Chapter 20

Read from the start here: Chapter One

The morning was still in its prime and the balmy glow of the sun beat heavily down upon Dane, persistently seeping below the layers of his thick jacket so much that trickles of sweat were now forming along his neck and back. It wasn't supposed to be this warm today, but then again, Dane had never planned to be outside the Den for this long either, so he ignored his discomfort and persevered onwards.

After tidying up the scene at Pandara's house, which included moving both unconscious bodies into an upstairs room and securing them, Dane had thoroughly searched the house. Starting with the bedroom and working his way down, he emptied drawers, ransacked storage spaces, picked padlocks, pried open photo frames, removed cushions, sifted through files, heaved furniture and shook containers full of trinkets, transforming it into something of a crime scene, but all the while taking extra care not to leave any trace of him behind. Yet the only suggestion he was able to find of his daughter ever living here were a scant few photos of her and her unpleasant ex husband at their own wedding along with a number of articles of clothing that may have belonged to her. Having procured zero evidence of where she might've gone, the search had ended fruitlessly.

Dane thought about waking up Callum to try and pry a little more information from him, but this was risky for many reasons, the most obvious being the man's health. Being knocked out was dangerous, but Dane wasn't certain he could contain his anger towards the man if he awoke him. Therefore he'd exited the property empty handed (save for his rifle case) with no new leads to follow. A dead end.

It was decided right then, he'd head back to the Den and finally confront the problematic Cam.

That decision was thirty minutes ago however, and the current unfamiliarity of the area he now walked around, a few kilometres from Pandara's house, brought up an altogether unprecedented issue. To get back to the Den he needed to use one of the hidden gates, but the closest entry point into the network was one of their newest builds, which was tucked away inside an old production warehouse they'd purchased a few years ago. The new location had been snagged during the worst part of the recession, which had come shortly after the destruction that Rogan wrought upon Natalos , and as such it hadn't set them back very much. The issue was that nobody really requested their services in this district because it used to be a heavily industrial place before being abandoned and never quite found itself part of any redevelopment scheme.

Dane had never used the entry point as part of his escape before but he'd overseen its progress over the couple of weeks it took to build, and had even gone to check it, but only from the inside. Of what it looked like from the outside he had no clue, and had no frame of reference to finding it other than fleeting glimpses of road names and cartographical documents shown to him at his desk.

As he tried to retrieve a memory from the disjointed visions in his head currently filling up with lines, letters and symbols, Dane decided instead to abandon the logical approach and simply go with his gut. He knew three things about the place he sought; it used to be a metal production facility, it was originally built as one of several similar looking units, and the last time anybody had set foot in it was five years ago. Therefore he could deduce that he was looking for a row of tall, chimneyed factories with significant deterioration.

Oddly enough, just that in itself turned out to be enough of a headstart. For a few uncertain minutes Dane followed the signs of disrepair that he could see all around; a few abandoned properties here, some lesser maintained road signage there, all of it led an invisible trail going south southeast from where he started, while wear and tear on the paving stones beneath him silently confirmed that he was going in the right direction. Sure enough, soon he found himself in a part of Calcon he would happily have called 'derelict', with very few residential houses and an industrial business park that had been left empty for years in the distance. And peeking just over the top of the high wall that separated the manufacturing zone from the general public, were a row of tall, mostly intact chimneys staring down at him. Not even Dane could prevent the smug feeling that rose up on seeing this, escaping through a smirk that indicated his instinct was still as sharp as a butchers knife.

Dane immediately upped his pace, not wanting to waste time, and found himself running as he charged towards the wall that blocked off his destination. By the time he'd reached it, he was sweating even more heavily through his jacket but also uncaring of that fact. While taking in more air than a surfacing diver, Dane immediately put his hand out and touched the vast brick structure, trying to feel for its strength as he regained oxygen.

It was certainly too tall to scale and the road that ran alongside the front of it was quite wide, therefore lacking any nearby buildings that were close enough to vault over to it from. He looked carefully in both directions. Peculiarly, the zone containing the building was completely walled off from the road as far as he could see. Nothing jumped out at him as a means of getting inside, no gates, fences, holes or broken bits he could weaken further. He knew that there would be a goods in or entry gate somewhere, it just meant taking the long walk around until he found it. The only decision was which way was the quickest? There was no way of telling, though he knew he would take the left route.

Left had been lucky for him for as long as he could remember. At secondary school, he recalled fondly trying to show off to a girl in the playground, playing that game where you try and guess which hand something is hidden in. The girl promised him a kiss if he could guess where the coin was hidden and he correctly guessed it was in the left hand. She wanted rematch after rematch, but for some unknown reason she hid it in the same hand every time. But Dane kept getting it correct. Left. Left. Left. She kept upping the stakes; “Best of five.” “No, best of seven.” “Best of nine I promise!” But eventually she relented, gave him his deserved victory and that led to his first ever kiss with the girl he still considered his first love. Ever since then, when it came to picking left or right, he would always choose left and no matter what the scenario was, it had rarely led him wrong.

