“I’m detective Smoke Callahan,” he said as softly as he could. “Are you alright?” When she straightened herself a little and nodded he continued, “Your parents sent me to find you and bring you home.”
Blue nodded as she processed what Smoke had said, “You poor bastard, “she said. “Let me guess, it was Marla who sent you.”
Smoke furrowed his brow. “Yeah,” he said confused.
“They set you up. They sent you to find me with no real thought in their mind that you’d ever actually find me. They probably hoped you’d die along the way.”
“Why would they do that?”
Blue showed a weak smile as she sunk back into her chair, “It’s simple. Their daughter went missing. Their daughter who had figured out a way to make living in the underground much easier. I could have actually brought the first two underground levels to the surface. The eighth and ninth below would have become a distant memory. I was a prodigy. They couldn’t let the public think I’d just disappear and have nobody come looking for me. They could check school records. They could check several legitimate means of my not being home. What they can’t check is if I run away or if I’m kidnapped shortly after running away. Especially since knowing of this engine is the family secret.
“They would then hire a detective who they thought would get too close to the truth and die. An incompetent detective would just fail, he’d tell the story of the one he couldn’t find and questions would be asked. If they got someone good - someone who knew who to ask the questions of, knew who to trust and was down on his luck enough that they’d be willing to go where they needed - that was the person they needed. He’d get too close, die and nobody would investigate because everyone would believe me dead in the underground. You got set up Mister Callahan. Though, I don’t think my family expected this.”
Smoke had known the case was strange. He had known the payment was too good to be true. He had tried to turn away, but had been threatened. He didn’t expect to have dealt with his fourth below problem on his own.
“So did you run away or were you abducted?” Smoke asked.
“I left at first. I decided to get lost in the underground where I thought nobody would find me. I got as far as the seventh below when I was told I’d find a sanctuary on the ninth below. I decided to give it a look and was captured shortly after arriving at the ninth.”
Smoke nodded as he thought about Blue’s story. “I’m building a plan to get out of here,” Smoke said. “I could have been out of here a while ago, but I came here for you. I needed to know where you were and that you were alive. Now you’re right here. I don’t think I’m going to get a better opportunity than this.”
Blue gave Smoke a wicked grin, “I’m in. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
17
The plan had a small chance of success, though it was their best odds of escaping. Smoke didn’t know how long they had waited. The room lacked any sort of timepiece, but the plan hinged on the two of them appearing to be sleeping - make the officers believe they are in a state of weakness.
What seemed like several hours to Smoke had probably only been just over a single hour before Officer Raven returned to the torture room. This was a stroke of luck. There would be no real chance of a struggle if Smoke was unconscious.
Officer Raven spoke to a man outside the room before closing the door. Smoke raised his head slightly with half open eyes. He could see Officer Raven walk over to him and grab him by the head. He used his fingers to pull one of Smoke’s eyelids open and took a look. Smoke did his best to continue the charade of weakness. He seemed to buy it. He let Smoke’s head go and began removing the straps that held him down.
He let his head and arms fall free as the straps were removed one by one. Next, Officer Raven worked on freeing his legs. This would be the moment of truth. Once he was free it would only be a matter of time before he could make his move.
Officer Raven picked Smoke up from under his shoulder. “Alright, easy now. One step at a time,” Officer Raven whispered to himself or to Smoke, it was unclear which.
Smoke watched as they continued to take small steps towards the exit. As they approached the door Smoke intentionally slipped causing himself to land on the tray of soft mallets and hooks. The force of his impact knocked the tray over and onto the floor scattering the contents across the room. Smoke picked himself up back onto his hands and knees, continuing to do his best at appearing weak. Under his body he gripped a soft mallet.
Officer Raven swore quietly and knelt down beside Smoke. He didn’t see the mallet coming nor could he react when the mallet connected in the center of his face. Officer Raven fell backwards onto his back. Smoke could see blood gushing through the mask from what he could only assume to be a broken nose. Officer Raven gripped at his mask.
