Eventually they were taken to a quiet room in the airport. They got their bumps and scrapes treated, and the co-pilot was taken to the hospital under guard. Celeste’s body was taken away under a sheet. The pilot was blubbering and loudly exclaiming that he had a family. They eventually took him out of the room to somewhere else.
Nate slid over to Arena. “We still gotta work on those escapes from people with guns,” he joked. “But pretty soon you’ll go to real training and at least you’ll have a gun of your own.” Arena was still too raw to joke back, so she just smiled at him weakly. Sterling had stayed right next to her, though he issued orders from his commset to various people within the room and outside as well.
They tried to take Nate to the hospital, but he refused. He did allow the medics to examine him. They pronounced him dehydrated, but otherwise ok. She saw one medic force a paper cup and a jug of yellow electrolyte drink into his hands and motioned for him to drink it. He shrugged at the medic, and poured himself a cup. About ten minutes later she looked back up at him, and he was about halfway through the bottle and beginning to turn green. He tried to put it aside, so the medic threatened to put an IV in him instead. He looked from the bottle to the IV and pointed at the IV.
The flight back to New York City was long, but Arena slept through most of it. They got back to the compound in the middle of the morning, and everyone ended up in the dining room without discussion. The staff had been apprised of their return, and there was something akin to a Thanksgiving banquet waiting for them. They all dug in, and there was little noise except silverware clinking and chewing.
Arena sat with Sterling, Lorna, and Nate. Lorna and Nate were quiet, but Arena didn’t think either of them had gotten much sleep on the plane. When lunch was finished, the retreated to the conference room and each had to record an interviewed briefing, run by Yates. Nate seemed still a little stunned at Yates’ participation in the mission, but she suspected somebody must have filled him in at some point, because Nate wasn’t regarding Yates with outright suspicion.
Nate went first. Most of the group gathered around, wanting to hear what happened. He waited patiently for everyone to sit down and get comfortable, although Yates was somewhat impatient to get started. Nate seemed calm, and Arena thought he looked better with some food and enough fluid. Lorna brought him a glass of water, then sat down and watched him intently.
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“After we got out of the elevator, Celeste dragged me into a helicopter on the roof. She had one of her goons tie me up, then she injected me with something. The next thing I remember, I was in some sort of room that looked like an interior empty office. They still had me handcuffed, and my feet tied. After awhile, she showed up and began to tell me how I needed to work with her or I’d be making a big mistake. She also said that those she worked for would reward me well if I agreed to join them. She didn’t give me much so far as intel on them, just that they did have high contacts in the CIA and they would be watching me no matter what.” He stopped and shifted his weight, then took a sip of water. Arena could tell he was still stiff and still in pain.
“I tried to figure out if Lorna was in the next room, but I knocked with my elbow and didn’t hear anything.” Lorna shook her head and shrugged. “Oh, well. Anyway, her goons spoon fed me some oatmeal, which at least was better than nothing. Then I heard a lot of noise, and one of the other ones rushed in and said they had to move me out. They put me in that van, and we went to another building which looked like a warehouse. I was there for a day or two, I think, locked in some sort of storage closet. They did give me a little food and water, but not much. I think they were trying to weaken me into agreeing, although it probably would have taken a lot more than that. Celeste seemed to think it was only a matter of time before I agreed to switch to her side, but she’s never been big on self-doubt.” He laughed bitterly. “The others just seemed completely uninterested in me, which made me think they weren’t really part of her little organization, just hired to help. Then, this morning, they retied everything, gagged me, and put me in that van. One of them said they had to ‘deliver me to her after they did a little job first’.” He altered his voice to sound just like the first goon Arena had overheard. They put me in the back of that red van, and left me there in the parking lot, tied around one of the bars in the back.”
He raised his eyebrows comically. “I was trying to wriggle free when they came back. They opened the back doors, and were telling me to behave or they’d sedate me when Agent Schmidt plowed into them with the board.” He grinned at her. “Just like a bowling ball. When Arena and one of them dropped into the van, I decided to give her a little help.”
Yates asked some questions, most which reiterated things Nate already said or that had already been confirmed by Lorna. Several of the others went next, and then Arena told her side of the story and how she had overheard the men at the snack bar and taken out the men by the van. She did feel rather uncomfortable when he asked her to confirm that she disobeyed a direct order, but she told the truth. Yates was impassive, but Sterling scowled behind him.