~ ~ ~
“Sanders,” hissed Elsie. “Where are you going?”
Sanders crept through the hallways, heading straight for Officer Burroughs’ office. Word had spread that the plant commandant had met with some unfortunate accident and was locked in a freezer that no one could open.
Using the opportunity, Sanders decided to learn what had bothered Dana the last few weeks. He peeked around a corner and found an officer leaning back in her chair at her desk. The stifled yawn told him she had been there too long and wished to leave.
“Sanders.”
“Shush,” he silenced Elsie. “Dana has been acting weird lately, you know that. I intend to find out why.”
“By sneaking into Officer Burroughs’ office?”
“Why do you think she was in such a hurry to get away from him?”
Elsie relented. “How do you propose we get by her?”
Sanders thought a moment. He grabbed a tack from the bulletin board above him. Taking careful aim, he threw it at the woman. It clinked against the side of her desk.
Startled, the woman sat upright. She glanced around the room, her eyes scanning every detail.
Sanders snatched another tack. Carefully, he chucked it to the other side of the room.
Clink! Clink!
The woman rose to her feet. She moved slowly across the room to where the noise had come from. Searching around, the female officer never noticed as Sanders and Elsie raced to Officer Burroughs’ office. They slipped inside and quietly closed the door.
“This is completely insane,” whispered Elsie.
“Just keep a lookout,” said Sanders, running to the computer. He brought up the holographic monitor.
“Are you sure you can break the passcode—oh.” Elsie stopped speaking when the screen flicked to the desktop home. “Sanders, you’re a genius.”
“I know.”
Sanders’ fingers flew over the keyboard as he pulled up file after file, searching for anything that might shed light on Dana’s behavior. Window after window popped up, allowing him to quickly scan it before moving to the next one.
“What’s that?” Elsie pointed to a file on the screen.
Sanders brought it up. Instantly, the interrogation of Dana opened up. Sanders turned on the audio.
Do you miss your parents? It would be unfortunate if they never returned home.
What are you saying?
Cold sweat covered both Elsie and Sanders as they listened.
“She’s going to betray the resistance,” said Sanders.
“She’s being forced to,” said Elsie. “Now it all makes sense. No wonder she didn’t want to be around us. She was trying to protect us.”
Sanders dug around in search of a disk.
“What are you doing?” asked Elsie.
“Making copies,” said Sanders as he found one, shoved it into the slot, and pressed save. He pulled out the disk and jammed another into the slot. “I’m making a lot of copies.”
Dystopia Page 25