Protector Ch 23

There was a knock on the door three times. Cover was alarmed, and spun around to see who it was that would be knocking at this door…

"Hello… Captain Cover," said Brown, as he opened the door. Cover instantly jumped to his fighting stance. He knew that perhaps he couldn't win this battle, but he also knew that he was the leader. If someone was going to fight, it would be him. And, if it came down to it, he would die to save the rest of them. He could hear everyone behind him getting physically ready, as well. By now everyone knew that it was a trap. Brown looked around the room, as if searching for something. He sneered. Cover guessed that he hadn't found what he was looking for.

"They don't have it," he said, pressing his earpiece against his head. He looked back to Cover. "Well," he started again, "I'm sure we won't have a problem,"

Upstairs Zandra was facing the agent again, in her corner. He was standing over her, pressing his earpiece against his head.

"Well," he started, drawling the words as if he were drunk, "unfortunately, we won't be able to carry out both of our orders today."

Zandra was angry – at herself and at the agents. Her blood boiled with frustration and anger as she built herself up for another attack.

"Both projects?" she asked, stalling for more time. A little longer…

"Yes, Ms. Richards, you are a project of ours," he said, taking off his sunglasses. He suddenly squatted down on the ground so that he was eye to eye with her. "You and your friend Mr. Witt,"

"He isn't a part of this," she shot back, caught off guard. She hadn't expected Stephen to be involved.

"Oh, Ms. Richards, I think he is. Mr. Witt stumbled upon the very same discovery that you have, and that poses a problem for us." He got closer to her face, proving to her that in fact the field went all the way through the room. "But you, Ms. Richards, know much more than just astronomy."

She wanted to retch so badly, to give up and cry uncle, but she knew she couldn't. Jones was peering into her, seeing how far he could go before she would break. He had gotten very far indeed. Zandra broke into a sweat and her hands began to shake, causing the field to pulse against her body with intermittent force. She must not give in, she had to get out!

Slowly she began to regain control of herself. Jones was still sitting, still staring into her eyes, but she would not look back. Not give him a clue that she was going to move through the open door behind him and get out… He suddenly pressed his earpiece against his head again, looking away.

Zandra lifted off her feet and jumped over Jones' crouched body in a second. Instantly he was behind her. This time it took even longer for the force to kick in, and right as she was about to leave the doorway it began to push her backwards. No, she pleaded, he's right behind me! She grabbed hold of the door to drag herself further out the door. He was gaining on her… her foot was out, her leg was out, and she could now easily pull the rest of her body out of the enchanted room. She was free, but Jones was close behind her.

She knew she had to act quickly if she was to get out of his range. She looked around her – she was in a narrow hallway with windows on one side, doors on the other. Each end of the hallway dead-ended, meaning she had to take a gamble on one of the many doors. She gave a mental sigh… everything lately seemed to have specially coded doors. Not much time! It was almost easy for her to forget that someone was behind her. But she snapped back to attention. There was a green exit sign next to one of the doors behind her, meaning that she would have to pass the open room again. The prison. She heard Jones speaking into his earpiece, telling Brown that she was out. She could hear his loud footsteps coming towards the door, coming to get her. She was only a foot away from the opening when he burst through the open portal himself.

But he didn't expect that she would be waiting for him. Zandra, lacking a weapon, kicked Jones as hard as she could in the stomach. It worked, sending him to the back wall of the room in a temporary heap. The door slammed itself from the rush of air. Zandra was glad – she had just bought herself extra time to get back to wherever she needed to be. She wasn't sure where to go, but figured that the exit sign was her best bet. She ran over to the door and slammed against it, figuring that it might be locked. It wasn't, and easily flung open to reveal a spiral of steps leading down all the way to the ground level. She must have been on one of the top levels – the hole down the center of the stairs was impressively deep.

Brown pressed his earpiece against his ear, looking down at the ground. What was going on? Only a second before, he had been about to execute them all, but now he was doing nothing, listening to something being told to him. Brown suddenly looked up, and staggered before falling to the ground in a blinding flash. Cover looked back in surprise at Trim, still holding the smoking gun. Everything was quiet for a moment, and then they all relaxed. Colombus gestured for two of her crew to move the lifeless body of an elderly woman to the side of the room. They did it quietly and quickly, for they were used to death now.

Cover pulled out his cellphone.

"Cover, Zandra's in the building next to you," Kesia said immediately.

"Are there any more agents?" Kesia paused before answering.

"There was one earlier, but he disappeared somewhere. Brown should be back soon though."

"I'm going after Zandra, tell Trim and the others where to get out."

"Cover-"

But he had already hung up. The others watched him intently, waiting for the cue to leave, to get out, to get to safety…

"She's free," he started. Everyone's eyes widened. Colombus stepped forward.

"You need me to get them out?"

Cover nodded. "I'll get her, but watch for more agents."

"Cover," she started, "We're not going to just-"

"Go," Cover repeated firmly. Columbus sighed. "It shouldn't take long."

