#FRIDAY FLASH - FORCES OF MIST (Part Two)

FORCES OF MIST

(Part Two)

by Carolyn Brown

 (Approx. 600 words of sci-fiction)

Silently pressed to the wall, Sandy waited for their leader to deliver his final instructions.  She frantically wondered whether Jackson would make her whereabouts known on his departure.

She watched anxiously as the others passed by her on their way to exit of the facility.  Moments seemed to stretch into ages, before she saw the one; she now knew was called Jackson depart the large cavern and move towards her.  He was joined by their leader.

When he approached she inhaled a large lungful of air and stood in trepidation, hoping he would not divulge her presence.  He looked her straight in the eye as he neared her vicinity and Sandy wondered how he was able to pinpoint her exact location.  It left her baffled as the device she was operating should not allow any penetration.

Mere inches from her, he stopped and bent down as if to retrieve something he had dropped.  She carefully bent her head forward, so as not to disturb the rough rock face she was pressed up against, to discover that Jackson had placed an object which looked very much like a com device by her feet.

He quickly stood and brushed himself down, as the officer in charge turned around looking for him.

“What are you doing, Jackson?” he asked.

“Sorry sir, I just dropped my com.” he answered and quickly juggled his own device between his hands to add credence to his story.

As they passed, Sandy remained fixed in her position, but found herself drawn to the mist trailing behind Jackson’s body. Once he moved forward towards the exit following his leader, it seemed to be trying to send some message to her, but her ignorance left her completely baffled by what she saw.

The mist seemed to change colour from the usual greyness distinctive to his race into soft pinkish, red tones.  Sandy instinctively rubbed her eyes as if it would help clear her vision and tried to once again see Jackson’s trail, but it had returned to its less conspicuous colour of grey.

When the coast was clear Sandy bent down to retrieve what had been placed at her feet.  She found a small com device and wondered what message she would find recorded on it.

Storing the com in her pocket, she activated her own com badge to place a call to her headquarters, “This is S W A N, over!” she whispered.

“Come in S W A N, over!” could be heard clearly from her com badge.

“I have maintained visual on meeting and will now return to secure location, over.”

“Roger that, S W A N, will await your call once secure, over.” came the reply.

Sandy touched the badge fastened to her collar and carefully made her way through the tunnel to the entrance, ensuring her targets had fled from the scene.

It only took her moments to return to her vehicle and once there she took the com device Jackson had left her, from her pocket.  Holding it flat on the palm of her had and unable to control her curiosity any longer, she pressed the on button and the screen immediately came to life.

Jackson’s gorgeous face stared back at her through the small monitor.  Even though she knew that this message had been recorded, she found herself mesmerized by his features and secretly wished this was a live conversation between them.

Shrugging off her insane thoughts she pressed the play button on the device to listen to his message….

(to be continued)