"

"I think we may have a small problem."

"Problem?"

"Small problem…hopefully," said Jason. "Come outside, I'll tell you there."

Humphrey walked outside, where Jason stood, waiting and looking worried.

"What's the small problem, then?" Humphrey asked.

"I've made a mistake," Jason said.

"When?"

"In Bismarck," said Jason. "When I blew out the fuse box by accident, I tried to fix it, but I think I only made it worse. The security camera saw me, and it sent the footage to the security man, who sent it to the North Dakota State Security Center."

"Alright," said Humphrey.

"Yeah, well, they're sending it to every computer in the world! They're also making announcements of it through every radio and electronic device! That includes our earpieces, man!"

Humphrey finally began sensing what the problem was.

"So, Jerry and all the rest of the Black Assassins will hear it!" he said.

"Yeah!" said Jason. "And he'll think I was doing the whole thing intentionally, so my cover will be blown, and so will yours because it would be obvious due to the fact I stayed behind to help you."

"So just explain to Jerry that it wasn't intentional."

"I can't! I'll be slaughtered before I make it to him!" Jason said. "We need to kill that trace!"

"How?"

"There's a building nearby that receives all global transmissions," explained Jason. "We need to get there and stop the transmission from reaching this area!"

"Okay," said Humphrey.


Jason and Humphrey walked over to the building in which Jason spoke of. When they got there, Jason looked panicked.

"Oh, man!" he said. "We've only got about twenty minutes!"

"How'd you know?"

"I was taking my morning walk this morning, and I heard it on a radio in the distance. I've calculated the precise distance, and it should hit this area in about twenty minutes."

Humphrey was impressed with Jason's math skills.

"Okay, Humphrey. I want you to get inside there and stop that trace by taking out the main generator and the connectivity wire. Since there's only enough room in the vents for you, I'm going back to monitor how things are looking at the hideout and make sure no one there gets it early."

"Okay, good luck," said Humphrey.

Jason turned and ran back into the forest.

Humphrey approached the building. It was tall, and looked like it had been a fortress at one point.

There was a vent in the side on the building. Humphrey tore off the grate and walked inside. The vent was really narrow, so it was hard to move. Humphrey wondered how it would be possible from anything bigger to get through.

He began to pass rooms. One was a small room in which a man at a laptop was working. Another was an empty room. The third was a large room with three men inside. Humphrey popped off the grate and stalked inside.

One of the men approached another. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That," said the first man, pointing at something in the second man's hand. "That paper. What's it say?"

"Nothing important," said the second man, as Humphrey moved silently behind them. "Not that it would matter much to you, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you butt into everyone's conversations. Do everyone a favor and shut up for a few minutes, okay?"

Humphrey walked behind a small wall that was in the center of the room. Behind it was a set of glass doors. Humphrey approached them and they slid open automatically.

"Humphrey, what's the status?" Jason said through the earpiece.

"I'm going though one of the hallways now," said Humphrey.

"Okay, in light of this recent discovery of this problem, I investigated the building myself a little bit and know where both the generator and connectivity wire are."

"Okay, what's the news?"

"The generator is at the back of the building, and the wire should be in the vent right about it."

"Thanks," said Humphrey.

"No problem," said Jason. "Call me if anything goes wrong. Jason out."

Humphrey walked down the long hallway. There were rooms everywhere on either side. Some of them actually had someone inside. Humphrey found it a miracle no one saw him.

At the end of the hall was another small wall in the center of the room. Humphrey walked around it and found a locked door. A label on the door read GENERATOR ROOM.

There door itself was unlocked, but there was a padlock on the door. Humphrey shrugged and bit it off. The door slid open and Humphrey walked inside. A loud clanking and running sound was filling the room. Humphrey walked over to the large green generator. He didn't know how to turn it off, so he walked behind it and saw a pipe jutting from the back that was connected to the wall. It was the fuel line, giving the fuel through the pipe. Humphrey bit the pipe in two and gasoline poured onto the floor. The room filled with the smell of gasoline. Also the lights went out.

"Damn it!" a voice from the hallway called. "What happened? Why are the lights out? Someone get in the generator room and see what the hell's going on here!"

Humphrey looked around and saw a vent in the ceiling. He jumped on top of the generator and leaped up. He grabbed the great and managed to yank it off in midair. Another pair of jumps onto and from the generator got Humphrey inside. He'd just managed to pull himself up when a man entered the room.

"What the—?" he said, looking at the gasoline emerging from the generator's base and the vent grate on the floor.

Humphrey watched him, and then looked up. He looked down both sides of the vent, and saw on side had a small control box with a wire sticking out. Humphrey crossed over the hole and snapped the wire in half with his teeth. He carefully stepped back over the hole and began moving through the vent. This one was darker and less comfortable, not that the first was any more comfortable.

"Jason," said Humphrey. "You there?"

"Humphrey, what's the word?"

"I've taken care of the generator and connectivity wire."

"Good," said Jason. "That'll keep them sending anything out for a while, at least until we stop Jerry's plan. And with ten minutes to spare. You're got skill, man!"

"It was nothing much," said Humphrey. What he had just done really wasn't that hard.

"Great, well I'll see you when you get back here," said Jason.

Humphrey continued following the vent until he passed the opening he had gone through earlier. Two more vents out of the way, and he was back outside. He ran from the building, worried someone might see him, but no one did. No one did.


Things remained calm until right before Humphrey entered the hideout.

"Humphrey!" Jerry called through the earpiece. "Where are you?"

"Just outside the hideout," said Humphrey. "Why?"

"Oh, good," said Jerry. "I thought you'd left for a minute. Listen, meet me in my room. I need to discuss something important with you."

Humphrey walked into the hideout, and was greeted by Carl.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you and Jason disappear for a while there?"

"Perhaps we were here and you just didn't see us," said Humphrey.

Carl gave Humphrey a suspicious look. "Alright, you win for now, but I'm not letting this go." He turned and walked off. Humphrey walked to Jerry's room.

"Humphrey, sit down."

Humphrey did so.

"I've got a little assignment for you," said Jerry.

"Oh really?" said Humphrey. "What is it?"

"I've got a little something I need from Albuquerque," Jerry explained. "I'm planning on retrieving it alone, as it is not that big of a deal, plus Carl seems to be getting paranoid."

Humphrey scoffed.

"So, I was thinking," Jerry said, "how would you like to come with me?"

"What?" said Humphrey, slightly taken aback.

"You heard."

"But I thought you were going by yourself?"

"That was my initial intention, but I realized I could always use a good backup, so I'm giving you this chance."

"That sounds interesting, sir," said Humphrey.

"Good," said Jerry. "Now run along. Remember, we leave tomorrow morning for Albuquerque."

As Humphrey got up and walked out of the room, Jerry added, "Just don't make this another Bismarck."


Humphrey slept that night pondering the assignment in Albuquerque. He felt no need to be nervous, but Jerry's voice kept echoing inside his head.

"Just don't make this another Bismarck."


Humphrey woke up the next morning and walked into the main clearing.

"They you are, Humphrey!" Jerry said. No one else seemed to be up and about yet. "Okay, now I'm going to be removing an important control panel from the Albuquerque International Museum. I need you to cover me at all times in case anything goes wrong."

"Roger that," said Humphrey.

"It's going to be a few days," said Jerry. "So let's hit it."

Humphrey and Jerry walked out of the hideout and over to a nearby road, where they awaited their ride to New Mexico.


AN: Close call, huh? Albuquerque should be a thrill to write. What do you think of the story so far now? Getting kind of tense isn't it? R&R.