Stratagem

by Christina Hagmann

  A town car with tinted windows pulled up by the service area. It wasn’t exactly a private exit, but considering we were in the city, it was as private as things would be. The car was very nondescript, and it was nice and clean. I rode silently in the back, buckled in behind the passenger seat so I could see the driver.

  I didn’t know the driver, which made me nervous. If the driver was a mole for the Agency, he could easily whisk me away and take me back to them, but he seemed unaware who I even was. He didn’t look at me awkwardly; in fact, he didn’t make eye contact at all. He could be a regular driver.

  When we arrived at the zoo, the driver didn’t park in the lot, but pulled up to the entrance and let me out. He was not going to be waiting for me.

  I walked into the Lincoln Park Zoo and let my hair down around my face, which was silly because there was no way anyone knew I wasn’t who I seemed to be. Still, I felt like everyone was looking at me and that they knew I was masquerading as this woman. I felt like she didn’t fit. I didn’t know how to act in her body or even how to walk.

  I looked around, trying to remember the map of the zoo. I only had to walk a short way to get to the Primate House. From there, I went to the Park Place Café and entered through the main doors. It was still pretty empty in the building, and the lines for the eateries were short. I looked for the restroom sign, and when I spotted the ladies’, I was relieved to see the “Sorry, Closed for Cleaning” sign out front.

  I walked slowly, looking around to see if anyone was watching me. If someone had to go to the bathroom badly enough, they might follow me in if they saw me go. When no one seemed to be paying attention to me, I slipped inside the door, not even opening it all the way. Inside, Aaron stood near the door. He was wearing a long sleeve green shirt and khaki pants, and tufts of blond hair peered out from beneath his green hat. He saluted me.

  “Ready?” he asked. He looked as nervous as I did. “Here goes, Meda.” He reached out his fist. I stared at it for a moment and then reached out and tapped my own fist to his. Aaron gave me a tight smile and slipped out the door.

  Outside, Aaron would be finding my dad and signaling him. My dad would then tell my stepmother we would be leaving soon and that it would be best to go the bathroom. If everything was going as planned, he had already taken the girls to the bathroom while he had Beth get a soda for him, which he shared with her. I already knew Beth did most things he told her to, so she would probably go to the bathroom. My dad had to make sure of it.

  Aaron would remove the sign once he signaled my dad. Shortly after, my stepmother should enter. In the meantime, I had to wait patiently. The bathroom was a hospital scrub green, and it was damp and cold. It smelled like pee with undertones of bleach.

  I jumped when Brody slipped silently through the door, which immediately alarmed me. This wasn’t part of the plan.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  “Nothing, nothing.” Brody stepped quickly in front of me and reached out and gripped my hand, which was sweaty with nervousness.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. I was touched he came to check on me but also afraid he would ruin the entire plan. “Brody, you shouldn’t be here.” My hands were shaking. I looked down at our hands, grasped together. “God, I’m nervous.”

  “Hey.” Brody waited for my eyes to reach his face. “Soon you will be with your family. No worries. I got this end.” He squeezed. I tried to smile, but it was forced. I was anxious. There was nothing he could do that would help that. Then, Brody left me alone to wait for my stepmother.

  chapter 18

  I stood at the mirror, ready to pretend to be washing my hands, and though Aaron was going to remove the sign, I thought about what would happen if someone came in when I was cuffing my stepmother. I reached into my pocket and checked to make sure the shiny shackles were still there. I also checked my face again to make sure I looked nothing like myself. As I was staring at my green eyes and trying to remember if this woman had green eyes, the door opened.

  I quickly hit the water and stuck my hands in. I glanced up, like anyone would, and there she was. She was a small woman, and I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed what a bitchy face she had before. Maybe she only looked that horrible when she let her guard down. Or maybe it was because I knew what she had done to my family. Her eyebrows sat on her forehead at an angry slant.

