May 31, 2018

Ari burst into the lake house and slammed the door behind him. "Hey! Hello?" he shouted into the house, running to the center of the entryway. Rainwater dripped off the tip of his nose and weighed his hair down so that it was plastered to his forehead. As he ran through the front of the house, he slipped on the wet hardwood flooring but managed to keep his balance by riding the slide.

"Ari!" Michael came from the hall, his eyes wide. "What the hell was that?!" He was just as flushed and out of breath as Ari was. Both men panted and sweated bullets. Their adrenaline spiked. "How the hell were they- how did they know?!"

"I don't know. Have you seen Ella or Ryan?!" He asked, pacing the floor and running pulling at his ear.

Michael looked around the darkened house exaggeratedly. "No, I thought they were with you." He indicated to the taller man angrily.

"I don't know..." Ari stopped mid pace only to begin again, faster.

Michael dropped his head, his mouth slightly ajar. "What do you mean, 'I don't know'. They were supposed to be with you!"

"The cops were everywhere. We scattered." Ari stopped directly in front of Michael, his eyes wide in desperation. "How did they know we would be there?"

"I'm going to find them."

"No!" Ari grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the door before he could reach for the handle. "They're still patrolling the area. We need to lay low!"

"We can't just leave them out there! Do you know what the Ousia will do to them?!" Ari refrained from correcting Michael's pronunciation of the official title of their alien oppressors.

It was only recently that the Ousia announced their presence and intervention in human affairs. Ella had been right the whole time. It was her operation. The Ousia knew that and much more according to their recent coupe gone wrong. The Ousia Police were waiting for them. If Ella or Ryan, the founders of their organization, were captured it could mean the end of the resistance.

"You don't think I know that? I want them to be okay just as much as you do. We just have to hope that they played it safe and are laying low. We'll hear from them-"

"You're a coward!" Michael barked and ripped his arm free of his grasp. "They'll be executed!"

"Michael! Think rationally!" He stepped in front of the door to keep him from leaving, his hands outstretched. "We had every detail of this planned out. There were no blindspots, choke points, or otherwise that we weren't prepared to deal with." he tugged on his ear and laughed breathily, "I mean- we had every security detail memorized. Camera locations- Michael, we had everything!"

"Then how did they catch on so fast!?" Michael threw his hands in the air and turned on his heel, stalking away from him.

Ari pulled on the tie around his neck, loosening the knot, his other hand in his pocket. "That's what I'm saying. Someone tipped them off. Someone from the inside."

"Impossible. You and Ella recruited everyone in the resistance."

He shook his head. "No, only in the U.S.- that we know of. There could be dozens of other branches that we don't even know about- radicalizing and less cautious." Ari replied as something dawned on him. "We need to check in with the others... see if they had any issues."

Michael nodded and they walked together over to the radio in the center of the transformed living area. Keeping the lights out, they flicked on the radio and immediately Ari's blood ran cold and the color from his face drained.

"They knew we were there!"

"Us too. I lost three of my people!"

"Has anyone heard from Italy or the States?"

The voices all clamored on the radio channel used between all the branches of the resistance across the world. Their unified plan to strike at the same moment had all gone ary.

"This is Ari from the States. Check in!"

"Mate! Good to hear yer voice, bruv! We've yet to connect with It'ly. Everyone else is here. We've taken hits. What the hell happened?!"

Ari shared a look with Michael whose eyes were wide and dilated. Everything was lost. "We, uh, we lost contact with the Bishop's, we're waiting to hear from them. There was an ambush."

"How did they find out?"

Multiple voices chimed in. 

"There must be a mole."

"Yeh? In ev'ry branch?!"

"It doesn't need to be uno per branch, id-eeitt."

"How will wie recover from zis?!"

"We'll go dark. Use letters. Ficken carrier pigeons, Freund."

