#24
My heart raced as we hurled ourselves through the dark, brick lined walls. Thankfully, our coincidental friend Ivan wasn’t exactly a light-footed man, so Beck and I were able to follow him by the sound of his steel toed boots.
“Follow!” he shouted back every so often.
“Where do you think he’s taking us?” Beck asked.
“I don’t know? Could be a better place or a worse one. Guess there’s only one way to find out!” I cried back as we continued fleeing.
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A Coincidental Tunnel
Finally, there was a light at the end of this coincidental tunnel. No literally. Turns out somewhere down the line we had entered a tunnel, and by this point in our escape, a light began shining on the dirt floor and pipe we had been traveling through.
We broke into the dim moonlight just a little ways outside the wall bordering the evil mansion.
“Follow!” Ivan cried once more.
Beck and I obeyed, and we found ourselves traversing through a dense forest.
“Um, either he’s taking us to a hiding spot or were about to be murdered,” Beck quipped.
“Why would he have brought us all this way if he was just going to kill us?” I asked.
“No witnesses?”
“Look, we may not have met him under the best of circumstances, but we can’t just assume he wants to kill us.”
As I finished, Ivan turned to us wielding a knife. We would’ve run for the hills, but he still had Steve resting peacefully on his shoulder. Ivan then brought the knife closer, and jammed it into a tree. Not gonna lie when I say my heart momentarily stopped.
For a minute, nothing happened. The next thing we knew however, a hatch popped up, rustling off the fallen autumn leaves. Ivan went to it, and entered the mysterious hole.
I shrugged my shoulders at Beck, and quickly decided to follow Ivan.
“Are you nuts!?” Beck cried from behind.
I ignored him, and continued down a small ladder.
The room I fell into, was a tunnel leading deeper into the ground at a steep angle. I could hear Steve happily barking at the end however, so I figured it was safe enough to go forward.
Eventually Beck followed me, and we ended up in what looked like a military base. With a large table in the middle of the room that was covered in maps, and computers lining the walls, you would’ve thought we were in a war zone.
Finally, we saw Ivan putting Steve down, and talking to a man sitting in a wheeled chair with his back turned.
“So, you’re the stowaways I’ve heard so much about,” the man remarked as he turned around, and slipped off an ancient looking headset.
This New Coincidental Friend
He had a beard that reached to the bottom of his bulging stomach, but despite looking like the person who ordered our death, this man had a sort of, “grandpa that sneaks you candy” feeling.
“Um, yes? Ivan told us to come with him, we’re not exactly sure why he brought us here.”
“I suppose not. He’s still working on his English,” the man answered as he rolled himself to his feet. “My name is Kazimir. I’m the leader of a secret, worldwide organization and Ivan’s brought you here because he-”
“Oh great,” I interrupted, “so I suppose were gonna have to run from you too? The last person that told us of his “organization”, said we knew too much and then sent his men to kill us.”
The man gave a hearty laugh as he stood.
“Ah, you must mean Karp. Yes, he is a bit rough around the edges, but you have nothing to fear here. Ivan’s brought you to a safe place. Well, at least a safe place for now. I’d say you have about ten minutes before you have an important decision to make. So, if you have any questions, I’d suggest you start asking.”
Kazimir began walking to the back of the room, and collecting things off of a bookshelf.
Beck and I shot a glance to each other, and I asked, “What’s your organization?”
Kazimir kept shoving things into a bag as he answered, “There are a select few of us around the world working together to fight corrupt families in our respective countries. The Vlasov family, Karp being the current head, is one of the most powerful families on this side of Russia. I’ve been trying to stop him by my own means and with the help of a few of my rebels such as Ivan here. His grandfather began working for Karp, but his father started working for me as a spy, and Ivan followed in his footsteps after seeing the tyranny Karp caused. Anyways, recently, these global families have started getting stronger, more coordinated. Were not sure why, but I’ve recently been in contact with people in South Africa, England, Canada, and America, and they’re all saying the same thing. The families are getting stronger.”
“So, wait a minute,” Beck interrupted, “are you telling us, we’ve just stumbled across a massive conspiracy? That the world is being manipulated by a few powerful families?”
“Yes,” Kazimir answered candidly.
Ivan helped him pack, while Beck and I tried to understand this coincidental theory.
“Do you believe this?” I whispered to Beck.
He was quiet.
This Coincidental Theory
“Seriously?!” I pressured.
“I mean, he said there were families in America, well, the gang I was part of, they had that kind of a hierarchy. Every other gang we worked with was another family. This coincidental theory would actually explain a lot of things I saw.”
My eyes widened as he finished. I couldn’t believe that this hair-brained idea might actually be true. After all I’d seen however, I’m surprised it took me so long to wrap my head around the theory.
“Now, decision time,” Kazimir began.
“You know enough about us to cause a lot of damage to the organization. I’d like to offer you the chance however, to become part of something bigger than yourselves. Would you help us? Or, at least,” he looked back a Ivan solemnly, “Will you take Ivan with you to America if I can get you back?”
Ivan’s eyes widened as if he half understood. He then began protesting in Russian, but Kazimir quickly shut him down. An alarm then began blaring in the room as the lights dimmed to a gruesome red.
“I owe it to his father to protect him. If he stays here any longer, he’ll be killed. Please, I’m begging you.”
Kazimir’s eyes began watering as his hands trembled.
Beck ran his hands through his hair as he spun around distracted by the sounds.
I stared at Ivan as he looked at me equally panicked, then I looked at Steve. Staring at me, he softly bit the bottom of Ivan’s battered shirt.
“Ok,” I finally answered.
Kazimir’s eyes lit up, then he ran to a vent in the wall, and pulled the grate off.
“Get in. It’ll take you to a beach where a plane is waiting for you. From there you can tell it where to take you.”
“Aren’t you coming?” I asked as Beck finally came to his senses.
“My time for fighting has ended,” he answered.
“You’re not-“
“No,” he interrupted, “I’m simply done with this part of my life. I’m going to retire as soon as I send the idiots after you on a wild goose chase.”
Beck and I then jumped into the vent, and after a teary goodbye, Ivan bid farewell to our coincidental friend.
That’s It!
Thank you for reading this installment of The Adventures Of Comet And Steve! If you missed the last chapter in this adventure, you can find it here. I post every other Tuesday so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing! I also publish lifestyle posts on my adventures through adulthood on this very blog. This is one of my favorite posts!
P.S. What was your favorite part of this post? Will Comet and Beck be able to help Ivan? Can they trust Ivan? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think!