Again, this chapter is actually two chapters crammed together. Just a heads up though, the second chapter is from Trista's perspective. It's still 3rd person, but concentrating on her rather than Alex(I thought I'd try it for once, tell me what you think).
Neway, enjoy!Wednesday, 8th December, 11:03
12"05'57 N - 68"56'10 W
The entrance hall was quite impressive given the tatty outside. The floor looked like polished marble slabs, and the walls were tiled while. The dry, air-conditioned feel made it seem like a hotel lobby, it even had the small table set in the centre of the room with the ornamental fresh flowers, probably the only things in the room not black or white. There were two staircases; one going of to the right and up, the other was to the left and down. There was only one other door to the room other than the front door, a (surprise surprise) white wooden panelled door situated between the two stairwells at the end of the room.
Alex quickly moved to check the GPS again; the green dot was clearly a couple of meters above him. Alex knew from experience that wandering around searching without a clue of the building wasn't going to work, so he quickly made his way to the stairs leading up so he could try and overhear something useful. However halfway up the stairs the lights suddenly cut out.
Alex froze, afraid that he'd been spotted, but he soon noticed that the low him of the aircon had faded, and a very loud voice could be heard from the top of the stairs.
"BLOODY HELL!" the guy was English; the accent was enough to give that away. "Quick, go check the circuit breakers!" so that meant the power was out?
Keeping an eye on the green dot, Alex quickly moved up onto the second floor landing and ducked behind a large desk as the Spaniard burst out of some rather large and expensive double doors opposite the desk.
Peaking his head up to watch the retreating man Alex was suddenly very glad that the power had gone. A CCTV camera was pointing directly at him, the usually red operation light wasn't lit, but that didn't mean it would stay off for long.
Alex quickly vaulted back over the desk and across to the double doors that the Spaniard had appeared from. They were still open a crack and Alex peered in to spot a man standing behind an expensive looking leather-bound desk. His white handlebar moustache and hair along with his face told Alex he was in his early 50s, but the fact that he'd just punched the desk and taken a chunk out of it told Alex this was one 50 year old that he should try to avoid at all costs.
Tearing his eyes away from the piece of solid oak that had once been part of the desk, he spotted a rack of small TV screens set up along one wall, no doubt on the other end of the CCTVs. On the other side of the room there were various physical training equipments, something that didn't surprise Alex in the slightest after what he'd just seen.
He was about to quietly leave when the phone on the, now ruined, desk rang, surprising Alex and the man a little before Alex remembered that land-line phones get their power from directly down the telephone line, and therefore mostly unaffected by power cuts, or circuit breaker failure.
"Yes!" The man spat down the line, "yes, this is he…yes…what do you mean a few hours!…Look, I have a very important meeting in half an hour…no I'm afraid it's you that's going to be inconvenienced! You just wait till I get my hands on you! Hey!" it appeared that the person on the other end of the line had hung up, and Alex didn't blame them. However, it did seem that luck was on his side, and if that conversation was about the power as Alex suspected, then he had a bit more time to sneak around without worrying about the cameras.
Just then Alex heard the Spaniard's steps as he ran up the stairs, he quickly jumped back behind the desk.
"Señor, the circuit breakers are…" Alex could only guess, judging by the sound, that he'd just seen his boss knock another piece of marble off his desk.
"Yes, I know…" the Englishman said, somewhat calmly, "apparently its just this block…" he seemed to be thinking. "Go check the girl would you?"
Alex didn't like where this was going.
"Stay there until I contact you. Raven will be stopping by to pick her up in half an hour or so, make your time with her count…" Alex really didn't like the sound of that. "Here, take the torch, it might be a little dark down there."
Alex's face split into a smile. This was Alex's break, the Spaniard would lead him straight to Trista, and the dark would even help Alex to deal with him. The doors flung themselves open and the Spaniard set off downstairs with a smile that immediately wiped the pleased look off Alex's face.
