Ebbe stared, aghast, at Chum's limp body. She swore her heart had skipped a beat, out of shock, as she'd seen him tumble down the uneven stone steps like a sack of potatoes. It also sounded like something had cracked as he landed, suggesting to her that, even if he had been alive when first thrown, he wasn't upon landing. Before she had time to make any further observations she heard voices, clearly in voracious disagreement with each other; one she recognised to be Anthony.
"You've just condemned you and your pals. You know that right?" Said an unfamiliar voice. It was deep and rasping, probably the result of a heavy smoking habit.
"If you wanted us dead you'd have blown us to kingdom come, not knocked on the door and played peeka-fucking-boo," came Anthony's defiant reply.
"Get down there," the other voice demanded.
Ebbe glanced over to James, to see how he was holding up. She was surprised to see he had refused to be distracted by the commotion on the stairs, and was keeping his sights trained steadfastly on Shakes. Shakes was, on the other hand, utterly unperturbed by the threat posed by James' weapon and was focused fully on Anthony as he emerged at the top of the stairs, and made his way, somewhat nonchalantly, down to the basement floor.
Ebbe returned her attention to Anthony, who caught her eye as soon as he was level with her. Much to her surprise he gave her a cheeky wink, presumably suggesting things were actually going to plan, despite appearances to the contrary. Ebbe's mind raced, replaying the hideous image of Chum's bulky body tumbling down over the thick stone slabs and slamming with dead weight to the dirt floor. Nothing she could see suggested that was a carefully orchestrated fall, part of some great bluff. What was Anthony playing at? All she could presume was he had reached a similar conclusion to her; they had all been played and now he was playing right back.
Attempting to reassure herself that things were in their favour, Ebbe tore her eyes away from Anthony and sized up his captor. He was a tall, slender man, with a neatly trimmed beard, dressed in standard army fatigues. He was holding a pistol in his right hand and a grenade in the other. The latter gave Ebbe great cause for concern in this contained space, with nothing suitable to take cover behind. The man, with his thin pale face and dark pitted eyes, reminded Ebbe of a shark. As he reached the base of the stairs, several armed men also began to emerge through the hole and began trotting down the steps with quiet efficiency. Five men reached the bottom and pointed their automatic weapons at Ebbe, Anthony and James.
Shark man gestured with his gun to James with a quizzical look.
"Seems we have a turncoat," Shakes said by way of explanation, before standing, clearly confident James was no longer in a position to fire.
"Interesting," Shark man rasped in a voice that Ebbe found irritating. "Check him," he gestured to Chum. Shakes duly made his way to the body and knelt down. He quickly stood and shook his head.
"Dead," he said bluntly.
"What a pity," Shark man responded, clearing his throat a little, "seems we underestimated you Bishop."
"I tried to tell you," Anthony replied.
"Because of you I've failed my mission," Shark man began, waving his pistol as he spoke, "what do you suggest I do now Bishop?"
"Go home, have a cup of tea and a scone," Anthony replied, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm.
Shark man laughed briefly, but stopped so abruptly Ebbe doubted it was genuine.
"He one of yours?" Shark man asked, gesticulating the gun towards James.
Anthony turned and looked James up and down briefly.
"Never seen him before in my life," Anthony replied.
Shark man soaked up this reply before turning to Ebbe. He strode up to her and lifted the grenade up to her face, rubbing it's smooth curved surface against her left cheek. She shuddered as the cold metal brushed against her soft flesh, but tried to remain steadfast, attempting not to be intimidated by his actions.
"But you have. Haven't you?" Shark man said to Ebbe, more declarative than questioning.
Ebbe opted not to answer, but knew that her face had given away the truth.
"It seems there are factors in this operation all of us are in the dark about," he mused, finally moving away from Ebbe.
"Aren't there always?" Anthony interjected coolly.
Shark man turned and gave a wry smile.