It took him a good few minutes to reach the first corner of the wall, and Dane noted how the vicinity was strangely quiet. Perhaps there was less than nothing here in the area, for even the most downtrodden parts of the city always attracted certain sections of society; the homeless, the down-on-their-luck, curious teenagers and the lost. He imagined he'd at least spy a few people, maybe some youngsters trying out a bit of parkour or perhaps the less fortunate in this world practicing illegal activities away from the law, but for the time being he saw nothing of the sort. He finally turned the corner, remarking this peculiarity.

As he wended his way onwards, Dane's thoughts returned to how secure his destination was. It wasn't that he'd never encountered such obstacles before, in fact, his life had pretty much consisted of visiting such locations on a weekly basis. The Den's clients were more often than not rich folk and their targets always hidden behind gated communities and manned entrances, but while codes and guards were easy to break and bribe, nothing beat good solid structures when it came to keeping trespassers out. Perhaps, Dane thought briefly, this wasn't such a clever place to build an entry gate after all...

While he wondered where he could get hold of materials to ascend this great obstacle, Dane's attention was caught by an unusual and unexpected sight, originating from a stout alley leading directly away from the wall. Standing alone and looking lost about halfway down the quiet pathway was a familiar figure. It was difficult to tell at this distance if it was really her, but she seemed to be wearing the exact same clothes and identically styled hair as he'd recalled earlier today. His instinct had already led him right twice today, so there was certainly no need to doubt it now however unlikely the situation seemed to be.

“How...?”

Dane stared at his daughter from afar.

There was no denying his urge to want to talk to her, not only to find out if she was all right but also to reveal who he was and keep her safe. That was this detours entire purpose after all. Equally though he didn't want to scare her off. There was no chance she was going to believe he was her father just by walking up and informing her but what other reason would he have to go and start a conversation? A bit of thought was required which meant time, but he might have not have much of it. Trailing her was possibly his best plan, as it would allow him some breathing room to decide how and when to approach her, and that way he could make sure she was safe and find out where she was staying before if he had to deal with Cam before revealing the truth to her.

Then none of that mattered because Pandara started to run directly towards him.

His automatic reflex almost had him step out of view from her as she sprinted closer, but this time he held steady. There must have been a good reason for her action. She yelled loudly as she sprinted closer.

“Please help me!”

“What's wrong?” He replied calmly once he was sure she was close enough to hear him.

“I don't know, just get them away from me!”

Dane's eyes scanned the rest of the alleyway and spotted the oddest visual he'd possibly encountered. Coming out of what appeared to be a solid wall in an incredibly quiet part of the city were several armed and armoured agents, around six of them in total, and all in close formation. Something about their appearance told him that these guys weren't messing around, and were perhaps in the employ of one of the Governments highest echelons though he couldn't place them.

Before wondering how many more were going to emerge or even why they were here of all places, Dane felt himself acting on some sort of muscle memory. Though it may not have been thought out as well as he'd liked, he knew no good would come from letting these men get to his daughter and so he continued instinctively.

“Come.” Dance moved out his arm to grab Pandara. Understandably perhaps, she didn't take the offered hand, instead she moved past Dane to take up position behind him, so that he now stood between her and her supposed pursuers. With the panicked look in her eyes, she tugged the sleeve of his jacket in her direction and a moment later the two of them disappeared around the corner.

For his age, Dane was in exceptional shape. Without the same physical and emotional distractions and responsibilities as the regular world, he dedicated a lot of his spare time to improving and maintaining the skills he used foremost and his fitness almost as much. Despite this physical advantage over his peers however, it was clear that Pandara's athleticism was greater than his own, as she quickly took the lead over him and he found himself struggling to keep up with her.

“You'd be quicker *gasp* if you dropped that thing.” She offered, seeming less panicked suddenly.

“I can't do that.” The words came through inbetween the intakes of breath.

The two of them pushed onwards for a good twenty seconds or more before Dane felt something brush past his ear, generating a short searing pain in its wake. The smoky trail of whatever it had been was all that remained as Dane clasped his free hand to his now painful earlobe.

Pandara shrieked and ducked down a moment later as she too spotted it, and immediately took a desperate look behind her. Dane followed suit. As expected, their attackers had made up some of the distance and could see the two of them running away, which had left them vulnerable to their magical energy. One of the pack had slowed down in order to unleash the fiery attack but was now back on the move, and another in the front pack was beginning to take aim.

“There's no way we'll outrun them...” Pandara shouted.

“Trust me, we just need to make the next-”

A projectile slug of blueish purple energy cut him off mid sentence, landing right on target which happened to be Dane himself. Thankfully, knowing it was coming, Dane had already thrown the rifle case over his back moments before and kept his head low. This might just have saved his life as whatever magic it was hit the case right where his neck would have been and bounced cleanly off it, deflecting the energy in some other direction while the pure force of it almost sent Dane falling to his knees. With his body temporarily moving faster than his feet, Dane struggled to stay upright and moving, but just about recovered his balance with an ungainly wide gait as he corrected himself. Once he gained back his balance, he took the case quickly off his back to inspect it and thankfully found it unscathed aside from a small dent where the blast hit. He genuinely could have kissed the inventor of this material right then, but instead quickly returned it to its position over his upper back.