"Everyone, calm down!" Ari tried to placate the men and women panicking on the radio frequency. "We're going-"

The door opened and slammed shut suddenly, the clap resonating within the paper covered walls. Both Ari and Michael looked up to see Ella shamble into the room. Her long hair, pulled into a bun, had mostly fallen out of place and strands stuck to her sweat covered face and neck. Her clothes, once fitted and form hugging, hung off her frame.

"Standby." Ari muttered and turned down the volume before dropping the radio transmitter so it swung aimlessly between the table and the hardwood floor.

Michael met her first, placing his hands on her arms to hold her in place. "Hey-hey, what happened? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her daze and looked at them sharply, "Ryan."

Ari looked to Michael and they shared a look before Ari managed to shake his head at her. "Ella-"

"Ryan?!" She shouted suddenly and both men flinched at her volume. "Ryan?!" She brushed by them and ran down the hall, water dripped off every cuff and wrinkle in her clothes, leaving a trail of rain behind her. "Ryan!!"

When she disappeared into her bedroom Michael backed away from Ari and stood apart, shaking his head adamantly. He did not want to be the bearer of bad news to the frantic woman before them. They heard her call for her husband a few more times before Ari spoke up.

"El- Ella, he's not here."

She appeared from the bedroom like an entity, her posture stiff but she seemed to float across the floor to meet him in the middle of the kitchen. "What do you mean? Where is he?"

"Just-" Ari held up his hands in defensive, calming gesture. "Just, take a breath... okay?"

Ella shook her head rigidly as though she couldn't control her movements. "N-no, I have to go find him."

"Ella, wait." He reached for her but she sidestepped and made a break for the door. "Ella!" Ari caught her from behind, around her waist. "Just sit down a second! Breathe!"

She began to make mewing sounds in the back of her throat as she attempted to wriggle free from his grasp. Ari refused to let go, pulling her close to his chest- her back against his stomach as she lifted off the ground, her legs kicking frantically. She was desperate but so was he.

"No! Let me go! He's out there! I have to find him! They'll kill him!"

"Ella stop! Ella! Give him a chance!" He argued, pivoting them both away from the door and pushing her towards the living room. "Give him a chance to get home." he insisted.

"He's not going to come home!" She cried, "he can't 'come home' if they got him... they'll kill him, Ari!" She tried for the door again but he sidestepped her and her shoulder connected with his outstretched hand. When he refused to let her move, Ella looked to Michael. "Mike, Mike, please! You know they will!"

Michael fidgeted and fought the urge to run out of the room. "El-"

"Hey, hey," Ari held her head between his hands, feeling the water from her hair slip between his fingers. "Listen, you need to remember we're working on a way to counteract the chip- worst comes to worst..."

"No, Ari- no!" She pushed his hands away then froze when she heard, for the first time, the radio crackle with voices from the other side. "Wha-"

Ari stood quickly and indicated for Michael to kill the radio but Ella moved first. She turned it up. When she heard the chatter reports, the color drained from her face and she began to shake. "It wasn't just us..."

Neither man wanted to confirm her fear. But when she restated, her voice cracking, Ari was forced into the conversation. He came to stand directly beside her, both of them looking at the large black box that the voices were emanating from.

"Ella," he began but she cut him off.

"Everything is lost..."

"We'll find Ryan. We'll fix this." Ari reassured, checking over his shoulder briefly to look at Michael who was chewing on his thumbnail anxiously. "We'll bring him home."

Ella shook her head, dropping her chin to her chest. "You fix this. I'm going to get him back." She ordered and pivoted, her shoes squeaking on the wet floor.

The door slammed shut behind her and Ari turned to Michael who looked uncomfortable. Without exchanging any words, they both knew that this was the beginning of the end. Blindly, Ari reached for the transmitter to the radio and held down the talk button, his eyes fixated on the front door as lightning lit up the dark room.

"This is Ari," he breathed heavily into the mouthpiece, exhausted. Thunder crashed around the house, shaking the walls. "We need to flush out the mole. Now."

"Where is Ella?"

Ari released the talk button but squeezed the transmitter tightly in his fist. He felt the plastic bend under his grasp and heard it squeak under his pressure. "She's trying to fix things."