Chapter 19

He fired shots at the four still standing, surviving the shoot out, he took the semiautomatic, climbing up the stairs hoping to reach Jamarh and finish the job, but a question bothered him, where was Nightingale?

Jessica Nightingale woke up to her horror to see what was happening. Jamarh sat watching Nightingale held at gunpoint. It was a nightmare as she struggled to release herself.

“Its not a dream” he said as he reached for her. “I’m surprised that you’ve made it this far, apparently Gator was useless to me”

“If you’re looking for him its going to be hard to find his ashes”

“Well as long as you are here, you might as well watch me have total control of disarmament”

“You won’t succeed Jamarh, Xavier is still around once he gets here...”

“Deadlock will succeed giving power to the Corps” he cut her off commanding one of his operators to activate the system.

He inserted a copy of the disc with the military codes inside and accessed the link to an American satellite.

In outer space, Base 12's satellite activated locking itself to one of the US military missile base, activating the countdown sequence in Fort Dexter.

An operator alerted his commander of the emergency.

“Sir we have a situation” said the young operator

“What is it?”

“The missiles’ launch mechanism has set the countdown”

“Deactivate it” the commander ordered as the operator tried to hack into it...

“I can’t sir its jammed”

“ Keep trying I’ll alert NSA about this” he said as he got a phone.

“Alert the others, see if they can disable it” he suggested.

“Yes Sir understood” responded the operator.

Back at Base 12 Jamarh saw the countdown being activated in the lower side of the monitor. This can’t be happening thought Nightingale, she tried to release herself again but she was held down, she couldn’t escape. Jamarh looked at his captive and withdrew his sword from his cane.

“I should have done this a long time” coming closer to a struggling Nightingale, he wanted to see the horror in her eyes but she wouldn’t submit, helpless as she was, she tried to inch away from the blade but it got closer it was now up to Nate.

Xavier reached the end of the stairs up, he was met with Knight hiding in the shadows. He fired a shot to smoke him out. Emerging out he tossed a knife towards Xavier which he avoided. Knight revealed two arm blades out of his dark sleeves and charged at him. Xavier aimed his gun at Knight, but was repelled. His gun was slashed out of his grip, Knight tried to slash Xavier but he moved back, he nearly slipped off the stairs but held on to Knight’s arm and threw him down giving Xavier the advantage to reveal his sword.

Nightingale felt the cold steel near her neck. She tried to think fast before he could finish her off.

“Don’t be scared, your partner is waiting for you” he smiled.

Her eyes were red, she wanted to kill him so bad. Her right leg was paralyzed by the shot Perez fired, she felt it was risky, her leg could be an advantage to Jamarh but a disadvantage to her. Just then Jamarh heard the conflict outside the room, knowing it was Xavier, he ordered one of his men to help Knight. Nightingale’s mind was running fast the opportunity was speeding past her she could act now giving her a little more chance to defend herself, her heartbeat was faster, there was no need to think twice as she raised her wounded leg to kick the steel off her.

She tried to reach the control, but Jamarh tossed his sword towards her. Nate blocked every attack from Knight but he was tiring fast, he held his stand as long as he could, but Knight moved faster than Xavier, making him vulnerable for attacks. Xavier had to get this over with, he saw another person aiming his automatic at him. Two against one, this was a bad odd for him, he had to think fast. He elbowed Knight aside and blocked the bullets aiming at him. He had to get rid of the shooter. The knife he took from Skarvus, he had it in his pocket he had to act fast. But Knight recovered to attacked Xavier. Knight had the upper hand, if he needed to act fast it was now. He tried to use the knife but Knight didn’t give him a chance, releasing the knife from Xavier’s grip. Xavier received a knee in his abdomen causing him to go down. Knight raised his sword ready to slice Xavier, Nate found the knife close to him. Time was ticking fast in him, he had two things to avoid; the bullets and the sword. The knife was just on the ground. He felt time freezing when Knight was ready to drop his sword on Xavier’s neck.

He reacted by reaching for the knife stabbing Knight’s leg as the bullets flew towards him, he threw Knight in front taking the bullets. He grabbed the knife and darted at the soldier’s chest causing him to spray strays around.

Nightingale was scratched at the left side when struck by the sword, she tried to reach the knocked out soldier’s gun but she had to get Jamarh off guard. Jamarh was about to strike again this time, Nightingale took the gun and held it against Jamarh’s blade slowly slicing the gun, she was running out of time now.

“You can’t stop me Nightingale” he said pressuring the sword on the gun severing it into two, nearly reaching her throat.

She felt defeated, Jamarh was ready to finish the job, she was defenseless and just a few more inches and it would be her throat. Xavier made it to the control center to find Nightingale ready to be slit, he had to do something fast. Watching Nightingale set to die gave him chills he couldn’t let that happen. Jamarh knew he was there so did Nightingale she tried to look at Xavier, but if she raised her neck, the blade would cause a puncture.

“I’m glad you’re here Xavier” said Jamarh “You can watch two things happen: the control of the world and the death of Nightingale” he smiled.

Nate revealed a disc from his pocket, was it the disc he stole?

