Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (25 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lee
went
home
to
try
to
develop
a
plan
to
find
out
where
his
brother
was.
Re-reading
the
files
about
Project
K,
and
having
further
studied
them
and
the
additional
information
left
to
him
by
Tom,
he judged
that
the
most
likely
place
Tom
was
being
held
was
in
the
base
where
he
had
found
the
files
in
the
secret
bunker.

Fortunately
for
Lee,
within
the
files
Tom
provided
there
were
detailed
schematics
of
the
bunker.
Unfortunately
the
bunker
appeared
to
be
a
lot
bigger
than
anticipated.
The
bunker
was
the
same
size
as
the
whole
base
with
only
one
visible
entry
point.
Therein
lay
another
problem;
he
had
found
schematics
for
the
bunker,
but
not
for
the
base
itself,
so
he
would
have
to
find
another
way
to
locate
the
entry
point
within
the
base.

The
bunker
included
a
full
underground
training
area,
medical
area
and
unnamed
rooms
that
appeared
to
be
either
cells
or
an
interrogation
area.
These
cells
were
located
at
the
furthermost
point
from
the
entrance
to
the
bunker
making
them
the
most
likely
place
to
hold
a
prisoner;
as
escape
would
be
near
impossible.

The
files
also
contained
detailed
description
of
the
protocols
the
security
adhered
to
when
within
the
bunker,
Lee
needed
to
get
more
information
as
to
where
exactly
on
the
base
the
entrance
to
the
bunker
was.
Knowing
that
if
there
was
such
a
large
sealed
structure
underground
then
there
had
to
be
another
point
of
entry,
somewhere
such
as
air
vents
to
pump
fresh
air
around
the
facility.

Packing up the car with all his hunting equipment and hiking gear he began the long drive north to the hills where the base was concealed, unknown to anyone who wasn’t privy to such information. Thoughts ran through his mind as he drove and he tried to focus on the task at hand and the road unfolding out before him, but he could not shift the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. His brother meant everything to him and he genuinely didn’t think that his father could take another loss in the family. He knew that he still felt the loss of his wife acutely, but put on a brave face for the sake of him and Tom. He had to find and rescue Tom for all their sakes.

Driving up an old dirt road Lee met a dead end, where he parked the car and loaded the gear on his back. Strapping to his hip his trusty hunting knife that he had used on the bear many years before, he began his hike
into
the
mountains
on
foot
through
the
hills
to
his
targeted
destination.
Armed with
his
full
hunting
gear
and
schematics
of
the
base,
he navigated
the
hills
with
ease
, using
the
stars
as
his
guide.

The
base
itself
was
well
hidden
and
high
up
in
the
hills
. Lee
needed
to
approach
the
area
from
an
elevated
position
on
the
other
side
of
the
ridge
overlooking
the
base.
Continuing along the ridge he looked for a good vantage point from which he could gauge the base properly
.

Reaching
the
crest
of
the
hill
, he
bedded
down
out
of
sight,
combing
the
area
to
see
if
he
could
locate
the
entrance
to
the
bunker
underneath
the
base.

Lee stayed
awake
the
whole
night,
learning
the
shift
patterns
of
the
guards. They
would
change
position
every
two
hours
and
they
would
all
take
three
different
positions
during
a
shift.

When
the
shift
ended
they
would
go
to
the
security
guards’
quarters
and
sleep.
This
is
how
they
rotated
the
shifts
at
night,
with
half
the
guards
asleep
and
half
on
duty.
Lee
synchronised
his
watch
to
match
the
change
of
the
guards,
still
not
able
to
locate
the
entrance
to
the
bunker.

As
the
sun
came
up
he
tried
to
sleep
a
little
as
fatigue
began
to
grip
him. He awoke
some
hours
later
to
resume
monitoring
the
patterns
of
the
guards.
The
pattern
he
noted
on
the
night
previous
continued
during
the
day,
which
made
no
sense
to
him.
“Why
would
half
the
guards
be
sleeping
during
the
day?”
he thought
to
himself.
With
the
arrival
of
the
sun
he
was also
able
to
see
the
faces
of
the
guards
and
was
struck
by
the fact
that
there
were
a
lot
more
guards
than
he
noted
the
night
before
when
they
appeared
to
be
dark
faceless
figures.

Originally
evaluating
inaccurately
that
while
half
were
on
guard
the
other
half
were
asleep
in
the
guard’s
quarters,
now
it
appeared
that
there
were
a
lot
more
than
half
in
the
quarters
at
any
one
time,
even
more
than
the
quarters
could
accommodate.
Having
a
hunch
that
the
most
likely
place
for
the
entrance
to
the
bunker
to
be
hidden
was
in
the
guards’
quarters,
the
focus
of
his
attention
shifted
to
this
building.

He
laid
out
the
schematics
of
the
base
on
the
ground
and
tried
to
position
it
in
a
way so
that
it
would
reflect
the
layout
of
the
bunker.
As
the
bunker
was
directly
under
the
base
it
was
   
easy
enough
for
him
to
map
out
the
position.
He
also
made
careful
note
of
the
area
above
ground,
highlighting
all
possible
escape
routes.
Mapping
in
his
mind
where
the
vehicles
were
kept,
where
the
highest
density
of
guards
were, he
considered
the
most
likely
escape
route
should
anything
go
wrong.