by Ryan Lohner
“So does that mean I do belong here, and you came here for nothing?”
Mary looked almost as stern as she had with the technicians on their arrival in Krell. “No, I don’t believe that for a second. Whatever the cause, you are coming back with us. Maybe we’re going up against nature itself to do it, but I don’t care.”
Tom, standing next to her, nodded vigorously in agreement. Jim looked like he wanted to make a reply, but couldn’t seem to find the words. His misty eyes did plenty of talking anyway.
None of the rebels had said a word during the whole exchange. But now Charlie had to butt in.
“Fascinating stuff. Truly. Though I’m still confused on one part – why exactly did we need to know all this?”
Tom said, “Because we want to take our son back home with us, and of course these two now only have another week to stay here. And we need your help to get back to our world.” He looked at Jim. “Yes, it is our world.” Jim nodded, still not saying a word.
A voice from the crowd said, “Why should we help you?”
Another spoke up with, “This was supposed to be over!”
“We’re not sacrificing any more for you people!”
Matt sighed. If anything, the opinions of the rebels had only got worse. The result of two months of further propaganda against them, undoubtedly. It was probably naïve of him to have hoped for anything more.
Mary now stepped forward. “That’s not what we’re asking at all.” Her voice wasn’t the scary one she’d used before, but it still echoed impressively through the room and got everyone’s attention. “We already know that the security clearances for my husband and I are still intact, so you won’t be taking anything like the risks you were before. What we need more than anything else is a map of the corridor building. We have the beginnings of a plan, but we won’t know precisely what to do until we know where we’ll have to go. Once we are able to finalize a plan … well, I won’t lie to you. We may have to ask more of some of you. But it won’t be just for our sakes. I promise you, the rescue of your comrade, Bram, is also a part of what we want to do here. If you don’t want to take the risk for us, do it for him. That’s the kind of thing you came here to do in the first place, isn’t it?”
Throughout the crowd, Matt saw several heads nodding. The mood was suddenly a lot less hostile, except for one person. Charlie’s glare was now fixed straight on Mary, and Matt took quite a bit of satisfaction in seeing it. At last this guy was faced with someone who could be a true risk to his control over everyone here, and while he may have enjoyed verbally dueling with Jane, this was on another level and appeared to truly worry him. Good. Let him stew and see how it feels for a while.
Then he heard a familiar voice from the crowd. “Well, sounds perfectly reasonable to me,” shouted Mike, though in a voice that sounded rather small after what everyone had just heard.
“Me, too,” said CJ. “Hey, we love you guys! Anything you need! Come on everyone, what do you say?”
After a steady diet of inspirational ‘80s movies, Matt half-expected the crowd to burst into applause and shout that of course they would be glad to help. That didn’t happen. But at least there were now many smiling faces. Every little bit helps, he told himself.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Charlie didn’t waste much time once he saw the way the crowd was going. “Certainly,” he said, covering up what were undoubtedly his true feelings quite well. “In fact, let’s go to my office and discuss it. Every second counts, right?”
As Jane started to move forward with everyone else, Charlie went on, “Oh, I thought I would just be talking with the adults, actually.”
Tom put a hand on her shoulder. “This is their fight as much as ours. They were what got us all here, and they should be part of ending it.”
Jane thought she saw one of Charlie’s eyes twitch for a second, but he quickly regained control. “Of course. Right this way, everyone.”
* * *
Once in the office, Charlie activated his hologram device and another map of a building like the one they’d seen before came up. This one was much larger than the police station, and the hallways were a bizarre maze that almost looked alive. “You wanted a map, here it is.”
Jane said, “Wait, so this is the whole building?”
Charlie smiled at her. “Absolutely.”
She struggled to keep her emotions under control. “And why exactly didn’t you show it to us when we were planning the first escape?”
“Always straight to the right point with you. It’s marvelous. To answer that, as you already discovered, the corridor control room is a straight path away from the teleporter on that level. See? It’s right here.” He pointed at what was indeed one of the few straight lines in the picture. “So bringing this up then would just have confused you for no reason.”
“But what if we had to run once we got there? Someone was waiting for us, and we were just lucky that he wanted to help.”
Charlie now looked more serious. “You won’t like the answer to that. You sure you want to hear it?”
Matt said, “Well, I certainly want to now.” Jim nodded beside him.
Charlie spread his hands. “All right. If that had happened, the hard truth is that you would in all likelihood have had no chance of getting through the corridor by the deadline anyway, so there would have been no point to knowing anything. It’s the kind of thing someone like me has to consider all the time – where to put resources so they have the most chance of getting things done. So don’t blame me for this one, it’s a pure numbers game.”
Jim scoffed. “Except you’ve been deliberately turning these people against us since we got here. So I’m guessing that’s just your go-to story if anyone finds out about this.”
Tom and Mary’s eyes turned hard and Tom asked, “Is this true, sir?”
Charlie pointed at him and smiled. “Politeness. Always nice to see. You could learn something from your parents, young man. And to answer that, I don’t know what they thought they saw me do, but I can assure you, that was not my intention.”
