******Sarah******

We walked quietly for a few minutes. He seemed to have a destination in mind, so I kept up with his pace. He’s a tall guy, almost a foot taller than me, so it was a ground eating pace, which suited my mood just fine. I’m still not sure what to think about him agreeing with the doctors about my wings. And I still haven't heard a damn word of his thoughts since those first six, so obviously designed to draw a reaction.

Fool! Why hadn’t I seen something like that coming? This guy definitely wasn’t all he seemed. Who was he CID? FIC? I reached for his thoughts again, and again met that same blank wall of nothingness. *What the hell IS that!?!* I silently screamed. He looked over at me oddly. Oh God did he hear that?

“I believe you are referring to my shields.” He went on when I looked at him sharply, “I told you it is an old technique. Those who have yet to master it sing nonsense songs or repeat rhymes... like those people you had to listen in on. I’ll even wager some of them were in different languages.” We reached where the old compound wall turned west and a recent addition continued on south. He was right of course. I had heard pop songs and children’s rhymes in so many different languages, one of them in a language not even recognized by anyone here.

He looked both ways as if deciding something. Suddenly he looked back at me and in that instant almost looked familiar, but it quickly passed. “This looks new,” he said, gesturing to the south, “I wasn’t aware that there was enough manpower to expand the compound here.”

He said it too casually, fishing for information, I knew. But “Who do you work for?” I immediately clapped my hand over my mouth. I did not just ask that aloud, did I? Oh but I had, his face said it all.

“My people,” he said quietly, harshly, looking to the south again. “Sarah,” he said suddenly quite serious. Uh-oh, here it comes, I thought. He looked at me again and it hit me. I knew him. He had disappeared from his apartment in Ann Arbor four years ago.

“I know what you lied about,” I said quickly, interrupting him, “Your name isn’t Jack, it's Caleb.” He was my age... hell, he'd gone to prom with one of my old friends. That guy was a quiet kid, a computer wiz who was the complete opposite of the man in front of me with a flawless militaristic air. And he didn't have to look so damned shocked that I remembered him. “Trying to catch flies?” I shot at him.

He snapped his jaw shut and visibly shook himself. “I haven’t used that name in a very long time.” he said, sounding as confused as I must look. He thinks four years is a long time? “Who the hell are you?”

As I was about to answer, I noticed his hand sliding toward a sheath at his belt. It stopped when I focused on it, and dropped back to his side. I looked back up at him, and for the first time noticed the threat of anger and violence in his eyes. I might have known him in high school eight years ago, but this man was not the same person.

He held up his hand before I could answer, “Never mind, there’s no time for this now, I need information about the compound so I can set things straight here. My intel must be old and I hope you can help.”

“I knew it!” I said triumphantly, “You're with the Central Investigation Division or the Federal Intelligence Collective!”

He didn’t try to deny it, but he also didn’t confirm it either, which with spooks, I knew, was as much an admission as the words themselves. “Are all of the defenses along the new section of the wall in operation already?” he asked.

So he was with one of the government agencies and he was here to clean this place up? Ok, I'll buy that for now. I can think of a few people who need to go, like that creepy Dr. Chekov with his knife and organ collections, gives me the shivers just thinking about him. “I don't really know too much about the defenses, your people don’t normally tell me things like that. I did hear one of the engineers complaining about how far behind they are on getting the power grid up and running out there.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Damn,” he said quietly, as he made some kind of decision. “I’ll have to take that chance.” With that he was off again, heading west along the old wall.

He certainly seems to be in a hurry, his pace was much more brisk than before as if he were trying to make up for lost time. He slowed down a few minutes later as we approached a set of AA guns. As we walked past it, I thought I heard a slight metal on metal clink and almost dismissed it as nothing. Then I remembered dismissing a similar sound as we had passed the first emplacement earlier.

