[WP] Your plane from Orlando to London has just landed and as it taxies in it's surrounded by police and press. You disembark and a police constable tells you. "It's 2036, your plane went missing 15 years ago."
*****
The silence was deafening.
Well, it was silent, save for the sound of my footfalls as I paced the length of the room, sighing and expressing regrets over matters that I had no control over.
Tension so thick hug in the air, almost to the point where it felt like I could scoop it up in the atmosphere. And then I could feel the subtle signs of tachycardia as my pulse raced, even though I was a non-combatant in this game. I had no part to play, just to sit in the underground bunker and watch the proceedings from the screens wh9ch offered footage from the live camera feed situated all around the island, and escape in the unlikely event that things did not go as planned.
I sighed and urged myself to breathe again, remembering that whatever happened, I was going to be safe. There would be an assured escape for me, and the police and other armed forces would be notified of the situation from the start. That was all I needed to know because as much as I was not too pleased with having to stay within that large facility on the island, I was not hoping to be back in the arms of those three men.
"Final checks," the woman said, looking around. "I'd tell you to stay comfy but I can tell from all the way here that your heart is doing 200 beats a minute, if not more. Your dilated pupils, sweaty hands, labored breath, and the loud badum-sound your heart is making tell me all I need to know. Calm down, we've gone over all this before; if we lose, you still get away safely, but between you and I, we are not losing," she said, leaving and locking the door.
I nodded, more in an attempt to convince myself that her confidence meant everything was going to be okay than anything else. Then I sat down and watched the screen.
"Afraid?" the Professor asked, sipping on his coffee.
"Trembling," the woman said, smirking as she grabbed her filled cup, nodded at the maid who brought the cups in, and took a sip. "Strong, lots of sugar. Not really my preferred blend but then I'll take it. It'll be nice for what we have ahead of us today."
The professor just nodded solemnly as the wheels in his head turned. Formulating strategies, exploring various attacks from the enemy and how to counteract them, putting the final touches to the whole mission. "Our guests will soon make their presence known. Our radar discovered a submarine moving around this island, came up for air a few times. They have been planning as well. I was even thinking on blasting them right in the water, but then I want to know what their trump card is."
The woman nodded as the alarm went off. "That's them."
*****
Kronos stepped on the land, his sharp ears picking up the faraway ring of an alarm.
"Do you guys hear that?" He asked, turning to the other two. Both deaf as the dead, they shook their heads and tried to listen for something, but couldn't hear anything.
Tremaine looked back. "Bloody hound, you know your ears were always better at this hearing thing than ours. What did you pick up?"
"Well-" Kronos sighed, scratching his head. "That." He said, pointing at something behind the two men. They turned to see the Professor, a woman, and six armed guards marching towards them.
"This territory is off-limits to members of the public, and we detected your submarine around here a long time ago but I decided to refrain from shooting you down to the bottom of the ocean since I thought that perhaps, you might be scientists on an expedition... Well, judging from those guns, I'd say you're either very serious about hunting, or you're not actually on an expedition."
"We don't have time for the small talk, old man. Bring Edgar out here now, simple."
The old man's smile faltered, but he looked back. "I don't have time for small talk either. Just brief niceties before I told you to get the f**k off my island before my men here blow your brain out. and leave your corpses out here on the beach as food for the diverse wildlife we have on this island, something you would have known if you were scientists on an expedition."
"So you're not giving Edgar to us," Tremaine asked, already getting irritated by the man known as the Professor.
"Unless Edgar is a dog, I can't see why you'd be asking me to hand you a grown man like he was your possession. Edgar is in fact here, and he's said that he doesn't want to go back to the men who abducted him and tried to rob him in broad daylight. The question is, now I won't give him to you, what will you do about it?"
Tremaine smiled. "I'm glad you asked. Kronos?"
Kronos stepped forward and opened a laptop. "We hacked into the Saggitarius defense missile system and have about all the ballistics aimed at this island, ready to rip it apart in the next five minutes unless we call off the attack, which will only happen when Edgar and all his personal belongings are handed over to us. The question is, is Edgar worth all that trouble for you?"
The professor smiled. Their trump card had been played.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED.
