Gavin was out again a few seconds later; he had probably taken the Hunting Rifle that Swift had left on the table.
‘That’s our train, guys.’ Jed said. They walked over to it and filed onboard like a group of school children.
Once onboard, the crew had to endure Jed and Gamma playing Poker with the bullet clips as the chips. This raised a few eyebrows and turned a few heads but a lot of the people had seen it before so it didn’t cause too much of a stir.
Swift seemed to find everything irritating, especially Rox going to the toilet every other minute. But eventually he found something to do. He entertained himself by talking to a good-looking girl two rows in front.
‘So, you get this train regularly?’ Swift asked.
‘Yeah, you?’ The girl answered.
‘First time but you’ll probably see me on here again soon.’ Answered Swift.
‘Why’s that?’ The girl asked.
‘Er…’ Swift started to reply. He could make this work pretty well if he thought quickly. ‘Well, I’d like to see you again.’ He said. ‘Great!’ He thought. ‘Excuse and chat-up line in one!
‘Um… Maybe I’ll see you again sometime then… This is my stop.’ She got off without another word.
‘Ooh, harsh blow, man.’ Said Gamma who had leaned over to talk to Swift. ‘Never mind. She did say she might see you again.’ Swift shrugged his shoulders and sat down out of Gamma’s whispering range.
‘Hey guys, we get off in about three minutes.’ Gavin announced. ‘Let’s Lock ‘n’ Load!’
‘I’m read-eee!’ Gamma said; she was cheery as usual.
‘Let’s hit it!’ Said Jed.
‘Let’s make a move then.’ Said Rox, getting into the mood.
‘Zzzzzzz.’ Said Swift.
‘Someone wake Swift up, this is an important mission.’ Gavin said, annoyed.
‘Yo, wakey-wakey! Swifty!’ Gamma yelled into Swift’s sleeping face. One of Swift’s hands shot up and grabbed Gamma’s throat.
‘Wha? Who is it?’ Said Swift, coming to his senses.
‘Geck offff meeee! Urk!’ Said Gamma, choking. Swift immediately relaxed his grip.
‘I’m so sorry!’ Said Swift, quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to! It’s force of habit!’
‘Oh, so you usually go around choking the people who wake you up?’ Said Gavin. ‘Your mum must have had a horrible time when you overslept on school mornings.’
‘Look, I learned that in an Army Camp years back. I still remember everything I learned there. I should have warned you before I went to sleep. I am so sorry.’ Swift said, annoyed at Gavin for the snide comment.
‘It’s okay.’ Said Gamma. ‘My throat’ll be okay; it’s mainly shock. I’ll be all right.
‘Enough of that.’ Said Gavin. ‘We’ve got to get off here.’ The group moved off and began to walk toward the factory.
‘Which way do we go in, leader?’ Asked Swift, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he said leader. Gavin looked up and stared at Swift. Swift felt like Gavin’s gaze was piercing his soul.
‘We will enter the Malik factory through the sewer.’ Said Gavin, staring hard at Swift.
‘You’ll know your way around then eh, Gavin?’ Swift said, smiling.
‘Funny, I thought it’s where I met you.’ Gavin replied, coolly.
‘That’s not very original is it?’ Asked Swift.
‘You want original? Like your method of chatting up girls?’ Answered Gavin.
‘Whassamatter, Gavin? Jealous that I’ve got the guts to approach girls?’
‘We don’t have time for this.’ Interrupted Gamma. ‘Save it for later.’ Both guys realised that they would be working together on this mission and gave the name-calling a break.
‘For later then.’ Said Swift.
‘Later.’ Agreed Gavin.
‘I didn’t mean it like that…’ Said Gamma.
‘Let’s hurry up.’ Said Jed. And the group made their way into the sewer.
‘Yuk, this stinks.’ Said Gamma.
‘Look, unless you wanna get attacked by several robot guards then this is the only way.’ Gavin told her.
‘I’d prefer the guards to the sewer. Then I could kick some stupid tin can from here to… To… To the furthest place I can think of!’ Gamma said, making a kicking motion with her foot.
