I clamped the arm restraints shut and then checked to make sure that the gag was still firmly seated in the guard’s mouth before I pulled the bag over his head. He continued to struggle, but that wasn’t really a concern anymore. As long as he was the only one on duty out there, we had bought some time. But probably not a lot. I absently wiped the sweat from my eyes, and my hand came back sticky with my own blood. Right, not sweat. That forehead wound was still bleeding freely. I tore a few strips from my captive’s shirt and bound the wound as best as I could. That done, I grabbed his keycard and tucked it in my pocket, then removed the gun from his belt. Fortunately, he hadn’t even had a chance to use it. I had been correct that the earlier gunshot didn’t alarm him, he had been expecting it, and so he was easily taken by surprise. Balancing the weapon in my hand, I studied it for a moment, before turning to Luke.
“You think you can handle this?” I asked.
He started, pulling his eyes from the body on the floor to look at me.
“What?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, glanced at the still struggling, mostly shirtless guard, then grabbed Luke’s arm and dragged him out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
“I need you to focus, Luke. I know it is hard, but we are in real danger here. And more importantly, so are a lot of innocent people. We need to escape, get word to someone who can stop this.”
Hopefully. Neither Wallace, nor the guard had had their phones on them. Likely they were specifically trying to keep them away from me. Just in case. Any landline I knew of in this place was almost certainly being monitored. It would be a waste of time and far too risky to search any further here. We needed to get out and to a clean phone as quickly as possible.
“You really think they can be stopped?” Luke asked.
“Of course I do, or I wouldn’t be here. But now isn’t the time to discuss that. Are you going to be able to do this?”
Luke was silent for a moment, chewing his lip, before he shook himself and nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I can do this.”
“Good.”
I breathed an internal sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have left him behind, of course. Even if he hadn’t just saved my life, I still couldn’t have just left him here to die. But it greatly improved our odds if he was actively participating, so that was excellent news. I handed him the guard’s gun, keeping Wallace’s for myself.
“Now,” I continued. “Don’t shoot anyone unless you have no other options. This place isn’t that heavily guarded, they rely on the keycards for most of their security, and the one we have should give us complete access,” Wallace would never have allowed any doors to be barred to him. “As long as we are gone before anyone realizes what’s happened, this should be smooth sailing. So, we move quickly and quietly. Follow my lead and keep a close eye and ear out for anyone in our path. The plan is to avoid everyone, find the first exit we can, and get outdoors. If everything goes well, we won’t have to fight at all. Got it?”
Luke quickly inspected his new weapon, tucked it into his belt, then nodded sharply,
“Lead the way.”
Turning back for just a moment, I locked the door to the interrogation room, and the observation room with the two-way mirror. Best to delay discovery, even if only for a few moments. Then, I gestured for Luke to follow, and we set off down the hall.
I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath until we reached the first intersection without being discovered. I had half expected to hear a platoon of armed guards bearing down on us, so the silent, empty hallways were an immense relief. I heaved a deep breath and winced, realizing that the second reason I had been holding my breath was my cracked or broken ribs. Breathing that deeply was not a pleasant experience. It would have to be shallow breaths, for the time being. Luke opened his mouth, likely to ask if I was alright, but I shook my head and pressed a finger to my lips. Now was not the time for niceties. We continued in silence for some time, my ears straining for any sound from the surrounding corridors. Just as we were about to round a corner, I heard the soft squeak of shoes on tile. Someone was coming down the hall towards us. I raised a hand to stop Luke, then backtracked three doors and ducked into a storage closet, shutting the door behind him.
“How do you know the layout of this place so well?” Luke whispered softly. “You haven’t even been here that long.”
“Let’s just say that this was not an entirely unexpected outcome,” I replied. “I spent a lot of my spare time planning escape routes.”
“What exactly…”
I pressed my hand to my lips again. This was not the time for idle chatter, either. Pressing my ear to the door, I listened as the squeaky shoes I had heard earlier approached the door. Now that they were closer, I could make out two different people’s steps.
