The Clerk

“You’re a pest, Serena,” he spat, the charm gone, dissolved into desperate rage. “A clerk playing soldier.”

The monitor flashed: DATA EXTRACTION: 85%.

“It’s over, Adrian,” I said, slowly raising my hands, my eyes on the terminal. “The moment this sub surfaces, you’re a dead man.”

“We aren’t going to surface.” A manic edge crept into his voice. “The contact sub is right above us. The burst transmits in ten seconds, and then we vanish into the trench.

Kick your weapons away.”

I didn’t move. I looked him dead in the eye.