“I have the disc I took from your mansion”

“There’s no need for it now” he said he knew he was stalling but he wanted to have fun, he wouldn’t risk her life just to deceive him.

“Maybe you think I’m bluffing Xavier” as he lowered the sword closer to her. Now it was a now or never situation. He tossed the disc towards Jamarh’s eye, but he caught it. Feeling victorious he looked at Xavier through the disc Xavier revealed his gun and shot a bullet into his eye, scrambling his mechanical sight. She rushed towards the computer revealing the virus disc, inserting into the machine. Jamarh tried to get himself straightened but he was kicked by Xavier to the ground followed by several blows thrown. Jamarh now only had one eye his mechanical eye was damaged, Xavier reached the frail man with blood from his eye and mouth as he tugged his shirt and slammed him to the wall he was dying slowly.

Nightingale tried to write the virus in but the guard recovered and aimed his gun at her. She shielded herself with the chair and pressured it on to him, releasing the gun. The virus was going through Deadlock1, infecting the system.

Back in Fort Dexter, programmers were trying to disable the launch mechanism but were unsuccessful the commander ordered an evacuation as he alerted the pentagon to know that they had a situation. Suddenly the launch sequence was terminated he looked stunned at first as the system went back to normal. He was a little puzzled but relieved, he alerted the pentagon that the threat was disabled leaving it to be investigated.

In Base 12 Nightingale took a deep breath of relief after the deactivation. Xavier looked at Jamarh he wasn’t moving but he was alive. He heard him murmur something as he tried to listen.

“You fools may have won the battle but not the war”

“What are you saying?” he asked as he saw Jamarh smiling

he knew something was wrong.

“If Deadlock is disabled” he said “Then the system sets off a countdown...and the crew left...”

Then Xavier realized that some programmers are being held hostage, if not dead.

“Where are the Hostages?!!!” shouted Xavier to a dead Jamarh. Jessica looked at Nate puzzled.

“Jess this place is set to destruct”

“I don’t know how to disable it”

“Try, there are still people locked up here” she looked at the count down. There was 16minutes left.

“I’ll try Nate but we have to be fast”

“I know” he said. As he was about to leave, Nightingale gave him a head set to contact each other.

“Be careful” she said trying to stop the count down system.

He rushed down stairs to look for any locked room, he ran into a corpse left by him and took the pistol only two clips. He looked for any room locked, so far he found none, then he heard people approaching him he aimed the gun at the approaching shadows. As the foot steps got closer he almost pulled the trigger until he saw that they were SNIPER agents.

“Xavier?”

“Gibson, I’m glad its you” he said in relief

“We got your message, the crew is searching the area for any threats”

“Tell your men to search the area for any hostages”

“Understood”

“And get your men as far as you can there’s a launch sequence countdown”

“Got it” he said as he left Xavier’s location. Xavier was acting faster forgetting to check on Nightingale’s status.

“Jess how many minutes left?”

“12 minutes left” she said typing as fast as she could

“Jess get out of there now!” he ordered

“Give me a couple of minutes Nate”

“We don’t have much time Jess, Jess...?” there communication was broken she tried to respond but there was static.

She continued trying to disable the countdown but time was ticking fast. Xavier now had to act faster. He heard some noises near his location, it was coming from the storage room. He shot the door open revealing trapped hostages, they were about eight around.

“Who are you?” asked one of the programmers

“I’m one of the good guys” said Nate “Are there others?”

They were silent, they were the only ones.

“If we didn’t follow his orders he would have killed us too” another one said.

“There are NSA enforcers outside you have to get out now this place is going to explode” ordered Nate as they ran out of the storage room, he had to get Nightingale out.

Six minutes were left, as Nate tried to find Nightingale. He hoped that she had left the area but he wasn’t sure, time was ticking and trying to contact her was useless.

“Jess!” he repeatedly shouted until he heard a faint reply he tried to get close to the location spotting Nightingale having no clue were to escape, they rushed into each other arms.

“Looks like the end Nate”

“Not likely” he said, he looked back at where he came from, it was like a labyrinth, the T junction could lead them into two sections: dead end or another way.

“Which way Nate?” she asked, she felt a little confident in him as he was in thought.

“This way” he directed her as they made a left turn to a corner their advantage was no guard was around making it easy for them to move faster but time wasn’t on their side. Xavier still sure of where they were going held on to Nightingale tight knowing she might have some doubt if they will escape.

“How many minutes left?” He asked moving through the pathways they saw.

“Four more minutes” she said checking her watch “how close are we to the exit”

“I don’t know” he feared trying to remember any location familiar with him. He found a path leading to another junction it felt there might find an emergency exit, they passed through a windowless passage to lead them to their horror.

“No!” he said to their nightmare, they reached a dead end. Nightingale’s hope went blank they couldn’t communicate with anyone from outside and couldn’t jeopardize anyone getting back inside the facility, and the door next to them was the kitchen.

“Jess I’m sorry” Nate said feeling hopeless.

“We have 2:01 minutes left” she said looking at her watch “1:59"

“It won’t matter, by the time we do find the exit...” he said

“Nate if I had to die with someone, I’m glad its with you” she smiled as she went into Xavier’s arm and kissed there was no way to escape they might as well go down into the blaze of glory.