Alex waited for as long as he dared before following the man, using his GPS as a map he managed to follow the Spaniard through the entrance hall and down under the building. The light faded very quickly in the stone spiral staircase, and feet made more noise than Alex anticipated, but the Spaniard didn't seem to notice, in fact, Alex was would have sworn that he was humming.
Suddenly the Spaniard's feet stopped and Alex had a hard time stopping before he made another step and gave himself away. In the silence Alex could hear what could only be the jingling of keys, then the opening of a lock. As the Spaniard's feet stared to make contact with the floor again, Alex swiftly moved down the stairs two at a time, using his arms on the walls of the staircase to soften each step until he reached the still wide open door on his right, although the stairs went further down still.
Peering round the corner Alex could see a large room split up by a series of metal gratings. Quickly checking his GPS he suddenly noticed that he had no signal and put it back in his pack, taking out the hunting knife instead. It wasn't like he would use it, but it made him look more dangerous, and that could work to his advantage.
The Spaniard was shining the torch on the keys in his hand and not really concentrating on anything else so Alex took the opportunity to start to sneak up behind him.
Matching his steps to the regular drip of some leaky masonry he managed to get within striking distance of the man before the Spaniard even noticed. Alex quickly winded the man with a swift punch to the abdomen, silencing him, before performing a sharp but simple kick to the head, knocking the man out cold. The most sound he made was when he hit the flood, hard.
The torch had fallen out of the Spaniard's hand and was now lying on the floor, still illuminating the room, and one person, one very naked person in particular.
"Trista!" Alex said before thinking.
"Really?" a strangely familiar English voice came from the doorway. "We've been trying to get that information out of her for two weeks now!" he laughed slightly before closing the door and bolting it top and bottom, not even bothering with the lock considering Alex had a set of keys inside the room with him. "Raven will be pleased! Two spies, and we even have the name of one of them now!" he started to laugh again before turning and walking back up the stairs, his evil laugh audible all the while.
Alex cursed himself but caught sight of Trista again. She was starting to wake. Turning his knife over he got his lock picking kit out and began to pick the lock. If they were going to be 'given over' to this Raven person, he'd at least give her some clothes first.
Wednesday, 8th December, 11:14
12"05'57 N - 68"56'10 W
The laugh that had been haunted her dreams woke her. She snapped awake, ready to fight him away, or at least try. She felt that as long as she fought, and didn't give up, she could get through this, no matter what they did to her.
Opening her eyes she saw a blurred image of someone fumbling with the lock to her cell. She couldn't quite see, there was some light shining in her face from next to the person.
"GO AWAY!" she shouted, obviously startling the person somewhat as they dropped what looked like a rather large hunting knife onto the floor.
"It's ok, I'm here to help you." It was a guy, probably around 18 by the sounds of it, he sounded English meaning he was probably working for that man. She laughed, it came out hollow.
"I've heard that one before, don't think they haven't already tried that tack with me." He didn't seem to care what she said as he continued to fiddle with her lock.
"Look, you seem new," she said, trying to assert herself despite the circumstances. "You really don't want to do that, you'd be out cold before you could even touch me!" and she didn't doubt it, he didn't look that strong, and although she might have been weak due to lack of nourishment, and…other things…but there were still few who could go up against her and win.
"You mean like this guy?" the boy nodded down to where the light was, and of course, she could see nothing.
"What are you on about? All I can see is a light!" she herd him give a small 'oh', and he quickly kicked the light out of her face. The limp body of one of the few she was just thinking of was lying on the floor; she thought she could even see a small pool of blood from behind his head.
"Believe me now?" he said, taking a quick glance at her. His face was contorted in concentration at his task, and she suddenly noticed that he wasn't using any keys. He suddenly swore loudly and picked up the knife again, taking out what looked like some pink chewing gum from the grip and shoving it in his mouth. While he chewed he shoved something inside the grip and placed the knife into a slot in his backpack.
"Giving up now are we?" Trista teased, not really knowing what to think, but going with her first assessment of him.
