Chapter 10 is finally here! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have had controlled assessments at school and I was ill for a week not too long ago. Thank you so much for reviewing the story, it means a lot that my stories are being read. I sincerely hope that you like this chapter as the best is yet to come!

Chapter 10 – The Base

The room was dark and a lot bigger than I had expected. The room had rounded walls with five cylindrical pillars holding up the flat, concrete ceiling and, thankfully, stopping the hundreds of metres of dirt that I expected were between me and the safety of daylight. Discoloured tiles hung off of the pillars and the walls underneath orange, metal bands that ran around the room in the middle of the wall with neon green lights above the band and plain concrete behind them.

On the left side of the room, between two of the five pillars and a little bit forward, was a clean white desk with a fancy looking computer that made me feel genuinely sorry for my sad, old laptop. Underneath the desk was a white set of metal drawers with who-knows what inside. Next to the computer was a little white lamp. Behind the desk was a metal shelving unit filled with little black, grey and white devices, phones and what looked like books.

On the right side of the room, attached to the wall, was a glass board that curved with the shape of the room. It was covered with symbols and carefully drawn shapes in red and black. Next to and underneath these shapes were little pieces of faded paper with words written on them. Black lines attached the shapes and pieces of paper together as if it was a map. I tilted my head and allowed myself to speak to myself with a frown.
"What is this? What is going on down here?" I asked myself in a whisper that echoed around the room.

Finally, I looked straight down the middle of the room and saw a big, round table with a harsh white light shining out from underneath it. The table had files and documents strewn across it carelessly. Curious, I walked towards the table and glanced at the files to find Tom's name on one in big bold letters. I stared at the file, the file full of pieces of paper, having an internal argument about whether to open it.

My head screamed at me not to while my heart couldn't help wanting to know what was in the folder. My heart and head came to a reasonable conclusion. I knew that if I moved the folder then someone would notice and possibly scan it for fingerprints. They would then register them as mine and I would, to put it in simple terms, be screwed. Tom would find out that I had basically been spying on him, stalking him and I didn't want him to think that. I wasn't down here really because I wanted to creep on Tom, but because I was genuinely curious about what he and his friends did down here.

Putting on my gloves, to hide my fingerprints, I quickly glanced at the clear glass board that was behind the table. It looked like a whiteboard in a classroom but it was made of clear plastic or glass. I decided not to question it as, with my gloves on, I got out my camera. My mum had bought me a professional camera for my fourteenth birthday, back when I went through my photography phase, and I hadn't used it in years so I had decided to put it in my backpack just in case I needed it. I was grateful that I had thought of bringing it as the light was too dim to use my phone.

I lifted open the front cover of the file, being careful not to move it from its place in the very centre of the table, and took a picture of the page inside. I did this with the ten pieces of paper in the file. Even though I took the pictures, I still couldn't bring myself to look at them on the camera in the room. I decided to do it when I got home.

After closing the file, I turned my attention back to the room. I looked at the lift that had taken me down there. I was looking for somewhere to place the cameras I had brought down. Carefully, I attached one camera to a hole in the wall above the entrance to the room. I stepped back to see if it was visible and, when seeing that it wasn't smiled proudly at myself. I found the next best place to put a camera was opposite the lift, so I could see who came in or out of the base. I was very happy with my first two camera placements.

Glancing around the room to see where else to put a camera, I noticed something that I should have noticed before. The lamp on the desk with the awesome computer, was on along with all the other lights in the room. A wave of panic washed over me as I stepped back in shock. Someone had been here. It wasn't left alone as I had been led to believe. Suddenly, almost to confirm my theory, a loud whirring noise sounded! I looked around to see someone jump out at me but no one did. I realized that the noise was coming from the lift, the lift that was quickly bringing someone down to the base…

With my terror levels increasing, I spun in a jagged circle, silently screaming in my head. In a moment of pure luck, I tripped and fell towards a corridor on the right of the room that I hadn't seen before. Stumbling to get up, I crawled down the corridor to find a maze of rooms and separate corridors that broke off from the main one like veins. If I carry on down her, I thought, I am going to get lost.

As I heard the doors of the lift opening, everything slowed down. It was as if someone had pressed paused on my life to let me think. All noises stopped and my movement felt rough and fast. My hair moved as if it was in water as I got up from the floor. Somehow, the world had stopped. Unexpectedly, I felt a little bit calmer. My brain stopped rushing and allowed itself to understand the surroundings. With the world still paused, I debated the options.

I could stay in the small corridor I was in and eavesdrop on the person in the room, with the danger of being found or I could walk around aimlessly in the corridor, make too much noise and have the danger of being found. I might as well find out who this person is, I decided, slowly creeping towards the end of the corridor. The corridor, I noticed, was not adjacent to the main room but came out at an angle meaning that, if I stood at a certain part of the wall, I was invisible to the person, yet I could see and hear them.

The second I made my decision, time seemed to start again and I pressed myself against the wall in time to see Stella and Frank come out of the lift. I subconsciously held my breath as an exit plan formed in my head.

"Now that we've found Tom, I think it's time we talked, Frank," I heard Stella say as she moved towards the desk. I let go of a breath that I hadn't known I was holding. Tom was safe! I suddenly felt a lot more relaxed knowing that Tom was okay. I smiled for a second before remembering where I was. Frank sighed before answering with a simple 'fine.'

"I have two points to make. The first being your team," Stella replied with a serious tone.
"My team? What's the problem?" he asked with sincere confusion in his voice.
"The team is comprised of Dan, Keri, Aneisha and Tom, which is the most amount of people on an MI. High team we've had to date and, since having four members instead of three, the team have been excellent," Stella said as Frank looked at her with a mix of surprise and severity.
"So you're congratulating them?" Frank asked.

"Not exactly. I'm suggesting you find another member," Stella finished, looking at Frank sternly.
"To replace who?" Frank asked anxiously. Stella shook her head and sighed.
"Frank, you never were very good at understanding. I'm suggesting that you find a fifth member of MI. High," she said calmly before sitting down on a chair.

"How will we find the new member? Will there be interviews? Will my team get a say in who is picked?" Frank asked whilst sitting down himself.
"Your team will get a say but they won't get the final decision. There can't be interviews, we don't want disgruntled interviewees who didn't get the job revealing where we are to KORPS or even this new Morte group. Therefore, you and your team need to find someone who meets the criteria by going outside and making some friends," Stella said with a hint of humour in her voice at the end.
"Or even," she added, "by making the pupils at St Hearts create a CV to find out if anyone at the school could join the team."

Stella got up and began to leave. I slid further back in the corridor to hide myself. Stella was at the lift when Frank got up and turned to her.
"Stella, what was the second thing you want to talk about?" Frank questioned. Stella walked back into the room and stood close to Frank. She looked up at him almost sadly before answering.

"I wanted to say sorry," she whispered, "I never should have left you, I never should have stopped us from being an us." Frank looked at her blankly.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked her as she continued to look at him.
"I only just realized that I have never said sorry to you," she said before turning and leaving, leaving Frank alone. Shortly after her departure, Frank left too, allowing me to come out of my hiding place.

I sat down on the floor alone. I was confused and couldn't seem to get the energy I needed to wonder what any of Stella and Frank's conversation meant. Slowly, I got out my tablet and checked to see if anyone was near the exit of the janitor's closet. There wasn't so I stood up and left. I left the school and walked home in the night, quiet and alone. I had done everything I needed to do and I was tired. It had been a long day and the days were only going to get longer…