Chapter 34 Carver
Carver woke in time to see the door closing. He changed quickly, counting to ten in his head, before he opened the door to follow her out. Hopefully, she wasn’t stupid enough to try and explore the city on her own. But knowing Clara, he couldn’t guarantee that would be the case.
Sure enough, she slipped out of the building, walking down a couple alleyways as she surveyed her surroundings. He stayed far enough back that she wouldn’t notice him, blending into the shadows and avoiding the very drunk men that almost stumbled into him.
He watched as she stood outside of a massive bar.
Loud music and bright lights flared inside.
She didn’t hesitate for long before she was inside.
He didn’t want to follow her in directly.
That would be too obvious. He needed to protect her without further infuriating her.
Dealing with another bout of her anger was more than he could take tonight.
He might be tempted to do something stupid like tell her why he was trying so hard to protect her.
He waited for a few minutes, apparently long enough for one of the girls to notice him standing there. She draped her arm over his shoulder, “You look like you could use some company.” Her voice was sickeningly sweet.
He carefully removed her arm, “Actually, I’m good, but thank you.”
She pouted at him, “Not up for a little bit of fun?” The beads across her cropped top swished as she reached out to touch him again.
He caught her wrist, pulling her arm down before she could reach him. “Not tonight.”
“Are you sure? I’ll make it well worth your while.” She didn’t bother disguising her meaning as she angled her body towards him.
“I’m sure you would. I’m actually meeting someone inside. Thank you.” He quickly walked into the bar before she had a chance to recover and try a different tactic.
Inside, the noise was overwhelming. Most of the occupants were drunk. Shouting, spilling drinks halfway to their mouth, threatening each other, stumbling with every step they took. He was surprised more of them hadn’t been kicked out yet. It took a minute but he spotted Clara at the bar.
He was relieved at first, until he saw the man next to her who was grabbing her thigh and leaning into her.
How dare he. Carver didn’t have a chance to think through the anger before he reached them.
His fist collided with the man’s face, as though of its own volition. He didn’t even feel the collision.
Clara shrieked, and he couldn’t tell if it was part of her act or if it was real shock.
The man clutched his bruised cheek, but before Carver could say anything else, two men grabbed his arms and were pulling him towards the door.
“Don’t come back!” They yelled at him as they pushed him into the street.
He stumbled, regaining his footing after a few steps.
Stunned, he stood there not even sure what had happened.
Had he hit that man? That wasn’t a usual response for him.
As the adrenaline faded, his knuckles smarted, and he realized that he had, in fact, decked someone.
In an attempt to protect Clara. Crap. This wouldn’t end well for him.
So much for avoiding a fight with Clara. He groaned.
A few minutes later, Clara found him. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t. I thought that would have been apparent. I was trying to protect you.”
“We’ve been over this. I don’t need your protection. Why can’t you get that into your stupid ass head?”
“That man was touching you!” He defended himself, motioning towards the bar.
Clara looked around, noticing the people filing back and forth and grabbed his arm.
She hauled him into a nearby alley. “That man was giving me exactly what I wanted.” He raised his eyebrows, anger flaring even deeper, “Not like that!” She sputtered, “I was getting information for our assignment. He was about to take me to the labs and show me the creatures they’ve created.
A personal tour, with information on how they created the creatures.
Do you know how much that would have helped with our plotting?
” She hissed, seething at him as she stood way too close.
His heart dropped, “I didn’t know,” he whispered.
“I didn’t like him touching me, but I was putting up with it for the sake of information. The assignment comes first, that’s all it was. You ruined our chance of getting access to the labs in a non forceful way. All because of your stupid, stupid jealousy.”
“I’m not jealous.” She shoved him into the wall, and he grunted even though it didn’t hurt.
“Sure. You decked him because you’re not jealous.
Don’t lie to me, Carver. You preach about how we need to trust each other.
Assignment first. Follow the rules. But you break them at every turn.
” The street light behind her provided an almost halo.
Her silhouette forceful and perfect as she continued to glare at him.
“I didn’t mean to.” He had nothing real to say. No apology could fix this.
“That makes it even worse.”
She was breathing hard, the argument having worked her up. “Okay,” Carver exhaled, trying to figure out how to put all of the pieces back together. “None of this changes what our assignment is.”
“Just makes it more difficult to complete the assignment,” she muttered, but didn’t continue when he glared at her.
“We need to come back to the assignment.” He inhaled deeply, letting his breath out all at once. “We’ve gotten off track. We have to go back to following the rules.”
“We never should have left them to begin with,” anger still coated her voice but he chose to ignore it.
“We have to act like a couple for the sake of the assignment, but when we’re not in front of people we go back to our usual cold exteriors. Agreed?”
She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Agreed.”
“I’m sorry,” he forced out. He knew he owed her the words, but he didn’t want to offer them.
“Okay.” The venom was gone from her tone, and he allowed himself a slight smile.
“Should we go back then? Maybe eat something and see if we can come up with a plan since you destroyed mine?” She kept her tone light, but he felt the accusation all the same. She hadn’t truly forgiven him, and he couldn’t expect her to.
He ignored the burning desire to defend himself, knowing it wouldn’t matter. “Marsh might have some better insights on the city anyway.” He agreed.
