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The Mercenary _is the first arc of The Underground series

Chapter 11 of 32_

Split Decision

If there was one thing Alias hated more than anything it was the waiting. Parked in the warehouse, the industrial lights flooded in the corroded glass windowpanes. Alias had used this facility many times before. It was concealed, indoors, and Alias knew the good hiding spots. He wasn't about to be picked off by a sniper.

But it was the waiting.

Waiting for Hets's men to get here and take Jenna so he could get the hell out and stop thinking about it. Once it was done, it was done, and there was nothing else he could do about it. The actions had been set in motion and there was nothing that Alias could do to stop it.

"You know," a voice to his right said, "I never thought about my life before." Jenna shook her head. "I was always looking to something else. Wishing I was anywhere but wherever I was, and that someday my life would have meaning."

Alias listened, not because he cared about what she said, but because he had no place to go.

"It's pretty sad when it takes an attempted abduction to get you to realize how good you've got it." Jenna concluded. "I've wasted a lot of it, you know?" She continued, Alias still quiet. "Thanks for the second chance."

Alias looked over at her, feeling gutted.

Then his guilt turned into inner rage. What was this? He owed her nothing! He didn't even know this spoiled little rich girl, and yet he was supposed to be feeling bad for her? So what if she was a fox, in this world who gave a flying fuck? Plenty of rabbits killed each other every day! Alias never saw them bent out of shape about it. It was so unbelievably stupid to worry about this. He didn't feel this bad about the cheetah he had lied to and left to die only a few nights earlier.

Lights flooded the darkened warehouse. It was time.

It was a white van that pulled in. Halogen lights gave the warehouse a ghostly blue look as Alias waited for it to pull to a stop. When they did, there was about a ten-foot gap between the two vehicles.

"Is that them?" Jenna asked. "They'll get me home?"

Alias looked out at the blue halogen lights; the ghostly light playing on his dark fur.

"Yes." He replied simply in his dark tone. Then pushed the car door open and stepped out.

Jenna followed, looking over to Alias, who had his arms folded, clutching his Beretta's in each paw. Alias knew that this could be a setup as well, but he doubted they would put Jenna in harms way. Not in fear of Hets at least.

Then the van doors open.

A silhouette from each door stepped out and in front of the van's headlights. Alias squinted as he walked around to the front of his car, setting up the line of control, the space between the two sides. He could not make out the shadowy figures in detail; the pointy ears were the only visual clue.

"We aren't armed right now." One of the voices called out.

Alias sniffed the air, closing his eyes. It was like he left his body. Time seemed to stop completely and he moved from his physical presence and the darkness was lifted around them.

Two wolves; both cross breeds.

It was like the image just appeared in his head. There was something distinct in the air about them that made the fur on the back of Alias's neck stand on end, almost familiar. He felt the arm of his jacket sleeve tighten around his bicep.

Jenna's paw was gripped tightly to his coat; not letting go for the life of her.

"We don't have all night." The wolves called across the line of control.

Alias slowly moved his paw to the small of Jenna's back, gingerly pushing her across. His feet felt heavy and his eyes couldn't even look over at the vixen. As they cross the line of control to the van, the light shifted and the shadows around the two wolves lifted revealing them. Jenna stopped dead in her tracks, and Alias knew why.

Staring back at them were the wolves from Club Xero; Jenna clearly recognized this as Alias felt her press back against his paw.

"No..." He heard her whisper, the sound of death on her lips. Her head started to shake in denial as she began to back away. "It's them... Its them!" She began to scream, and turned to try and run away. However the two wolves were ready, and quicker. They grabbed her by the arms and pulled the kicking vixen back to them. She screamed, fought, kicked, bit, and scratched. Wrestling her down, they forced her down on her stomach, pulling her paws behind her back where they used riot handcuffs to secure her.

Alias stood there doing nothing; neither helping her or aiding the wolves. Tears streaming down her pretty face, Jenna looked over to Alias. There was a look in her eyes that Alias recognized. He knew the look because it was not long ago he had seen it before. He had seen it many times in his past. It was the pleading look. It was the one that begged him to do something, to help her in some way, to not let them do this to her. Her eyes cried out to the black fox that she had so willingly entrusted her life to.

"Help me..."

Her voice was small and frail. All Alias could do was look down at her.

"Please..." She begged him.

"Stupid bitch," One of the crossbreeds told her, "he's the one that turned you in."

And then Alias saw it. It was like she died on the inside. Her eyes glassed over with a look of sadness and betrayal. Alias couldn't look at her anymore. He couldn't face her.

"Hets wanted us to tell you you're officially a free man." One wolf told him as the other proceeded to gag Jenna and throw her in the back of the dark van. "But he never wants you anywhere near Palamont again."

"Tell your boss, I'll live in any city I wish, and I'll go where I need to go." Alias replied. "If I ever come after him, it won't make any difference because he'll never know."

The wolf sneered, turned and walked away. Alias looked back over his shoulder, crossing back over the line of control. Jenna lay on her stomach, tears falling down her face. But his view was cut as they slammed the van's sliding door shut.

It was over.

Alias sat down in his car, and slowly started it up. He felt like his stomach had been torn out of him and his mind felt like it was in a million pieces. Alias swore he wasn't a fox anymore, but rather a disgusting rat that crawled around the alleyways of Palamont looking for trash, and feeding off the weak.

He knew what he felt: guilt.

Alias slammed on the breaks of his car. It slid to a stop, placing the van in the rearview mirror. He could hear it. Hets was right. He had just done what he swore he never do; betray his own kind. But it was more than that. When he looked in Jenna's eyes, he saw everyone he had ever hurt, everyone he had lied to, and everyone he had seen in the interrogation room. He saw the cheetah he left to die a horrible death. And Alias saw himself with all those he could have done something for, however opted not to.

He pushed his clutch down. Alias's paw rested on the gearshift, then pushed it to the right, and pulled it down. There was only one thought going through Alias's mind.

Hets is going to skin me alive.