"Are you okay?" Derek inquired upon seeing Cassie go silent and stiff. "Is something wrong?"
Cassie stood up to her full height and turned to face Derek with lifeless eyes.
"Cassie?" He could feel the heart pounding in his chest as she stared. She was staring at him but not staring at him.
He could feel the fear and trepidation rising in his throat like a wine bottle about to burst and-
"Let me use your back."
Derek blinked rapidly for a few seconds before gulping, "What?"
"Let me use your back big guy." Cassie took out her pocket-sized journal and walked up to Derek, the life returning in her eyes.
Derek's apprehension suddenly vanished like a fire doused in water when she called him 'big guy' and turned his back to her. After she pocketed the wooden piece, Cassie took out a map of Mount Ararat she folded away in her journal and places the map on his shoulder.
The visions showed me where Noah's Ark is, she thought. If I go by the visions then that means...
She draws a circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally at the top of the mountain near the peak.
"The entrance to Noah's Ark is right here," she declared loudly. The moment she realized where she drew the circle, she gasped in astonishment and backed away from Derek with a big grin on her face. "I found the entrance to Noah's Ark!" she exclaimed happily.
Derek turned. "What?"
"I found the entrance to Noah's Ark." She flipped the map around to show him. "The way inside Noah's Ark is just below this peak on Mount Ararat."
"Okay, that's not possible and you know it."
Cassie shook her head. "It's true."
"How?"
Am I prepared to tell Derek about being hypnotized by Noah? Will he believe me?
"I'll tell you as soon as we get back."
Derek eyed her suspiciously. "Until you tell me how you found the entrance to Noah's Ark, I'm going to pretend to be ecstatic."
"Thank you."
Derek tilted his head when he noticed something on the map. That symbol with the three lines... what does it mean?
Derek gripped the map and looked over it, pretend surrealism setting in like a knife. He smiles and puts a hand to his heart.
I forgot how much fun this was with you, Cassie.
Derek scratched the back of his head, fingers digging into the curls of his brown hair, avoiding eye contact with Cassie. "Sorry."
"For what?"
"I'm sorry for insulting you back at school.'
Cassie shook her head. "You're human and you have every right to vent."
"But I think I crossed a line."
She cupped his cheek. "Tell me what's going on with you, D-Man. Talk to me." She practically begged.
Derek looked away from her in shame before saying, "As soon as we get out of here, I'll tell you everything that I'm feeling. To make it even for somehow knowing where Noah's Ark is all of a sudden."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"You promise on cousin Niko's life?"
"I promise on cousin Niko's life."
"You promise on your ex-girlfriend's life?"
"I promise on my ex-girlfriend's life."
She held up her hand. "You pinky promise."
He chuckled. "Pinky promise."
They shook pinkies.
"Y'know, it is just us here, how about we have fun," Cassie suggested. "We found Noah's Ark's location. We can entertain each other you know." She smiled mischeviously.
Derek gave a mischievous smirk but it disappeared when she saw her turn around and sweep hair that dropped to her neck. "Massage," she insisted.
Derek chuckled and began giving Cassie a good back rub.
I was blessed with my mother's hands, Derek thought.
The three checked to make sure the coast was clear before they unbarred the front doors to get out of the church.
Aside from the eleven dead Overlord soldiers on the ground, nothing seemed to change. But Cassie spotted trees and bushes moving. When she licked her tongue and checked the window, she found none.
There's no wind out, which means...
Her realizations turned into horror when a gunshot went off and she felt a bullet fly past her head, missing her by inches.
She dived for cover behind a crate and took out her gun from her holster while Derek and the Priest went for the pickup truck. She heard Derek tell the Priest to get down as he cocked a Beretta 92FS he picked up from a dead soldier, which reminded her to take out her AK-47.
Multiple gunshots rang out in rapid succession, firing in all directions at her but not a single bullet hitting. Cassie took a peek and saw several men with guns in their hands aiming at the cars and firing. Cassie waited for them to reload before she would jump out and shoot rained hell on them with bullets.
