Chapter 38

*JACK RAN THROUGH the darkness. He felt like he was in a building, perhaps underground. Above him lay a monumental pile of steel, and around that rose buildings taller than he had ever seen or knew could be. Patches of light shown through, but he couldn’t identify from where.

*He knew Nora was in grave danger. He could hear her screaming his name, but darkness consumed everything. What looked like store fronts lined the path he ran along. Shops under the ground? He would run blindly into a tunnel, then hear her scream behind him, turn around and run in another direction.

*“NORA!” he roared, desperate to find her. The bastards had her. She wouldn’t listen to him, and now he had lost her. Damn her! Damn her a thousand times over! “NORA!”*

*“Jack! Jack!” she called back, then he heard her ear-piercing wail, followed by the oppressive, eerie quiet, and he knew that they had hurt her. The only sounds he could hear now were his own labored breathing and heart pounding in his ears. They couldn’t take her from him. He wouldn’t allow it. Not after nearly three centuries. This would not be how it ended! *

*He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. His senses failed him if he was too excited, and if his senses failed him, he failed her. That was something he would not allow himself to do. He had one job in all this. One job! To protect the Guardian. And she was gone. *

*He heard the pounding of footsteps behind him, turned, and ran. The Scholar had told him how things were laid out. She had shown him on a map all the different tunnels and where they led. He conjured her plans in his head now and listened to her voice.
*
*“No, Jack, go right! They’re moving away from you. Her sensor is showing no movement. What the hell is going on down there?”*

*“She screamed. She screamed bloody fucking murder, Bridget! Help me find her. She’s hurt. The fucking bastards hurt her.”*

*“To the right, do you see it?”*

*Jack looked to his right and could make out another black tunnel, more darkness. He plunged into it and ran as fast as he could. *

*“Perfect!” Bridget said in his ear, or was it his head? How could he hear her so clearly? What was her connection to him that he could hear her as well as if she were running alongside him? But he didn’t question it. He did exactly what she directed him to do. *

*“Maybe two hundred yards ahead of you. He’s lost. He must be, he’s heading back your way.”*

*Jack stopped running. He planted his feet firmly and lifted his gun, pointing it into the darkness. He could hear the slapping feet getting closer and closer. When the man came into view, Nora lay draped over his shoulder. The man immediately pulled her in front of him, his forearm wrapped around her neck, and used her as a shield. *

*“I can hit you anyway, asshole!” Jack called. “Let her go!”*

*“Stay back or she dies! She’s well on her way there already.” *

*“She can’t die, you fucking bastard. But you can.” *

*The man pulled something out of his pocket, a long metal object, capped with a rubber tip. Pulling the tip off with his mouth, he stabbed Nora in the arm with the metal object. “She can now!” *

*Nora screamed herself awake and immediately lost consciousness again. Jack took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, a shot rang out, and the man’s head exploded. *

*The lifeless body fell to the ground on top of an unconscious Nora, splattering her with blood. Jack ran to her and fell to his knees. Pulling her out from underneath the scumbag, he cradled her in his arms, calling her name desperately, but she remained unresponsive.*

*A second figure emerged from the darkness, Jack immediately recognizing him as the Fox. Fox looked down at his sister with a solemn face, the gun that had killed her captor gripped in his hand. *

*“That was my kill,” Jack growled, lifting her gently into his arms.*

*“It was as much mine as yours,” the Fox answered. “We finally meet, Warrior. I must say I’ve been curious about you.”*

*“The amount of fucks I give about your curiosity is pathetically non-existent. What did he inject her with?”*

*Fox shrugged. “I imagine Will and Bridget will figure it out.” *

*“You’re coming with me, Keyser Soze, and don’t even think of running.” Jack replied as he gently moved to drape Nora’s lifeless form over his shoulder. “You have some explaining to do, and you’ve had three hundred years to get your story straight.” *

*“I have no reason to lie,” the Fox replied. “Lead the way, or should I? It’s not like I don’t know where you’ve been.”*