Mission 5: Payback part 3

continued from last week...

Sarah and the others stared in wonder at the Rebel base. There was all kinds of action going on around them. Cars and Trucks were coming in and out of the base constantly and there was a fair amount of people walking along the streets. That such a place existed underground without them ever even knowing about it was unconceivable.
The other agents had been led a different way by another guard, Thomas. The person in charge of the Rebellion had wanted to talk to them for some reason. Them meant everyone from Ryan’s team that was present, including Derek and Sarah, why them she didn’t know.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” the Rebel guard, Clarence, said with a grin on his face.
“Definitely,” Sarah gasped.
Jordan turned to Derek, who was the only one who didn’t seem overwhelmed with the whole facility. “Did you know about this place?”
“Sure,” Derek shrugged. “I belong to the Rebellion. So did Evan Hunter.”
“How come we’ve never heard about it?” Chris asked.
“The emperor keeps a tight lid on any information about any rebellion. He doesn’t let the public know that anyone opposes his will. Kt would give them too many ideas.”
“Seems like a pretty successful Rebellion.” Kayla commented.
“Have you ever fought the empire?” Chris asked the question that Jordan was just about to ask.
“Of course,” Clarence replied. “Many times, we’ve even beaten him before, you just never hear about it. The emperor’s very good about that.”
“Obviously,” Sarah commented. “Because I’ve never even heard of you.”
The Rebel guard led them inside one of the larger skyscrapers and then into an elevator. He pushed the button for the top floor and they started to rise.
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked.
“To meet with the director,” the guard replied simply.
“Who’s the director?” Sarah asked.
“What does he do?” Chris added.
Clarence held up his hands. “One at a time, please. The director is the leader of the Rebellion, and he is a she. She makes all the important decisions, like how to spend our funds efficiently, who to place our troops under, and what brand of toilet paper to buy, etc.”
“Toilet paper?” Sarah asked, incredulously.
“Hey, its expensive if you don’t buy the right brand,” Clarence said, defensively. “Those things add up.”
“You still didn’t say who she was,” Kayla pointed out.
“As for who she is… well I’ll let you see for yourself.” The elevator opened and they stepped outside into the hall.
Clarence led them up to door that said: “Director of the Rebellion”, on it. He opened the door and motioned for them to enter.
It was much like the emperor’s office, only not quite as nice. There was a huge desk in the middle of the room and an office chair sat behind it. The chair’s back was turned towards them, but they could tell that someone was sitting in it.
Suddenly, the chair turned around, and the young woman sitting in the chair smiled at them. “Good to see you again, my old friends,” she said.
Everyone’s jaw dropped, except for Clarence’s. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Their voices failed them and they couldn’t voice the thousands of questions that filled their minds.
Finally, Sarah was able to form one word in her throat and she breathed it out, amazed. “Cathy?”

