I quickly stood up and grabbed Tommy’s seat, “What are we going to do with her? Like what the hell. She looks like she was banged up really bad and left out in a hole for days.”
Tommy just looked forward and pushed the button to start the car as it lifted off the ground.
“I don't know man. We need to keep going.” Tommy sighed and then took another breath as if he were now disappointed we had found Sam.
The car began to move forward, and I sat back down in my seat. I observed Sam’s eyes, and how sunken and shallow they were.
I wondered who or what might have done this to her, I hoped she would wake up to explain what happened.
Tommy turned around when the car had finally been set to autopilot, “look Luis, we don’t know what happened to her, but we need to find Anthony. I have been uneasy since I met the guy, I haven’t had one good feeling about him from that first meeting. He just seems so, I don’t know. I just don’t trust him, and I know you think he is doing what is best for you to make up for all that happened, but I mean, this man is the guy who started this whole war. It wasn’t as if Dr. Kolash sat down one day and was like, “let's start a war”. Anthony Larthwalker is not our friend, and for all, we know he could be working with the very government still against us, and we don’t even know it.”
I sat there, sort of puzzled but thinking to myself how it could be true.
I replied, “you're right, I don’t know Anthony, but he is our best bet. He is right, we need to find Dr. Kolash. I mean the thing is, he probably wasn’t ever imprisoned. He was placed in Dunshop, addicted to the lilies, and doesn’t and won't leave no matter what we do. Dr. Kolash knows more than we do, he must know how this all happened. It is him who needs to tell the story to the people on Planet KS, not us. We cannot fix this, we need him to. He needs to make a public statement or send a message to the people. Unity isn’t doing anything to make ships, they probably aren’t doing anything to even try to communicate with what is left of us Earth humans. If all the people knew how much Unity wasn’t doing to try to resolve the problem, and how much Unity is doing to prevent resolution, something would get done. There is a lot more common folk than Unity members combined in New York City. That is guaranteed.”
Tommy scratched his head and said, “I guess you’re right, but I think if we see Anthony, we keep on going. He told you and Sam both that when you went out to that fence, which by the way was a bad idea, he would help signal you and block the cameras so you wouldn’t get caught. Obviously, Anthony wasn’t telling the truth and did it on purpose, or perhaps it was an accident, which for someone who’s been playing “Top Secret Agent” for the past years, seems impossible.”
I started to get angry, because I knew inside, that the possibility that Anthony made a mistake was very possible. He had made a big mistake, which started a war. He then made another by sending children away to a foreign planet for some kind of social experiment, and then he made a mistake by not jamming the camera feeds properly. It was an idea that I was unable to get out my head. It is not possible he could have messed up, it couldn’t have been, and if he did where is he now?
All these thoughts circulated through my mind.
“Tommy. We can't just assume that everyone is out to get us for good. When I went to Dunshop, there were these people, the Night Walkers, and they were in robs, and they too had been sent to Planet KS by the people on Earth. Whether it was an experiment to send me to that planet to become a slave of some short, fat dictator or not, that is the world we live in now. We live in a time where everything is about experimenting with what we don’t know to solve the problems of the human race. It could’ve been me, it could’ve been you, for all we know it could’ve been the president's fucking daughter. But President Crysler is a corrupt piece of shit just like The Councilor.
We can't be paranoid. That’s all I am saying, and if we come to find Anthony, we should give him a chance to explain what happened and go from there. He is an old, weak man, who has been fighting this battle for longer than you and I combined, he seems to want to correct his mistakes, regardless if his aspirations are high and far to even reach. We need to focus on the now, and not what if. We are so far beyond the what ifs,” I said.
Tommy turned red and angry that I didn’t agree with him. I felt bad, as he swirled around in his seat to face the front of the car instead of back at me, and then there was silence.
Spit dripped out of Sam’s mouth, and I wiped it hoping that she would regain consciousness. She needed water, she needed food, and all we could give her was time.
The car bumped over like it was rolling on wheels from the uneven terrain, it worked in a way that the invisible space still made us move in the direction which the surface below pointed. It was not the most comfortable ride.
Inside, my heart pumped blood through my body. My feet were cold, and I was tired inside like I had been since being in the Psych Ward. I knew that there was more to Anthony than what I knew about him telling me.
The rest of the ride was silent until we approached the edge of the city. I rolled down the window, and let the dry hot air roll over my face and blow my hair.
The blue eyesore came to a stop, and it lowered down on the ground. All the doors opened.
I had dazed out, so I looked up and finally realized what had been going on.
“Tommy?” I asked concerned.
He remarked, “It’s fine, I just need to get out and take a break. This is just a lot you know. I don’t know if you have ever been cheated on, but it’s one of those moments where you feel so betrayed by everything you don’t even know who or what you can trust anymore. It is like, the government who was supposed to protect me and my family actually acted to destroy all of it. They are so bad Luis. Ever since they all unified like we were told. They unified to create peace, increase economic efficiency. They did it all because of this goddamn war like the problems were still there Luis. The government unified thinking that there wouldn’t be a bad person out there in the system willing to ruin it for their own good.
