I'm back! My family went on vacation all weekend, and I was stranded in the middle of a hotel with no computer access. :( The food was over priced, the room was small, my bed was uncomfortable, and to top it off, I couldn't update. Hopefully this chapter will ebb that sense of suspense that i have been working so hard to create. That is if it's still around after last weekend...

I own nothing!

Chapter 21: Under the Table

The sky around the plane went from a peaceful blue to a foreboding gray. I forgot how dark the sky could be in this part of the world, almost as if a sunny day was out of the ordinary. The color below would shift from a dry brown, to a rocky gray, and then finally to a mixture of a deep lush green and the tell tale gray of industrialized civilization. Before to long I was enveloped by a world of gray, it was almost as lifeless as the interior of the School.

The plane came to a halt on the runway, and after we has made our way through the mass of arriving people we were able to find our bags with relative ease. I hoped that his would be sacrificed to the airport gods, never to be seen again. I'm sure the feeling was mutual. Waiting for us at the entrance of the airport was a Chinese man in a suit, he had a look on his face that was screaming suspicious, but he radiated an aura of intimidation that seemed to deter all security. He recognized us and made the first move.

"You two must be from the School, Mr. Chu has been expecting your arrival. Follow me please." He did nothing short of an about face and walked out of the terminal, not looking back to see if we were following. The limo out front had tinted windows, and looked as though it was brand new. The man took our suit cases and opened one of the door for us. The interior was spacious enough for each of us to claim our own bubble, Alex and I couldn't help but exchange nasty glances at each other, the Chinese man took notice most likely, but didn't say anything. The limo wound it's way through the bustling streets of downtown Seattle, the Space Needle towered over us like a monolithic artifact from another time. The air smelt of coffee, and occasionally fish as we got closer to the docks.

But luckily we weren't headed for the waterfront, instead we were somewhere between towering skyscrapers. The massive amount of concrete and steel that surrounded us caused Alex to lose service on his cell phone. The Chinese man stepped out of the limo as immediately as it came to a stop. He briskly opened our doors and retrieved our bags, and then retreated into the confines of the building on my right. The large glass windows were either tinted or they were so clean that they reflected everything, aside from that, there was no indication as to what the use of this building was. Alex walked in after a few moments, leaving me out front. The limo left me and made a turn into a hidden garage, not wanting to stand out like a sore thumb, I entered the building after the door closed from when Alex entered.

The lobby looked like that of a hotel, potted plants in the corners, overstuffed benches, and a lone receptionist sitting behind a counter. She was busy typing something and paid no attention to us. The Chinese man led us down a hall and then stopped in front of a door. He opened it for us and waited until we were both inside. It was a typical business room with a large wooden table in the center surrounded by one too many chairs, and a monitor at the end of the room that was used to communicate with other rooms and buildings. The chair at the opposite end of the table spun around and another man was sitting in it. He looked at us for a second with piercing eyes, and then his gaze relaxed somewhat. He waved his hand, and the man who escorted us left the room. The man in the chair stood up, and put his hands behind his back.

"You two must be my Erasers, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up." He sounded almost as if he was displeased, as if he was expecting more. He kept shifting his gaze between the two of us, and after a few moments he frown. "Well, aren't you going to say something?"

"Yeah, when can we leave?" Alex said nonchalantly. Because of his diction he received a double dose of visual venom from myself and our host, then I received my dose because of my unfortunate association with him. Our guest cleared his throat and walked over to us.

"You forget who you speak to, I am Mr. Chu, and last I check, you are in my service." He stared at Alex for a moment or two, I enjoyed watching Alex getting stared down, but he wouldn't flinch, and Mr. Chu reached that conclusion quickly. "You two are here to be my bodyguards while I'm at a very important meeting with Dr. Roland ter Borcht, I'm not the most popular man with the government, and my line of work has led to me having a considerable amount of enemies." The way he said enemies not only sounded ominous, but it also left the door wide open to the possibilities. "The meeting is tonight at eight." He paused and looked at his watch. "Which is in roughly half an hour." He snapped his fingers and the man who escorted us from the airport came through the door as if he had had his ear pressed to it the whole time, listening to our every word and action. Mr. Chu gave us a stern look, and then glanced at this henchman. "Ready the car, I'll be there shortly." He paced out of the room followed by the Chinese man leaving me and Alex in the meeting room.

"Wonderful choice of words. What are you trying to do, have us sent back?" I said facing the door, not wanting to even look at him.

"No, I'm trying to have you shanghaied. But being sent back doesn't sound so bad compared to being stuck here with you." He spat back at me. He sat down in one of the chairs, propped one leg on the other and spun around in the chair so he was facing my back. I turned around, not trusting him behind my back. He crossed his arms and swiveled back and forth, knowing full well why I had turned around. he looked at me as though he expected me to retort with something witty and bitterly sarcastic, truth be told I couldn't think of anything at the moment besides him spontaneously bursting into flames.

A few minutes later Mr. Chu reappeared, the same disapproving look plastered on his face, it seemed to darken every time he looked at Alex. He didn't say a word as he left the room and headed out front to the new waiting limo. Every minor detail about it was different, no expense was paid in trying to throw off whoever would be hunting down Mr. Chu. even with us as security detail he seemed on edge the whole time, as if he expected a sniper to start shooting at him.