"No, not quite yet." He said taking the gum out of his mouth and shoving it into the lock.
"Oi!" she shouted, not really thinking straight. After a few seconds she realised that if the lock was jammed they wouldn't be able to get in for a while, maybe giving her a rest for a while.
"Cover your eyes." The boy said as he stepped back, covering his face with his hands. Trista didn't bother, she'd rather watch the idiot sticking chewing gum in the lock, for all the good it was doing him. She suddenly wished she had.
The lock blew with quite a quiet but powerful and very bright explosion. Trista felt the shockwave wash over her and before she could recover her composure properly, the boy was at her side.
"I SAID STAY AWAY!" she screamed, attempting to break his nose with the palm of her hand by forcing it back into his face. She was so shocked that he caught her arm she forgot to fight on.
"Look," he said quite fast, but deliberately, "Trista," her eyes became fearful at her own name, had they found out who she was?
"My name is Alex, I'm with the UNITI team, I've come to get you out." Trista discredited this immediately, she had trained with the UNITI team since she was 14, and there was no 'Alex' in the group.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said automatically, that was what she had said to nearly every question they had thrown at her over the past few weeks, though, she didn't really know how long she'd been down there.
"Ok, so you don't trust me right now, that's understandable, but at least put these on…" he took off his backpack and took out a full set of clothes, including bra and panties.
She suddenly remembered that she was completely naked. She hadn't been clothed for about a week now, but thinking back as to why she wasn't clothed was too painful so, in the end she had just accepted it. Something she suddenly realised was that she was cold, very cold, in fact, she was shaking.
"Please…" the boy said, placing a hand on her shoulder, probably to try and comfort her, but it did the opposite to her. Contact, especially hands, on any part of her anatomy made her freeze and suddenly fearful. She lashed out at him without thinking, and he obviously wasn't expecting it since he didn't even have time to flinch as her foot made contact with his abdomen, making him double over in pain. His hand came free, but her mind stayed clouded.
Something in her mind told her that he was only trying to help, but another, a much larger part of it told her to be wary, and that he deserved what he just got. That same part of her brain also told her to fear him more now, a man like that wasn't going to react to being assaulted well.
The boy recovered remarkably quickly, but he wasn't angry as she expected, confusing her even more. He simply picked up the clothes again and came towards her again, although much slower and more warily.
"Please, put them on." Not thinking it wise to get any closer, he threw the pile of clothes at her feet. "I know you don't trust me, but what harm can it do you?"
The question was a good one, if he had wanted to hurt her, she didn't doubt he would have tried by now, and it was true, what harm could clothes be?
Slowly she started to put the clothes on. She was bruised all over, making moving round to put things like a bra or panties on were painfully difficult. It seemed the boy had noticed.
"Do you need any help?" his voice was sincere enough, and the look he wore wasn't that of greed or cruelty like the other men she'd encountered while in the cell. But still, she didn't trust him… no… she didn't trust him…
"No!" she spat at him unintentionally, "and look away you dirty pervert!" he looked about at shocked at the statement as she felt about saying it. He got up and walked away though, of which she was glad.
It took her a good quarter of an hour to get fully dressed. She was suddenly very grateful for the clothes. The hoodie was warm, and she hadn't felt warm since she made a run for it, and that was like a distance memory. She looked up to find what the boy was doing, probably something to shatter the semi-trust she felt growing inside of her.
"What are you doing?" she was glad to hear that it was her normal voice, sounding a bit weak, but at least she wasn't shouting at him anymore.
"Trying to work out how to get out of here…" he said. He was straining to look at something through the wrought iron grating that stretched over the window in the door. He had the knife in one of his hands; she could see a range of things stuffed into the grip section.
"Why?" somehow it didn't seem to make sense that someone sent in to interrogate her would be locked in… or did it?
"Because that British twat locked the door using the bolts on the door rather than the lock." Apparently annoyed, he kicked the door, hard. Dust fell from around the doorframe, but it wasn't going to budge. He walked back into the cell and, after doing the main compartment of his bag back up, put it back on.