“Pandara, keep directly in front of me all right?”

She nodded in reply and altered her running line so that he came between her and the group in pursuit. A third jolt of a bright yellow hue flew past and missed them both, striking the large surrounding wall of the factory park about twenty metres in front of them. It threw off chunks of rock in all directions but nothing that cut through the entire wall and was too far ahead of them to hinder their way onwards. They stepped over the debris easily and kept going.

The humid heat pounded Dane's body relentlessly and Dane's lungs began to ache while Pandara also seemed to be tiring. Part of him wondered whether he should shed his jacket, but that seemed like it would slow him down enough to be taken down so he rejected the idea. They hadn't looked back since that first time moments ago but he had dealt with enough well trained agents before to know that if it wasn't for them slowing down to aim and cast magic at them, they would have been easily gaining ground on the two so oddly enough Dane felt himself wishing for more of an offensive approach.

The two pushed on as the path elevated slightly and the crest of a small hill prevented them from seeing too far ahead. Their speed expectedly dropped and Dane could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle. It was obvious to him that if they were going to try anything worthwhile to slow them down, or worse, this would be their best shot.

“We should split up!” Offered Pandara out of nowhere, breathing heavily but solidly.

“No... we stay... together.” Came his stern reply.

“I shouldn't have brought you into this...” She momentarily spun her head round to look at him, causing Dane to pick himself up a little.

“No... I need to make sure... you're safe.” His words spilled out roughly and he was aware his tone may have come off aggressive, but he cared little about that. He wasn't going to let his daughter fend for herself against these people.

“It's OK... if I can just crest that slope... I'll sprint ahead and take the next turning... they should leave you alone after that.”

“I won't allow it...”

Suddenly the world around them became a little quieter. Sensing it at the exact same time, Dane and Pandara both knew that something was coming. Using all of his remaining strength, Dane roared out the words “GET DOWN!” and dived to the floor, spinning in midair as he did so, while holding his case at arms length in front of him to protect as much of his body as he could.

All he saw was a blinding shock of light that quickly consumed his entire vision. With one mighty blast, the agents had unleashed a concurrent maelstrom of energy in their direction. Dane sensed in that instant his veins individually coursing with adrenaline and his brain firing off a million neurons. He had to shut his eyes against the light.

When it hit, he felt his whole body being pushed along the paved road beneath him. His jacket would be undoubtedly torn to shreds, he could feel it breaking apart, and he hoped the tough material it was made of would survive long enough to protect his back. In the corner of his mind he thanked whatever impulse had decided to keep it on. Simultaneously, the case began to feel warm in his hands, the temperature soaring so high so quickly that almost immediately it became so scalding hot that it hurt him, but even if he'd wanted to he couldn't let it go. The force pushing it into him was too strong.

Moments (or seconds?) later, confused and in pain, Dane came to a halt and the case clattered to the floor. As he fell down, back flat against the floor, he felt some discomfort under his legs but the pain in his palms was what distracted him. Intuitively he knew they had been severely damaged but he also knew he didn't have time to take care of it. Getting up and continuing to elude their pursuers was all he cared about.

He opened his eyes, determined not to let any of the chasing pack catch up while he was temporarily dazed, but as he looked down the street he faced an unfamiliar setting. The sloping road downwards was not in front of him any more. In fact, he had been pushed beyond its peak and was now looking up to the top again but from the other side. He quickly rolled over, careful not to make contact on the concrete with his injured hands, and pushed himself onto his feet using his elbows.

A thick flume of smoke filled the sky beyond the crest, pumping thick grey ash into the air at an incredible pace from roughly as far back as a hundred metres. He couldn't see Pandara anywhere around and instinctively moved to the top of the hill to find her.

As Dane's eyes adjusted to the setting, he realised that where once had been the smoothly laid road, a large crater now existed. It's base was too deep to be seen from where he stood, but the smoke from within indicated that whatever had just gone down, a fire was burning somewhere at the bottom and was devouring material at an unseen rate.

A surge of terror overwhelmed him as he realised he couldn't see any evidence of Pandara. Where had she gone? Was she in the blast zone when the magic exploded? For that matter, where were the gang who caused this?

At that moment, Dane glimpsed a shadow near the lip of the giant hole. It was partially obscured by the gushing smoke, but to Dane it seemed to look like a person. He needed to go and check it out, because if it was her...

“What are you doing?! They might not all be dead, we need to go!” The familiar voice came from behind him, but as Pandara grabbed him, she accidentally touched one of his palms in order to pull him in her direction. Dane responded with a roar that not only brought him to his knees, but stunned his daughter enough for her to move away from him.

“My hands...” Dane cried, trying to block out the pain by squeezing his eyes closed and concentrating solely on something meditative. A blue sky, a lone tree, a white room...

“What happened?”

“Nothing. We should go now, but you'll need to take that case for me.”

Pandara stood still and looked down at the metal box near her feet.

“What is it?”

“It's the only reason I'm alive right now. Be careful! It might be hot.”

Pandara hovered her hand above the handle, but looked back to Dane as if he was crazy.