‘Shouldn’t we check our weapons here? Make sure they work?’ Jed asked.
‘Good point, do what he says people.’ Gavin ordered.
Gavin pulled out the Hunting Rifle that Swift had left on the table and also an AK-47 semi-automatic.
Rox took a well-concealed handgun from her belt and checked it, her hands shaking.
‘That’s not a gun.’ Gamma said to Rox. ‘THIS is a gun!’ She pulled out an M-16 machine gun and fired off a few shots into the sewer water.
Jed took the badly hidden semi-automatic and let off two rounds.
Gavin shot both his guns a few times and then reloaded them with care.
Rox nervously shot two bullets into the water, well away from everyone else.
‘Yo, Swift. What you got?’ Jed asked in a half talking-half shouting voice. Swift pulled out the Magnum. ‘Not bad.’ Jed finished.
‘And… This.’ Swift said, retrieving the sword from his belt. ‘For hand-to-hand stuff.’
‘Whoah!’ Gamma said, in awe. ‘I never saw that baby!’ Swift span the sword around and cut the air with it a few times.
‘Okay, that’s enough. We have a mission to take care of.’ Gavin said. He didn’t like being outdone when it came to choice of weapons.
‘Chill, Gav. What’s with you recently?’ Asked Gamma.
‘It’s this mission; it bugs me. Not to mention one or two other things.’ Everyone looked at Swift who walked on through the sewer. They all followed him. No one said anything; the only noise was the dripping of the water and a far-off sound of sewage gushing out off pipes a long way off. Eventually Gavin broke the silence.
‘This is where we go up.’ He said, pointing at a small hole in the ceiling.
‘How do we get up there?’ Asked Rox.
‘Simple.’ Answered Gamma. ‘Like this.’ She pulled out a small gun. She aimed it toward the hole and fired. ‘BAAM!’ A small hook fired out and latched onto a pipe. ‘Let’s go.’ She finished. As she climbed up there was a shout from further down the sewer.
‘I heard something. Did you?’ The voice said.
‘Yeah let’s check it out.’ A second voice said. The sound of rapid footsteps approached the team. Two soldiers appeared, armed with large guns.
‘What are you doin’ here?’ The first asked.
‘Nuthin’.’ Gavin replied, nudging Swift. Swift got the idea and started to shuffle round toward the guards.
‘In that case would you please explain why…’ He began.
‘BLAM!’ Swift had fired the Magnum straight into the first guard’s chest.
‘ARGH!’ Came the guard’s cry as he slumped to the floor.
‘Jim!’ The other guard shouted. ‘You… You… BASTARDS!’ He yelled. Swift’s pulse was racing; he had just killed someone! He didn’t want to kill the other man but the second soldier was loading his gun very quickly. ‘DIE!’ The soldier yelled as he lifted his gun. Swift had to kill him now! He lifted his gun and prepared to fire but before he shot there was another noise.
‘CHUKA! CHUKA! CHUKA!’ Came the gunfire of Gamma’s semi- automatic. The second guard dropped to the floor, firing.
‘DROP!’ Rox yelled. The team all fell to the floor in an attempt to avoid the soldier’s gunfire. Once the gun stopped the team rose to their feet.
‘That was close.’ Gamma said. ‘Too close…’ The team carried on up the wire and only Jed had a problem getting up with his semi-automatic.
Once they were up, they realised that they were already inside the factory but not very far in.
‘We’ve got to go to the very top then into the centre and back down again.’ Said Gavin. ‘It’ll be a long journey - well for me, Swift and Gamma – but you guys have a mission just as important, you’ve got to make sure that the area is secure so it’s safe for us guys to do our mission.’ He was trying to make a boring job sound fun but not very well.
‘Basically we’re lookouts?’ Said Jed.
‘You could put it like that…’ Gavin said.
‘Let’s go.’ Said Swift, still in shock from the fight in the sewers.
‘Yeah!’ Said Gamma. ‘Let’s blow this place up!’ She was always like this; the adrenaline rush turned her fear into energy and excitement.
The group made their way up some steps into a small room.