As he was busying himself with securing the pack, Trista thought of something. Once or twice, the Spaniard who'd caught her had threatened her with a handgun. She moved over to the body, shocked to find it still breathing, but she also found what she was looking for. A silenced HecklerKoch USP .45 Tactical, a serious piece of kit!
"Wow! What are you doing!" the boy obviously didn't like having a gun pointed at him. Strangely, he took off his pack and held it out in front of him as if it were some bullet-proof shield.
"I want to know who you are and why you're here." She said calmly. Now she would finally get some answers!
"Ok, my name is Alex Rider. I've been training with UNITI for the past two weeks specifically for this rescue mission." She could tell he was trying to search her eyes for any sign that she believed him, but right now she was nowhere near believing him.
"Alex Rider died four years ago." She said bluntly. At least, that was one of the rumours. Others included him being mentally scared and in various psychiatric wards, or so fed up with MI6 that he quit, never to return. The point was, there was no way that Alex Rider would come back to spy work. There was just no need for him since UNITI was now in operation.
"No, I didn't. I was shot at, yes. I was hit, yes. But I didn't die… as you can see." Trista saw his free hand unconsciously touch his chest.
"Prove it," she said, "show me the scar." The boy looked at her as if she were mad.
"Look, in about," he glanced at his watch, "5 minutes we're both going to be 'collected' by a guy named Raven. I don't know who he is, but I overheard the British guy talking about it. We don't have time for this!" At this point she didn't really care about that. Somehow finding the identity of this person was more important.
"Well, if you just show me the scar then we can get on with escaping." She said this with as much conviction as she could, but truth be told, she was starting to find the gun heavy to handle. If he didn't comply, she doubted her arms would be able to hold up the gun for the rest of the 5 minutes.
The boy groaned with frustration. Slowly and deliberately he put his pack back on so he had both hands free. Then he lifted his t-shirt to reveal the scar. A long line of scar tissue ran down the centre of his chest where Trista guessed the operation to save his life had opened him up. Just visible was a small scar on his left peck, the entry wound?
"Do you believe me now?" he said and she nodded slowly. "Good, now, put the weapon down…"
"Yes, I must agree with Agent Rider on that one." An unfamiliar voice said from the doorway. Trista and Alex turned to see two weapons pointed through the grating of the door. Trista looked to Alex, who nodded and she slowly put the gun on the cold stone floor.
Trista suddenly felt foolish. Alex had just been trying to coordinate her escape; instead she had managed to hold him up just long enough to get them both captured.
Well, at least she believed him now…
Reviewers Corner:
liveandletlive: hmm… I'm not sure if that's a covert way of saying that chapter wasn't too good or not… I don't mind you telling me if you think it is…
Magic Noden: Glad you like the story! Its ok, you don't have to advertise my fic, but I'll help you with your fic if you want.
Tondo-the-half-elf: yeh, I think you've got a point. Those guys were way too cheerful for their own good! Then again, they're professional spies; they don't see what they do as anything strange or stressful, its normal to them, so they're just trying to have fun at the same time… (or that's my excuse neway lol) and look! I'm on time! Amazing!
PentagonMerlin: It wasn't me that corrected the Spanish, (see the reviewer below for that), so thanx to her again. As for the errors, I've had a look through, and yeh, there were a few things there, thanx for pointing that out.
Honey Nut Loop: yeh, that bit at the start was me just trying to be descriptive… maybe I should have picked a more relevant topic to be descriptive about lol. Ahh well, least I know not to do it now! Lol (don't worry, I'm not going to kill you! In fact you've preformed two of the things I need from reviewers. Helping me correct errors, and telling me when something doesn't work.) So thank you!
Well, that's it till next week! Somehow I've got to work out how these two escape… maybe I shoulda thought slightly further ahead…maybe…
Remember to review and tell me what's good/bad etc, especially about switching perspectives.
Danke!