“I’m sure she does.”
He heard all of the sarcasm in her tone. “Why do you dislike her so much?”
“Who said I dislike her?” Clara asked as they reached the door to the bookstore.
Carver folded his arms, refusing to go inside until this was resolved. “Your tone suggested a great dislike for her.”
“I don’t dislike her.” Carver raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue, “I just have a suspicion that she will be more of a distraction for you than a help for our mission.”
“So you’re jealous. After accusing me of jealousy.”
“I’m not jealous!” She defended.
“You totally are.” He smirked as he opened the door and walked into the bookstore. Clara followed behind still justifying why she was concerned and how she was absolutely NOT jealous.
“You know, it’s nice to be cared about.”
She rolled her eyes, “I don’t care. Can you stop being an ass so we can focus on figuring out a plan to get into the labs?”
“Can you keep your jealousy from getting in the way so we can plan?”
“I’m gonna murder you.”
He tsked at her, “The assignment comes first. You can’t murder me.”
“Oh, I’ll wait until after it’s over. I’ll slip into your sector and slit your throat.” She hissed at him, and he almost believed her capable of it.
He gasped, grabbing his throat with a smile on his face. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I—”
She was cut off as Marsh entered the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. “Ugh, do you two always argue like this? How do you ever get anything done?”
Carver and Clara exchanged glances. Though Clara was still glaring at him, he felt like a berated child as Marsh brewed a pot of coffee. “Sorry to disturb you.”
“I’m a light sleeper.” Marsh explained. She tied the front of her robe together and leaned against the counter. “My question still stands. Do you two always argue like this?”
He didn’t like the look of concern on Marsh’s face, and wanted to prove all was well. “It’s all in good fun.”
“Don’t lie to me.” She deadpanned, the sweetness from her tone earlier in the day no longer present. “I don’t know what this is between the two of you, but I do know that if you don’t get it together, you will be the end of our kingdom.”
She poured three cups of coffee and joined them at the small table. “I know you were sent here by Command. I know you have a limited number of days to get in and out. So, let’s figure out a plan, and stop picking at each other.”
Thoroughly silenced, Carver took a sip of his coffee. He grimaced at the bitterness, but didn’t comment.
“I’m assuming the weapon is in the same labs they keep the creatures.”
Marsh shook her head, “The creatures are kept in a surface level lab. They’re close enough to the festival to be displayed on a daily basis. The weapons lab is under the edge of the palace.”
Carver looked pointedly at Clara, “See?” He mouthed at her. A justification of sorts for having messed up her plans.
She stuck out her tongue, and Marsh sighed, “Of course. I got stuck with two extremely immature people.”
“Immature is an unfair assessment.” Carver responded, leaning back in his chair with what he hoped was elegance.
“I disagree.” Marsh shook her head, “Moving on. The lab is under the edge of the palace. It’s heavily guarded.
The only entrance from the outside is in the forest, and is usually surrounded by 4 guards.
However, the guard change occurs every 3 hours during the festival.
It is left unguarded for exactly four minutes and twenty-two seconds during that time.
Ideally, you would go in during the height of the festival, and be prepared to leave exactly three hours later. ”
Clara chewed on the edge of her lip, and Carver thought about bumping her to make her stop, but didn’t want to receive another warning from Marsh.
“In the morning, you both should explore the festival. We’re still in the opening ceremonies.
Learn whatever you can to take back to Quorath.
Everything they can show off is on display.
Creatures, weaponry, technology.” She paused to take a sip of coffee, “Noxvalis is far more advanced than Quorath. We need to figure out how to recreate this technology if Quorath is ever going to stand on its own.”
“Understood.” Clara responded, wrapping her hands around her mug. “What equipment do you have for us to complete the assignment?”
“Only what I could get without being noticed. Knives, a taser, guns, though those aren’t ideal for the lab with the oxygen content and machinery, and all the clothing you need to continue masquerading as Calyndor.
Weapons aren’t easy to come by here, and I couldn’t get more without awakening suspicion. ”
“Any suggestions for how to get out of the city once we get the biological weapon?”
Marsh stood up, and grabbed a book off one of the shelves.
She opened it and withdrew a hand drawn map.
She pointed to the lab and traced her finger across to the wall.
“Your best bet will be going out through the small door here. There’s usually two guards, so you’ll have to handle them.
There’s a forest on the other side of the wall, and if you can get past the initial guards on top, you can avoid the arrows because of the trees.
I haven’t explored much beyond that though.
Once you’re out of the city, you’re on your own. ”
“Doesn’t sound too bad.” Carver said casually. He was feeling more and more confident about their plan.
“Ha.” Marsh exhaled, “Let me spell it out for you. The guards all have brutal weapons. The lab has a security system inside that requires a password I don’t know how to get.
Once inside you have to avoid all of the scientists that aren’t at the festival to find their most secret compartments and retrieve the biological weapon.
I’m not sure if you were given knowledge of the weapon you’re supposed to find, but it’s small.
It’s a perfected formula. 10 vials. All it takes to wipe out a kingdom. ”
Only 10 vials. An entire kingdom could be killed with 10 vials. What was this weapon they were retrieving?