The car wormed its way through the bustling metropolis that is downtown Seattle, people walking around like a colony of ants, brainwashed into completing their daily rituals as if there was no other purpose in their existence. The fuel by which this society lived off of wasn't gasoline, but coffee, Starbucks and Seattle's Best were littered everywhere, as if without them the city itself would become a ghost town. The car came to a halt in front of a Starbucks, and to my surprise Mr. Chu got out and waited for us.

"You're joking right?" Alex sputtered in utter incredulity. He looked at me as if he was in a bad dream. "Please tell me he's joking." Mr. Chu paid no heed to Alex's callous remarks and went inside. I passed by him as well, not bothering to dignify his outcry with a response. The interior was poorly lit, the air was a thick stew of various coffee's people were either reading the newspaper of were on a laptop checking their e-mail. One girl was furiously typing away at something as if she had an epiphany and it was slipping through her grasp. Mr. Chu sat at a table in the far back corner, and pulled up a newspaper attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible. Alex went over to the counter and bought something and I sat at one of the tables near the window and stared out at the sky. It was still the same shade of ominous gray. I could here each second tick away because of my pocket watch, and it seemed as though every succeeding second was minutely slower then its predecessor.

I blinked finally when a car pulled into view, and out stepped a short round man. He was followed by the twins Quetzal and Coatl, I still couldn't tell the difference between them. Mr. Chu caught wind of the man's arrival and folded up his paper, the round man and the twins came in and began scanning the place for anything off kilter, but once the twins saw me they tapped the man on the shoulder and they seemed to relax a little. Alex had situated himself in a chair as he mindlessly watched the traffic outside, or at least that's what he wanted it to look like. One of the twins came up to me and grinned mischievously.

"Ter Borcht isn't to happy about this, he thinks it's unbecoming of men of his caliber." His brother stood beside him. "We didn't expect to see you here, especially with Alex." It was as though they shared a brain, each one glancing at different things, making sure that collectively everything was accounted for.

"Well trust me when I say that neither of us are to thrilled about it either. You said that the man you're guarding is ter Borcht? What business does he have with Chu?"

"We don't know, although we do know that it has something to do with Chu's choice of disposing with his nuclear waste." Of course, I remember hearing that Chu's company would dump its waste in the oceans around Hawaii. I'm sure the radiation was having ill effects on whatever came in contact with it. I shot a glance over at Mr. Chu who looked as if the truth was poison honey, and the more ter Borcht talked the more upset Chu became.

"What do you mean mutants!" Chu final exclaimed earning a few odd glances from people in the shop. He recomposed himself as best he could and ter Borcht attempted to explain himself.

"I'm saying that the radiation fallout has had very interesting effects on the natural wildlife. What I suggest is that you find a more suitable location for your nuclear waste. Perhaps Siberia, or the Himalayas?" Ter Borcht asked as he laced is fingers and put his hands on the table. Needles to say, Chu had already contemplated a plethora of ideas, and was less then thrilled at ter Borcht's analysis of the situation at hand. The twins rolled their eyes, and let out simultaneous sighs. One of them glanced at Alex who was still fixated on something outside the shop that escaped me, he was staring intently as if he was judging what was going to happen. Suddenly he got up, walked over to us and stopped, as if he was looking at the menu above the counter.

"We need to leave, now." I had never heard him that serious before, it was as if he had completely put aside our differences and was blind to anything else. But then again, why would he be acting this way? He'd only do this if there was a threat to Mr. Chu and ter Borcht that was serious. My eyes began darting at random objects outside the store, the twins calmly walked over to Chu and ter Borcht and whispered the news into their ears. They got up from their chairs and the twins left the store looking in opposite directions. One of them snapped their fingers signaling that me and Alex should come out.

Needless to say four men wearing the same suit standing outside a Starbucks warranted a few odd looks. Alex stared off any pedestrians that were slowing down as they passed by, and the twins were plotting a course through the mob of people.

"Where?" I said while scanning at seemingly arbitrary objects.

"In the building across the street, fourth floor." Alex said before he turned back into the store. My eyes shot up and there it was staring me in the face. A sniper, he was putting his rifle together and had failed to notice that we had caught on. As if he had become aware that I was looking at him, he looked up and frantically began disassembling his rifle. I shot a quick look at one of the twins and he bolted across the street and began weaving through traffic with complete disregard for the law.

If there was one sniper, odds are that there was at least another or a mob of hired hands. As for who wanted Mr. Chu or ter Borcht dead was beyond me at the moment. Alex reemerged from the shop with Chu and ter Borcht behind him, he shot a glance at where the sniper had been.

"Help your brother, we'll get them out of here." Alex said to the twin as he practically pushed him into traffic. He darted between cars, dodging them with ease. We had been seen to much, headquarters wasn't going to be happy about this. I opened the door to the car we came in, ter Borcht and Chu made a mad dash to the mobile sanctuary, and Alex went in after them. I got in shotgun, and the car swerved into traffic and hastily made its way back to Chu's hideout. Only a few blocks away from the hide out a black van came out from an alley and stopped in front of the car. I glanced in the rear view mirror and Alex gave me a quick nod and a sinister smile.

"Show time."

Well, well, well. Things are going to get very interesting, I wonder if Felix is only going to be gone a day or two like he said he would. Again I apologize for my updating. But hey, at least I'm still here, I'm not about to leave all of you hanging. No, because some stories are so good, they have to be told. Please continue to read and review. TBC, so all in due time.