“I can’t believe we are wasting our time here tonight,” a man’s voice drifted through the door.
“Wasting our time?” a woman asked.
“You know what I mean,” the man sounded exasperated. “Stuck here on guard duty, while all the real action is happening at the arena. Nothing is going to happen here. We should be out there, participating in the big event.”
“You really want to be there for that, Josh?” she sounded surprised. “I mean, I know that it has to be done, but it still seems so… horrible. I don’t think I want to see anyone die. I am glad we get to stay here, honestly.”
“That’s probably why I got left behind,” Josh huffed. “I’m too close with you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“What do you think?” I could hear the eyeroll in his tone. “This is an all-hands-on-deck situation. All the reliable agents are in the field. The only people they held back here tonight are the ones they can’t trust. The people who have shown that they aren’t truly committed to the cause, dissidents. Like you, and now me by association.”
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“Come on don’t be like that. I am as committed as anyone. Besides, your logic has some flaws.”
“Oh?”
“If they only left the undesirables back here, who would be there to watch them?” she asked. “Obviously, some trustworthy people need to stay behind, to keep order.”
There was a moment of silence,
“I suppose that’s true. Perhaps we are actually the most trusted…”
The voices faded with the footsteps, as they continued down the hall. I waited another moment in tense silence, before carefully cracking the door open and resuming our journey.
The closest exit was out into the parking garage. I had already decided that it was a decent escape route, as it was poorly lit, and the exit was just a plastic arm that blocked cars from leaving. No impediment to a pedestrian. The only downside was that there was a long, well travelled corridor we had to pass through before we got there. It was busy because it connected the dormitories to the cafeteria, and there were usually at least a few people moving through it. But, after the conversation we had just heard, I decided to risk it. If the building was mostly empty, with “all-hands-on-deck” then our odds were pretty good, and I just wanted to get out. I should have remembered that every time you make a choice because you are rushing, it always comes back to bite you in the ass. This one happened quicker than most. We were halfway down the adjoining hallway when the door at the far end opened and a group of 5 recruits entered. There was nowhere for us to hide or duck out, and we were too far from the last door to double back. As a last resort, I just kept walking, hoping that they wouldn’t pay us too much attention. The odds of that were slim to begin with, but the fact that both Luke and I were covered in blood reduced them to basically nil. The entire group turned and stared. I stopped, hand dropping to the weapon in my waistband. They were unlikely to be carrying, themselves, the students weren’t typically allowed, so I hoped that the threat alone would be enough to get us through. As my hand found the grip, I felt Luke touch my shoulder.
“Wait,” he said softly. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“What the hell is going on here?” the woman in the front asked. I recognized her from the classes, Naomi. She had often stepped up as a leader, of sorts. The other students seemed to trust her. That could be a problem.
“Hey,” Luke stepped out from behind me.
“Luke, oh my god what happened?”
There were general gasps from the group that suggested they agreed with her sentiment.
“Long story, Naomi. Don’t have time for it now. Have you thought about what we talked about?”
“I have, but I’m not sure, Luke. There is so much at stake. If we choose wrong…”
“I’d love to say you have time to consider, I really would, but this starts tonight. I’ve made my choice. And I am leaving, with Ray,” he nodded in my direction. “To try and do the right thing. Are you going to stop us?”
For a long moment, Naomi said nothing, glancing briefly back at the others in a way that betrayed her hesitation. But finally, she stepped to the side of the hallway, and the others followed suit.
“I don’t see why we would. It’s not like we were officially notified of any changes. As far as I am concerned, you are simply our classmate, travelling with our instructor. Why would we have any reason to object to where you choose to go?”
“Thank you, Naomi,” Luke smiled. “Here’s some advice, by way of repayment: I would decide quickly if you wanted to abandon ship. The window of opportunity is closing.”