‘What’s this?’ Asked Rox. She had picked up a small device with flashing red lights on the top. It was a T-shape with an aerial pointing out of the top.
‘It’s a transmitter.’ Said Swift. ‘It’s used to remote control heavy or dangerous things in the factory from a distance.’
‘Since when did you know that, Swifty?’ Asked Gamma.
‘Don’t call me Swifty.’ He replied.
‘But Swifty’s cute.’ Gamma protested.
‘I hate cute.’ Swift said. He was wondering how some one who killed people for a living could have an attitude like Gamma.
‘Can we stop takin’ breaks, please? The security will be alerted now. We need to move. Fast.’ Said Jed. He was starting to panic slightly.
The group carried on and entered another room. This one was mostly steel, they were in the real factory area now. As they reached another flight of steps Swift realised that they would be dividing into two teams soon.
Once they reached the top of the stairs and walked on a little they came to a T-Junction.
‘We split up here.’ Gavin announced. ‘You guys take the left. Me, Swift and Gamma go the other way.
‘Do we need team-leaders?’ Asked Gamma.
‘Yeah.’ Replied Gavin. ‘Me and Jed.’
‘Gotcha.’ Jed said. ‘C’mon Rox. We’re gonna secure the exit and keep it clean. Gavin, be quick. We won’t be able to take to many robots down, there’s only two of us.’
‘We’ll hurry.’ Gavin replied. They shook hands in a friendly, best mates way. ‘I’ll see ya later.’ Gavin finished.
‘Yeah, we’ll be okay.’ Said Jed, on behalf of himself and Rox.
‘That’s enough.’ Said Rox. ‘We have a mission to do, remember?’ The teams split up. Jed’s at a steady walk, Gavin’s sprinting down the stairs. Gavin’s team were soon deep into the factory.
‘How far down are we now?’ Asked Gavin.
‘Let’s see…’ Gamma said, looking at some writing on the wall. ‘Sub-level 7.’
‘Nearly there, we need to find sub-level 12, area G.’ Gavin said, he was more serious now than Swift had ever seen him before.
‘Let’s press on then.’ Said Gamma. The team carried on running in silence for a minute, their speed was imperative. If they slowed down they would become easy targets for Securi-Bots. They mapping computers inside the Securi-Bots worked like radar, meaning that they couldn’t keep up with fast moving targets because it messed up their attack system. The advanced models could only be avoided with dodging and weaving. The team were lucky here; Malik didn’t put much money into the security budget.
‘Hey! We’re in sub-level 12,’ said Gamma. ‘Where’s area G?’ She asked.
‘Turn left here.’ Gavin said, quickly. The whole team moved like a single unit, ‘this is where we set the bomb.’ Gavin announced as they reached a long narrow path with rails on each side. Over the rails was a drop that would mean certain death. The clouds of smoke billowing from below them made it unclear how far the drop was but it was definitely far enough.
‘I’ll see you on the top floor you guys.’ Gamma said, she turned back and run the other direction as they had agreed in the plan earlier.
‘My turn.’ Swift said as he kneeled down to connect the explosive to the mainframe computer. The small explosion here would destroy the precious equipment around them, bringing the factory to a standstill. Once this happened, the virus that Swift was setting into the computer would activate the self-destruct mechanism, which would immediately blow the entire factory apart. The time between the small timed explosion being started and the large self destruct explosion finishing was approximately 3 minutes so Swift would have to move fast.
‘I’m outta here Swift.’ Gavin said. ‘Follow me up as soon as you’ve finished.’ Swift didn’t appreciate being left but decided that he would rather be alone than with Gavin.
There were a few bleeps from the computer and the 1 minute 30 second timer for the mini blast began. Swift raced out but found himself confronted by two evil-looking Securi-Bots. They moved toward Swift and the nearest made a grab.
‘Not so fast.’ Said Swift and he then proceeded to thrust his sword through the robot. ‘Ha!’ He said, feeling no remorse. These were simply robots, not people like he’d killed in the sewer. He pulled the Magnum out and shot the second Securi-Bot.