She counted at least eight men and she already killed two of them. Derek blind fired and shot one man in the temple when his back was turned.
"Who are these guys?" Cassie asked herself. She looked over to one of the bodies and saw him dressed in civilian garb. "Not Overlord."
Before Derek could fire again, he was tackled from behind and landed facefirst into the hood of the pickup truck. Derek turned and blocked the incoming punch and hit his attacker in the gut with his fist.
Cassie aims at Derek's attacker and hits him in the head.
Cassie was nearly ambushed from behind by an attacker with a shotgun but apparently, the kick of the shotgun had thrown him off his aim and sent the pellets flying over Cassie's head. She spun around and fired at him. The bullets lodged into the shotgun attacker's chest and guts, dropping him backward and accidentally discharging his gun. It went off but the bullets disappeared into the sky.
"Overkill," Cassie muttered. She got to her feet and saw more assassins coming their way. "Derek, we got to go,"
The one next attacker to sneak up on the duo aimed his gun for the back of Cassie's head before the gun was kicked out of his hand. He turned to his attacker and was surprised to see a man he recognized.
"You," he growled.
The Priest nodded. "What about me?"
"You're with them!"
The attacker throws a punch at the Priest, who dodges it with ease.
"Missed."
The attacker throws another punch.
"Miss."
The attacker delivers an uppercut.
"Is that the best you can do?"
The attacker charges for the Priest, who grabs him by the waist and flips him over his hip.
"Let's not do this," the Priest begged.
The attacker got back on his feet and charged, only to be tripped on the ground once more.
The attacker laughed. "You've obviously got some skills. What do you practice? Aikido, Judo?"
"Christianity," the Priest deadpanned.
Before the attacker could charge once more, Derek picked up a fallen branch from the tree that was knocked down earlier and smashed it into the attacker's skull, incapacitating him before pulling the Priest to cover behind the pickup truck.
"I thought you were against violence?" Derek questioned.
The Priest shook his head. "Just because I abhor violence doesn't mean I'm going to endure it like some hardcore fanatic devout. I love my body and want to make sure it stays in good shape."
"Ah, you're not the kind of priest to turn his cheek, you grab the hand before it slaps your cheek."
The Priest nodded. "Glad you understand."
Cassie finished off the last two attackers before she quickly gathered ammo on the ground and jumped in the back of the pickup truck. "Let's get out of here!"
Derek went for the driver's seat while the Priest rode shotgun. Cassie urged them to go quickly as reinforcements were coming out of the trees.
Derek stomps on the gas and drives off, narrowly avoiding crashing into the church as he made a U-turn and drove off into the woods. The reinforcement Cassie spotted earlier was coming out of the treeline and stepped into the path of the truck. Instead of turning or stopping, he plowed through them.
One of the attackers landed on his top. Cassie grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him off the moving vehicle.
"No tickets, no rides!"
Five cars and one pickup truck with two attackers in the back chased after them.
"I love the smell of car chases in the afternoon," Cassie laughed dryly.
She fired several shots at the closest car and hit the grille. She squeezed off several more rounds and the grille lit up in flames. She reloaded her gun and when she raised it again and prepared to fire, the grille blew up and covered the windows in fire, blocking the driver's view and causing him to swerve into a tree.
When Derek heard the explosion, he switched gears and accelerated before making a sharp turn to the left to avoid hitting that marketplace from earlier.
We'll have to leave our jeep behind, Derek thought, and we don't have any car insurance!
Derek ducked down when a bullet almost grazed his head but instead, it shot the rearview mirror. He risked a glance back before making a sharp turn to the right through an alley.
The cars continued but only one could go at a time, which was good. Cassie fired a full magazine of bullets from her AK-47 and into the grille. Flames ignited from the grill and caused the vehicle to crash into the side with the other cars pulling up on top of it.
Derek drove out the alley and onto an open road. But the road was filled with traffic and he had no time to abide by the rules because the cars had somehow found a way through the alley and were hot on their tails.