“It's completely cool.” She responded, and as if to demonstrate, she picked it up without so much as a blink. Instead of dwelling on this strange devlopment, Dane simply shook it off while trying to block out any of the pain in his hands, which now almost glowed a deep red colour, and walked past her.

“Where are we going?” Pandara enquired with a sense of urgency in her voice.

“I know a safe place we can hide out for a while...”

Chapter 19

Read from the start here: Chapter One

Pandara figured that she wasn't very good at chess before the incident. This was because like a white maned knight on a chess board, Delilah had so far managed to be Pandara's perfect opponent; tactically predicting and blocking all of her own moves, leaving her utterly frustrated and at a loss.

By appearance the woman seemed like a pleasant enough individual; she smiled with genuine warmth on occasion and she had done nothing but offer her assistance since she'd come into the office, but as Pandara was not supposed to be here, this harmless stranger was causing her nothing but problems by simply not leaving her alone. Something about this woman triggered anxiety within Pandara; it felt quite clear to both women that a strange situation was occurring, but neither of them seemed determined to confront it. It was as if Delilah was actively avoiding calling out Pandara on what was going on.

In the short time she did have alone in the office, she'd been able to work out from the various reports strewn in front of her that this organisation monitored people around Calcon, but perhaps even further afield as well. Potentially on a mass scale if the detail she was seeing was to be believed. Large areas around the city and surrounding lands were mentioned above detailed descriptions of unusual activity, all of which had triggered a warning to the people who were watching over these locations. The thought did occur to her about her position in the company, whether she was in a position of any power over this mass surveillance, but she hadn't thought up a way, subtle or otherwise, of discovering the answer to that.

And so, she continued to deduce, if this really were some secret human tracking company, she had gotten herself inside the very heart of it without so much as a batted eyelid or any suspicion amongst her many colleagues, meaning that she must belong here. The workplace outside of her corner office didn't seem too large, holding about fifty people spread about almost sporadically behind desks ,like mollusks on the bottom of a boat hull. Yet none of them eyed her up like she suspected a stranger amongst them would, especially in such a security conscious company.

Another curiosity was her ID card. She badly wanted to access the online network in order to look up more detail about Hermano Engineering but so far she hadn't been able to log onto her computer, thanks to its password protection. She hadn't even hazarded a guess as to what the access code was, as she knew barely anything about her life, and didn't even want to attempt to use her ex husbands name. The thought of it still pissed her off. Instead, whenever Delilah had looked over, Pandara simply pretended as if she was able to use it by swiping on the screen like she'd seen people outside her office doing, with the occasional typing motion on her keyboard. Delilah certainly observed this closely more than once, and Pandara swore she glimpsed amusement in her eyes, but she wasn't sure.

Pandara had even politely but firmly asked Delilah if she could get her a coffee to allow her some breathing room to figure some more stuff out, but she'd made up some excuse about the coffee machine being out of order, and instead told her she'd much rather stay here to be on hand in case she needed help. Pandara insisted she would be absolutely fine, but Delilah wouldn't budge, so instead she sat on the chair on the other side of the desk on her very own tablet device doing something that wasn't legible from where Pandara sat, and despite being sure she was the one in charge here, she still felt unable to order this kindly-ish woman outside.

And then there was 'Susan'. According to her identity card , which she now regretted discarding at the hospital, her full name read Pandara Freid, and that's the same first name her husband had called her too. Nowhere was Susan written down in her purse and belongings. So why had she been greeted using this new moniker and why did everybody around her seem to feel this was her name? Considering the nature of work here, she realised it could be a codename, something necessary to keep all employees here vigilant and unable to trace each other outside of work. Or perhaps it was a personal thing, and she had good reason to lie about her real identity, whether that was the inside one or the outside. This was a puzzle that she'd been trying to solve since she'd heard it but she was no closer now to finding out than when she started.

All the while, time was ticking along and the odd Mexican 'sitoff' continued unabated. Sitting here playing house in this morally questionable headquarters was no longer an option, so Pandara decided that she needed to get out of here. Simply getting up and leaving was the most obvious option, but something about this weird scenario left her worried about doing that. She figured it should be used as a last resort in case she agitated it beyond repair and got herself in trouble. Navigating her way back to the lift wouldn't be an issue, but she recalled that there were no buttons to call for it, so she'd need to find out how it operated before she could make a break for it.

“Susan?” Piped Delilah all of a sudden, causing Pandara to break her concentration. If there had been anyone else in the room, she probably wouldn't have replied.

“Yes?”

“I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to ask you something.”

“I'm rather busy right now.” Pandara lied, punching a few more letters with the keyboard and making that familiar clacking sound as she did.

“I don't mean to intrude, but it's been bothering me for a while.”

Pandara looked up. The shift in conversation was unsettling.

“It's about Rogan...”

All the saliva in Pandara's mouth seemed to vanish in an instant. A buoy like memory quickly surfaced from the deep reservoir of her subconscious.