‘BLAM!’ Came the sound of the gun. Time for Swift started to slow down as he watched the bullet rip through the steel casing for the main computer inside his mechanical opponent. Swift carried on past them, there was no time to waste. He was racing up a flight of stairs when some one blocked his way.
‘You seem in a rush.’ Said the man. It was immediately clear that it was a Malik factory guard.
‘If you don’t mind…’ Swift started, trying to get past.
‘But I do!’ Said the guard. ‘You aren’t going to get past you see? I won't let you. So I suggest that you surrender or get beaten up. Okay?’ Swift stared at the guard. Was he mad?
‘I’m very sorry about this.’ Said Swift, raising the Magnum.
‘Don’t be.’ Said the guard, taking out a large sawn-off shotgun. ‘Your little peashooter there ain’t even loaded.’ Swift checked the gun. The soldier was right and there was no time to reload. Well, how was he supposed to reload when he had someone pointing a gun at him?
‘My apologies.’ Said Swift, and threw the Magnum at the guard’s head.
‘Argh!’ Said the guard. ‘I’ll show you…’ He began but before he could say anymore he felt a sharp stab to his chest and when he looked his shirt had changed colour. He fell to the floor, writhing in agony as his attacker picked up the Magnum .45 Next to him. The last thing he saw was Swift cleaning some blood off a sword with his sleeve.
Swift was up to sub-level five when he heard the first explosion. He remembered that this meant he had 1 minute 30 seconds left. He really had to run fast because he needed to be a long way away from the factory before he was safe. He took 40 seconds to reach sub-level 2 and the he had to remember the exact directions back to the sewer. As he approached the long flight of stairs he saw Gamma.
‘Go back up.’ Said Gamma. ‘We’ve got to go that way, Gav forgot to explain that.’
‘Slipped his mind probably.’ Said Swift, annoyed. They turned and ran back up, through another room and went up a few more flights of stairs. They got out and found themselves in a large yard. It was full of scrap metal and the fences were very high. Swift hacked away at them with his sword and they both ran through. They saw the other team members who ran further on. Just then they felt the ground shake and turned around to see the whole factory erupt in a cloud of smoke. Debris flew everywhere and they all carried on running.
‘Mission… Com… Complete.’ Gavin said, out of breath. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Oh no you don’t.’ Said Swift. He grabbed Gavin by his collar and lifted him into the air. ‘Forgot the escape route, eh? The most important piece of the mission and you “forgot”?’ Swift was quite a bit taller than Gavin and could be very intimidating.
‘It… It was a… a… an accident.’ Stuttered Gavin.
‘You’ll get away with it this time.’ Said Swift. ‘But anything like this again and I’ll KILL YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?’ Swift was yelling at Gavin as though he was the boss.
‘Look, I made a mistake.’ Said Gavin. ‘People make mistakes, just lighten up, geez…’ Swift glared at Gavin and then walked off in the direction of the train station. The metal was still rolling about and the scene looked very powerful as Swift disappeared into a cloud of ash.
‘Swift, wait up!’ Shouted Gamma. ‘We’re getting the 722 train. Thought I’d better tell you.’
‘Oh… Ok.’ Said Swift. ‘Er… Thanks.’ Swift walked toward the platform and got onboard the waiting train. The rest of the team followed and the train began moving. No one spoke on the way back and the journey didn’t take very long.
When they arrived back into Toblia level B-14 they filed off and walked to the base. When they got back they changed clothes and went out to the local bar.
‘Swift?’ Rox said, walking up to him. ‘I need to talk to you about something.’
‘What is it. I’m a little busy.’ Swift lied.
‘What, busy drinking on your own?’ Said Rox, annoyed that Swift thought that she wouldn’t notice he was lying.
‘Okay.’ Swift said. ‘What is it?’
‘I don’t think I can do this rebel group thing. It’s not my line of work.’ She said, slowly.
‘Okay.’ Swift said, dismissively. Rox paused, annoyed.
‘Oh, thanks. You’ve been a great help.’ She said, bugged by his lack of sympathy and attention.