Smoke then stood and walked towards Officer Raven. “You tortured me,” he said coldly. “I could forgive that. Unfortunately for you, I’ve been broken before. Many, many times in my youth, I’ve learned to stay strong. I’ve learned how to not give anything away, even myself.
But then you tortured Blue. I know you didn’t take any pleasure in it. I know you didn’t want to do it, but you did anyway. That said - I have to keep my word and kill you. Don’t worry; it’ll be a quick death. Blue, don’t watch this.”
Smoke knelt beside the fallen officer and raised the soft mallet. For a moment he wished it were actually made of metal and not hard rubber. He pulled the mask off the officer’s face and saw the man looked very different than he had imagined. He had short red hair and a large amount of red scruff along his cheeks and chin. His nose had been crushed flat and sat sideways on his face. His two front teeth had been knocked out and possibly swallowed. Smoke looked over to Blue and saw she had obeyed. She had her eyes closed and her head turned away as far as she could.
Smoke brought the hammer down between Officer Raven’s eyes. The sound of the Officer’s skull crunching under the mallet was sickening. Nothing he hadn’t heard before, but it’d be a new experience for Blue. He hoped she wouldn’t vomit from it. The body twitched as the damaged brain desperately tried to send signals to the nerves and muscles.
It was the first chance Smoke had been given to check out his arms and legs. They felt worse than they were, not much in the way of deep tissue damage, but the skin on the surface was perforated to the point where it may as well have not been there at all. Movement would become more difficult once the adrenaline in his brain wore off.
Almost immediately after coming back to his senses, Smoke began removing the metal jaws from Blue. Once Smoke had pulled himself away she closed her legs and grimaced at the pain in her crotch. She looked up at him and said, “Thank you.”
Smoke gave her a nod and then proceeded to undress the officer. He needed his uniform for the plan to work. Smoke thought of the plan and realized just how amazed he was that things had gone as smoothly as it had. He took in a pained breath as he pulled the clothing over his damaged arms and legs. Blood began to soak through - something he hoped wouldn’t be too much of a giveaway as to who he was.
Smoke hoped their luck kept holding. In a matter of minutes he had changed into the officer’s uniform. He picked up the mask that hid all facial features and placed it over his face. The mask was still wet from Officer Raven’s blood. The smell was intense; he knew he wouldn’t vomit, though he didn’t care for it.
“Now we wait for Officer Miller to come get you,” Smoke said with a hidden grin. He could image the look on his face when he pulled Officer Miller’s mask off. Then the surprise as he smashed the officer’s nose with the mallet. He could see himself tearing and rending the flesh from the officer’s body with the hooks and blades. Perhaps he’d attach the officer to the electric chair, or the needle chair and leave him there until someone found him.
He shook the thoughts from his head. Officer Miller was a man who deserved to die a slow and painful death. He didn’t know how much pain the man had inflicted on others; the fact that
he took joy from it was on another level. It angered Smoke that vengeance for all the others would have to be put to the back burner and the officer would have to die quickly. It was the only way either of them would get out alive.
He didn’t know what to do with the officer’s body. The corpse had finally ceased its twitching, though now a pool of blood had formed around what had once been a perfectly constructed head. Now the front of the man’s face, primarily his nose and eyes were somewhere in the mess of brain tissue and shattered bone. The best he could do was to leave the body there. Somehow they had missed that part of the plan. Once Officer Miller entered they’d have to improvise.
Smoke rolled the body of Officer Raven over so he was face down. He covered the officer’s head with a large softcloth that he had found in the corner of the room. If Officer Miller didn’t take any sort of time to inspect the body, they’d be fine. Smoke began working on a plan in the event he did decide to roll the body over to see the man’s face.