"Seatbelts save lives," Derek muttered before putting on his seatbelt and reminding the Priest to put his own
"I'm down to only one magazine left," Cassie shouted. She shot at the remaining vehicles, making every bullet count. Cassie felt her ear pop when Derek made a turn and they were on the highway. They kept going up and Cassie already felt dizzy. She shrugged it off and aimed at the nearest car's front tire. She fired and the tire blew out. The car swerved to the left and went flying off the overpass and plummeting sixty feet to the ground.
When they started descending, the people in the pickup truck started firing again. Cassie kept his head down and fired two more bullets, but they both missed their desired target. Cassie felt his heart drop to his stomach when one of the attackers in the pickup shot at them and blew out one of their vehicle's tires.
Derek struggled to keep them from crashing but that was easier said than done. He slammed her foot on the brake and the jeep's tire skidded against the street. He tried to make a hard right when he realized they were going to crash into a gas station but it was too late.
The vehicle crashed into the wall, making Derek and the Priest jerk their heads forward into the airbags.
Cassie was about to go flying but she was sitting with her back to the window when they crashed but her head still hit the window. A few seconds after the vehicle crashed, Cassie looked up and felt blood trickle down the back of her forehead.
"Glad my brain didn't fall out of my head."
She aimed her gun at the hostile pickup truck and was about to open fire when she realized that they crashed into the store of a gas station and there were people around pouring gas into their cars. She didn't want to risk blowing anyone up on accident so she tried crawling out of the vehicle.
Derek and the Priest climbed out of the crashed vehicle, both making eye contact with their enemies, who also stepped out of their vehicles.
The Priest recognized one of them.
"Tariq?!"
The man steps out of the passenger seat with a young man with a mustache behind him.
"Father Sadik," Tariq bowed, "how have you been holding up?"
"Good until you showed up. You being in my presence, or anyone's presence for that matter should be a sin."
"Likewise," Tariq nodded. "But I'm not here for you."
The young man behind him aimed his rifle.
"We're here for her, Cassie Drake."
Cassie aimed her gun at the young man.
"Did you shoot at me because you recognized me as Cassie Drake? Why I'm flattered."
"Noah's Ark," Tariq hissed.
The other gunmen drew their rifles.
"Yeah, what about it? Can't afford to take a luxurious cruise and decide that Noah's Ark might do well for your bankrupt ass?"
"Shut up," he hissed-yelled. He looked at Derek. "Or I'll make your friend suffer."
Derek hid a gun behind his back as he pointed at himself. "Me, I'm not her friend. I'm just an Uber driver who was along for the ride."
"How stupid do you think I am?"
"Very."
Cassie laughed.
"Why are you doing this?" Cassie demanded. "If you wanted to play a game of paintball, all you had to do was ask."
"Noah's Ark," the Priest stated, "he's after us because of Noah's Ark."
"Yes," Tariq confirmed. "Father Sadik here gets it."
The young gunmen looked around to see civilians staring at them. One of them got out their phones and called the cops while others filmed them.
"We're exposed," the young gunmen urged, "and we're not wearing masks."
"I'm aware of that, Arda, but the message we're sending is important."
Overlord promised to protect Tariq if he was imprisoned, Arda thought, I'll hold them to their word.
"How?" Derek suddenly asked after realizing something absurd. "How is finding Noah's Ark worth killing anyone over? Do you have any sense at all?"
"No," the Priest said, "he has no sense at all."
"It is too early," Tariq answered, "Noah's Ark can only be revealed on Judgment Day. We can't let it be revealed before."
Cassie sighed. He's one of those.
"How did you know about us?" Eventually, the answer came to her.
I discover Overlord is digging around for something and then these religious nutjobs start shooting at me just after I took out one of their excavation crews all of a sudden? Overlord tipped them off.
"Overlord," Cassie sighed through her teeth. "They told you that we were looking for Noah's Ark or something?"
Wait a second, something doesn't feel right. Knowing that these guys are pawns of Overlord leaves more questions than answers. What is going on here? What the hell is going on here? Are these guys working for Overlord? What is Overlord looking for? How does Overlord know we're looking for Noah's Ark?
"Smart girl," Tariq praised, "I expected nothing more. I would say I almost feel bad for you but that would be a lie."