‘Sorry but if you don’t want to stay here then you better go. You’ve gotta put your heart into what you do and you don’t seem to want to do this. You could be a danger to the rest of us through lack of attentiveness.’ Swift turned away after this and carried on drinking. Rox turned away and walked to the exit of the bar quickly, slamming the door on her way out.
‘That wasn’t very nice.’ Gamma said to Swift.
‘It’s the truth. Some people just can’t handle it.’ Swift replied and ordered his third drink.
At about nine ‘o’ clock the group left, their next mission was in two days and they had new recruits, four of them, arriving tomorrow. This was the biggest number of recruits ever received at any one time by the group and Gavin was very excited about it.
‘What’s gonna happen to me now?’ Swift thought as he lay in his bed. ‘No turning back unless I want to be jobless.’ Swift was still contemplating this as he dropped off to sleep.
When Swift woke up the next day he realised that it was pretty late, about 10:30AM. He jumped out of bed and quickly changed into his clothes. He ran up the steps that led to the base conference room and was shocked to find that only Jed was there.
‘Where is everyone?’ Swift asked.
‘Gone to pick up the new recruits.’ Answered Jed, not looking up from the pint glasses he was drying.
‘Oh, why are you still here then?’ To clean up and tell you why there was no one here. This kitchen hasn’t been cleaned in ages. Gavin thinks it’s women’s work but doesn’t say in case Gamma beats him up.
‘Ha, Gamma’s running this team really. Gavin doesn’t have any power at all; he just likes to think he does. He doesn’t dare disagree in case he gets a mutiny. I don’t really see the point in him.’ Swift said his point with a casual, mocking tone.
‘That IS the point.’ Jed said. ‘What are we fighting for? A democratic system. He is using democracy to find out what the TEAM wants. No one runs this team, everyone runs it.’ Jed said this with a reasoning and pleasant tone.
Swift smiled slightly, he just couldn’t fault Jed. He had a good sense of humour and didn’t mind if someone made a mistake. If someone did make a mistake he would quietly point it out and share his views. He wasn’t a loudmouth and seemed to really keep peace down. This was the point when Swift realised that Jed was the real backbone of the team, he was holding the strategies, the fighters and the leader together. If they didn’t have Jed the team would simply fall apart. Swift heard loud talking outside which broke his concentration. The person talking was Gamma.
‘Here we are, this is the base. The other two are in here.’ Came her piercing voice. Swift guessed that she was talking to the new recruits. There were four of them as far as Swift knew. He hoped they had more like Jed. As good as Jed was he’d have a hard time holding eight people together in a team that was under constant stress.
‘Cool, what are their names?’ Came a new voice that Swift didn’t recognise.
‘Jed and Swift.’ Gavin said. ‘Jed’s okay but watch out for Swift, he’s a bit moody.’ Swift felt his blood boil and went out to meet them.
‘Moody, eh? I could come up with a few accurate descriptions of you.’ Swift said, slyly as he walked through the door. The first new person he saw was a dark haired girl. Swift went to shake hands.
‘Pleased to meet you, Swift.’ Said the girl. ‘My name’s Aoife.’
‘Same to you. ‘Cept for the Aoife part. Nice name, not very common.’ Swift answered, the girl was quite a bit smaller than Swift, about 5’ 6”. She seemed to be about eighteen or nineteen.
The second person that Swift saw was a guy. He was again, slightly smaller than Swift, about 5’ 9”.
‘Hey.’ Said the new recruit. ‘I’m Gary.’ He had bleached blond hair and a defiant expression. He also looked about eighteen.
‘Hey.’ Swift answered, shortly. Without another glance, he moved on.
The next person was a second man. He was about Swift’s height with brown hair and a fazed look on his face. He mumbled incoherently, gazing at the huge sword handle that was just visible over Swift’s shoulder. He looked twenty or older.
‘Please to meet you too.’ Swift said, clearly. ‘And you are?’
‘I’m, er, Zack.’ He answered, seemingly still distracted. Swift gave up trying to make contact at this point and went to see the final member of the team. As he looked up he froze, the last person was a devastatingly pretty girl, about Swift’s age, twenty-one. She had auburn hair and a warm smile and she immediately mesmerized Swift with her beautiful eyes.