Your dad, the Fleet Commander, couldn’t have seen the corruption. Whatever he was doing, whatever he did when he was “taken” by the aliens, it wasn’t for the good of our world, it was for the good of Unity. Unities goals, but a far-fetched assumption would be he was acting on behalf of the United States government which shouldn’t have even existed. It is illegal for any country to have their own government. Unity made it clear time and time over, that if there were secret agencies all would fail, we would lose. Look at where the United States got us. They gave us Anthony Larthwalker, the “Agency” he works for, not a legal one, and all of that turned into this and I am just so sad. There is nothing here that would ever repair how I feel so backstabbed and it wasn’t even my choice.”
Tommy got out and sat down as the tears streamed from his eyes and down his face. I looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do or what to say.
“I guess sometimes, things happen because we misjudge what makes us happy by comparing the past results of the way things are present,” I responded, trying to bring him comfort but pretty sure I failed.
21
Anthony had shut his eyes; a cloud of weary drowsiness fell over and blanketed his mind. In the middle of a field, a lone bench sat with a rusted light over it. The sun had begun to set, and the darkness fell over his body as he slumped over. Into his mind.
Anthony spoke, “Barney! Good to see you. How was your trip to Florence?”
She replied, “It was nice. I suppose I would have preferred it to be longer. I missed your face.”
Anthony’s cheeks turned a rosy pink, “the office has been quiet. I am happy you’re back. Hopefully, they don’t send you off again too soon. I mean, I am sure you like the travel though.”
Barney was tall and skinny, holding a handful of warm white papers off the printer, and she turned her head to gaze out the towering office windows.
“I suppose so. Anthony, do you maybe want to go
out or something?”
He shuddered, and it took a moment for him to respond, “Well, of course. It’s been a while. Want to go out to the Capital and take a walk along the water tomorrow?”
She replied, “yes! I have to go deliver these papers. You know, get some work done. They might be less determined to send me away.”
She laughed and he said, “Okay. I’ll see you around. Tomorrow I’ll come to pick you up.”
Barney smiled and walked briskly to her office around the corner. Anthony stood there with what little dignity he had.
Things seemed to pile on Anthony’s desk. The stress he was under, new to the company, he sweat often, he squeezed his fists in stress, and at the end of his thirteen-hour shift for six days straight. He would sit down in his small apartment and try to drown it all out with a drink or five depending on how deep down he was.
Barney and Anthony had been really close for the last two years, and it was only until recently they took a break because Barney always was traveling for work. The thing was, he knew that Barney loved to travel and didn’t want to be held back, but she secretly liked having something or someone to come home to.
She started to train and work in the field several months back and trained to complete operative missions for The Agency.
Anthony briskly walked back over to his desk and sat down at his computer. He typed away, faster and faster, creating reports from the observations and intelligence he received back by operatives like Barney. The Agency used these reports to decide what to do next.
By the end of the day, Anthony had typed over twenty thousand words. Enough words over the whole year spent in Reporting, over several million if not one billion words had been typed.
That particular night, Anthony left work and went home. He sat on his couch.
He opened his personal computer to the news of his old home in Colorado.
The first line, frightening as it had seemed, “Major Arrest on Political Terrorist Housing Strange Experiments Within Cement Bunker”.
He quickly shut his computer realizing that his former friend had been caught and that their very own facility had been shut down.
He took a quick drink of whiskey and piped down two shots of tequila before he was phased and ready to accept the consequences.
He said out loud, “I'm not getting caught. I am going to fix this.”
He stood up with his shirt half buttoned, slid on his coat and left for the office again. He didn’t take a cab. It was two in the morning; the capital was silent.
He hid his coughs under his jacket and covered his mouth every time he passed a lonesome stranger on the street. Anthony reached The Agency.
Anthony slid through the rotary door. The entire lobby was darkened, and there was a security guard standing at the desk. “It’s a little bit early to be coming in Anthony. Don’t you think?” the man in uniform asked.
Anthony replied, “Mr. Larthwalker doesn’t stop working. Morning Devon. It’s just, I have this large report I am working on for the upper General who is presenting the information to the president on Thursday, and I really don’t want to get behind. It’s been stressing me out all night, and they told me it was classified so there was no way I was getting it outside of these titanium walls.”
Anthony walked passed Devon, quickly scanning his hand and letting the laser identification scan his retinas.
His cold hands shook at he tapped the elevator up button. He tried to keep his head down so he didn’t fall over from the intoxication. He knew that Devon had noticed.
Devon asked, “are you sure Anthony you are alright for work?”
Anthony replied, “yes. I am fine. I caught a small chill from the outside, I just need some water and I’ll be fine.”
The elevator went, “ding!”