"Aww, bad guys rarely say that to me.."
"I'm not the bad guy, you are."
"You're the one aiming a gun at me."
"Ditto."
Cassie looked at her gun. "Touché."
"You don't have to do this, Tariq," the Priest begged, "we can all put our guns down and walk away."
"So you can go look for Noah's Ark when our backs are turned? No, you're all going to die. All of you. Especially you, Drake."
Cassie tilted her head like a puppy.
"People like you are evil. PURE evil. You care nothing about the people you hurt, only interested in whatever it is you're interested in. I've hated you from the moment I saw your face and I've been waiting for this day for twenty-five years!"
Cassie had a bunch of retorts to throw at the man but the only sentence her mind could produce was: "What the hell are you talking about? I'm twenty-four!"
"Same," Derek said offhandedly.
"Thirty," the Priest chimed in.
Tariq looked taken aback and slapped himself in the face. "My mistake."
Arda looked at the back of Tariq's head with narrowed eyes.
She's not the same person you fool, the young gunmen though.
"Enough bantering," Tariq decided. "Shoot them-"
An SUV plowed into the enemy pickup truck and sent it sliding, crushing the gunmen on the other side of the truck.
Tariq and Arda were caught in the SUV's path but they jumped on the hood and quickly climbed onto the roof. As the SUV plowed the pickup truck into an empty semi, Tariq and Arda jumped off the moving vehicle and ran off into the streets. They were sprayed by a hail of gunfire coming from inside the truck but managed to remain unhit.
As they were leaving, Arda turned on his heels, drawing his pistol, and fired at the SUV's tires with one bullet each before turning and running off.
Cassie pressed her back to the wall and gasped in shock at the scene before her.
"Holy shit!" she cried, "what the crapping hell was that?"
"God," the Priest decided, "decided to show mercy and spare us."
"Sorry, Father, but I don't believe in God."
Derek knew that familiar voice from anywhere.
The driver's side door opened and a tall man with dirty blonde curls stepped out.
"Tyler."
The man in the passenger seat climbed out through the window and ran a hand through the locks in his red hair.
"Alec."
Tyler laughed and clapped his hands together. "You paid us to protect you and we will fulfill that bargain. We are veterans. Respect your vets."
"I couldn't help but notice that you killed a hell of a lot of guys," Alec pointed out, "you didn't save any for me."
"How did you guys find us?"
"We were driving home from a bar when we heard gunshots," Alec answered, "we thought something exciting was going to happen so we drove to see the show. When we got here, we saw the guy from the bar that was serving us aiming guns at you."
"I've never run over a person before," Tyler pointed out.
"Lucky," Alec scoffed.
The Priest turned away.
So, this is the backup that Cassie and Derek told me about. I hope to God they find their way back on the path.
"Thank you," Cassie said to Tyler specifically.
I haven't forgotten what you tried to do on the plane, Alec.
Tyler saw the Priest and nodded at him. "Who the male nun?"
"This is Yagmur Sadik," Cassie introduced, "and he's a priest."
Yagmur Sadik, Tyler narrowed his eyes. Where have I heard that name before?
Tyler's eyes went wide as he suddenly remembered something. "Pastor guy, I think your daughter has been kidnapped."
The Priest hoped he didn't hear what he thought he heard. "What?"
"On the way here, we were listening on the radio and some kids said they saw a girl get abducted from a school. A bulletin was put out, saying her name was Belinay Sadik and her closest guardian was Yagmur Sadik. I don't know if she's some girl with the same last name as yours but-"
"That's my niece!" The Priest's voice cracked as he panicked. "She's been kidnapped?"
"Hours ago from school."
The Priest stumbled back and put a hand to his heart.
Bethany, he mentally cried, no.
"We'll find her," Cassie stated firmly, "we'll save her."
The Priest clutched at his heart area like he was having a heart attack and steadied himself against the pickup truck.
Whoever kidnapped my niece, may God have mercy on your soul because I'm coming for you.
AN: Who do you think kidnapped Bethany: Overlord or Sunni Islam Specialists?