‘H-h-hi.’ Was all swift managed to say.
‘Hi!’ She answered, cheerily. ‘I’m Kat. You must be Swift.’
‘Y-y-yeah. That’s m-me.’ Swift answered. ‘Kat, n-nice n-n-name.’ Swift jerked out of his daydream and straightened up. ‘Short for anything?’
‘Yeah, Kattrina. With a double T. Not a very common spelling, eh?’
‘No.’ Swift answered, shortly.
‘Your name’s unusual too, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah.’ Swift answered again.
‘And Gamma’s too, and Jed for that matter.’ Kat carried on.
‘Yeah.’ Swift answered, shortly again.
‘Isn’t your vocabulary a little limited?’ Asked Kat.
‘Yeah. I mean, no, n-no. I’m just a little… Nervous I guess.’
‘Why? I’m the new recruit, I should be the nervous one.’ Kat asked, slightly embarrassed.
‘Let’s go. ALL of you.’ Said Gavin, breaking up the introductions. The group made their way into the base. The new recruits were introduced to Jed and Swift went down the stairs into the renovated cellar where his bed was situated. He saw Rox down there.
‘Can I help you?’ Asked Swift. ‘If you’ve forgotten where your bedroom is it’s upstairs.
‘No, I’m looking for my coat.’ Said Rox. ‘It’s not up there.’
‘Why would it be down here?’ Asked Swift, curiously. ‘Is it you and Jed?’
‘Of course not.’ Snapped Rox. ‘But it’s nowhere else. I’ll look near the door.’ She went up the stairs, pushing past Swift.
‘Where are you going anyway?’ Asked Swift. There was no reply so Swift followed. When he got to the top of the stairs he saw her putting her coat on and saying something quietly to Gavin. Gavin turned around, looking shocked.
‘Leaving? But you’ve only done one mission!’ He exclaimed. ‘You can’t!’ At hearing this Jed, Gamma and Swift arrived.
‘No! You can’t!’ said Gamma.
‘Hardly even been here.’ Jed said, as shocked as Gavin.
‘I was joking last night. Please don’t leave.’ Pleaded Swift.
‘I-I don’t know.’ Rox answered. ‘I can’t stay but don’t wanna leave. I can’t decide. Don’t put me through this.’ She pleaded. No one could really understand except that if they didn’t say something that she would leave.
‘I want to stay; I want to get to know you guys but it’s too hard. I’m not cut out for it. I-I, I don’t know. Help me, please I just…’ She was on the verge of breakdown. It had been incredibly stressful for her and it was showing now.
‘I just want… Out… Just out… I want to get out…’ She then collapsed into a heap and began to sob heavily.
‘It’ll be okay now.’ Said Gamma. ‘Let’s get you into bed, you’re really tired.’
Swift walked over to the petrified group of new recruits.
‘She’s just upset. She’ll be okay, like Gamma said.’
‘Whilst you guys are all here.’ Gavin began. ‘The new guys need their training mission.’ Swift recalled his training mission. Gavin had made him go into the sewer and track down a robotic spider then retrieve it. He had had a tracking device to find it with and eventually found it in a big pile of sludge. This had started off the hatred between Gavin and Swift.
‘This will be a co-operative mission.’ Gavin told them. ‘In teams of two.’ The new recruits automatically started to sort themselves out into gender based teams.
‘And I’ll choose.’ Gavin finished. ‘ Aoife and Gary are team one; Kat and Zack are team two. Got that?’ The two teams rearranged immediately.
‘I’ve sorted out the missions.’ Said Jed. ‘How about this, Gavin? Team one have to find out who the “Boarhound Gang” are and complete the “Boarhound’s Task”. Team two will have to find the “Tower Of Monjarako” and defeat the five guardians.’ Jed finished.
When they’ve finished they have to return here immediately.’ Gavin continued. ‘There will be a three-hour time limit for each, which will begin in twenty minutes. And another thing, you can do what you want until then but I think that you should eat and get advice from the others. And another thing, can I also say that it’s advice only, you can’t tell them anything like who the “Boarhound Gang” are or where to find the “Tower Of Monjarako”. That’s about everything so get going and good luck!’
