THE BOSS AGENT

10. THIS PLACE IS SO COOL.

Meghan's POV:

We have been walking non-stop for eight hours or so. I look around to see everyone is tired. We reach a clearing and eighteen stops on her track. I lay down flat to catch my breath and so does everyone. I see Alex and Eighteen discussing something for few minutes and Eighteen swiftly turns around and lets us know that they both are leaving in search of food. I want to follow them but I prefer some air for the moment.

After few minutes I get back on my feet to see Jenny holding her phone up to grab signal.

"God! My devices aren't working. I tried to track the location of HQ but I don't find any," she grumbles under her breath.

Strange.

I walk towards Jenny to see her so engrossed with her mini-device. She swiftly presses the keys with absolute concentration. I suddenly hear rustle of grass and freeze.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, my instincts on great alert. I narrow my eyes and strain my ears to pick up the sound.

"Hear what?" Jen asks with a raised eyebrow. As soon as she completes her sentence, there was another rustle behind the bushes.

We both turn our head towards the direction of the sound and take a slow step back. I reach for my knife just in case.

"Guys, I think...I think there is something behind the bushes," I mumble cautiously, gripping the pointed blade tightly.

The next second, Liam and Ben were on their feat, their tiredness gone in a snap. They fix their eyes on the bushes in front of us.

"Maybe a rabbit or something," Liam trails off. He takes a step forward only to freeze on his tracks. Watching the mass of black, my breath gets stuck in my throat. Or maybe deliberately I stopped breathing so that awful looking razor teeth with dripping saliva will ignore my existence.

A huge black cheetah with clenched teeths and sharp claws walks menacingly towards us. I was so frightened that I froze in my place. Without any warning, the cheetah growled and pounced towards me and Jen.

I feel someone grab hold of my arm and tug me harshly. We both fell on the ground with a thud. Ben quickly sat up. Thank goodness he was quick enough to pull me away from the life threatening attack. I turn around to see Jen and Liam laying on the other side and were quickly back on their feet and started to dash away from the predator. Ben helps me to get back on my feet and we start to rush to hide behind the trees.

Jen and Liam were not lucky enough as they stumbled over a rock. Though Liam steadied himself, Jen went crashing down on the ground. My eyes widen when the cheetah ran towards her in lightning speed. What happened next was fast and quite difficult for me to comprehend.

Eighteen rushed past us to help Jen from the wild creature.

"Eighteen, don't!!" I hear Ben scream for her. Ben leaves his hiding spot and rushes after Eighteen.

Eighteen places herself in front of Jen, her arms spread out as the wild creature pounced at her. My eyes widen when I see the cheetah cling on to Eighteen and...lick her face?

What in the world?!

Eighteen smiles and pets it's head as if it's just an over grown dog. I am still contemplating if I should approach them or not. Hesitantly, I leave my hiding place and walk towards them.

"Wait, what just happened?" Ben questions, his eyes wide as he looks at the cheetah then at Eighteen.

"Hey girl," Alex walks out of nowhere and pets her.

Liam and Jen get back on their feet and take few steps back. Jen was almost at the verge of breaking down but now, confusion coloured her face.

"Don't be scared of her. She won't bite," Eighteen waves us to come forward.

"No, thanks. I think I am perfectly fine where I am," I retort.

"Suit yourself," Eighteen shrugs and turns around to pet her again.

"Do you remember asking us why we sneaked out? That's because Eighteen thought I should come see her pet. She told me it's a cat but I never guessed it was...this. But I am not disappointed. She is one good girl," Alex strokes its face as if it's a new born baby. I shudder internally.

"I think we should move on. We will reach the HQ in thirty minutes or so and yes, any two can get on her back if you're too tired to walk."

"I would like to have my limbs intact so, no thanks."

"I'll pass."

"I would love to give it a shot," Ben raises his hand up and trotted forward toward the cheetah.

"What about you, Megs?" Eighteen questions.

After giving it a long thought, I shrug. "Alright. But it's just because I trust you," I hop on her. It feels weirdly fluffy. Ben sat right behind me as the cheetah starts walking lazily. We keep moving in silence except for the sound of birds when Ben decide to ask me a question.

"Hey Megs, do you think the cheetah will giggle if I tickle?"

I turn around and glare at him. He is so dumb or is he pretending to be so? Watching my eyes, he raises his hand up in surrender.

"We're here," Eighteen declares stopping on her tracks. I turn around to see larger clearing than the previous one. But what confuses me is...

Where is the HQ?

Just as to answer my inner voice, Eighteen clicks a few buttons on her iPad. All of a sudden, the ground opens up to reveal a huge staircase. I hop down and walk towards her.

"I guess this staircase leads to the HQ?" Liam questions.

"Yup," she answers and walks forward with her flash light. We follow her as the staircase spirals into an endless route. Sometimes the stairs divide into two section puzzling us. But Eighteen seem to know the route like the back of her hand.

We stop when we finally reach the end of the staircase. Eighteen stands in front of a wall and starts pushing bricks. All of a sudden, we hear a click and scanner comes up. Eighteen scans her fingerprint, and retinal scan, voice conformation and clicks few keys. We hear a ping and the door opens wide. We walk in reach a huge hall masked in darkness. Eighteen switches on the lights with the help of her phone. What I see next takes my breath away.

"It's not a HQ. It's a palace," Liam states, gaping.

"No, it's not," eighteen walks in casually.

"Yes it is."

"How come we never knew of this?" I question still gaping at the place.

"Chief built this place to store weapons. It comes in handy during hefty battles. Most of our enemies tried to find this place but they never could. Hate to admit, but chief was clever to hide weapons in middle of the forest and under the ground," she says.

"This place is so cool," Ben beamed with happiness.

"I know, freshen up people. We have a long night," she says already leaving for the hall towards a room.