Anthony remarked, “I’ll be seeing you later Devon. I am probably going to leave today, I hope that General lets me leave early, but he probably will catch a few errors. That's why I hope to get this report done early.”
Devon nodded, and the darkness followed Anthony as he walked into the velvet-carpeted elevator. He pressed 52. It glowed a blue color, and as the elevator began to shoot upwards, the lights dimmed.
The force was so light yet so powerful, it shot butterflies into his grown stomach. It was not an eerie darkness, rather a cool refreshing one to Anthony.
Once the elevator reached 52, Anthony walked over to the water machine, filling a cone to the rim to taste the papery clean liquid. It was quiet, as no one was in.
It was 2:09AM. Anthony simmered down and wiped the glaze out of his eyes.
He knew what he would find the instant he logged into his work computer.
Yep, there it was, the email regarding the observations and details of the deadly takedown. Anthony clicked opened, as the details shot down his screen.
“Cole Dwight, arrested on all counts for working with the illegal secondary government.”
“Cole Dwight, apprehended, resisted arrest, attacked officer.”
Several pictures loaded at the bottom of the screen showing the interior computer lab that was deemed impenetrable by the United States Agency.
Everything was smashed and burned.
A secondary email descended on the notification bar.
“Cole Dwight, escaped patrol custody. A large search is on, statewide in the United States.”
Notes logged at the bottom of the email described how the report was to be put together, to show the President that something must be done to prevent uprisings or even secondary governments. The only way Unity works is by being the only government.
Anthony knew that deep down inside, Cole was on his way to a secondary Colorado bunker, one which was meant for back up if necessary.
He shook his head in his hands and said, “why is he so stupid? He should leave. Stop this madness. I told him that he shouldn’t go on. Why is he so obsessed?”
He started to get angry and began to type the report.
Anthony typed knowing what he would say would be the only thing that the government would ever know.
He typed the whole thing so clearly, leaving out his knowledge of the secondary bunker, having been a part of the illegal scheme all along, he still wanted to protect his friend. Perhaps it was that Anthony knew that if he let Cole continue his work, Cole would soon learn of the damage he could do to the world or even the universe.
Anthony reviewed his report, and he soon had a sense that he must do something more. He did what he thought he had to do. He deleted most of the truth and replaced them all with empty leads and lies. Leading Cole’s possible whereabouts to places in the world, he would never go or ever end up. Cole would stay right there in the secondary bunker, until later when Anthony stepped up and led his own operatives there to destroy and assassinate Cole within the secondary bunker many years later.
Anthony got very tired, his drowsiness had kicked in so much so, he saved the document for later sending, in the morning when he was more present and aware of what he had done.
In his dreams, lied much darkness of his past. His running from all problems and never actually trying to put an end to Cole’s operation. While Anthony did have a motivation to discover and communicate with these other “human” lifeforms, it became apparent that abducting children and sending them there actually allowed The Councilor and his “alien” people to gain control and power over Earth in the war.
Anthony began to feel sick. In his dreams, he was quickly startled awake, just enough to lean over and vomit into his trash can. He wiped the putrid vomit from his chin.
He slumped over, passing out on his desk with his arms overhead until the sun slowly began to rise. The clocks read 5:34AM.
The sound of rushing but sluggish people came from outside Anthony’s office. A loud knock came from his door. His hangover rang through his brain.
He woke up, stuttering, “come, come in please.”
He sat up sure that he had a clean face.
It was
Barney, “Jesus, you don’t look good. Up late or something?”
Anthony said back, “yeah, you know. Up late around 2:00AM, I came in to start the large report about that Colorado guy being busted for conspiracy or some shit.”
Barney sort of giggled, “you're hungover. You know, they say it’s never good to report what a drunken man reads.”
He laughed and replied, “I know! That's exactly why I decided to hit that save key and take a nap. It’s only been three hours, and I am not so sure if I am still intoxicated or if I am actually hungover. I'm not sure if I should even review that document.”
She remarked, “I am sure that it will be fine. Like they always say with cutting wood, measure twice cut once. Something like that or whatever, I am sure it will be good.”
Barney asked, “are we still good to go on that walk around the riverfront tonight?” He replied, “yes, of course. I’ll be in around seven."
Barney smiled like always and she shut the door quietly so Anthony’s unbalanced hungover ears didn’t jerk.
Anthony sat up straight, and he opened the document he drunkenly embellished. He hit the send to box and typed in The General, and clicked send.
This was the moment that brought Anthony to the top of The Agency. Not an email with lies, but rather good intelligence that led the government to the conviction and arrests that led to many other reports, just not the report in regards to Colorado, or Cole Dwight.
Anthony sat there, and he sat there at his desk, unknowing of how good his work had become.
Three weeks had passed since he pressed the send key, and the walk with Barney never did happen. She was sent out on an urgent mission with which the intelligence from Anthony’s report had been used. He waited and waited, until one night late at his apartment, came a loud and obnoxious knock, like someone was about to break in.
The World of Hope Page 15