Jane noticed a change in his behavior, actually making an effort to conceal his motives, despite how Tom and Mary might as well just be one more annoyance from another world to him. She could only assume he didn’t bother when he wasn’t dealing with adults, as kids and teens couldn’t do anything to him anyway. Suddenly she very much wanted to show him how wrong he was, if only she could come up with a way. And right now, there were rather more important things to be focusing on. “Okay, okay, you’re both pretty. Now can we please get down to business? I’d like to not use up my seven days here.”
Mary put a hand on her shoulder and smiled when Jane looked up. “Now I see what Jim saw in you,” she whispered.
Jane imagined the woman was expecting her to react to that statement far differently than she actually felt like doing, but this was even less the time for it, so she just smiled back.
Tom picked the conversation back up. “Of course. Jim, do you have any idea what was done with this Bram person?”
Jim shook his head. “Like I told these guys, Pren decided what to do with me first, and then they took me away before I could hear anything else.”
Tom turned to Charlie. “You’ve got experience with this kind of thing. Any ideas?”
Jane cringed inside, doubting how helpful this would be.
“Bram was one of our top undercover agents, which would make him a high priority for capture. And if what I’ve heard about this Chapman is true, that’s all it would be. He doesn’t seem the type to kill when he doesn’t have to.”
Jim said, “But Pren was the one put in charge, and he definitely is that type.”
“That may very well be. But for the time being, let’s stick with the assumption that he is still alive. Better than just leaving him to rot unnecessarily, as this charming lady would undoubtedly say.” He turned to Mary for that last part.
Jane was put off by his shameless toadying now that
he knew he was in the presence of a genuine danger, but at least he did seem willing to help with this project, for whatever reason.
“Well, I’m flattered, but what exactly does that mean for us? You still haven’t said where he’s likely to be.”
Jane barely restrained herself from punching the air. It seemed this woman wasn’t one to fall for such techniques.
Charlie didn’t miss a beat, however. He probably hadn’t had high hopes for that little comment anyway. “These three already know. They were held in the same kind of place he may be right now.”
Matt said, “Wait a minute, you mean that room Chapman put us in while he waited for the decision about us?”
Charlie nodded, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “And that he told you was just a temporary measure, yes. But don’t feel too betrayed. That may well have been exactly what he intended. It’s just that their main purpose is rather more sinister. You saw how they can be completely sealed off, with no way to open from the inside.”
Jane felt a chill come over her. “You mean …”
“If Bram hadn’t come for you, you might have simply been left in there, no one else ever knowing about you, until you rotted. I don’t know how many times they’ve done it, but I imagine it happens quite a bit.”
Matt shook his head. “Chapman wouldn’t have done that, though. He’s actually pretty nice, as those guys go.”
Jim snorted. “Oh, really? Because as I recall, we could all be back home right now, with all of this behind us, if it wasn’t for him. And if we run into him again on this thing, I’m definitely going to remind him of that.”
Tom said, “I wouldn’t tempt fate. The higher the rank, the more advanced combat programs they get. And better weapons, too. He’d shred you apart before you landed one blow.”
Charlie sighed. “As I was saying.” He paused there, presumably waiting for everyone to look suitably contrite. And it seemed he got his wish, however much Jane wished he hadn’t. “It’s my guess that Bram would be locked in one of these cells. I’ve never met this Pren personally, but several of my people have, and from all I’ve heard, he’s definitely the type to pull something like this. But luckily, I’d guess that with a more reasonable superior to watch out for, he wouldn’t starve Bram. Plus, there’s only a few of those cells in the building and I’ve got all their locations right here.” He gestured to the hologram.
“So we get into the building, search them until we find Bram, and then he goes back to you while we go through the corridor, for good this time,” said Matt.
Charlie grinned unnervingly. “You seem to have it completely surrounded, Mr. Orticus. Everybody wins, wouldn’t you say?”
“Except for one thing. What about Dave?”
The others looked quite confused at this, and it fell to Mary to question it. “The clone soldier? What about him?”
“He was my friend. That much was real. And finding him was what got us here in the first place. He wanted to come back with us – I don’t want to leave him behind again.”
Jim said, “Are you sure about that? He might have been in on the whole thing for all we know.”
Matt shook his head. “What we had was a real friendship. And I saw it in his eyes. Everything he told us was true.”
“Well, you don’t have much experience with that kind of thing. I mean, sorry to bring it up like this, but I don’t really think your impression about this is very trustworthy.”
“How about mine?” Jane took a second to realize she was the one who had spoken. “I was right there through the whole thing, too, and I think it was real.” She stopped and considered what she was saying. Did she really feel this way or was this just her newfound attraction to Matt talking? It would be so inconvenient if it could take over her mind to that level. But for now, she decided to just plow forward. It felt like the right thing to say, and she had to trust that. “So I say we go after him, too, if we can.” She turned back to Charlie with a questioning expression.
He frowned at them all. “I would advise against this, myself. It’s too much of a random element for my taste. But who am I kidding, if you want to, you’re going to do it. So my best guess is he’d be too valuable an asset to destroy, or even imprison. So instead they’ll have put him right back where he was, under strict supervision, trying to convince him to join the cause again. Though that’s all I can give you – he could be anywhere in the place.”
