Hurricane Heart

Arjan

I was so shocked to see this visitor that I actually just stood there, gawping senselessly at him for several seconds.

And then I saw the gun in his pocket.

Whilst I knew most people froze when fear descended, it seemed that my mind contrarily went into triple speed.

I remembered when Hurricane had walked out.

She had left her gun in the room.

The gun, that was now on the table just a few feet behind me.

The Soulless; a beefy man, probably middle-aged, though it was hard to tell what was behind the mask, and dressed in a black suit, had not yet drawn his gun.

I had mere seconds.

I turned.

I ran.

I heard movement behind me.

The gun reached my fingertips.

I whirled round, spinning and almost losing my balance.

I didn’t even know how to get it off of safety lock.

But I had to try.

I tried.

The Soulless fired.

I fired.

He missed.

I hit.

My mind suddenly came back to me in a tornado-like force, having momentarily left, as the Soulless man cried out and staggered backwards with the force of the stun. It seemed that I had got him in the shoulder, but I imagined that the electrical volts spread everywhere.

I could scarcely comprehend what I had just done. I had just shot a man. Yes, it was only a stun gun, but I’d still inflicted pain on him, coldly and mercilessly.

The monster was in my hands now. I had the power to use it again and again and again if need be.

And maybe I did need to.

The Soulless had been hurt, but far from defeated. His gun had fallen from his hands, but he could reach it in a moment if he tried. I had no choice.

I fired the gun again, volts shooting out and striking. This time, though, reason was within me, and that reason caused my arm to shake so violently that, despite standing just a couple of metres from the man, I missed all but one shot.

The shot that did hit, however, happened to be a head shot.

And, for now, that seemed to be enough.

The man staggered backwards, yelling out, crashing into the wall on the far side of the corridor and sinking down. He was near enough unconscious, and he was momentarily in too much pain to move.

I had to get out of here.

And yet...where did I go?

Maybe it didn’t matter right now. Just as long as it was away from here.

Hurricane

As though it was gang-up-on-Hurricane night, something which I strongly recommended against, the single person that I wanted to see less than Carl, less than Jonas and less than Tobias was in the Master’s office when I slammed the door wide open so viciously that it almost rebounded in my face.

That would not have been funny.

‘Casper,’ I said, hoping that my voice conveyed as much disgust as I felt for this most despised of man.

‘Hurricane,’ he said, his tone equally as loathing as mine. He spat the word, as though he would refuse to call me by it, but had been forced to by a higher authority.

The ‘Master’ as I had always known him, though a name he had only adopted when he became leader of this base before I arrived, was seated in a black chair behind his rickety desk.

‘Hurricane,’ he said, echoing Casper’s words, though at least in a more pleasant tone. I couldn’t say I was too pleased to see him either, though he beat Casper any day. God, I’d only known Casper for three days before leaving for Hamburg and I already despised him.

‘What’s he doing in here?’ I demanded of the Master before I let him proceed any further.

‘I have a few things to discuss, and as much right to be in here as you do,’ Casper said venomously.

Carl peered in through the door behind me. Three bombs were in this room, two standing and one seated, each one of us having the power to explode. Carl could only ever hope to act as mediator between us.

‘Come in, Carl,’ the Master agreed, allowing Carl to slink in behind me. He was by no means a coward; he just didn’t convey the same implosive power as the rest of us.

I wasn’t sure if the Master had a direction he wanted to take the conversation in, but I certainly had plenty to say, and I wasn’t about to make things easy for him.

‘False alarm,’ I said, disgusted, my eyes giving the Master a poisonous glare. My voice conveyed all the bitterness and hate I possessed for that term. It meant that everything I had done; every wound I had sustained; every life that had been destroyed; everything that had changed inside me; it was all for nothing. I had worked in vain. Felix had died in vain.

‘Things can’t always work out, Hurricane,’ the Master said. His ageing, light eyes looked up almost pleadingly into mine, and if there was any forgiveness remaining within me, I would have forgiven him there and then. But I did not forgive. I did not forget. He deserved to repent everything he had cost me. And not to mention Arjan. Arjan’s life was as good as over now. Because of this, he could never see his family again. He could never return home. Not even if he survived, which was a chance that looked slimmer with every passing second.