Xavier held on to Nightingale tight in 1:43 minutes it would be over. Suddenly Xavier felt something in her back pocket which made them freeze.

“What?” she asked looking at Nate puzzled.

“You have your gun?”

“So?” she asked. All of a sudden Nate’s mind was working faster

“What’s mostly kept in the kitchen?”

“Gas” she replied then she looked in Nate’s eyes something was working inside him. “You don’t need to explain just tell me what do”

she ordered.

“We need to unlock that door” he said “how many bullets are in there?” she released the clip only three were left inside but was it enough?

“Three Nate” she said “but...”

“That’s all we need right now” he said feeling enthusiastic.

“One shot at the door” he said as she fired a shot near the door handle, Nate revealed his sword and punctured the hinge wide enough to kick open reaching the cafeteria.

“Phase one” he said as they ran towards the kitchen looking for a gas tank with any oxygen left inside. They found one but the amount was small.

“This is what I found Nate” she said

“Good enough, come on” he said as they rolled it at the wall. They cleared the tables away to make space for the explosion. Nightingale checked her watch.

“We have 58 seconds” she said as they placed the gas tank at the wall.

“Go to a safe distance” Nate ordered. She moved as far as she could with the table placed to shield her.

“Nate come on” she shouted Nate’s heart was beating faster he had to do this now or never

“43 seconds” she said. She started feeling worried Nate moved back from the tank to Nightingale’s location.

“Hope this works” he said so did she “Fire in the hole” he shouted as he fired a bullet at the location of the tank, but it went stray.

“Damn it” she swore

“One last chance” Nate said he focused on the tank, his eye fixed on his target, steadying his hand. One shot he thought to himself, I can’t miss this. He pulled the trigger as a massive explosion covered the area. It worked! He thought but there was fire around the location.

“This is not going to be easy” Nightingale said looking at the ablaze flames. She checked her watch 15seconds left.

Nate was unsure whether this was worth the risk but time was ticking.

“Ready Jess?” he asked

“Let’s do this” she said grabbing Xavier’s hand they stomped over the table running like the wind. 10...9...8...They ran close the flames nearly touching them. 7...6...5... But that wasn’t the case it was a matter of life or death as they flew out of the ring of fire landing on the ground into each other ..3..2..1. A massive explosion took off Base 12 as the explosive fire nearly took down Xavier and Nightingale on the ground. The heat covering Nate’s back as he was hovering over Nightingale. The explosion alerted the enforcers looking around. Once the heat was over, Xavier recovered from his unconsciousness along with Nightingale as they woke to be alive.

“Jess?”

“Nate...we...did it” she let out a smile over her bruised face. There trance was interrupted by the enforcers arrival.

“Xavier are you all right?” asked one of the enforcers. Nate could reply but he signaled yes by nodding as the men went to help him and the female agent. They were taking to a plane heading towards a Floridian hospital for them to recover.

Xavier woke up on a sick bay being treated by a nurse and a doctor giving him a serum for his injuries. Nate was bandaged from his neck, right arm and left leg. He didn’t know where he was at first because he was giving a sedative when he arrived. All he could think of now was where’s Nightingale he managed to move his neck to see what was happening there was a male doctor chatting with two people, when they were allowed he knew who they were. Conners and Lincoln Forbes approached the paralyzed Xavier.

“Well...well...well look who we have here” joked Forbes

“Shut up” Nate said

“Rest Xavier you’ve done a fine job” said Conners patting him on the shoulders “We’re evaluating the situation, Russia and the US have set down their arms.”

“That’s good news”

“Unfortunately this organization known as the Corps is still on the movement but one step at a time” said Conners

“I’m glad to see you in one piece Nate” admitted Forbes.

“I’m touched Link, I didn’t know you cared” Xavier joked.

“Take it easy Xavier, I have to get back to work” said Forbes

“Xavier you’re on leave for two month at least you can recover and be ready to take on this threat”

“Thanks Conners, what about Nightingale?” he asked

“She’s getting a leave for two months both organizations will be working until we get more on what this organization is about.”

Nate nodded as he laid his head back on the pillow. As Conners left the room, someone came in, with her right leg in a casket and a sling on her left arm.

“How are you feeling Nate?” she asked, the voice was utterly familiar

“Nice to see you Jess” he replied “I could be a lot better”

“I know” she said “the Corps would be active again” she said sitting on the chair next to his bed.

“We’ll be ready then, but you’re supposed to be resting” she came close to him resting her neck on his shoulder as he kissed her.

“They know where I am” she said “I feel better keeping an eye on you”

“I feel secured” he smiled resting his head he felt a lot better knowing Nightingale was beside him. This was a war but the battle was not over at least not for now. Who are the Corps? And what were their objective Xavier pondered but right now all he needed was some rest and fixing up at least he had Nightingale to keep him company, the enigmatic Xavier and the mysterious Nightingale a lot was not known about them, but the codename was branded into every threats mind. The two of them were a deadly alliance.

THE END

Next mission: Trained 2 Kill.