Smoke soon got the idea to grab one of the knives and slash the fabric in in one of the arms where he had been bleeding. He then rubbed his blood all over the other arm and covered himself with as much as he could. If Miller asked, he could say he had been slashed with one of the small knives.
Blue pulled at her chains. “How long do you think we are going to have to wait until Officer Miller gets here?”
Smoke shrugged, “It’s hard to say. If I were to make a guess he’d be waiting for Officer Miller to come through the door with me before he came in to grab you. He’s probably wondering what’s taking so long by now though.”
Smoke began to scream. He knelt beside the body, removed the soft cloth and picked up the mallet and brought it down on the floor a couple times. Blue began to scream as well. The idea worked. Officer Miller opened the door just as Smoke pulled the soft cloth over the officer’s head. Miller was currently maskless. He had tan skin with short black hair. “What’s going on here?” he asked with haste.
Smoke gripped his nose from under the respirator; the blood down the front of the mask would be cause for concern. The best he could do would be to bring attention to it. “Fucker hit me in the face with one of the fucking mallets and then fucking slashed me. I got him with a mallet though,” he said through his nose to simulate a broken nose. He hoped it would help excuse the voice change, “I can’t believe he got the drop on me.”
“It happens,” Officer Miller said with a frown, “Did you have to kill him though?”
Smoke shook his head, “I didn’t mean to kill him, I hit him back with another mallet and it crushed his skull.”
“You know what you have to do now right?” Officer Miller asked without actually being a question.
Smoke nodded, “Yeah, I know. It’s not something I want to do, I mean, it was an accident after all. Plus he did hit me first. But, I know we don’t kill. We hurt, we maim and we scar, but we don’t kill.”
Officer Miller nodded, “That’s right,” he looked down to Blue and then back to Smoke, “She can wait here for another few minutes. Come with me, I am going to make sure you do what you have to do.”
Smoke nodded, “I appreciate that,” he said. “Though I think you should bring the girl with us. It’d be good for her to see what happens when someone fucks up.”
Officer Miller grinned, “That is an excellent idea.”
As he knelt down to unlock Blue he looked back to the body lying on the floor. “What is it?” Smoke asked as he maintained the charade of a broken nose.
“Something seems off about that body,” Officer Miller said, “I’m going to take a quick look at it.”
As Officer Miller approached the body Smoke slowly knelt down and picked up another soft mallet. Officer Miller knelt beside the body of Officer Raven. As he removed the softcloth he lifted his head, “Red hair, Callahan doesn’t have red hair.”
As Smoke approached with the soft mallet Officer Miller kicked out backwards. His boots connected with Smoke’s shins and brought him down to the floor, his face connecting with the floor.
Officer Miller picked himself up and grinned, “I’ve got to say, I’m sad to see Officer Raven dead, but I am certainly glad you did this. I don’t like you Callahan and even if you had come around to our side I can’t imagine I’d have ever liked you.” He pulled out a large blade from behind himself. “This blade is supposed to be used for torture, nothing serious, but enough to cause the right amount of pain to break someone. I’m glad it’s going to be used for what I’ve always wanted to use it for, ending your pathetic life.”
“I thought you don’t kill down here,” Smoke said as he removed the mask.
“We don’t,” Officer Miller agreed, “But there is an exception to the rule. It’s written directly in our doctrine. We don’t kill. That’s to be sure we don’t leave a trail of bodies to our engine. But, if you kill one of us, if you murder someone who works for the engine - well, your life is then forfeit. I am now within my full rights as an officer of the engine to kill you right here and now. I could throw you in the engine, that’d be a suiting death, but I don’t wish to sully her parts with your taint. No, your blood is better suited for a common blade.”
Blue made a small chirp before falling silent again. Officer Miller stood over Smoke and raised the blade. “Answer me one thig,” Smoke said frantically, “before you kill me, I just have one question.”
“Go ahead, I don’t see a problem with giving you one last question. A bit of peace before I cut your throat wide open.”
