The Enigma Ignite

Ling finally questioned, “Where am I? And now that I think about it, when am I?”

JAC realized that Ling was still weak and in no condition to move under her own power.

“I can see you need a few minutes to gather yourself. You must understand the diversion will only last a few minutes and then the guards will return. You probably should have answers to get your thinking de-fogged, but time is of the essence, Ling. I can explain later when we have more time. Right now, we gotta go.”

Ling was lying on the table and rolled her head to the right in order to orient herself to the surroundings. It was an oppressive room with a stink of neglect and disuse.

“You are already too late,” asserted Ling. “There is a video camera just over the door. They must know already of the escape attempt. You should make your way alone. I can just barely move my head and you look like you’re ready for a marathon. Thanks for trying, whoever you are.”

JAC was frustrated with Ling’s attitude, but advised her, “We knew there would be a camera inside this area and right now we are feeding a video loop through it that still shows you lying on the table with the narcotic drip feed stuck in your arm. We expected that your muscles might have atrophied after this length of time, so I gave you a shot of B-complex with an adrenaline boost as a chaser to help get you amped up. With what I shot into you, it wouldn’t surprise me if you wanted to run down to the beach for a ten kilometer swim. By the way we are one hundred kilometers from the beach.

“How are you feeling now, Ling? Can you stand? We gotta go.”

Ling smiled then responded more coherently, “Now I know who you are. You are JAC, aren’t you? Why would you come to rescue me and Grasshopper?” 

JAC’s smile quickly turned to a solemn dark look as she apologized, “Ling, I’m sorry about your assistant. They must not have valued him the way they did you. They saw to it that Grasshopper did not make it this far.”