‘About time too.’ Swift muttered to Zack. ‘If he said “and another thing” once more I would have hit him!’ Zack laughed quietly and they all went in for dinner.
Zack, Aoife, Kat and Gary frequently interrogated Swift and the others about the missions they had been set. Once they had started Swift, Jed, Gavin, and Gamma sat down in great relief.
‘Rox is asleep upstairs.’ Gamma said. She had entered the room halfway through dinner, (a lovely spaghetti Bolognese made by Jed) because she was upstairs; making sure Rox was okay.
‘Now what?’ Asked Swift.
‘Now we can do what we want for the next three hours.’ Answered Gavin. Gamma got up and went upstairs.
‘I’m tired. I’m gonna have a little sleep.’ She said.
‘Me too.’ Said Jed and went downstairs.
‘I’m gonna go for a walk.’ Said Swift. This left Gavin who didn’t say anything.
Later on, when Swift was in the marketplace he saw Kat and Zack who were talking leisurely over coffee. Swift thought this was pretty confident but then noticed that there was someone else with them. They must have been getting information. The only problem was that Zack was getting a bit too close to Kat, Swift was ready to tell them to stop messing about and get on with their mission when they finished talking and stood up. They had obviously found out some important information because they set off at a fast walk towards the exit to the marketplace. Swift decided that, as he had nothing else to do, he would follow inconspicuously. He walked round another way so he could watch behind a pile of boxes and cargo nets at the fish stall. It smelled but he stayed where he was, if he moved now all would be lost.
‘Okay, the “Tower Of Monjarako” is on the outskirts of the city; it should be this direction. Kat said. ‘We’re ahead of schedule, it should have taken around forty-five minutes but we only took fifteen.’ Swift watched carefully, Zack was still to close and Swift didn’t want to let Kat go just yet…
‘Hi guys!’ Swift said, walking out in front of them. He was determined to get a good chat up line on Kat before Zack did.
‘Oh… Hi Swift.’ Said Kat, slightly surprised by his sudden appearance. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Yeah, Swift,’ Zack said, ‘what is it?
‘I just wanted to talk to Kat for a second.’ Swift answered, not even looking at Zack. ‘Can I ask you something please Kat?’
‘Uh, sure.’ Said Kat.
‘Um, over here maybe.’ Swift said, indicating a quiet corner.
‘Okay, wait here Zack, I’ll just be a second.’ She told her teammate. They walked over to the corner. ‘What is it?’ She asked Swift.
‘D’you wanna go for a drink tonight at the bar. Y’know ‘Cloud 9’ it’s just next to the base.’ He said this in his most casual, bored manner as if he didn’t really mind. He did of course.
‘Oh I’d love to! But I’m already going somewhere else with Zack, maybe another time, okay?’ She answered. Swift was devastated but didn’t want to show it; instead he nodded and walked off. He knew his voice would sound all squeaky if he spoke and he didn’t want that happening.
‘Hey Kat, let’s go. You’re wastin’ time!’ Zack called and Kat followed. From this point on Swift had discovered another rival in the group, not just Gavin but now Zack as well. This wasn’t too fair on Zack but Swift couldn’t believe that Kat hadn’t chosen him instead!
‘I’ll show all of them.’ Said Swift and he started back toward the base.
Later on when Swift was back and the other team members, but not the new ones, were awake they all settled down for a talk on the next day’s mission.
‘So, tomorrow.’ Said Gavin. ‘It’s all planned out this time.’
‘Including escape routes?’ Asked Swift.
‘Including escape routes.’ Gavin confirmed. ‘We’ll be split up into teams of three. This mission is based on the assumption that all the new recruits pass the tests.’
‘If they don’t?’ Asked Gamma.
‘Then the mission will be postponed until we’ve got a new attack plan. This mission has been in planning for the last two months and thanks to Jed and Gamma’s help and information retrieval it is completely foolproof.’
‘So we’ll be safe taking you along then, eh Gavin?’ Chipped in Swift. The team sniggered and Gavin contorted his face into an evil snarl.