Matt nodded. “All right. It’ll have to be enough.” He turned to Jim. “Because I for one am going to at least try.” He looked in turn to Jane, Tom, and Mary, who all nodded back. “Well, let’s get started.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Enter.” Tom said just the one word and the doors opened. Matt still couldn’t shake the feeling that this all seemed too easy somehow. Behind them stood twenty of the best and brightest that Charlie could provide, and with just that word, they were all now able to walk straight into the most important building in the city. Well, never underestimate how much needing to keep a secret can screw you over, he figured.
Not that he expected smooth sailing once they were inside. Not only was there so much to do that something was bound to go wrong, but he very much doubted the motivation of the people behind him. Oh, they all acted perfectly willing about it, and at dinner last night they’d all taken turns bragging about everything they were going to do today. But whenever they looked at him, he thought he saw that old resentment Charlie had built up, like without opening their mouths they were saying to him, “This had better be worth it, kid.” Maybe he was just being paranoid, but then he remembered a quote he’d read in an old yearbook: ‘Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he is never disappointed.’
There were five cells throughout the building like the one he and his friends had been put in when they first arrived, so the twenty men split into four groups of five to search an area each, with Matt, Jane, Jim, and Jim’s parents forming a group of their own for the remaining one. That had resulted in an unfortunate incident at dinner last night, when some jerk heckled that their group would actually be short a person, given how Jane lacked the benefit of any training programs. Matt had shouted back, “She can do just fine without them, and if you’d seen her in action at all, you’d know that!”
Jane had said to him afterwards, “Thanks, really, but I wish you wouldn’t. To people like that, it’s just more evidence that I can’t fight my own battles.”
“So you want me to just do nothing?”
She had looked at him with a penetrating gaze, which made him a bit uncomfortable for reasons he couldn’t quite figure out. “Yes, that would be perfect. After tomorrow, either way, we never have to see him again, so why let it bother you?”
Matt hadn’t been able to come up with anything else to say. If Jane really wasn’t bothered by it, he didn’t see that he had any right to be offended on her behalf.
Their group went through the teleporter first, with Tom saying, “Barracks.” This was the floor that housed all the gear the building’s security teams used, and was naturally the most dangerous of the assignments. Matt had requested it personally for two reasons. First, to try to lessen the resentment of the other team members risking their lives for him and his friends. He didn’t think it had worked very well, but there was also the second reason to consider: it would give him the best odds of running into Dave.
Charlie had not been optimistic about his chances. “If he’s been with them all this time, he may well be completely on their side again by now. Let’s just say they can be very … persuasive.”
That had got Jim talking. “You should seriously think about this. You could get killed, just because you refused to think.”
At least he hadn’t gone so far as to say he might get killed himself, or Jane, or his parents. Matt was grateful for that, because he didn’t know if he could have continued standing firm once it was spoken out loud. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t weighing heavily on him even now. Whatever anyone else thought,
this was not a decision he had made lightly. But whatever it was he had seen in Dave’s eyes when he was explaining himself, and saying he wanted to go back with them, Matt couldn’t see how it wasn’t real. Whether it was real enough to withstand whatever had been done to him for the past two months, well, they’d find out if it came to that.
Upon their arrival, the barracks didn’t look any different from the parts of the building he’d seen before, the same gray corridors heading off in different directions. He wondered if anyone working here ever had their mind messed up by the décor, becoming depressed by looking at the same thing day after day. They had gone about halfway toward the cell’s location when three guards appeared.
Not a word was exchanged before Matt rushed at them along with the others, as the last thing they wanted was any kind of alarm being set off. By now the moves had become second nature to him, and with every new attack his mind automatically selected the right counter-move. He was actually amazed he’d got by so long without this. It was kind of fun, to be able to just let himself go without any of the moral ambiguity of his taking Johnny apart. Of course, the catch was that the people he was fighting had the same training, and every counter seemed to have a counter of its own. Still, they were up a man even with Jane having to sit out the fight as usual, so he wasn’t worried.
* * *
Jane couldn’t help feeling guilty as she watched the fight. She could be in there helping them, but she had reluctantly agreed that even with the natural abilities she’d developed over the last week, she had been extremely lucky in the fights she’d got into so far, and it would be a very bad idea to push that luck any further. Still, she remained sure that she’d made the right choice, as she didn’t think she could live with that kind of alteration to who she was. And it wasn’t like she was worried very much in this particular instance, as she was pretty sure Jim’s parents alone could take these guys.
But none of that helped her this time. Because while her allies were all busy with the fight, she felt hands grab her shoulders and pull her roughly to the side. She was thrown inside a room off the hall and barely managed to keep her feet as she settled into the center of it. Her attacker closed the door, making it again flush with the wall like it had been until a few seconds ago, and turned around. Jane couldn’t suppress a gasp: it was the one person above all others she hoped to never see again. She was looking at the unmistakable freckled face of Reeves.