A lush, colourful rear garden sprung up in front of her, with three or four adults a few feet away talking at an indistinguishable volume. She was sat down alone, noticing the brilliance of the stars in the night sky. At the very edges of her awareness, a sound, like something being torn apart mixed with a vacuums suction, distracted her. As she looked around for its source, a bright purple light began to glow from a few gardens away, seemingly matching up to the source of the unusual noise. Pandara remembered standing up, quickly shifting her gaze between the adults to the glowing oddity. She froze in her spot, unsure of what to do, while things started happening in quick succession; a firework went off from behind the trees followed by a number of visible, colourful explosions in the sky which kept everybody's focus off the nearby activity. Then the screams started, and it was too late to warn people by that point. Suddenly she remembered being inside the house, the adults still conversing unaware outside. A creature emerged from the direction of the noise, looking like it had been forged from various nightmarish concotions, and took out one of the adults. Then, just as soon as the memory had flooded her consciousness, it vanished.

She wanted to gasp, and was sure she'd physically done just that, but as she found Delilah back in front of her continuing to talk unimpeded and showing no sign of a disturbance, Pandara thought it must have been imagined. She quashed down all her own impulses to react to what she'd just experienced and tried to maintain a poker face as the woman finished what she was saying.

“...but I think it's far more important to work out the reasons and circumstances behind how he came back so we don't let it happen again, and potentially put this technology or whatever it may be out of action for good. I feel bad for bringing it up, but you're the only one I can really talk to about it. Sometimes in this place it can be hard to tell who's really on your side.”

Pandara tried to fill in the gap of this chat but couldn't do it. She had no clue what had been said the last few moments, so she tried to come up with the most generic response possible.

“What are you getting at exactly?”

A pause at first, with a slight cock eyed expression from Delilah. “That you're loyal to Crutch.”

Pandara remembered the name from earlier on as being her superior in this company. Though why was this lady questioning her loyalty to her boss?

“Of course, isn't everybody?”

Delilah's eyes flitted briefly over to the glass windows on the front wall but came straight back. However, in that briefest of moments, her warmth dissipated and an iciness had replaced it. It was in her eyes, their shine had gone. Pandara suddenly felt very threatened.

“That's all I needed to know.”

Delilah stood up and Pandara's immediate reaction was to push herself back in her seat giving her space to move if needed. The fair haired woman didn't approach her as she'd expected, instead she strode over to the windows next to the door and swiped down on the small touchpad located on the wall. This clouded up the glass so that nobody could see in or out.

'Oh no.'

Pandara pushed the chair down behind her and adopted a defensive stance, moving around the desk to keep the sturdy wooden object between her and the potential attacker. She knew people in this world used magical energy, but right now she had no idea if or how she could activate it herself. The woman in front of her didn't know that though.

“I'm not going to attack you,” Were Delilah's first words as she turned back around, raising up her arms in a non threatening gesture. “But I know you're not Susan and I simply need to find out exactly what your motive is before we proceed.”

“Motive?” Pandara shouted, confused. “I haven't got a motive, I don't think I'm even supposed to be here.”

“Then please tell me why you are.”

Pandara felt the beginnings of her adrenaline subsiding as her hands began to shake.

“Because I thought I worked here. I saw the entrance outside appear out of thin air, and I guessed that was because I had access to this place. Right now, the only information I have about who I am is that I was shot at this morning and I have a coward of an ex husband who lied to me. That's it!”

Delilah looked more bemused than ever. Pandara kept her hands in front of her.

“Why don't you remember anything else?”

“I don't know. I don't want to cause any trouble, I just want to get out of here.”

At that precise moment, a brief, shrill sound filled the room, indicating an incoming message on Susan's phone.

“Susan, this is Crutch. Please report to my office right away.”

Silence followed shortly afterwards. Delilah seemed to be working something out internally while Pandara looked on in utter confusion. Delilah spoke up.

“So you don't know Crutch and have never met him before?”

“I don't even know what he looks like.”

“Then you need to get out of here.”

“You'll let me? What about the stuff I know?”

Pandara cursed herself for saying this, but the words spilled out of her before she realised what she was saying.

“I can't explain why, but I think you are safer outside of this place. Don't meet this man Crutch whatever you do. If anybody tries to stop you on your way out, just make excuses, throw your implied authority around and do all you can to escape. Just don't make a scene.”

Delilah moved around to the back of the desk to where Pandara stood and started rooting around its drawers, on the hunt for something. After a few seconds of looking, she slumped down, her head bowed and looking defeated, before quickly and defiantly pushing her hands down on the desk, seemingly invigorated.

“I want you to take this.”

Delilah reached into her pocket and pulled out her own personal phone, handing it over to Pandara.

“If I need to contact you, I'll use this number. If you answer it, use my name, Delilah, and answer any queries other than mine by telling them you'll ring them back later as you're currently busy. Do you understand?”

Pandara nodded her head, baffled but a little relieved.

“You should go now.”

“But what about...”

“The lift? It's voice activated. Just state clearly what you want it to do, in your case just say 'Exit' when you're outside it and it'll come. I imagine that if the system let you inside without any difficulty, then it shouldn't have any problem letting you out.”

“Thank you, I guess.”

Delilah nodded and moved to the door to open it. As Pandara walked past her and stepped into the bright lights of the office, she took one last look at her new accomplice. The truth was she still had no idea whether this woman was leading her into a trap, or if she was genuinely trying to help. The woman definitely worked here, so why was she insistent on trying to assist a complete stranger get out of what was obviously a highly secure organisation?

