The Sound of Thunder

Brigid placed her face in front of the fingerprint scanner-looking instrument and it bathed her face in blue light. A second later, a symbol that featured a circle and three marquises that interlinked within it appeared over the door.

The triquetra, Maitho thought.

A lock clicked and the door swung inwards on its own.

Brigid entered first, followed by Bevan. When Maitho looked back, he spotted Epona still holding the revolver in her hand. "I insist," she said.

Her response drew out a smile on Maitho's face. Without further encouragement, he walked into—what he hoped to be—a secret hideout of some sort.

When his feet crossed the doorway and his eyes acclimated themselves to the light, he was immediately bombarded with an array of visual information.

The room was no bigger than 500 square feet. One wall was completely occupied by weapon racks. On it, Maitho spotted several handguns and tactical vests, a crossbow, and an assortment of other weapons that included a modern looking assault rifle and various types of hand grenades. While each piece of killing tool gave him pause, his sight eventually landed on a handful of swords on one end of the wall. They were in several shapes and sizes, and one caught his attention.

It was a sword whose blade was nearly two-and-a-half feet long. The odd feature of the blade was that it did not end in a point, but rather a diagonal cut, as though someone had chipped away a piece of the weapon. It featured a two-inch thick crossguard emblazoned with a symbol of a circle with a cross in it. Ailm, Maitho thought, the symbol of inner strength.

Before he could become entirely engrossed with the sword, he looked around the room. On the far wall were three rows of monitors, each showing a different view of the outside. He saw the entrance of the building in one, a view of the street in another and other parts of the street scattered around the many screens.

The remaining wall was occupied by a pantry and another door. Maitho began walking to the center of the room, where he noticed a coffee table surrounded on three sides by a leather sofa and two leather armchairs. Brigid was already in front of the monitors, looking especially at one of them. His eyes followed her gaze. On one screen, he could see the man in white jacket standing in the middle of the street, right in front of the building entrance. The man seemed to be simply watching the building, occasionally looking down the street to check for something.

"What do you think he's doing?" said Maitho.

When Brigid turned around to look at Maitho, it was as though she was evaluating him. Maitho returned her stare, not as a challenge, but as an answer. He wasn't trying to extract any information out of her. They had a common enemy. Any knowledge might be to their advantage.

Brigid signed but unlike the last time, it wasn't out of exasperation. Rather, it was out of acceptance. Maitho could see that she understood that even though their alliance was temporary, it was still an alliance. It was necessary to establish strong communication. Or at the very least, trust.

"We knew him fairly well before, that much is true," she said, her voice quiet but distinguishable in the room. "I don't know what he is up to now. It's frustrating."

"Does he have any allies?" said Maitho. "Anyone we need to be cautious about?"

Brigid's shoulders relaxed and her expression turned to deep contemplation. "Not that I know of. But then again, he has been," her eyebrows moved towards the center in focus, "absent, for quite a while."

"Do you think Raiden is the kind of person who would join hands with Jonathan Cray?"

At this question, Brigid simply offered a concerned look. She turned her attention back to the monitors.

"He's going to do something," said Bevan, his voice containing traces of panic.

On one of the monitors, Raiden moved closer to the building's entrance. He disappeared from one screen and appeared on another. This time, the view looked down at the entrance. After throwing a glance directly at the camera, Raiden entered a 4-digit number in the intercom next to the door and then pressed a large button. He stood still for a moment, then moved his head closer to the intercom. "Did you know that lightning is a kind of release?"

A voice broke out of several ceiling speakers in the room. The voice itself sounded smooth, it's cadence almost sing-song. It was the voice of someone who was in command of his ideas, and was sure of his actions.

"I don't mean that as a metaphor," the voice continued, it's power hooking Maitho's attention. He noticed everyone else listening with a mixture of curiosity and interest. "I wasn't talking about sexual release or anything weird like that. I meant it in a literal sense. You see, electrons are just caught in a static. They are waiting to escape. All it takes is the right conditions and you all of that energy is released. It could even create a storm."

A slight pause as Raiden looked at the door, as though he was thinking. He returned his attention to the intercom. "Right now, it feels like we are all in static. Nothing needs to happen, correct?"

For some reason, a shiver ran down Maitho's arm, causing his hairs to stand up. A sound to his right caught his attention. He saw Epona had lifted the crossbow off its rack and balanced it on one shoulder. She then unhooked a quiver full of metallic arrows by its strap.

"Let's not act now, Epona," Brigid spoke, her voice a caution. "We might be able to get through this without a fight."

Epona gave a small shrug. A desperate move meant to reveal her impatience. "We cannae be too careful Brigid. Tis better tae be prepared." When the leader of the team did not respond, Epona persisted. "Please Brigid. Ahm not gonna do anythin' without yer word."

A war of emotions raged on Brigid's face. She opened her mouth to say something, but bit her lip instead. Her hands shifted to her hips as she aimlessly looked around. Finally, while running a hand through her hair, she nodded. "Stay on the highest floor for the best vantage but stick to a room close to the elevator. Return if you are under attack."

Epona nodded. Halfway towards the door, she stopped. The smooth voice had interrupted her journey.

"But I know how electrons cannot remain stable. They need to react. Stillness isn't part of their plan. So perhaps we should let the storm occur." Raiden placed his palm on the main entrance door and leaned on it.

"Maitho Oruba," his voice rang out. Bevan offered a wide-eyed look and a "how the hell did he know?".

For Maitho, a sense of claustrophobia settled around him. He felt as though no matter where he went, he would always be watched. It was like he was a rat in the maze and there was someone watching him closely. Examining him.

Raiden continued, his words measured and collected, like a pathologist explaining how he is dissecting a body. "On April first, you woke up from a nightmare. You took some notes in a journal and marked your calendar. You watered your plant, which I think quite frankly, shows your vulnerable side. You then spent most of the night on your laptop."

The room seemed to shrink around Maitho. His heart began racing. Without even being fully aware of his actions, he found himself settling into one of the armchairs.

Oddly, his gaze travelled to the sword he had seen earlier. It seemed to offer him some strange comfort, but he didn't know why. Perhaps he felt that arming himself with a weapon seemed like a good idea at that point. Then again, why did he feel so threatened?

"You spent the next seventeen days watching Mr. Cray. I'll be honest, you are a smart and capable person."

Maitho wanted him to stop. More than that, he wanted all of this to end. He hoped that this was all part of a prank and that any moment, a crew of people would break through the doors. They would claim that he was part of a tv show that focused on elaborate tricks.

Yet that respite never came. Instead, he was left to listen to the voice as it spoke again. "You had not idea. Not a single bit. You did not know that Mr. Cray was watching you back."

Maitho clenched his hands, allowing his nails to dig into his palm. He hoped the pain would somehow keep his mind focused on reality rather than let him wander in his panicked mind.

Raiden seemed to not be done yet. "Yet you never suspected anything. No one interrupted you. You were left to your own device."

Maitho stood up and slowly began approaching the monitors. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, making its passage towards his chin.

"I will leave you with this. Mr. Cray is not your enemy. If you want to talk, you just have to step outside. Or we'll come inside and there won't be a talk."

With that, Raiden pointed his finger at the intercom, shooting an arc of electricity at the device and shattering it in a burst of sparks.

Everyone seemed to be looking at Maitho, eagerly awaiting his reaction. Yet he stood there, knowing that no matter what he did, he was more than likely not going to make it out alive that night.