  She glanced at me but didn’t register any familiarity. Of course she wouldn’t. Then she went into the stall. I went to the door, opened it, and then let it close so she would think I left. Once it was closed, I quietly locked it.

  I stood by the door, trying not to breathe. And though it wasn’t in the plan, I began to shift. I wanted her to see my face. I wanted her to see me before I took on her form. My skin began to itch and burn with the familiar pain.

  When the stall door opened, she stepped out without looking up and walked up to the sink. I took one step, and with that tentative movement, she spotted me. She froze. She stared at me for a moment, like she was trying to place who I was, like she didn’t ruin my life. Then her eyebrows went up.

  “Meda?” she questioned. I didn’t let her say anything else. I rushed at her and brought my elbow up, hitting her hard in the nose. She tried to back away, but she was forced up against the wall. She let out a grunt as she crumpled and held her face. I used that moment to attach the handcuff to her right wrist and then pulled her to the handicapped stall where I looped the cuff around and locked it on her other wrist, securing her to the wheelchair rail.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, regaining her voice. She hadn’t expected me to attack. I pulled out the duct tape that had been tucked under my loose-fitting shirt and held up a strip for her to see.

  “Meda, what are you doing? Where have you been this whole time? I’ve missed you so much.” I paused to look at her.

  “Oh, stop it, Beth.” Then, without thinking, I grabbed her face, hard. “I know who you are. I know what you did to me. To my family.”

  She tried shaking my hand off her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ve missed you. We thought you ran away.” I felt a rage like never before. I wanted to hit her. I wanted to smash her stupid face in. I still had the strip of duct tape in one hand, and all I had to do was put it over her mouth. I knew I was taking too long, but her words left me unsure, frazzled.

  “Why, Beth?” I took my hand off her face. “Why did you do it?” Beth looked confused.

  “I don’t know what you’re…Meda. What’s wrong with you?” I punched the stall wall next to her head, then firmly put the tape across her mouth. I would never know. I would never know if she did it because it was her job or if she did it because the Agency had something on her, like they did with me.

  “You know what, Beth? I don’t care. I’m taking my family back,” I said. She struggled, but the cuffs didn’t give her much room to work with, and I roughly continued to wrap the roll of tape around her head, covering her mouth multiple times. The tape was tangled in her hair and so tight her cheeks puffed out on either side of where the tape stuck to her skin.

  I shifted again. This time into her. She looked shocked, and she tried to talk through the tape, but obviously could not. “What, nothing to say this time?” I was being childish, I knew it, and I should have been in a rush to be reunited with my family, but there was so much I wanted to say and do to her. I took a deep breath and grabbed the purse she dropped when I hit her. I walked to the door, unlocked it, and took a deep breath. I didn’t look back when I left.

  When I exited the bathroom, the cleaning sign was back in front of the door. They had replaced it when Beth entered. I slid out, but it didn’t matter as much this time because Beth had entered and now it was Beth who was exiting the bathroom.

  I took a few steps out the door and saw Aaron. I gave him a thumbs-up sign, and he saluted me with the bill of his cap and quickly walked out the side door. He would be letting the driver know we were ready, and Aaron and Brody woul
d be departing in a separate vehicle that we would meet up with back at the suite.

  I exited Park Place and scanned the faces walking around the zoo. I saw families and field trips and sometimes adults just walking, blissfully unaware I wasn’t even what I seemed to be. And then I spotted him. My dad.

  When I saw him, I almost ran to him. I almost called him Daddy and let tears fall down my face. I almost grabbed both of my sisters and planted hard kisses on their cheeks. Almost. But instead, I kept my composure. I walked slower than normal, making my way towards them. When he spotted me, I saw his eyes dart to my ears to be sure I was not Beth. When he saw them, his eyes rested on me, and I could tell he was fighting the same urge to run to me.