The door closed behind her, and immediately a pungent whiff of cold coffee mixed with the tang of cleaning liquids filled her nostrils. Colleagues from various parts of the room had now started looking her way, either to suss her out or because they were distracted by her sudden exit. For a moment, she wondered if the office she'd was soundproofed before she realised this didn't matter in the slightest as there was no time to dwell on such stupid things any more.

As she moved towards the only way out of the vast room, she caught the movement of an employee, homing in on her like a missile.

“Susan! One minute.”

The owner of the voice was a spectacled man with a clumsily knotted tie and overly preened hair. His whole demeanour seemed very apprehensive it was quite clear that he was nervous over what he was about to say.

“Crutch has requested that-”

“Don't worry, I'm heading to his office right this second.” The words spilled out of her without so much as a thought, and she sealed the deal with a patronising smile as bosses were wont to do. It seemed that without her own identity, it was far too easy to assume somebody else's. The man didn't even reply and slunk back towards his desk without further comment. Pandara moved onwards, leaving a ripple of murmurs in her wake.

Before she left the office, she threw one brief glance back Delilah's way. From inside the room, standing behind the windows which now clear once more, she gave a gentle nod in acknowledgement. Then she was gone.

The walk back to the lift entrance didn't take her long but she definitely felt her legs weakening, mostly thanks to the intensity of the current situation. She was absolutely certain she was being watched by cameras unseen as she wound her way around corners and past many, many closed doors. Were there really this many rooms before? It seemed that they'd somehow added more in or they'd multiplied during the past hour. She couldn't even hear anything behind them, but she was sure this was on purpose.

Soon enough, she found herself walking into the slightly larger open space that fronted the lift entrance. In front of her was a blank wall, just like she'd seen earlier on, not even a symbol or mark anywhere to suggest this was the way out. That she had found this unsettling upon first noticing it said volumes about the company, something which the past few minutes hadn't eased her mind about. She took a deep breath and spoke very clearly.

“Exit, please.”

A buzzing hum barely louder than a whisper could just about be heard from somewhere above her, and within a few seconds she found herself facing the set of metallic doors which had cleverly morphed from behind the wall. 'Probably using some of that magical energy stuff.' She said to herself. Much to Pandara's relief ,the doors opened to reveal an empty room and so she hastily stepped inside and turned around. Then her jaw dropped.

Ahead of her, looking determinedly aggressive and armoured to the high heavens were a group of soldiers, marching down the corridor directly in front of her.Pandara panicked.

Feeling justifiably threatened for the second time in five minutes, all she could do was to back herself as far into the tiny room as possible and hope for the best as the group of men, with a distinguished, older yet unarmoured man at the back of the group trailing behind, advanced on her position. He was far away but he could still hear his voice as he ordered his troops one simple command.

“Stop her! No magic!”

Pandara looked upwards, trying to find some sort of emergency panic button for a situation like this, but just like before the room was devoid completely of any interactive features, leaving her stranded for options. The only choice she had was to hope the doors closed in a timely fashion, but she decided she just couldn't leave it to fate; she had to do something.

The advancing group were about fifteen seconds from reaching her and it didn't seem like they would be willing to compromise. Pandara looked around, desperate to find something, anything that would get the doors closed but each wall was as smooth and featureless as the rest of the building. Suddenly she remembered what Delilah had said; “The lift? It's voice activated.”

It was crazy and an absolute long shot, but it was all she had. She drew in a deep, and in a loud and clear voice to counter the commotion from mere metres away, she shouted.

“CLOSE THE DOORS!”

A split second later, and to her elation, the doors started to slide towards one another, closing off the eager mob from her tiny sanctuary and leaving her in safety, but she only felt herself able to unclench once she felt the familiar rumbling of the lift moving quickly through the shaft. It might have bought her seconds of freedom, or it might have bought her minutes, but for the time being Pandara lifted her arm and wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her brow. Whatever was coming next, all she hoped for was that her legs would hold out for it.

Chapter 18

Read from the start here: Chapter One

Cam sat hunched over on a chair in the Den's only closed off room, an office that once belonged to Linden, dreading the inevitable moment that somebody would knock on the door. As he rested there, his elbows propping him upright and his face buried into his palms, he couldn't stop pondering over the day's events, and the weeks of work that had led to it. Dane had ruined his life and it started way, way back, before Cam had even met the man.

At fifteen years old, Cam had already lived in eleven different cities across Natalos, thanks to his mothers successful career as an artist. Short but boisterous, she was a tough woman who very few answered back to, and giving birth to two boys couldn't stop her from making it big in the world of paint and sculpture. The family ventured frequently from city to city, continent to continent and planet to planet before finally settling down on Gaia, in the city of Calcon, just a few days before Cam's sixteenth birthday.