‘Look swift, if you don’t wish to add constructive comments then I suggest you shut your mouth, or else.’ He said, still snarling.
‘Or else what?’ Swift asked him, cockily.
‘Or else you can forget your place in this mission or any other for that matter.’ Gavin snapped. Swift stopped at this but Gavin was still annoyed by the fact that Swift was constantly undermining him. ‘Here are some maps, one to a team. The teams are to be: Me, Gamma and Zack who will form team one; Swift, Jed and Kattrina who will form team two and finally Rox, Gary and Aoife will form team three. Is that okay with everyone?’
‘I like ‘em!’ Swift said, happy that he had Kat on his team.
‘Seems okay.’ Said Jed.
‘I don’t like them.’ Gamma said firmly. ‘Team three aren’t at all experienced apart from Rox who’s hardly been here. I say that I join team three and Gary joins team one.’
‘Is that okay with everyone else?’ Asked Gavin.
‘I like them much more now.’ Said Rox.
‘Me too.’ Added Jed. ‘It’s a lot more balanced.’ Swift nodded.
‘That’s agreed then.’ Gavin finished. ‘I’m going to pass around these mission directives, read them carefully and there’ll be another meeting later for questions.’
‘The others should be back soon.’ Said Jed. ‘Let’s get ready to welcome them back.’ The group agreed that they should have a celebratory tea for the recent mission success and for the new recruits who passed (if they did that is).
Later on, when the teams returned flaunting their newly gained trophies, (a ‘Boarhound Gang’ medal for incredible strength, courage and quick thinking and a ‘Monjarako Tower’ gem for the defeating of the tower guardians) they were congratulated by the others and had a beautiful meal with blancmange, gateaux, lots of sweets and a lovely bottle of champagne, all free! This was courtesy of the man who worked in the local restaurant, as he was a big supporter of Kougar. After the food was finished they rested for a little while and then began the second meeting. The new recruits were told what the mission was, what teams they were in and all the teams received maps and mission directives, then it was question time.
‘Who are the team leaders?’ Asked Jed.
‘The team leaders will be Me, Jed and Gamma.’ Gavin said. ‘I already asked this to everyone else before but now we have all the team members here, does anyone wish to make changes to the teams?’
‘I think they’re okay.’ Said Gary, Aoife nodded.
‘Hmm, I guess.’ Said Kattrina.
‘Oh, okay,’ Zack said, reluctantly. He gazed at Kat for a second and then nodded. ‘Yeah, I don’t mind.’ He confirmed.
‘That’s settled then.’ Said Gavin. ‘The sleeping arrangements will be: team one upstairs; team two downstairs and team three in the cellar. It’s a converted cellar team three so don’t worry, you’ll be warm and cosy.
‘ I want everyone to spend the next few hours going over the battle directives in their teams and there will be a final meeting tomorrow morning. Everyone has to get sleep, it could change the outcome of the mission whether you’re tired or not. Now there’s only one more thing to say, goodnight and good luck!’ Gavin got up and began to walk upstairs, beckoning Gary and Zack to follow. Jed, Swift and Katrina began to sort out places to sleep whilst Gamma, Rox and Aoife walked downstairs into the cellar.
‘You must be tired.’ Swift said to Kattrina.
‘Why?’ She asked.
‘Swift considered this, he could go for the chat-up line option: ‘Cos you’ve been racin’ round my mind all day, or he could be professional and tell her what he was going to say before she asked.
‘Well, you have had a busy day. You just got here and you’re whisked off onto a training mission and as soon as you’re back you’re stuffed with party food then thrown into a pre-mission meeting.’ He said, choosing the second option.
‘I guess. But my life is very stressful.’ She answered. ‘Into one job, out again, into another. I really can’t stay put.’
‘Then you’ve got the right job. You won’t be able to stop even if you want to.’ Swift told her.
‘Suits me.’ Kat answered, shortly.
After a few more minutes of chatting, Jed broke the conversation.
‘Let’s get on with the battle details,’ He told them, ‘what is everyone gonna do here then? I’ll take some notes.’
‘Okay.’