“You seem to know exactly where you’re going.” I said, “Care to share your destination with me? Maybe I can show you a shortcut. I know all of them in this quarter, there’s normally no one here so it’s quiet.” And maybe I can add two and two together, and figure out your game.

He smiled at me, not fooled by the question a bit. “I have one more thing to take care of, but I’ll be glad to have your services as a guide from there.”

Man is he quick with those evasions. “So, Jack,” I said drenching his ‘name’ in sarcasm, “what happened to you four years ago? Where did you go? Jesus man, I went to your funeral!”

He looked at me almost apologetically, “Well I’m certainly not Jesus, so I can safely say that the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I’m assuming it was an empty casket since I am clearly still in possession of my body.”

******Jack******

Damn. Who the hell is this girl? Obviously she knows me from before, but no one should be able to connect that pale, junk food eating gamer to me. Hell, she said they’d even held a funeral for me. No, no one should know me here. I haven’t gone by that name in centuries.

“Did you hack into something serious and get spirited away by the old FBI?” she asked me.

Well she thought I was intelligence here so I can stall her with a bit of the truth. “It's a very long story, if I promise to start explaining when I am finished here today, will you drop it until then?” I finally let out. I stalled, hating the pleading note that had crept into my tone. Damn those green eyes. Green eyes... Shit. My mind jumped back to when I first saw her on the ridge. Her features were still vague due to distance, but there they were, those big green eyes staring back at me.

Now to figure out how I knew her. It was clear she was the source of those old thoughts, but I still couldn't understand why. I let those thoughts stew while I brought my mind back to the task at hand. One gun left and my men should have a clear avenue of approach. It's been almost an hour since I left the ridge and they will still be in position waiting for the signal.

I walked on in silence for a while, letting her come to a decision on her own. She might not know it yet, but she was coming with us when we vacate this hell hole. I was determined to leave no man, or woman, behind.

Finally she seemed to make up her mind, “Ok,” she said quietly, “I’ll hold you to that.”

I flashed a smile in thanks, “Do you know where the people you listened in on are being held?” I asked, well aware that I was blowing my cover with her. Then again it was already blown. She knew my birth name and could ruin everything I had built since shedding it, if she told the wrong ears. Which was another reason she had to come with us. No, this woman isn’t leaving my side until I figure out why she messes with my head so much, I have the unfortunate feeling that will happen later rather than sooner.

The irony of the situation was that because she knew my name isn’t really Jack, she stopped looking for the real lie in our original conversation. My name for all intents and purposes for the last eight centuries or so has been Jack, so I do not consider that a lie anymore.

She looked at me again with suspicion written all over her face. I smiled disarmingly.

"There is this one area of the compound they don’t let me anywhere near, every once in a while, I’ll see semi’s going in with an odd trailer, and coming out empty. Nothing ever really comes out of there.”

“That’s the place then.” I said, my anger slipping its’ leash a little. I picked up my pace, not wanting my people to suffer a moment longer than they had to.

“Wait!” she said slowing down, “That building is across the compound in the North Quarter. It would be quickest to go back to that stairwell we just passed and cross from there!”

“I still have something I need to do before we can go there.” I said, almost jogging now.

The last emplacement I needed to neutralize was ahead, a few meters past a guard post. Just as I passed the guard post, the major whose stolen fatigues I was wearing stepped out in his dress uniform, looked at us, saw Sarah and began to turn away in disgust then looked back at me. Shit. I didn't need to pick his thoughts to know what he was thinking. 'Are those my fatigues?' would be right at the top, closely followed by 'We’ve been compromised'.

Before he had time to process it all, I reacted. Both hands pulled knives as I turned, one to silence the call to arms, the second to silence him for good before he hit the ground.

I immediately pulled a fourth metal disk out and tossed it the last 2 meters toward the gun, pushing it into place with a thought.

Only then did it occur to me to look at Sarah. Damn, we’re in a tight spot. Another blast from the past quite inopportunely rearing its’ ugly head.