School had always been a struggle for him and Cam blamed it on this nomadic lifestyle. For most of his early teenage years he lacked an ability to make friends and achieved underwhelming exam results, but deep down even Cam knew this was just an excuse. The true crux of the problem was his status as a Nomag. While a lot of his peers had been gifted with the ability to manipulate the energy around them, Cam had not and while these mutated people were now the norm, it was Cam and his ilk that were dragged down and treated like second class citizens. It was impossible to hide too, no matter how much Cam tried and every time his schoolmates inevitably found out, life in general became hell. He abandoned school upon arrival in Calcon and didn't look back.

Cam spent the next few months trying to get a legitimate job. His parents were not supportive of his leaving academia, and so they thought it best to kick him out, only helping him by giving him a small sum of money to pay rent on a small apartment in East Calcon, the cheapest quadrant of the city. Initially he tried his luck as a street vendor but he was never able to build up any rapport with the consumers who browsed his wares and this short stint only managed to get him into debt. Fortunately, one of his customers who pitied him managed to get him a job as an office assistant. This new role didn't satisfy him, and he stuck with it only long enough to pay off his debt, mostly because the creditors who were after him legitimately scared him. Once he was clear of them and in the black once more, Cam quit the job and spent the next two months struggling to find another.

One winter morning, cowering beneath his quilt, Cam decided he'd had enough. The bitter chill that came from not being able to pay a heating bill tempted him to crawl back to his parents, to grovel for forgiveness and get a warm room and a hot meal once again, but his stubbornness wouldn't let him. There had to be another way...

At first it was a couple of everyday essentials from the local supermarket, taken while shopping for legitimate purchases, but soon it was personal items snatched from people at bars while they were drunk, and eventually it turned into stealing cold hard cash wherever he could get away with it. He mastered the art of pickpocketing in a few weeks, and the busy squares and crowded clubs he frequented were his new office space. The truth was, nothing else had provided him with the satisfaction that this new activity did, and he realised that this path was meant for him, not only because it finally gave him a steady albeit risky income, but he was incredibly good at it.

Linden's first appearance came pretty soon after this new alteration in his life. Cam was out doing one of his pickpocket runs across the busy marketplace areas in South Calcon when he found his hand snatched mid steal by an older man. This wasn't a first for Cam; he'd been caught out before, but usually his alertness and preparedness allowed him to run before they even got a good look at him. A couple of times somebody had grabbed him, but Cam was a wily, slip of a boy and could wriggle out of the grip, or thrash around until he found an opening that let him escape.

Upon being grabbed, Cam whipped his head round to face his detainer and immediately tried the usual manoeuvres. This time though, the strangers grip was too strong. The older man had a surprising vigour about him. Instead of calling for the authorities though who were never far away during these events, Linden dragged him somewhat easily to a quieter area, away from the crowds. Once they had a bit of space, he looked Cam dead in the eyes and asked him a question, as calmly as a windless sky.

“Why did you choose to steal from me?”

“My family is starving.”

Linden paused, furrowing his brow and squinting his eyes, looking deeper into Cam's, making him feel uncomfortable.

“Why are you lying to me?”

“I'm not!”

“Your family is fine. You don't live with them any more do you?”

“What?” Cam replied, a little stunned at the old man's intuition. “Who the hell are you?”

“I know people like you. You're a Nomag.”

Cam rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, so what?” His tone was sulky and more childish than his age would imply. “Why do people like you always have to point that out! Why don't you just leave us alone so we can carry on with our miserable lives?”

Cam tried to tug his arm free but Linden refused to let go, instead clamping down harder. Cam felt genuine pain.

“Ow, let go of me!”

“You seem too troubled.”

“For what? I haven't done anything!”

“Hmm.” Linden gazed away in thought, just for a moment, but Cam was curious.

“What?!”

“We have a place for people like you. Nomags. Somewhere safe, but..”

“What place?” Cam's curiosity was peaked. Linden let go just a little and Cam savoured the slight release. He'd always wondered about the existence of a community for Nomags, though he'd never heard of one. “You're making it up.”

“I can hardly prove it to you while I'm standing here, but I guarantee it's real.” Linden's disapproving gaze lingered on Cam, and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. “The thing is, I'm not sure I should bring you there. You've already shown me you're a liar and a thief. It'd be like bringing manure to my home and trying to stop flies from following it there.”

Linden let Cam go, and with a sense of relief he immediately shrugged back a few metres, still facing the older guy. If this place was real, surely that would be good for him; to feel equality at last amongst people who suffered the same affliciton instead of being 'a scourge on society', though it could equally just be some sort of trap.

“If this place is real, what's it called?”

“It has no name.”

Cam debated this for a moment, curious as to how likely that such a group wouldn't have a name. It seemed unofficial, but maybe that was good. Why would targeted people want a bigger bullseye on their backs?

“Let's say it's real then.” Cam watched the old man's face for something, though not really sure of what that thing was. “If that's the case, I don't really think you'd turn me away otherwise you wouldn't have even mentioned it to me. So the real question is this; do I trust you?”

The man didn't respond. He simply looked very sternly at Cam, who now carefully considered him. He wasn't that old, Cam guessed maybe fifty five to sixty years of age, and he had hard lines all over his face, possible evidence of a difficult life of labour. That would certainly be true if he was a not a magical energy user...

“Are you a Nomag too?” Cam queried.

Linden replied with a single nod.