Naomi nodded, then waved for us to continue on. We rushed down the corridor and turned towards the parking garage.
Once we were out of the building and making our way up through the parking structure, towards the surface, I finally turned to Luke.
“So, what just happened back there?”
He shrugged,
“Since the NovaChem heist, well, some of us have been talking about things.”
“Things?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, things,” he replied, irritated. “Things you had told me. Things other people observed. We… we wondered if we were doing the right thing. There were more than a few of us who had our doubts. Many of us think the current plan is too extreme, too violent. We may not really know what to do about it, but there are a lot of people here who are sympathetic to what you are saying, Ray.”
I considered that. Perhaps Josh had been right, there was subversion spreading in the ranks, and the dissidents had been left at home for the night. Well, we were due for some luck, eventually.
“That is good to hear,” I replied.
I wasn’t sure how many would actually switch sides, but it was something.
“So, does this mean I am allowed to talk, now?” Luke ventured.
“Keep your voice down, but yes, it should be fine. What did you need to know?”
“Those things you said about me before, back in the interrogation…”
“Yeah,” I interrupted. “I am sorry about that. I know I said some harsh things. I didn’t really mean it; I was just trying to convince them you weren’t involved.”
“I know that,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m not a complete idiot. I just wanted to say thank you. For covering for me, even in that position. It can’t have been easy.”
I shook my head,
“I’d say anytime, Luke, but let’s try not to make a habit of this, ok?”
“Agreed.”
We finally reached street level, ducking under the parking gate and out onto the sidewalk. I moved us briskly across the road, before the lone guard looked up from their paper. It was a boring job, generally.
“Where do we go now?” Luke asked. “We don’t have any money, or ID.”
“There is a bar a couple of blocks away,” I didn’t break stride or look back.
“Is now really the time for that?” he asked.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I could really go for a few stiff drinks right now. But that is going to have to wait. Right now, what I need is a place with a bunch of people. Hurry up.”
We walked in silence for a block or so before I glanced back over my shoulder, remembering something I hadn’t said yet, but really should. Now might be my only opportunity.
“Hey, Luke?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you, for what you did back there. For saving my life.”
Luke flushed, slightly,
“You don’t need to… I don’t think it deserves thanks. It wasn’t even really a choice I made. I just… I couldn’t stand by again and do nothing while someone died right in front of me. I just couldn’t. Not again. After Liz, I swore to myself. I had to do something.”
I paused,
“Yeah, about that…”
“About what?” he asked.
But I had spotted our destination of the left and we didn’t have any time to spare. That thought would have to wait.
“Later, Luke. Follow me.”
We stepped inside the warm, dimly lit interior of the Black Horse pub. It was late afternoon, now, so the place wasn’t exactly hopping, but there were several patrons around the bar. I scanned the room, looking for a target. Most of the customers were on their phones, occasionally glancing up at the hockey game on the big screen behind the bar. The man on the far left, however, seemed to have money on the game. Either that or a relative playing in it. He stared fixedly at the TV, his fingers gripping the edge of the bar, half rising from his seat whenever either team was in striking distance of the goal. Perfect. I casually sauntered in his direction, Luke trailing a few steps behind me. When we got close, I reached out and plucked his cell phone from the bar where it was sitting, unlocked and open to some betting website. I only needed it for a minute, he probably wouldn’t even miss it. I didn’t stop walking until I reached the small, single occupancy washroom in the back. I dragged Luke inside and locked the door behind us. Then, I pulled out my pilfered phone, and dialed a number I had carefully memorized when all of this began. It rang twice before someone answered.
“What is it?” Gail snapped, the sounds in the background indicating that I had caught her in a restaurant. “This number is for emergencies only.”
“Good, then I remembered the right one,” I replied.
I heard her suck in a breath, and when she spoke next, her tone had changed.
“Ray? Is that you?”
“Yup. Now, I need you to listen vary carefully, because I have a lot to explain, and we don’t have much time.”