We walked out of the ward and headed downstairs. Boris’s facial expressions seemed he was about to kill someone and no one can dare stop him. I sighed and I kept holding my head but he stopped and said, “What’s wrong?”
I said, “I want to get it over with. I’m tired.”
He nodded and said, “Listen Lina. I can abort this mission right now if you want. Otherwise, everyone’s ready and waiting for my command.”
I stared at him and he looked so serious. He had a look that I have never seen before on him. I said, “Ok General. Let’s keep moving.”
He looked at me dumbfounded. It was the first time I acknowledged his position and respected his authority. He said, “Let’s go colonel.”
I followed him until we reached the basement area that was a flight of stairs past the main foyer. There were about a hundred soldiers waiting. They all stood up and saluted Boris. John nodded too and said, “You like to take your time Boris? Did you two have a farewell party just in case?” He winked and there was laughter from the crowd. It was from Isaac and his friend’s direction mostly. Boris composed himself and didn’t say anything. I wanted to laugh too but giggled instead.
Suddenly, there were high heeled footsteps behind us coming down the stairs. It was Vicky. She walked in front of us and eyed Boris and said, “What the hell you think you’re doing? Are you starting a war?”
Boris looked at her and said, “Vicky leave. This does not concern you.”
She said, “Really? You brought all the defence down here and want to jeopardize everyone else’s safety who is left? That’s a breach in security. I will not allow it.” She turned around and yelled, “Everyone! Abort mission! Boris has lost his mind!”
Everyone was hesitant and didn’t move. I had enough of her and the way she accused Boris. I took my gun out and pointed it at her. I said, “Vicky! Leave now or else!”
Boris stared at me and didn’t say anything. Vicky turned around, looked at me and said, “You want to shoot me? Is this what the smart people at Intelligence taught you? Get rid of the weak and carry on? I had enough of you. I am contacting Intelligence now and telling them of what you are doing.”
Boris pulled me back and lowered my gun. He said, “Colonel, stop.”
I looked at him and said, “She is serious! She will ruin everything!”
He pushed me back and whispered, “Let me handle this Lina.”
With a swift move, he took his gun out and shot Vicky twice on both legs. She screamed and yelled, “Boris!”
He said, “Crawl upstairs and tell them. Everyone! Let’s go!”
The guards swiftly walked to the entrance and a couple opened the large door. Each of them turned on a flash light and walked through the entrance with John leading them. Boris looked at them and down at Vicky and said, “You will never understand.”
He grabbed my hand and we walked at the end of the line. The path was dark and Boris took out a flash light to turn on. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I broke the silence and said, “Are you going to tell me the plan? Now is a good time.”
He continued walking and said, “No. Just stay with me.”
I sighed and said, “Yes General.”
In the dark with shadows bouncing across his face he smiled and said, “The path is about two kilometers long. It will give us time.”
I said, “Time for what?”
He said, “Time to enjoy this.”
I was confused and didn’t want to press this issue. Maybe he did lose his mind. I guess I rubbed off on him.
After a few minutes of walking, we heard John yelling at the guards to be prepared. Boris gripped my hand tightly and whispered, “You and I will sneak up to Project Merge while the soldiers guard us on the way there. After that, it will be just us two.”
I nodded, walked behind them and then I said, “Do you think there are machines inside?”
He said, “Yes.”
I stared at him with wide eyes and said, “Ok.”
The guards reached the end, and John tried to open the door but it was locked, He yelled for everyone to move back and a few seconds later, there was an explosion and fire coming from the door. The guards ran fast through the hole it made and Boris started running too. I ran alongside of him and went through the hole. John said, “Everyone, take your positions.”
He walked to the closed door leading out of the basement and leaned to hear something. He smirked and said, “Oh boy! This will be absolutely fantastic!”
He opened the door and all the guards held up their guns. He said, “Let’s go!”
He ran out first and Boris ran behind him. I said, “Wow! The soldiers?” He said, “They are right behind us. Go!”
We ran up a flight of stairs and John stood at the edge of the hallway. He motioned for Boris that it was safe and said, “There are no cameras beyond this point. Lina, you know what to do. If you need to, just blast everything.”
We walked down a hallway, but it was different than the previous one. Boris said, “John told me the code for this door.”
We turned right to a large gray door with a small side panel. I looked closer at the door and it was engraved with the symbol and M on top of each other. I said, “Uff! What does it mean?”
Boris looked at me and said, “I know what is for. It means for all or for each one. As for M? It could mean anything. In Roman numbers it could be a 1000, or Greek letter mu, or …”
I said, “Wait a second? It’s math related? Numbers?”
He said, “Maybe. I have no idea what it really means, but the universal explanation is … ”
He hesitated and I said, “Is?”
He was confused and remained silent.
I said, “Oh my God! Why can’t it be so simple like Merge? M for Merge.”
He looked at me and said, “Well, for each merge? For all merge?”
I sighed and said, “Maybe. That sounds about right. We need to go in. What’s the code?”
He tapped on the panel vigorously and the door opened. I said, “That was easy!”
Boris nodded and walked in slowly. He held my hand and raised his gun. He looked up at every corner and nothing was there. We slowly moved forward to another door. He grabbed the knob and swung it open.
Beyond the door was unimaginable. I couldn’t believe it. There were rows of machines, but there were shut off. I said, “We are screwed.”
He grabbed my hand and said, “Follow me. John said to keep turning left until we reach the control room.”
I nodded and walked beside him. After maneuvering through multiple hallways, we reached a large glass paneled door. Boris looked through and said, “No one is in there. Let’s go in.”
He swung the door open and we walked in slowly. There were many monitors and computers around. Boris sat on a chair and said, “Lina?”