“Then take me there and I'll see it for myself. But you have to keep at least ten metres in front of me the whole way. I don't want to be ambushed.”

* * *

Two days later, Cam met Dane for the very first time. Far from being a disaster, the first contact between them was amicable. In fact, Cam remembered thinking that the two might become friends from it. Dane's attitude struck him as quite unique; the guy just didn't seem to get bothered by anything and this intrigued Cam's younger mind. It led to him trying to spend a lot of time in his presence, but the kinship wasn't to be.

So it was that many years later when Linden announced he was to step down and wished for someone to take over his position, Cam eagerly submitted his nomination, but it was others who suggested Dane do the same. If it hadn't been for them, Cam wouldn't have had to go through all of this trouble.

Thus, when it came to Dane's absence this morning, Cam decided that his next course of action would be to not act at all. He knew he'd be blamed for what happened, but as long as he kept to his plan and didn't waste time pretending he knew nothing, then the group wouldn't have time to stop him before it was too late.

Puncturing his thoughts suddenly was a loud thumping that came from the other side of the office door. Cam shrunk back in his chair and wondered if he should ignore it. The thumping returned, three solid bangs of fist against metal, and he thought it might have been Radar's work. He pictured the larger man and suddenly felt a lot more nervous.

Knowing he couldn't hide in here forever, Cam took a stammered breath to psyche himself up and walked towards the door, reaching it just as another set of thuds echoed inside the tiny room.

“Patience!” He yelled, masking his feelings with a fake outraged tone. Cam slid the bolt towards the door and pulled the whole thing open.

Stood there just outside his office, facing him with looks of contempt and viciousness, were several of the Den's members. Radar was indeed at the head of the pack, but beside him were Twitch, Hammer, Alexander, Fenwick and several others who had clearly been swept up into this without particularly wanting to. Radar immediately broke the silence.

“We wan' a word with you.”

“Well, as you can see I'm rather busy right now...” Cam replied, sweeping his arm towards his empty office. The sarcasm flew right over Radar's head.

“We know it was you.” Radar stormed past Cam and took position in the middle of the room, crossing his arms. “Dane's never come back late before and we know he's not the type to get himself caught. Besides, you were seen leavin' the Den this mornin' about an hour before Dane's supposed job took place.”

'Damn those observant bastards.' He muttered internally. Not that being seen leaving was a total surprise to him, nor did it really matter in the end, but in these lesser intelligent specimens minds that would definitely be enough evidence to fully suspect Cam was at fault, so his selling of his innocence would be a lot more difficult.

“Now hold on. Are you accusing me of having something to do with Dane's disappearance?” Cam said, knowing that even though they couldn't be persuaded of their judgement, that he had to stall for time.

“Don't play games Cameron, you had nothin' scheduled today. We checked. So there was no reason for you to be outside this mornin'.” Radar took a menacing step towards Cam. “Now, are we supposed to believe that it is a coincidence that you were out the very same time that Dane vanishes?”

“Well that would be my defence yes, it was a complete coincidence. Not an unhappy one, for you all know my feelings towards our 'leader', but it is in fact a genuine lining up of events that are completely separate from one another.”

Radar smirked.

“Is that all you've got to say?”

“Well you did only ask me the one question.”

The smirk vanished.

“What did you do to him?”

“I'm afraid I did nothing of the sort you're thinking of. Now, I don't need to remind you of the rules, but I'm the guy in charge of this place until Dane returns, so unless you have some proof of this wild accusation...” Cam slowed down, putting on a display of confusion. “Actually, what exactly are you accusing me of?”

“Gettin' Dane arrested or killed.”

“Hmm, interesting.” Cam rubbed his chin in a mocking manner. “Well, unless you have proof of this conspiracy other than somebody seeing me walk through a door, I'm afraid we have nothing more to say, for the rules-”

“F**k the rules! You're not in charge of anythin' here any more. We're officially mutinyin'.”

“Are we suddenly on board a pirate ship?”

“Be a smart arse all you want. Whatever it's called, we're removin' you from office.” A sinister smile followed.

All of a sudden, the group was distracted by a knock on the door. Not the one attached to the office though, but the one at the entrance to the Den itself.

“Oh, that might be Dane now. Why don't we go and see for ourselves? Then perhaps you can apologise for your mistaken accusations and perhaps we can all get along once again.”

Cam pushed through the group, making sure he was at the front of the pack who immediately started following him towards the front door. He began to sweat, hoping and praying that the person at the door was who he thought it was.

As he reached it, he took hold of the handle and tugged at it with force, due to the doors thickness and heavy weight. Behind it, a rather timid looking man wearing a wax jacket and with at least a weeks worth of scruffy stubble on his gaunt face. He also wore glasses which he held with one hand while the other rested in his pocket. The stranger seemed surprised to see so many faces observing him at once, and his eyes widened. It was clear that of these many faces, only one recognised him.

“Ah, there you are.” Cam spoke with glee, as he ushered the nervous man inside while turning to face the confused audience “I've been waiting for you. Gentlemen of the Den, this is my friend Connor. He's one of those Magi we keep ourselves distant from. Now Radar, what about this 'mutiny' you were talking about?”