On the Run

19 - Brother's Keeper

Mia stumbled from the edges of the hillside when she set foot on the road that spiralled down. Catching her breath, she trailed her eyes after the road where she saw lights coming from a nearby village. She began walking down the road, keeping to the shadows in case she saw anymore of either Orabella or Danika's men lurking around.

Her head was pounding, and the cuts and bruises scattered around her body all wept and cried out for immediate medical attention, but Mia knew there wasn't any time for a pit stop. The longer she took, the more time she lost.

Ten minutes of light jogging passed, and Mia reached the edges of the small Italian village; it was quiet and still. The muffled sounds of TV's playing from each other were the only other sound in the air next to the breezy wind. Mia slipped through the streets, keeping her head low and her ears open. The thought of the village being infiltrated was kicking around at the back of her head, making her uneasy.

As she turned a corner to go onto another street, she spied out a dark alley that had a car parked within. Looking around, Mia made sure the area was clear. She then moved quickly into the alley, sticking to the walls. The years of infiltrating foreign government buildings had made Mia become quite the undetected person she is, and she was using it to her complete advantage.

The car was blue, the paint seemed to be faded and there was rust that was beginning to foam across the edges of the vehicle. She took the knife that she had burrowed against the waist of her pants and she used the handle to shatter the window. Luckily, there was no alarm that blared and so Mia made quick work of dusting away the glass before climbing inside.

She took a moment to search the car; there were a few old and stale food wrappers which was probably causing the funky smell, old cassette tapes and a bag on the back seat that contained some old clothes. Mia didn't even think twice as she quickly changed out of the stained, dirty and bloody clothes she had on and sliding into the shirt and black jeans the bag had.

After getting changed, Mia ripped open the side of the wheel where she grabbed the wires and quickly moved them together. After a hot second, the engine fired up, choking and spluttering as it did so. Mia stepped down on the gas pedal and sped out of the alley.

There was unquenchable fire in her eyes, fury written across her face and determination writhing through her body. She drove in the direction of the base, with the intentions of stopping everything, no matter what the cost. She had nothing left to lose.

*

About twenty minutes later, Mia had reached the outskirts of Craco. The ghost town was as silent as ever, with the only other sounds being the occasional murmuring of military personnel that were doing their hourly patrols.

She ditched the elderly car in some of the nearby shrubs and started making her way into the town, using the ruins of the buildings to help conceal herself. She continued sneaking through the old ruins until she reached the building opposite to the entrance of the base. Standing from the roof, she kept low as she scanned the area.

Two men guarded the entrance, holding large guns and donned in specialised looking outfits that reflected the bright moonlight. Protective gear. There was a third man that walked back and forth, wielding the same gun.

An idea was beginning to pull itself together in Mia's head and so she moved back from where she was spying and made her way to the ground floor.

A whistle caught the paroling guard's attention. He stopped his movements, head darting in the direction of the whistle. He glanced back to the other two, one of which nodded for him to go forward.