“I
am
working on a plan,” he began, hesitating only briefly over his own wording. “It’s a work in progress . . . and I
will
need your help with it.”
“Alright,” she answered, shuffling a bit closer to him.
Jarred took a breath. “Soon . . .” he began, “. . . the guards are going to come and take me away again.” Elora tensed immediately with the revelation, but Jarred continued. “You’re going to be left alone in here and I don’t know if I’ll be coming back.”
“Where are they taking you?” she asked, obviously trying to keep herself calm and steady, though she seemed on the brink of panic.
“That’s not important. What
is
important is that you keep your head once I’m gone. Stay focused and alert. When an opportunity comes for you to get away, you need to be ready to take it.”
“What about you?”
Jarred shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of myself. I need
you
to stay focused on getting out and back to your brother. Can you do that?”
Elora nodded, obviously a bit confused and uneasy. He wished he could put her mind at ease somehow, but there was little he could do or say that would accomplish that. He reached out a hand to touch her face, trying to convey as much reassurance through his gaze as possible. Her eyes came up to meet his and he found himself lost in their depths. He wanted to kiss her again, but resisted the urge. The last thing she needed right now was for him to make some kind of intimate attempt on her.
She appeared to notice his hesitation and answered it by leaning in towards him. He matched her movement, eager to feel the sensation of her lips on his again and the electric energy that flowed between them whenever they touched.
She halted just short of making contact, the sudden widening of her eyes over his shoulder telling him that they had run out of time. Her eyes came back to his, panicked, as he heard the continuous hum of the barrier field disengage behind him. He kept his gaze on her.
“Jarred,” she said, her mouth remaining open as though trying to speak words she could not find.
“It will be alright,” he promised, taking her face in both hands. “Remember what I told you.” She nodded, but he did not let go of her. “I want to thank you.” Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the remark he had blurted out without having intended to. It made the words no less true though. “For opening my eyes.”
He felt two pairs of strong hands grip both of his arms and pull him away from her. His eyes remained on her though, burning the image of her standing there into his mind, until she finally disappeared from his view. It would be a reminder to him of what was at stake when he stood before his captors in the arena, or the last thing he saw before he fell.
* * *
The last several hours had provided Ethan, Mac and Tarik ample time to explore and map out a good deal of the secure areas of the waste facility’s two lower holding levels. If they were going to succeed in any kind of rescue attempt, knowing the facility floor to ceiling would be a vital part of whatever plan Ethan still hoped to come up with.
Finding where Jarred and Elora were being kept was, of course, only the first step. Making their way out of this place afterward would be challenging, he could be sure, but that was where Jarred would come in. He was good at that kind of thing and once Ethan managed to find and free him, he would be able to lead them all out of here. At least, that was what he was counting on. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had much success in that first critical step.
For all their searching, they had found no sign of them. It was possible that they had been taken from the facility. If that were true, it would mean that they were wasting their time crawling around in these tunnels, as Mac continued to suggest. It would also mean that they stood almost no chance at all of ever finding them. That was something Ethan couldn’t accept. Not yet. Not when he felt so strongly that they
were
here. His instincts told him to stay, to continue searching.
They
hadn’t given up on
him
.
“We’re going in circles,” Mac complained from behind him, as they moved over a familiar corridor, visible through the grated ceiling “Why do we keep passing over this spot?”
“That’s the point,” Ethan replied, a bit annoyed. “We’ve already covered just about every corner of the holding area and haven’t seen any sign of them.”
“Exactly!” Mac exclaimed, quietly. “What does that tell you? We’ve looked everywhere and haven’t found them. They’re
not
here, kid. We shouldn’t be here either.”
“We
haven’t
been everywhere,” Ethan corrected, pointing down through the grating to the sealed hatch at the end of the corridor. “We haven’t been in
there
. There’s no crawlspaces or ducts that lead inside, that we’ve come across yet, and the area doesn’t even show on the plant schematics. My gut is telling me they’re in there.”
“Oh, your gut is telling you? Well, that’s a relief. Why didn’t you say so? As long as you’re certain.”
“Sarcasm noted.”
“Well, I would
hope
so
.”
Ethan let out a sigh. “Would you just relax and be quiet. The way you’re carrying on someone is going to hear us and then we’ll really be in it.”
“Hey kid,” Mac shot back, sounding offended. “
I’m
the adult here.
I’ll
decide when it’s okay to panic and when it’s not. And
as
the adult, I’m making the command decision to get out of here.”
Ethan heard Tarik’s low, threatening growl and glanced back to see him bearing his teeth at Mac, who raised his hands defensively.
“Alright,” he surrendered. “We’ll stay. It was just a suggestion.”
“Quiet,” Ethan hissed, as the hatch below them actually slid open for the first time that he had been there to witness it.
More
to his surprise, the three troops and two security mechs that exited through it had Jarred with them. He was so stunned that he could only watch as they passed by below. Finally finding his tongue, he spoke, his voice a bare whisper.
“It’s Jarred. I
knew
it. I
knew
they were here.” He continued to watch for his sister, but no one else came through the hatch and it slid shut again. He forced himself to take in a calming breath. One thing at a time. They would follow Jarred and help him. He would know where they were keeping Elora and then they could go back for her.
Ethan looked over his shoulder at Mac and Tarik and pointed two fingers at his eyes, then down towards the passing group, finishing the hand signal by walking his fingers in the direction they were going.