She nodded too, and motioned for the rest of the crews to follow her. "Let's go."

Zandra was taking the steps five at a time; leaping down the flights as fast as she could. But the agent was right behind her – she heard the door open again and heard his heavy footsteps hit the linoleum floor. But she didn't hear him move again. She guessed that he was going to try and shoot her from above. Stay out of his sight. There was no way to run down the steps without being seen, so she leapt off the banister of the steps, hoping that he wouldn't see her body falling down the side of the center…

She caught the banister again after falling four floors. He hadn't shot yet, and she knew that he would be growing frustrated. He would probably run after her now, which meant she would not have much time to run further. She was about to go through a door to the sixth floor when it opened in front of her again.

It was Brown.

He cocked his head to one side, as if registering who it was that now stood in front of him. But Zandra didn't have time. She was weaponless still, and was now fighting against two agents, not one. Before he could pull out his gun, Zandra kicked him out into the hallway – but she wouldn't have much time. He'll be up in just a few seconds, she shouted at herself, looking desperately for a way out. There was none. Brown started to get up from the carpeted floor, and she could hear Jones flying down the steps behind her. There was only one way.

She took a deep breath and ran towards the glass panes in front of her. You can make it, she told herself, aiming for the building standing next to the one she was in. It was a long shot, but there was no time to question anything. She crashed into the glass wall and lifted herself off of the ground, leaving the agents behind her to shoot at her sailing body. They would not follow her across the buildings, because they knew they could just find another host closer to her. They still held all the keys.

Zandra started to fall as she soared through the air. No! She told herself, not again! She put her hands above her head as if she was diving into a pool, in preparation for the incoming wall. She started to fall more. You're not going to fall!

She crashed into the building at the sixth floor, and tumbled to the ground in a heap. Perhaps it was because she had fallen before, or perhaps it was because of her freedom from the matrix that she was able to make it, Zandra wasn't sure. She didn't have time to theorize at the moment, because right then, she was still fighting for her life.

She understood that she wasn't free yet. Zandra burst out of the room she had crashed into and found herself in a hallway much like the ones she had been in before. As a matter of fact, these buildings looked exactly alike… but this was no time to be observant. She was about to go out the exit doorway when another door, only a few feet away opened.

It was Cover.

"Zandra," he breathed, but she knew what to do. The only thing they could do – continue down the stairs and out of the building. She pulled him into the stairwell and pushed him forward, forcing him to go. "Move!" she shouted. She would have just jumped again, but figured that Cover would not have been able to handle the jump. She was right – he wouldn't. Zandra heard an agent's gun cock from the steps above, and hastened for him to move faster.

"He's coming down," she told him. Luckily, he knew what she was talking about. With heightened speed, they flew down the stairs toward the first floor. One of the agents was gaining on them, but slowly. Zandra had been on the sixth floor when Cover had met up with her, and they were already approaching the first floor. Yet they bypassed it, knowing that to get away from the agents, they would have to do more than just run to their exit. It would take too long. They ran one more floor. Jones was now only a floor above them. Cover slammed into the door to the car garage and Zandra piled up behind him, eager to get away from the infuriated agent.

"Wire it," Zandra told him as they began to run through the underground car park, "I'll keep him busy." Cover slowed down for a moment as he nodded, then resumed his pace to find a car. Please hurry!

As she turned back to face the door, it flew off of its hinges and to the ground in front of her. Everything suddenly became very quiet. Jones still held out his fisted hand, demonstrating his extreme force as if warning her of impending injury; impending death. He was angry, and didn't say a word as he pulled out his Desert Eagle. He was going to shoot her, going to terminate her existence without another word. He had been so chatty earlier…

He aimed carefully at Zandra, and she stood unmoving. She knew she couldn't run, and she had no weapon to fight. All she could do was wait. Hurry Cover! Don't let this happen again!

"Only human."

Zandra watched the minuscule explosion as it occurred – as if she were watching it on a television screen. She felt detached, ethereal, like a spirit hovering over it's own body. She heard the car engine start from a ways off, knew that Cover would be coming soon with the car… The bullet was coming towards her head. She knew he would aim to kill. She tried to move to the right, but she was going so slowly, it was as if she was in water and couldn't get anything to push off of. She was moving slower than the bullet was – at this speed she knew that she would be hit. The agent wore a smug smile as he continued to hold his gun at eye level. Hurry! She could hear the car engine slowly approaching behind her, knew that Cover was not far off. But not close enough to help her if she couldn't get out of the way. Move faster! She pushed herself harder and was able to move a little quicker as the little sentinel of death grew closer to her. She had only a few inches before impact, three, two…

It passed her, but just barely. She felt the compressed air hit her face as it whizzed past and hit a car behind her. A car alarm started, filling the near empty garage with echoing noise. Zandra could see the immediate reaction upon the agent's face: infuriation, frustration, disbelief. Cover was screeching to a halt beside her, and she jumped into the car before the agent could get to her. Cover handed her a gun and she shot a few rounds at the angry machine as they sped off.