  As I approached them, I got close to my father. He reached out and gripped my hand, and the moment our hands touched, I saw tears in his eyes. I looked away because I didn’t want to cry along with him. As I scanned the crowd, I noticed a young girl standing by a bench. She was all alone and looked like she was waiting for someone, but she kept looking our way. It appeared as though she was watching us, but she had sunglasses on, so I couldn’t be sure where she was looking. It was unsettling, and my hair stood up on my arms.

  I knew I was staring, and I tried to look away, but I couldn’t. Then, the girl pulled down her shades and winked.

  It was Isi, the other mimic. I knew it. She stood empty-handed, arms dangling at her sides, but a smile crept up her face. If she had disguised herself, I would never have recognized her, unless she wanted me to. I scanned the crowd and didn’t see anyone coming at us or anyone else who looked suspicious. When I glanced back, Isi had taken a few steps toward us.

  “Dad,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. “We have to go now.” My dad looked at me with concern, but he nodded anyway, even though he didn’t know the full story.

  Dad patted the girls on the shoulders. They had paid no attention to me when I rejoined them because to them, I was boring old Beth. “Come on, girls,” my dad called to my sisters. I wanted to pick them up and hug them or even run with them to get them out of there, but they had to remain calm. They couldn’t know yet that this was a reunion. They couldn’t alert anyone to the fact I was with them, even though there was one person who was already onto us.

  As we made our way through the crowd, I continued to glance back. Isi didn’t shift, but she continued to trail us. Why didn’t she attack? She must have been under orders because she walked casually about fifteen feet behind us. “We’re being followed,” I whispered. Dad was smart enough not to turn around. Instead, he crouched and whispered something to one of the girls.

  “Race you to the car!” Ginger, the youngest of the twins, yelled. Both girls took off.

  Dad looked at me and smiled. He began to jog after the girls. “Girls!” he called out, getting in on the pretense. “Wait up!” I followed and jogged behind.

  We weaved through the crowd, my sisters giggling and looking back. I tried to keep the stern face of my stepmother in place, but I knew worry crept through. We kept a slow jog so as not to draw too much attention. To anyone else, my father and I would look like two parents who were chasing after their children.

  When we got to the road, the town car I arrived in hadn’t reappeared. I scanned the area for the getaway car, but there was no car for us. Dad pulled the girls to him, and they looked up at him.

  “Dad?” Ginger asked. “What are you looking for?” The Opposition’s driver was supposed to be there, but there was no one. I started to breathe heavily as my dad looked at me. He didn’t look as worried as I felt, but I also wasn’t sure if he understood the true seriousness of the situation and how far-reaching the Agency was.

  I looked back and saw Isi approaching from fifteen feet away with one hand in the pocket of her oversized jacket. She could easily be hiding a gun there. Then, I heard the acceleration of a vehicle, and as I turned, a black, nondescript sedan skidded to a halt in front of us.

  The passenger-side window was down, and Dan was behind the wheel. I looked at him questioningly. Dan was supposed to be the back-up. He shouldn’t even be here. “Get in. Something’s wrong.” I didn’t have time to question.

  “Get in the front, Dad!” I called out as I opened the back door and shoved first Ginger and then Georgia into the back of the car. They both yelled out in surprise and were about to complain, as any kid nearing tweenhood would, but then a gunshot went off.

  I tried to make myself smaller as I shoved the girls across the seat and climbed in behind them. My dad clumsily clambered into the front seat. The girls screamed, sensing the change in atmosphere. More shots went off. “Go!” I yelled helplessly from the back seat as Dan smashed his foot down on the gas pedal.

  As the car jolted, I looked back out the window. Isi stood next to someone else, a young man who was in a shooter stance and firing shots off at the vehicle. Isi had her hand on his arm, and it looked as if she was trying to get him to lower the gun. People nearby were all lying facedown on the ground or huddled away. I was surprised it wasn’t Isi who had taken the shot. As I squinted, I felt there was something familiar about the young man who was shooting.

  The man looked like he was going to shoot again, but before I was able to duck, I saw something change, and it was so brief, I couldn’t even be sure it was real. Maybe my overstressed mind was playing tricks on me, but from what I had seen, the man’s face shifted to resemble the face of my mother. My real mother.

