C.N. - chapter 73

The submarine rose out of the water. Its gray steel hood raised our inflatable raft right out of the ocean from below. A few meters away, Theo and Kyle, who was conscious now because he was squirming like a fish-out-of-water in his bounds, were sprawed too on the hood of the submarine.
This was a huge submarine we were on.
Normally a person can plunge into the Pacific Ocean for only a few minutes without freezing solid. When the person exits the water, the sooner they change out of their wet gear the less likely they will catch hypothermia. Theo and Kyle should get on some dry clothes as soon as possible, so I stood up to go over to them with an emergency blanket I found tucked under where I was sitting in the raft.
'Sit down boy, leave them there.' Mr. Kent ordered.
'If they don't dry themselves up they'll catch hypothermia, I know this because one winter I went ice fishing with my dad and a few of his buddies on the lake near where I live...' I didn't finish because Mr. Kent fired a shot into the air. And everyone including me ducked down.
'Shut up, you'll do as I say without questions, now sit down.'
A radio signal cracked to life. There was confusion for a moment, and then Mr. Kent took out a walkie-talkie out of his suit pocket.
'Did you just kill one of the hostages?' The voice in the walkie-talkie said. I recognized Mr. Dragon's voice because the volume in the speaker was surprisingly loud and high-definition.
'Uh no Dragon, that was a warning shot.'
'What have I told you about wasting your warning shots, you haven't got an extra magazine clip on you, am I correct?'
Mr. Kent patted himself down and replied, 'Uh no, I don't.'
'And there are more hostages with you than there are bullets in your gun to threaten all of them with, therefore if they had know earlier about your lack of sufficient ammunition, they could have overpowered you completely, couldn't they? As a matter of fact they can do so right now.'
Mr. Kent was speechless; he sputtered some things trying to come up with a reply, but failed.
'Damn,' Terry said, 'Knowing that we totally could have overpowered the old fart back in the flyasaurus, couldn't we, Terry?'
'Absolutely, Terry.' The other Terry nodded, 'And what more, we can do that right now, who's up to take a bullet or few for the team and maybe get killed? Anyone?'
'I am rather sorry to inform you, it is now too late for that.' Mr. Dragon's voice said. A hatch on the hood opened and two men dressed in military attires emerged first from the submarine, carrying automatic weapons, followed by Mr. Dragon himself, followed by two more men dressed and armed in the same way. The men trained their weapons at us. Mr. Dragon spoke as he approached our raft.
'I admire your dilligence in listening in on the coversation I was having with Virus here, I assume he had forgotten to put speaker volume on low, am I correct to say so, Virus?'
Virus! Mr. Kent's real name is Virus?
Mr. Kent, or Mr. Virus, I don't know which name to call him by, sputtered some more unintelligible things. I was under the impression that Mr. Dragon was ridiculing Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus quite harshly and enjoying doing it.  
Two more people exited the hatch, a man and a woman in orderly uniforms, and they approached Kyle and Theo with blankets.
Mr. Dragon turned to Laura and flashed a wan smile, 'Long time no see, Laura.'
Laura returned a smile which I couldn't decide whether it meant love or hate. 'Same to you, Clark, so we meet again.'
'I'm sorry I couldn't afford a better condition for this reunion, I hope you still understand me after all these years.'
'Don't worry yourself, I remember you like it all took place yesterday, you old scoundrel, at least you kept in shape.'
'So have you, my dear.' Mr. Dragon gave a gentlemanly bow. 'I'm still the same man when you left me, my dear.'
'Oh save your flourish, Clark, you can't fool me again with that old stuff.'
'Always for you, my dear Laura, always for you.' Mr. Dragon regarded Wolfgang next, 'Ah, my son! Our last separation was rather untimely, I did not even get to say goodbye.'
'Fuck you, dad.' Wolfgang spat. His stare seemed murderous, though the fire from his eyes had no visible effect on Mr. Dragon. Laura shushed him.
'Good! The boy still recognizes his own father. I had thought a bullet was too much for him to handle.' Mr. Dragon turned to me, surprisingly.
'Charlie, do you still have misgivings at me for having taken you hostage before our last parting?'
'I don't think I do, because I don't think you weren't really intending to shoot me in the head - maybe just knock me out, if the situation required it.'
'Well then I'm glad the trust between us is not broken.' Mr. Dragon shook my hand.
'What trust?' I heard Theo say and looked in her direction. She was wrapped in a blanket, staring murderously at Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus the same way Wolfgang was still staring at Mr. Dragon, 'Who exactly are you?' She said; the question was directed towards Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus.
Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus looked at her amusingly, 'I am Mr. Kent, as you know, or knew, more appropriately, and I am the Virus, tenth member of the United Terrorists. I have been planted in the North family since before you were born, Theo, I am a double agent - the grandmaster of double agents.'
'Now, now, Virus, I like like your introduction, but there's just a tiny detail I wish to correct,' Mr. Dragon said, putting a hand on Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus' shoulder, 'You're the eleventh, not the tenth, member of the U.T., Alligator is the tenth, and by the way, he's the T-Rex now.'
'That is incorrect, Dragon, I am the tenth member, Alligator-I mean, T-Rex, he's the eleventh.'
'That's not how I remembered it.'
'Well it's how I remembered it Dragon, do you want to bring this up with the others, because I'm right when I say this, I'm the tenth member of the U.T.!' Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus said indignantly.
Mr. Dragon waived him off dismissively with a hand and said, 'Enough of this standing around. Alright hostages, I have business with almost all of you, so let's get down to it. Welcome aboard.'
Escorted by the guards and Mr. Dragon, we entered the submarine.