Alex Walker

Chapter 5:

General Konrad Markus sat behind his colourless desk, gazing out into the tropical waters of Maunui. The entire room was ten metres below sea level, with a reinforced concrete roof, floor, and three walls. An adult Tiger shark swam close by, the only thing separating it from the general was a fourth transparent wall, made from a specially designed reinforced glass, no more than ten centimetres thick. The room was dark, with the only light coming from the early morning sun being refracted through the glistening waters.

In front of him on his desk lay various documents. A large poster showed a map of the island, showing the positions of the airport, the main city, and the terrain of the island; the golden sandy beaches on the northern coast, the steep cliffs along the eastern coast and the various hills and mountains.

Without turning around, the General called to someone behind him, "Schulze, what time is high tide?"

The only other person in the room besides the General replied. "Zero eight hundred hours Sir."

The General studied a clock on his desk, the LED display showing 07:23. A smile crept across his face. "Our friend from MI6, Mr Walker, might be getting a bit wet anytime now." To that General Markus and his assistant Schulze chuckled for a moment. "I think his two remaining friends should learn of his rather unfortunate fate. Find them and bring them to me immediately."

"Sir, yes Sir." Schulze saluted, before turning and leaving the room.

Neither Emily nor the pilot, Dennel had managed any sleep that night. The previous evening they had gone to the police station. Unfortunately though, they had been very little help. They had sent a team around to examine the crime scene where the co-pilot had been shot, but they had been a lot less helpful about Alex having gone missing. They explained that they would look into it, and that Emily and Dennel should report to them should Alex turn up again.

It was 7:30am in the morning now, and Emily sat at the breakfast table where she and Alex had eaten just twenty four hours earlier. She stared at the ripples forming as she stirred a spoon through her mug of coffee.

Very much stuck in deep thought, she didn't notice as the door behind her opened. It wasn't until an unfamiliar voice said something that she turned around. She fell backwards on her chair and screamed as she found three armed and dangerous looking men pointing military rifles at her. Getting up, she put her hands in the air. Then the three men were interrupted as they heard a crashing noise coming from somewhere in the building. They let their guard down for a second to look back, inquiring about what had happened. But that one second was all that Emily needed, as she darted for back door. Getting through it, she slammed it shut, just as a bullet splintered a section of the door. While fleeing, across the lawn, she thought to herself if I can just make it around the side of the building to the Land Rover. Making it to the clearing in between the building and the fence, she darted through it, now with the Land Rover in sight. Then suddenly her path was blocked by a fourth man, who raised his rifle and fired. The bullet hurtled past, missing her by millimetres. Then all of a sudden, the man who was blocking Emily's path dropped his weapon, and clutched the side of his rib cage. He collapsed, and Dennel came into view, holding a small pistol.

"Need a hand?" he offered, before helping Emily cover the final stretch to the Land Rover. He signalled for her to sit in the passenger seat, while he jumped into the driver's seat. The powerful engine roared into life, and the two of them were thrown into the backs of their seats as, with a nasty grinding noise, Dennel threw the vehicle into gear. The rear windscreen shattered as one last attempt to stop them came whistling through the window, and out an open side window

"You sure you know how to operate one of these things?" Emily asked.

"Before commercial piloting, I served ten years in the Royal Air Force, operating some of the most state-of-the-art jets. Now I THINK I can drive a Land Rover, okay?"

The two of them erupted in uncontrollable laughter, as they rocketed down the road away from the terrorists.

Alex yanked the key out of the lock and started cursing everything that had happened lately. He cursed the hotel plans, he cursed the property, he cursed the island, he cursed the tunnels, he cursed the little room that he was being held in now. Then he jumped backwards, and let himself get completely submerged. He no longer cared about anything, not even staying alive. He completely relaxed, and the anger and frustration of not being able to remember anything that happened before his fifteenth birthday, and then the anger and frustration now of being about to loose everything, including his life, slowly disappeared. He forgot all his worries, and suddenly everything seemed okay, the tranquillity almost nice.

Alex Walker closed his eyes.