A short while after Ryan had ran back into the woods to go grab Laz, Katie led out a long sigh.
“What?” Tim asked.
Katie rolled her eyes. “He’s supposed to be the guy to help us escape the empire? He can’t even keep track of his agents.”
“Just trust him, he’s defeated impossible odds many time before. He’ll pull it off, you’ll see.” Then he added to himself, “I hope.”
Ryan came back out of the woods with a grumbling Laz. “You guys always forget me,” he complained. “Every mission I either get stuck in a tree, or left alone inside a building surrounded by bad guys, or hanging from the ceiling. I’m tired of it!”
“Oh quite complaining, Laz,” Ryan groaned. “We always come back to get you.”
They piled into the backseat of the car, and Katie started it back up again.
“You don’t have to worry about anymore roadblocks,” Laz spoke up. “I brought enough C4 with me to blow up the emperor’s entire garage!” He patted the backpack that he’d set beside him.
Katie cringed and gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white. “You brought what?”
“C4,” Laz replied, as if he’d brought a box of doughnuts. “Just don’t brake too hard.”
“Get rid of it!” Katie yelled.
“Katie, Katie,” Tim tried to calm her down. “He was just kidding.”
“About the C4?” she asked.
“No, about the braking part,” Ryan said. Then he added. “Actually, you might want to take that seriously too.”
Tim glared at Ryan, who just shrugged innocently.
“Its fine, Katie. It won’t blow up unless we want it to. Right?” He turned to Laz and Ryan.
“Right.” They both replied. “Still,” Ryan said, smiling. “I wouldn’t break too hard.”
“Let’s change the subject,” Tim said, forcefully.
“Okay then, how are you?” Ryan asked.
“Wgll, other than the fact that I’m a wanted man and the emperor has a huge price over my head for anybody that brings me back dead or alive, I’m good. How about you?”
“About the same,” Ryan agreed. “How’d you escape?”
Tim told Ryan and Laz about how the emperor had made him promise to turn his sister over to him, and how he’d been let go. Then he relayed the information that had caused their slight problem.
“You’re bugged!” Ryan cried. “They know where we are?”
“Right,” Tim nodded. “Which means I need to be debugged, fast. Katie’s taking me to her boyfriend’s, apparently he knows how to take care of this stuff.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Katie insisted.
Ryan glanced at Tim and grinned. “Must have hit a nerve there.”
“I can see where Tim gets it,” Katie mumbled.
Ryan and Tim laughed, so did Laz but he didn’t know what they were laughing at.
“So, where are we going?” Laz asked.
“We’re here,” Katie said. They looked out the window and, sure enough, they’d arrived at somebody’s residence. It was a rather isolated residence, kind of out in the countryside, which suited them just fine.
A young man stepped out; he was about Katie’s age, which affirmed Ryan and Tim’s assessment that he was her boy friend, at least in their minds. He trotted over to their car. “Katie, what a pleasant surprise!”
Tim softly mimicked his voice in a high-pitched accent, so only those in the car could hear. “What a pleasant surprise!”
Katie kicked him and climbed out of the car. “Hey Daniel, its good to see you too!” They hugged, which caused Ryan and Tim to look at each other and nod, definitely a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
“They’re on a first name basis, too,” Ryan observed.
Katie continued to shoot them all glares, and then smiled at Daniel. “This is my brother, Tim,” she pointed to Tim. Daniel greeted him and shook hands with him.
“Are these your brothers too?” Daniel asked, pointing to Ryan and Laz.
“No,” Katie answered quickly. “No, those are my brother’s friends.” She didn’t bother to say their names.
“Yes,” Ryan said sarcastically. “I’m friend number one, and he’s friend number two,” he gestured towards Laz. “Nice to meet you.”
Daniel laughed. “You’re a funny guy,” he chuckled.
Katie apparently didn’t agree. “Yes, so funny,” she said with a fake smile, and then she glared at him when Daniel wasn’t looking. Ryan just shrugged. “Their names are Ryan and Laz.”
They shook hands. “Now, down to business,” Ryan said. “We need your help with something.”
“My help? Of course, I’d be glad to help you.” Daniel seemed quite willing.
“Would you mind debugging our friend here, Tim,” Ryan jerked his thumb at Tim. Then he lowered his shades and said, “and we’d appreciate it if there were no questions asked.”
“Uh, sure,” Daniel said, bewildered. “Debug?”
“Yeah, you know, bugs,” Katie said. “They just get all over, in your clothes, your hair, your, uh…”
“In your neck,” Tim said.
“Yes, of course, in your neck,” Katie.
“What kind of bugs?” Daniel asked, still utterly confused.
“Beatles?” Katie tried.
Ryan shoved her aside, and laughed casually. “Ha, she’s such a kidder,” he glared at her, and she just shrugged. Ryan rolled his eyes and turned back to Daniel. “We need you not to ask any questions about this, understand?”
“Sure?”
“That didn’t sound like you were sure, are you sure?”
“Yeah, okay, I’m sure. What do you want?”
Ryan glanced at Tim and then turned back to Daniel again. “We want you to remove a tracking device from Tim’s neck. It’s the back of your neck, right?”
Tim nodded.
“A tracking device? But how--?”
“Uh uh, that’s a question,” Ryan wagged his finger. “Just do your magic and we promise that we’ll be out of here quickly. Hopefully before any Imperial agents show up, oops, said too much.” Ryan acted as if he had accidentally let that slip, but in reality, he hadn’t. He thought that a little motivation wouldn’t hurt the man, and as long as they had their side arms, nothing should go wrong.
“Imperial agents? Uh uh, no way, Jose.” Daniel shook his head.
“Oh come one, Daniel, where’ your adventuresome spirit?” Ryan chastised him, playing with his Glock in his right hand. “We wouldn’t want to have to force you against your will,” he casually flicked off the safety.
“What are you doing?” Katie protested. Ryan held up his hand to silence her.
“Its okay,” Daniel held up his hands. “I’ll do it.” He led them to his operation room and set Tim, facedown, on the table.
“A wise decision, Daniel,” Ryan said. “We’ll be watching, so don’t try any funny business.” He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Danny glanced at his gun and swallowed. “Sure thing, you got it.” Just try not to interrupt, I don’t want to hurt him.”
“You better not,” Ryan said, fingering his Glock again. “Accidents can happen, but they usually happen in two’s, if you get what I mean.” He winked and left the room.

to be continued...