
<Episode 39>
After insisting very strongly Anderson took a tour of the rebels’ hideout. He always knew it was an underground movement, he was just slightly amazed they were actually underground this entire time. Perez, despite his position, still demanded he’d only be in the sections he and his men had actually secured. Not that he had a problem with the request, but the way the human was acting like he was the one in charge annoyed him. Fortunately Taylor was there to keep him in check, so to speak. Perez looked happy there was a buffer but he could care less, he just wanted to see where Christopher, and Melissa apparently, had their people living.
And how they had their followers living. Artificial lights strung all over the place above them. The air seemed stale to him now, he didn’t even want to imagine what it must have been like full of their followers. Taylor walked with him as he wondered about. “It says something about my cousins, does it not Mr. Taylor?”
“What does sir?”
“That they were able to convince so many to live under these condition.”
“Conditions seem to be better than the initial view would indicate,” he said. “Some of the men have seen hallways lined with rooms with beds in them, some look like they would fit a family of four comfortably. One of these corridors leads to a garden of some sort. A room that could be described as a meeting hall or dining area looked like it could fit a hundred with some elbow room. Perez himself spotted a room that looked liked it was where they planned their raids based on the maps left in the room.”
Anderson slowly nodded his head as he listened. The rebels were a resourceful bunch after all. Avoiding being captured for so long he shouldn’t have been that surprised. But one thing still bothered him, “Why is it nobody knew this a place like this existed?”
“I’m not sure,” Taylor admitted. “I had people going over old city plans and blueprints as soon as Trent told us about this place, and they couldn’t find a trace of it. I contacted Rhodes and he seemed to recall some of the older Generals back in the day talk about a bomb shelter for the politicians that fell off the radar. I’m assuming this is that shelter.”
“Have him go over what he can to see if anything else fell off the radar,” Anderson ordered. “There has to be some kind of record of places like this somewhere. I doubt the rebels just stumbled across this location, and they have to be someplace like this now.”
“He is sir, and I’m having our people go over the public records as far back as they can find. If they have another location like this one we’ll find it.”
“I hope so Mr. Taylor. It is a metaphorical black eye on my reputation that the rebels have been able to hide for so long in my city, and I will not tolerate it any longer.” They came to a stop at what Perez called the central hub of the hideout. Anderson could just see the rebels in his mind standing around the space, acting like they were in the right. The he set his gaze on the charred remains of the woman he sent here. Slowly he walked toward the remains as Taylor waved off the people guarding them. Standing over them he said, “A pity.”
“Did you know her personally sir?”
“Well enough Mr. Taylor,” he answered. “I almost made her my personal bodyguard, but her rather unusual quirks made me rethink that position. No, she worked out much better as one of my personal assassins. She never let me down once, and always came back with a smile on her face. She was disappointed I waited so long before sending her after Mr. Davidson actually, one of the few times she ever begged for a particular assignment.” Silent for a couple of moments he spoke again, “I want her remains properly taken care of. I will perform the ceremony as soon as we return.”
“I’ll take care of it sir.”
“Good, good. May I have a moment alone?”
“Of course sir,” Taylor said and left.
Anderson looked at her remains and lowered his head. Despite the small spark of sadness he was feeling a smile escaped his lips, “Welcome back Mr. Davidson.”
***
“Damn it, another dead end,” Jack muttered. Rachel tried to remain patient, they had been here a week and he still had no idea where he was going half the time. Of course he was still a little ticked he had to spend a day in the homemade goop, as he put it, to fix that gash in his armor. So this wasn’t helping his mood any. “This place is a freaking maze. I thought you said it was this way.”
“I told you two lefts and a right,” she said. “You went left, right, left.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”, he demanded.
“You learn better this way,” she shot back. “Come on follow me.”
“I still say they should have handed out maps to this place.”
“That’s a security risk,” Rachel reminded him, “and you know that.”
“And I’m tired of getting lost down here.”
“So are a lot of people. Melissa’s gotten turned around a couple times down here too. We just need to get used to the place.”
“If we get used to it,” Jack said. “A lot of the stuff they brought in is still packed.”
“People are still jumpy from the evacuation. Even I’m looking twice at the nearest entrance or exit every time I hear a strange noise.” They came to an intersection and they paused. She didn’t remember this being here. Rachel could feel Jack staring at her as she looked down each one. “Well come on, don’t just lean against the wall,” she said hoping he didn’t notice.
No such luck, “You had no clue which way we had to go for a second.”
“Shut up,” she told him. After a few minutes they found the others in Melissa’s new war room. It was a small group, just them, Melissa, Lance and a couple of others standing around. “Sorry we’re late.”
“I just got here myself,” Melissa admitted. “I have to start thinking about putting up some street signs around here or something.”
“I second that motion,” Jack said as he hoped on top of a crate.
“I might as well third it,” Rachel said, knowing she was going to regret it the moment she did.
“I knew you got lost,” he grinned.
“Bite me,” Rachel told him. Jack stuck his tongue out at her and she did the same.
“Children,” Melissa said sternly.
“She started it,” Jack said trying to sound innocent.
“Did not,” she played along.
“Don’t make me separate you two,” Melissa looked serious before turning away to hide her smile. Before long she was getting back to business, “I figured I should update you guys on what’s going on. The other cells are slowly learning what happened thanks to Lance.”
“Certain details left out of course,” he added looking at them.
“Of course,” Rachel agreed.
“So far it still looks like Jack is still our dirty little secret,” Melissa took over.
“What do you mean ‘little’?”, Jack cut in. Rachel slapped him on the knee.
Melissa continued like he never spoke up, “The survivors from Trent’s cell implied they had no idea why he set us up. So it looks like he was the only one in his cell that knew he’s with us. Speaking of Trent, they found his body in the wood shortly afterwards. It looks like he was shot several times.”
“Can’t say I’m shedding a tear over it,” Lance commented
“I can,” Jack said. “I wanted a piece of him.”
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