"Quite right, quite right," he agreed, suddenly seeming to Ebbe quite genial and unconcerned about their presence. "I suppose I ought to make a report," he continued, now speaking to himself rather than anyone in particular. "How tiresome," he began, now clearly addressing Anthony, "that we must gather instruction from above even on the matter of killing you and your friends. We are just monkeys in the zoo, are we not?" And with that he nodded to his men, who all turned silently and marched obediently back up the stairs.
"Disarm the child and follow me," Shark man said to Shakes, who gave a short nod.
Shakes turned and with remarkable stealth made his way across the room to James. Without saying a word he snatched the weapon from James' limp grasp, turned and was about to walk away when he changed his mind. Instead Shakes turned back to face James and with a sneer gave him a brutal shove in the chest, using a flat palm. James tumbled to the ground in an instant, and, before he turned, Shakes kicked the loose earth at a cowering James. Finally he turned, the look of pleasure on his face giving Ebbe the creeps.
"Pathetic," Shakes spat as he passed Ebbe and strode up the stairs.
Shark man didn't seem to give them a second thought, opting to stride up the stairs. He reached the top and then bent down and gave a toothy grin.
"On second thoughts," he said, before tossing the grenade into the basement. Ebbe felt the muscles in her body loosen as she watched the small device bounce on the steps, almost in slow motion. Wanting to run, dive or simply fall to the ground and curl up in a ball, Ebbe instead found herself rooted to the spot. Her legs felt like jelly, yet she was unable to move.
Anthony on the other hand was already sprinting towards the grenade, genuine fear clearly visible in his eyes for the first time since Ebbe had met him. As the hatch above closed, shutting off the natural light that had been filtering through, Anthony dove onto the grenade. Ebbe held her breath and waited for him to split open, wanting to scrunch her eyes closed, but finding she was too scared to do anything but watch, agog, knowing at best he could prevent everyone else from dying, and admiring his bravery.
But it seemed that the device ought to have exploded by now. Instead Anthony was fumbling with something under his chest and was remaining defiantly unexploded. He let out a sudden shout of relief before standing, two objects clutched in one hand each. Anthony nodded to Ebbe, his face caked with dirt and sweat, his eyes wide, his chest rising and falling fast. She managed a small nod back, but her body was still refusing to move, when what she really wanted to do was run up to him and jump into his arms.
If Anthony wanted any such thing, Ebbe couldn't tell.
"How you doing James?" Anthony asked, making his way across the room. Strange, Ebbe thought, had anyone mentioned his name since Anthony had arrived in the room. She thought not.
"Not too bad sir," James replied, dusting himself off and standing.
"Good job son," Anthony said before thrusting a hand in James' direction, "hold this will you?" Anthony was about to hand whatever it was over, but paused, "you do know how to hold this?" he quizzed seriously.
Ebbe, feeling curious, finally found herself relaxing enough to move, shifted to the side a bit and craned her neck to see what Anthony was grasping. She quickly regretted having done so. Anthony was holding a grenade in each hand. He was attempting to pass one to James. Ebbe felt her head start to swim; the constant threat of death was starting to take its toll and she found her legs buckle and give way. She tumbled to the floor, only just managing to thrust out an arm and catch herself enough to not fall too hard.
"You need one finger at the base, and these three fingers clasped over the lever, and the thumb here," she could hear Anthony instructing in the corner. She half expected to hear an explosion moments later and found herself scrunching her eyes tightly closed. But as before the explosion didn't arrive. Instead she gasped when an arm gripped hers and pulled her to her feet firmly. Her eyes burst open to find Anthony now by her side.
"Part of the plan?" She managed to mutter to him. He looked at the remaining grenade in his left hand and shook his head.
"We don't have much time, these things could go off any second, and if they don't he'll soon wonder why," he said by way of response.
"Much time to do what?" Ebbe quizzed curiously.
"I'll show you," a new voice boomed from the other side of the room. Ebbe turned with a start. Much to her great surprise she saw Chum propping himself up against the stairway, a big grin plastered across his face.