“What?” Mac whispered, looking completely confused.
Ethan shook his head. He had seen enough action holos to pick up some of the basic military hand signals. Apparently Mac hadn’t watched the same holos. “Let’s follow them and watch where they take Jarred,” he replied, as quietly as possible.
“Well, why didn’t you just say that?”
Ethan rolled his eyes and put a finger to his lips to silence the conversation. He then waved both Mac and Tarik forward. They began their slow pursuit of the group, moving as quietly as possible while doing their best to stay close to them. It wasn’t easy. The bulky wiring and power conduits, while insulating a lot of the noise they made with their movements, also slowed them down considerably. They wound through a number of corridors, nearly losing the group a few times, before finally coming to a stop at the level’s one lift tube.
Once the lift arrived and Jarred was taken inside, they wouldn’t be able to follow. This would be their only chance to help him. If they were going to make some kind of move, it would have to be now.
Ethan eyed Tarik, who’s animal focus was locked on the group below. A vicious looking being, though small in stature, he would be the one doing the bulk of the attacking. Ethan wouldn’t be a lot of help in that area. Both he and Mac were unarmed and hardly a physical threat to a group of fully trained and armored soldiers, plus the two security mechs escorting them. Tarik seemed to know as much and had moved himself into a position in front of Ethan, readying himself for the coming assault by withdrawing a deadly looking dagger. The sharp weapon wouldn’t do much against the mechs, but if they could take the group by surprise, and Jarred was able to get free, maybe they could overpower the troops. It was a long shot, and that was being
very
optimistic, but at this point they had run out of options.
Watching Jarred and the soldiers through the grating, he waited, for what he didn’t really know. The right moment, he supposed, when they became distracted. But, by what? Maybe when the lift doors opened and they made to move inside.
Tarik began to silently remove a section of ceiling grating, creating an opening for himself to drop through. Ethan kept his gaze on the group below, ready to signal him into action. His heart was racing. This could be the end for all of them.
It was then that his heart almost stopped completely, as Jarred, waiting with the group for the lift to arrive, inexplicably glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes immediately finding Ethan through the open grating. Their eyes met for only a moment and then Jarred casually looked back towards the lift doors. Ethan had to force himself to breath again. Had he known they were following him this whole time? Or had it just been chance that he’d spotted them now?
Ethan noticed Jarred move, just slightly, and his eyes tracked down to the source of the movement. His hand. His hands both bound behind his back, he was splaying one out, attempting to give Ethan some kind of signal. But what was he trying to tell him? The hand made a slight waving motion and then closed into a fist, one finger pointing back down the corridor.
Ethan was actually stunned. Was Jarred waving them off? Telling him to wait? To not do anything? No, that wasn’t what he was saying. He was telling Ethan to let him go, to remain where he was and return the way they had come. But why?
Elora. That had to be it. He held his hand up to Tarik to keep him from dropping through the opening. Jarred wanted them to leave him and go back for Elora. He would know, better than any of them, how slim their chances were of fighting off the half dozen guards around him. They would most certainly have been captured or killed. Instead, he wanted them to do what they could for his sister. Maybe he was devising a plan for his own escape. Ethan could only hope for as much.
As the lift door opened, Tarik looked as though he meant to move and Ethan waved him off again, the grey being giving him a look in return that appeared almost pained. It dawned on Ethan then that he was actually struggling with whether or not he should go after Jarred, or follow his request to ensure Ethan’s own safety. The tense moment passed, and Ethan knew the ladder had won, as Tarik slid the ceiling grate back into place.
Through the grating, Ethan watched as Jarred stepped into the lift with the four troopers. Though he guessed Jarred couldn’t see him any longer, his eyes seemed to find him through the grating again, and as the lift door closed shut, he saw reassurance in them. It pained him to watch Jarred disappear from view as the door was sealed, but the subtle look Jarred had given him also served to bolster his resolve.
Behind Ethan, Mac let out a relieved sigh. “That was close,” he spoke, quietly. “I thought we were fragged for sure. Looks like you came to your senses just in time.”
Ethan’s eyes tracked down to the two remaining security mechs, who had not entered the lift, as they turned and began to move back in the direction they had come. “Not yet,” he answered.
“What do you mean, not yet?” Mac asked.
Ethan looked up from the mechs to face first Tarik then Mac. “Jarred can take care of himself. He has a plan. I know it.”
“Great,” Mac returned. “Where does that leave us?”
“We’re going after Elora.”
Chapter 32
Effectively hidden from all visual and energy signature scanners, Sierra and Kern had gone completely unnoticed during their stay on Ryza. A stay which had extended far beyond plan. Kern’s nervous pacing had been a constant, irritating reminder of that. Having just passed the twenty four hour mark, Sierra had to admit she was beginning to get a bit edgy herself.
Jarred, Elora and the Toguai, Tarik, had departed with the intention of breaking into the waste facility, undetected, locating Ethan, if he was there at all, and making a hasty retreat back to the ship. Though Jarred had indicated no real timeline for the mission, it was clear they had been gone far too long. That had been her conclusion more than half a day earlier. Having doubled that now, she was certain something had gone terribly wrong. They had been captured. Killed, perhaps. She couldn’t be sure. All she
did
know was that they had heard no word from Jarred, and that with each passing hour, it was becoming more likely that they wouldn’t be.