‘People have died because of you,’ I said coldly. ‘Arjan’s going to die because of you.’

‘Since when did you have a conscience?’ Casper snarled.

It was the wrong thing to say.

‘You bastard,’ I hissed, taking several abrupt strides towards him. I hoped my eyes were as murderous as I felt. At least it wiped the smug smile from his face, no matter how desperately he tried to defend himself.

‘It’s true!’ he cried, glancing to Carl for backup. Carl gave him nothing. ‘I’ve never heard you care for anyone else before. I want to know what’s changed!’

I could have hurt him. I could have really, really made him pay for what he said. But I didn’t. Instead, I held his gaze until the tension grew so thick it felt ready to tear the world in two, before abruptly turning away. He exhaled, as though having been held rapt by my glare.

‘Let’s not have that in here, shall we?’ the Master offered, gently but firmly. ‘Hurricane,’ his eyes became lasers as they fixed on me, rendering me spellbound. ‘You must know that I do not make any decision lightly, but especially not ones that could cost lives. I merely asked you to follow the Soulless into Hamburg and find out what they were doing; you went one step further and I had to decide what to do quickly. We had a hostage on our hands.’

I was ready to erupt. ‘You’re blaming it on me?’ I screeched incredulously.

‘No, not blaming,’ the Master explained. ‘You were brilliant that night. But after you followed the Soulless into the boy’s room, I had no choice but to tell you to bring him with you. And after that, I thought we could be onto something. But I was wrong.’

‘You’re never wrong,’ I said, my tone begging as though I could reason with him to suddenly be right again. ‘Not ever. Not once; I’ve heard.’ My eyes were partially blinded as they swam in lakes of tears; tears that I refused to let show.

‘There’s a first time for everything, child,’ the Master said, suddenly so much like the father figure I craved that my heart ached, tearing itself into pieces. ‘I think I told you that once, did I not?’

I nodded, my throat burning too hot to choke the words out. There was silence. The Master thought he’d won.

‘We can’t just leave him though,’ I said, pleading with his humane nature.

‘Wait,’ Casper said, butting into the emotion so that an uneasy silence fell. ‘You mean to say that you’ve just left him out there?’

I never thought in a million years that Casper could ever help me, yet his words shone a ray of golden light into this dark situation.

‘Yes,’ the Master confirmed. ‘There was nothing else we could do without risking the lives of Dreamers.’

‘But he’s not a Dreamer!’ Casper cried. ‘And he knows all about us. He’s met many of us; he’s seen the entrance into the base in Hanover; he knows where tons of the outbuildings are. Have you lost your mind? Do you have any idea how fucking dangerous that is?’ He was practically erupting with fury. I could see the lava beginning to boil over.

‘Calm yourself, boy!’ the Master said firmly, though not unkindly. ‘What else do you expect me to do? I know it’s a sensitive topic for you—‘

‘Sensitive?’ Casper roared, suddenly more beast than animal. ‘If he survives this; if he has the chance to get away, he’ll go to the authorities. That’s what any sane person would do! And he will talk. He will tell them who we are; tell them how to get into our bases; tell them undisclosed information about us. He could bring us down!’

I should have interrupted. Needless to say, I disliked Casper, and what he was saying was hideous. I knew Arjan would never do that. He would never betray me.

But twenty-four hours ago, he would have said the same for me.

And look where I was now.

I shook the thought vigorously from my mind. Because what Casper had said could be Arjan’s salvation. Immediately, the cogs of my brain were spinning almost into overdrive.

‘What do you propose we do then, Casper?’ the Master asked, holding that gentle but firm authority over all of us.

‘Well, we’ve either got to kill him ourselves, or we have to drug him; give him amnesia so he doesn’t remember us,’ Casper explained frantically, stepping forward into the limelight.

‘No,’ the Master declared. ‘Sending anyone in there right now would be suicidal.’

I had an idea.

‘I’ll go,’ I offered.

Three pairs of eyes questioned whether I still possessed any sanity at all.