  Suddenly, Dan jerked the wheel violently to the right and made his way down a side street, out of the line of fire. The girls were hugging each other, and I wrapped my arms around them, forgetting that they didn’t see me, they only saw our stepmother.

  I looked up and saw my dad reach over and put his hand on Dan’s side. He brought his hand away and held it up, the slick, red blood bright in the dull interior of the car. “You’re hit.” He put his hand back, applying pressure to Dan’s bleeding torso.

  I gripped the girls tightly but tried to get a look at Dan’s injury. “Dan,” I called. “Dan, are you okay?” But he was quiet and continued to drive.

  As Dan made his way to an intersection, the yellow light turned red just as we approached it. “Dan!” I yelled, unsure if he saw it. I looked up to see a white van quickly approaching from the right. I closed my eyes and waited for impact, gripping the girls tightly.

  The white van slammed us hard, but I couldn’t help but think it didn’t feel like it looked in the movies. As the back end of the vehicle fishtailed and spun, I jostled around in the back seat, still holding my sisters in my arms. Dan didn’t miss a beat as he hit the gas and we rocketed away from the van, which now had a dented hood.

  “Hey,” Dad called out, moving over to grip the wheel. I pulled myself closer to the front seat so I could see the side of Dan’s face. His eyes looked unfocused and far away.

  “Dan, are you okay?” I let go of Ginger and reached forward to grab Dan’s shoulder. “Dan?”

  He turned to look at me as my dad steered for him. He looked confused at first, then said, “Take that off.” He sounded drunk. I removed my hand from his shoulder. “No, Meda.” Dan shook his head. “Take that face off. I don’t like it.” He turned and tried to focus on the road with the help of my dad.

  ‘I…” I tried to speak, but I didn’t know what to say. My sisters looked up at me.

  “Beth? Why did that man call you Meda?” Ginger asked between sobs. “What’s going on?” She put her head down and cried. I wanted to change right then and there, for Dan and for them, but I didn’t want my sisters to see and to know things they shouldn’t, so I held them and let them keep thinking I was their stepmother, who was probably currently wondering where her family had gone.

  Dan didn’t look back again. My dad kept up a steady stream of encouragement, letting Dan know he was doing good and he was going to be okay. He had no idea where we were going, so he continually coaxed Dan to give him directions while reminding him to apply more gas or brake.

&n
bsp; I saw the high-rise as we approached the hotel. “We’re almost there, Dan,” I called. I wanted to encourage him as well. I wanted to do anything I could to help him, but there was nothing I could do.

  We clumsily pulled into the limited access area we departed from earlier, and I thought we were going to smash into the team of men waiting at the service doors. In a rush, the men came forward to help usher the group upstairs. As the back doors opened, I helped Ginger and Georgia out and told them to go with the men. Ginger put up a little fight, but in the end, she went when the man grabbed her hand and led her away. I got out and stood by as they pulled Dan out of the car.

  Dan couldn’t stand on his own, and there was blood all over the front of his shirt, soaking through the stomach area. I also noticed blood on the side of his face as though he had casually rubbed it after trying to stop his own bleeding.

  I turned when I heard a commotion at the doors. Aaron came running out and was immediately at Dan’s side, pushing one of the other men away. “What happened?” he yelled, looking at me.

  “They knew we were there. There’s a third mimic.” I wanted to try to explain my mother, but I saw Aaron looking at me like it was all my fault. I continued, “They took a few shots as we were leaving, and he must have been hit then.” My dad came by my side. I had barely noticed him.

  “I’m a doctor.” Another man stepped forward. “Help me get him inside.” Aaron held one side of Dan, who was dragging his feet and leaving a trail of blood. His pale face was slack.

  “You’re going to be okay, man,” Aaron said as they ushered Dan through the doors. As the door closed, I could see a flash of Brody, trying to help grab Dan.