I said, “I can’t remember.”
He stared and said, “Lina? This screen has a picture of you.”
I couldn’t see the screen from the angel I was standing. I tilted and gasped. I said, “That’s Sara!”
He said, “Yes.”
I crouched over him to have a better view and said, “Should we wake her up?”
He hesitated and said, “How?”
I looked around and saw a dangling wire that looked oddly familiar. I grabbed the wire. It had a pointed needle at the end. I said, “Maybe?”
He looked at me and said, “It seems the wire is attached to something. Umm … ” He tried to move around some equipment to have a better view and said, “Yes. It’s definitely attached to this computer with her face. I think this is it.”
I looked at the wire, he looked at me and said, “What do you want to do Lina?”
I stared at him for a few seconds and realized that he was in charge now. He was in the seat with the computer in front of him. I said, “Let’s see how smart they say you are Boris.”
He looked puzzled and stared at me. He then stared at the wire and at the computer screen and said, “I can control you then?”
I said, “You got it.”
He smirked and said, “You might hate me after this.”
I punched his arm and he said, “I’m kidding Lina.”
He tapped the screen and my picture disappeared. There were symbols all over the screen and machine code instructions. He was reading each line carefully. He finally said, “There has to be another wire somewhere.”
I said, “Another one for what?”
He said, “To attach to me.”
I was confused and said, “Why does it need two attached?”
He said, “I need to control Sara physically. Virtual instructions are not enough. I will set everything up and give her a different direction. Search for a wire in here.”
I nodded and looked around. Boris was tapping furiously on the screen and after a couple of minutes I found one a drawer. I walked over to him and handed it over. He said, “I think this will work.”
He attached the wire to the back of the computer and held both by their edge. He looked at me and said, “No matter what Lina, you have to be stronger mentally and make her stop the machines somehow. I think one of these computers controls the machines and Sara knows. Maybe. I will be here too because if anything happens, I can physically stop her.”
I said, “What will you do?”
He said, “I may have to kill her.”
I said, “But Boris! That’s what she wants!”
He said, “No. She wants you to kill her.”
I said, “That’s not right. You tried to kill me before because of what she made you see in the hallucination.”
He interrupted me and said, “You wanted me to see it. Not her!”
I stared at him but he looked angry and I said, “But why you wanted to shoot me then?”
With a serious tone he said, “I had no idea what they have been doing to you and if you changed completely to someone I can’t stand. I wanted to kill you to end my misery from the past ten agonizing years of my life.”
I stared at him and frowned. I said, “It’s black and white for you then?”
He angrily said, “Lina. I don’t view life like that. You do, and you need to stop that extreme thinking. It will kill you at the hands of her! That’s why it was easy for them to control you instead of me! You never take things lightly.”
I eyed him and said, “Do you really think that of me?”
He said, “Everyone has a flaw. It’s worse if it’s a mental problem too.”
I said, “I don’t think you have a flaw.”
He stared at me and said, “Lina. I’m not perfect. Believe me! I am not perfect.”
My eyes started watering and I said with a low voice, “I don’t think so. I never thought you did. You’re perfect in my eyes. Since we were young I viewed you as one.”
He stared and said, “Please Lina. It’s not the time to start remembering. Are you even remembering or just want to play with my emotions? Please. Can we discuss this later? Can we? Can you even do this now? Do you want to or should we leave and go to your apartment now?”
I said, “I will do it alone.”
He looked at me and said, “I can’t let you. Either both of us or abort this mission and go to your apartment.”
I angrily said, “I will do it alone!”
He threw the wires and slammed the screen with his fist that the glass shattered. He yelled and said, “No one is going!”
He grabbed a screw driver laying near the computer and vigorously slammed it into a computer and shattered the screens. He continued slamming and breaking all the equipment. There was nothing left on and the room looked like it was in ruins. He stopped and tried to catch his breath and stared at me. The emergency lights turned on and a loud beep burst into life. He said, “See! Am I perfect?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I kept laughing and he started laughing too. I said, “I may have forgotten about your bad temper.”
He said, “I think we upset something. We have to run!”
He grabbed my hand and we ran through the door. I tried to say something, and the noise got louder. There were movements and Boris stopped. I grabbed his hand tightly and he whispered, “There is a door down this hallway. Let’s go in it.”
We sprinted down the hallway until we reached the door. He grabbed the knob and tried to open it. He said, “Damn it. It’s locked.” He looked around and said, “Lina! Someone is coming.” He took his gun and shot the door knob. He kept shooting and trying to open the door. He slammed it with his body and the sound of movements were getting closer.
He slammed the door with all his might and it opened. He looked at it and grabbed my hand. We went though and it was a dark black room. It was empty. I said, “This is the room! I was in here and confronted Sara!”
He said, “How did you get out of it?”
I looked around and said, “There was another small door. There it is!”
We ran to the door and there were loud sounds behind us. Then suddenly, there was a gun shot. Then multiple shots. We turned around and to our horror, they were robotic machines. Boris opened the door and ran down the white walled hallway. We ran then reached the door and he shot the knob and slammed it open.
We continued running as fast as we could and ran out of sector S3 until we reached upstairs to third level of sector B. We couldn’t stop, and the machines kept running after us. Boris said, “Lina! I need to distract them until you open the door to your apartment.”
I nodded and said, “Ok!”
He let go of my hand and turned around. He raised both guns and kept shooting. The machines continued shooting back. Boris kept ducking and hiding at the edge of the hallway. I ran to the door of my apartment and tried to catch my breath. I kept hearing gun shots and Boris yelling for me to hurry up. Then suddenly, his yelling stopped and the shooting stopped.