Olympus

Chapter 2

Location Unknown

The elevator came to a stop with a silent hiss and Megan stepped out of it. Going with something from a shady source was a bad idea, she knew, but there she was doing exactly that.

As it turned out, the envelope left by the strange man from Megan's apartment the previous night, Arthur Dean, Principal Officer in charge of the United Nation's Covert Affairs Department on Threat Assessment and Response- she still couldn't bring herself to believe that was a real thing- contained not actually a job offer but a set of instructions.

Go to Grand Central Station, it said. Enquire about which trains leave to the farthest parts of town at exactly 11:15am. Which was exactly what she did.

The moment Megan spoke to the receptionist, a Chinese woman whose name tag identified her as Jen, of her enquiry, she smiled. "Of course, Miss Months," she said, surprising Megan that she even knew who she was when she hadn't made an introduction, "there's a brochure here for you." She handed her a leaflet.

The leaflet contained another set of instructions for her to follow. Go to the line supplying the Bronx. Walk down the service tunnel till you see a door marked 12A. Open it.

At this point, Megan began to feel uneasy. The "covert" in the situation was starting to become a little too covert for her. This is exactly how people get abducted never to be seen again, she reminded herself.

However, truth be told, she was also curious about what laid at the end of the proverbial tunnel Arthur was sending her down; and knowing fully well that he would most definitely pay her another visit- which would be even less pleasant than the first- if she didn't comply, she followed the leaflet's exact instructions. She went to the Bronx supply track, walked down the service tunnel until she found the door marked 12A. Authorized Personnel Only, and opened it.

The only thing that greeted Megan on the other side of the door was pitch blackness. There was absolutely nothing for her to see. I really I'm about to get abducted never to be seen again, aren't I? she wailed inside.

Just then, a torchlight came on, revealing an even smaller tunnel than the one she had come through. "Miss Months?" A voice came with the light and her eyes adjusted to see a man of about seventy years old, with full grey hair and beard, wearing a blue and white-striped polo t-shirt and denim jeans, walking towards her.

"That's me," she replied, purposely leaning back against the door behind her in case she had to bolt at a moment's notice.

"I'm Earl," the man introduced himself. "Please come with me. Your ride's waiting."

Megan, after some minutes of thinking about it, followed Earl and he led her down the tunnel to a speedboat on what looked like an underground stream under New York. Earl got in and started the engine.

"Where are we going to?" she asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am," he replied. "My instructions are to take you to your destination. Nothing more."

Now, that's exactly what a shady organization would say, Megan thought to herself, which, truth be told, Arthur and his covert affairs threat department or whatever they were about fit right under.

She checked with herself what vibe she was getting from Earl and what came back was silence and impatience; the latter which even a toddler could deduce with the obvious look the old man was shooting at her like he would like for her to get into the boat already but was just being too polite to say it.

However, nothing threatening was coming from him and that was what she termed the most important thing. "Alright, let's go," Megan finally said and got in with him.