“What will be the engine’s purpose if everyone from the underground is now living on the surface?”
“What do you mean?” Officer Miller asked.
“Everyone from the underground is evacuating, they’re expecting the boomers to collapse the lower floors, and then they’d be placing one at the entrance of the first below so nobody can get out or back in. The engine produces water and air for those in the underground. It helps keep the people below the surface alive, that’s good. I like that. But the technology is not affected by the electromagnetic pulse the engine is able to unleash. Essentially the engine will become useless. What would be the point in keeping it going?”
Officer Miller thought for a moment. That was before he produced a massive devil’s grin and said, “I don’t know. I don’t care either.”
He placed his foot on Smoke’s ribs and lifted the blade. “How far in do you think the blade will go if I just let it drop? Where do you think it will land? Maybe it’ll collapse a lung; or maybe it’ll hit your heart. Maybe it will just bounce off the breastplate, I’ll be sure not to let that happen, it’d ruin my fun way too quickly. Besides, these breastplates are really not high quality.”
Smoke watched as Officer Miller raised the blade over his head with only two fingers. He could see the sweat on the officer’s face roll down and around his grin. His eyes were crazed and uncaring for the man beneath his boot. Smoke almost wished he’d just go the easy way and cut his throat now.
Smoke heard an explosion go off and Officer Miller’s face had disappeared. The blade fell from the dead officer’s hand and clattered on the floor inches away from Smoke’s face. The blade chipped at the tip as it hit the stone.
As Officer Miller’s body fell to the floor Smoke saw Penelope holding a revolving pistol in her hand and two pairs of officer’s uniforms across her shoulders. She wore an officer’s uniform that fit snugly around her, “Do you have any idea how fucking long it took to find you?” she asked.
Smoke’s eyes widened and stared at Penelope. “You’re dead.” He muttered.
“Well apparently not,” she said in a rushed voice, “Let’s go.”
Smoke rose to his knees and began searching Officer Miller’s body for the keys. He finally found them in a front pocket and began unlocking Blue’s cuffs. Penelope threw the two of them clean officer’s uniforms. “Do you see her too?” Smoke asked.
“Yeah,” Blue said, confused, “Of course I do.”
Smo
ke looked back to Penelope, “How are you alive? I watched your brains hit the fucking lift wall! Then that asshole said he threw your body into the machine. How? How are you here?”
“I’d also take a thank you,” Penelope said as she turned towards the door. “Smoke, I’ll explain everything once we are out of here. We need to go.”
“Blue needs to get dressed first,” Smoke said.
Penelope looked to Blue who had stepped out of the torture chair, “I didn’t even recognize her. To be honest I hardly noticed her,” Penelope said holding out her hand. “I’m Penelope; I’m a friend of Smoke’s.”
“Just Penelope?” Blue asked.
“I probably had a family name at one point, but I’ll be damned if I can remember it. It’s been a long time.”
“I’m Blue Lang,” she said with a faint smile.
The two women shook hands and Blue immediately began dressing. Smoke turned around as Blue dressed. Though he had already seen her naked he felt compelled to allow her some privacy while she clothed herself. Penelope rolled her eyes. He could tell she was pleased he had found Blue, though at the same time he could feel her sense of urgency. It was very likely someone had heard the shot and would be gathering reinforcements. Both Smoke and Blue were lacking weapons and he doubted the revolving pistol Penelope had held more than a few shots left. They’d be done before they had even been given a chance to begin escaping.
Once Blue had dressed she nodded to Penelope. “Lead the way,” she said.
Penelope nodded back to Blue and exited the room. The two of them followed Penelope through the corridors and passageways. The place was like a maze, filled with twists and turns. Smoke never would have found his way out on his own. Even if he had been to the torture chamber enough times to memorize his way to and from his cage he’d have never made it out. He didn’t know what stroke of luck had brought him Blue, and led Penelope back to him, but he was thankful for it.
The Engine What Runs the World Page 23