She caught his eye, he continued nodding along with the conversation but she had his attention. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as she let fear wash over her face and ran out of the cafeteria door. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he stood, reaching the door he stopped. Just because someone from his past just happened to show up out of nowhere doesn’t mean she’s working for someone. Does it? He stepped through the door. Fallowing the fleeting trail of her skirt led him to one of the janitor’s closets. Opening the door it was empty except for the filing cabinets, but the grill was off of the vent. He swore, it was too small for him but just large enough for her skinny frame. The fire alarm went off, he just stepped into the closet, then got down on all fours and looked into the vent. She huddled there with the look of a kitten that was being chased by a large dog.
“Humid enough for ya in there?” He growled with a smile, his voice sounding like water over gravel.
“Jack, I’m so sorry.” She whispered, tears trailing down her face, his heart clenched then flared with anger.
“What for, Josie? You going to tell me who you’re working for?”
RUN, she mouthed. Turning he saw a man in the door way lining up the sights of a gun with Jack’s head. With superhuman speeds Jack pushed himself up with his hands, as soon as he was in the air he kicked. The man flew back hitting lockers down the hall and collapsing into a heap.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Jack growled to Josie.
Slowly he stepped into the hall, a quick glance explained the unscheduled fire drill, the school was empty except for him and his chasers. Quietly he padded back down to the cafeteria, he saw his principle and vice principle in there talking to somebody. He figured that his pursuers were the ones talking with the P & VP. They were all the way across the cafeteria, so he entered to see what he was up against. He then saw a man talking to the P&VP, and several others, standing at points around the cafeteria. All of the men were dress like the FBI and CIA agents on the movies and in the books, crisp black suits and black sunglasses, each had a bulge under their arms that was obviously a gun, a few even had guns holstered around their waists.
“There he is!” One shouted as he looked towards the opening door.
Most started toward him while one started talking to his ear piece. But they were too late, the moment the shouter started uttering the first syllable, Jack was off like a shot, running down the hall toward the gym exit, one of the exits tucked away out of site and there for out of mind. He pounded through the halls, swiping up the gun of the man he had earlier knocked unconscious. Flipping off the safety, he started shooting out any camera he saw. Later, once they found that keeping up with him was impossible, they would try and use the cameras to track him but now they would have a harder time with that now wouldn’t they.
Checking the ammunition, he arrived in one of the slim halls that ran past the girl’s locker room, and saw there was only one bullet left, he would need a reload. Snapping the chamber back in he poked his head out of the hall, he located the door and didn’t see anybody. The second after pulling his head back in, an explosion went off and a bullet hole appeared in the wall behind where his forehead had just been. Pulling his last bullet into the slot, he did another glance, this time without showing himself. That’s when he noticed the snipers, half camouflaged and half hiding behind something. They all had long range rifles, but he couldn’t tell whether they held bullets or tranqs. Then the intercom crackled to life, there was an ear piercing screech as the mike accidentally got tipped over and crashed to the floor.
“Jack Wolf.” Jack winced as his name was spoken over the com, the booming voice sounded like it belonged to the black guy who was talking to the P&VP in the cafeteria. “We know where you are, surrender your weapon now and walk to the middle of the gym with your hands up.”
Jack smiled as the man waited; he turned into the girl’s locker room. As he did this he pulled out the walkie talkie that he had rigged to a system of them. Each frequency was for a different room, the opposite talkie hidden under the on loose floor tile in that room. When the school was first build it wasn’t a school, nobody knows what it was, but there was a set of hidden tunnels that had an entry point for each original room in the building, even the upper levels. Tuning the frequency to the VP office, he climbed on top of a row of PE lockers and started unhitching a ceiling panel.
“I don’t very much like your tone … or your idea, for a matter o’ fact I don’t like anything about you,” Jack said using the same voice he did for Josie.
“What the- where’s that coming from?” Jack heard voices in the back ground saying this, but the leader’s voice wasn’t there with them.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Jack challenged. “You didn’t say that you wouldn’t shoot, and even if you did I wouldn’t believe you. So you can go cry to your bosses about why they shouldn’t kill you because the job was impossible for all I care. You and I both know the only way you’ll catch me is by luck.” His growl was no longer smooth, just gravelly and dark.
“Ah, Jack. It’s good to hear you voice again.” Jack’s blood ran cold, as he climbed through the hole, and finally replaced the tile. “You ceased to surprise me long ago. Now I know that as my incompetent leader here waits for you to show yourself, you are disappearing into the school.”
“Hank, long time no speak, but at least I don’t have to see your butt ugly face.” He crawled toward the foreign language department. Being extra special to make no other noise that could possibly give them any idea to where he was, he spoke again. “You gunna explain how you found me or am I going to have to hunt you down and squeeze it out of you along with your worthless life. You’re lucky I’ve let you live this far, but you’ve just crossed the line, bucko. Be prepared to die when you least expect it.”
“Oh, but Jack,” Hank said in a fake fear filled voice, every word spoken in his southern accent was like claws raking down Jack’s brain. Gritting his teeth, Jack forced himself to move on. “How will you carry out your threats with me being protected by some of the government’s finest. You wouldn’t even make it down the hall, let alone enter the office and kill me.” Jack’s eyes flashed at the new information, then he had to swallow the lump of frustration and chew off his tongue not to reveal that he didn’t need a hallway to enter.
“Then let the games begin.” Jack said, flashing a smile to himself as he dropped into the Spanish room, ducking behind the teacher’s desk as not to be noticed through the windows.
“The idiot thinks of everything as a game.” He heard Hank explain to the leader in a voice that was like a little-goody-two-shoes wanting praise for being a good little lap dog. Jack huffed a growl at Hank’s stupidity and obedience.
“I’ll explain the rules.” He heard the leader grunt in the back ground. “I’m the prey, obviously. You’re the pack of blood thirsty wolves … haha, how ironic right, ya ‘cause my name is Wolf and you guys are symbolizing wolves. Uh, er, ya. So my objective, escape the valley, the school, and into the surrounding mountains, the town, that are too icey for the wolves to enter, let alone fallow. You’re objective, catch the prey before it enters the mountains, obviously. … now let’s see. Oh, right. No killing, no smoking, no mauling/maiming, and please keep all arms, legs, and other whatever inside the school property … unless you’re the prey. Any questions? Nope! Ok, good bye, let’s go. – and let the hunt begin. … oh and unless you didn’t know that’s your que to start prowling around like the starving beasts you are.”
Jack slunk over the desk, toward the window, moving like a snake, silent, dangerous, deadly. Silently opened a window, most of the guards were facing the crowd, keeping them back, not yet knowing of the game, the danger. One move, as fast as a striking cobra, brought the man standing in front of the window, unconscious to the floor at Jack’s knees. While taking the man’s earpiece and bullet cartridge, Jack noticed that half the men were in full combat uniform. The man had a bullet proof vest and different bullet proof linings on non-joint areas. He had a solid helmet and thick steel-toed boots. Jack grimaced at the boot discovery and wondered which of the wolves would consider using boots as a weapon as maiming. Hiding the unconscious man behind the desk, he slid over to the door.
“Begin full sweep.” The earphone crackled. “Check every nook, every cranny. Leave no desk unturned, no locker un-emptied.” It was so hard not to comment, but then they’d know he’d taken someone down and stolen an earpiece. Then they’d do a roll call and whoever didn’t answer, that person’s zone was his hiding spot. “I want that boy found at all cost.”