CYPHER: A Dystopian Novel

by Barbara Winkes

  However, she was the one who’d bring Lily home.

  A win-win situation for all of them.

  “Let’s make this quick,” she told Jenkins. “Your wife overheard conversations with another woman, talking about details of a mission. We’ve already got you on several charges, but if you’re willing to share the glory, you could do yourself a lot of good. Tell me about that mission.”

  He stared back at her rather unimpressed.

  “What you guys do here, it’s a shame. You turn people into shells, with no future, just cheap workers so the money always flows back into your overblown organization. What’s the salary of an IdA inspector? No, wait. I know.”

  “I see. You’re making your point by killing children, because you’re pissed that I have more money in my bank account than you?”

  “I didn’t kill anybody, nor did I give or receive an order to do so,” he claimed. I’m not telling you anything. You wouldn’t get it. The IdA has tried for the longest time to discredit us. Rebels.” He shook his head. “We don’t even call ourselves that. If I may remind you, any peaceful protest was banned years ago. That’s why we organized ourselves outside of the City.”

  “There have been several attacks, increasingly violent. The body count’s been rising. You want me to believe you’re just chanting peace anthems in those camps?”

  “Your contempt, Inspector, is misplaced,” he said, though he conveyed the sentiment just as well. “We have been working on freeing people who have lost everything, getting them out of the City before they would kill themselves because of the hopelessness of their situation. The mere idea of a cypher shows complete lack of respect for a human being.”

  Katlena had to think of the treatment Ami had gotten, some that she witnessed, some she might never know about. She hated that he had a point. She was angry at her lack of attention to these issues, before Ami. She might be a better chief than Drago, but she still had a lot to prove.

  “Forgive me if I disagree. I think nothing shows the lack of respect for a human being like murdering them. If the phone call your wife overheard wasn’t about the bombing, what is the mission? If you aren’t going to tell us, maybe Jean Davidson can.”

  He paled, and Katlena instantly knew she had found some leverage.

  “Jean knows nothing about this.”

  “Yet, she and her husband disappeared years ago, supposedly allies of the not-to-be-called rebels. They’re the good ones, I assume?”

  “Look,” he said, throwing up his hands in frustration. “It’s complicated.”

  Katlena finally halted her pacing and sat in front of him. “There’s no denying that. Don’t worry, Mr. Jenkins. I have time. I’m a pretty good listener too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ami was taken aback to see Insa in her old workplace.

  “Excuse me, I—” She stammered a little, catching herself. “I need to see Katlena. Glad to see you’re back,” she added, hoping the small acknowledgement would help mend fences for the moment.

  Insa shrugged.

  “It’s a paycheck. Much as I dislike what happened, Drago won’t pay me once he’s in prison, and that’s what you’re working at, right?”

  Ami had no intention to deepen the subject with her.

  “Where is Katlena?”

  “You can’t see her now. She’s in interrogation with one of the rebels.”

  “They found him? What about…”

  “You need to ask her when she’s done,” Insa cut her off. “How long that’s going to take, I have no idea.”

  “Well, thank you anyway.”

  Ami decided to wait in the break room. She remembered, just days ago, how she’d been trailing after Katlena in the hallways of the IdA, keeping her head down. With a few dollars still on her, and clothes that didn’t reveal her status in City society, she felt a whole lot less exposed and out of place.

  She had proper documentation, even if not by her own name. No one even cared if she sat in here for a moment, maybe had another coffee. Ami didn’t dare think about what it could mean that there had been a confrontation with the rebels. She’d wait, edge of her seat, until Katlena’s work was done for the day.

  Ami sat on the bench at the far end of the room, realizing that she was exhausted. Yeah, right, a shopping trip took a lot out of you. She looked down at the green woolen dress she was wearing, with a smile. No more black and white in the near future.

  The sound of gunfire violently jolted her out of her pleasant musings.

  * * * *

  Brad Jenkins looked like he had a headache. Katlena could sympathize. Complicated seemed a euphemism here. Jenkins had been the manager of a company that contributed to cypher food deliveries. That’s where he met Jean Davidson who lived near the border, allegedly a single mother. Jenkins and Davidson had an affair, and it wasn’t long before he got involved with the network of allies.

  “She didn’t tell me all that much,” he said with a shrug, the emotion in his voice betraying the attempt at acting nonchalant. “She said she didn’t want to put me in danger.” Between the lines, it was clear he had soon fallen in love with her, and would have been ready to do anything she asked. He had made inquiries on his own and one day, crossed paths with a woman whom he believed to be part of a separatist militant group.

  “You help us. We try to help you and Jean,” Katlena offered. “That’s the best deal I can get you.”

  Jenkins looked as exhausted as she felt. “You’re gonna take away the girl? That’s not fair. Jean has been her mother for five years. Her birth mother, does she even care?”

  “I can assure you that she cares. Mrs. Davidson might not have been informed about all the details, but Ms. Moore was pressured into giving up her baby five years ago. I wouldn’t call that ‘fair’, either.”

  “Teresa won’t know her.”

  “She can’t stay with the Davidsons. Either way, the have violated the law by taking her underground. Don’t you think it’s better for her to stay with her mother who loves her than end up in the foster system?”

  “Whose law did they violate?” he asked bitterly. “Chief Drago’s? I hear he’s in trouble, but it seems like his legacy will live on.”

  The man had a more than a few good points. It was hard to not let him get to her.

  “Drago is not the chief anymore. I promise I will personally look into their cases, but consider this. You say you wanted to help the people in the cypher system. You say that all of them have been done wrong. I agree that the old administration has made some terrible mistakes. We’re taking steps towards fixing them. This woman has spent five years not knowing whether she’d ever see her daughter again. She is not your enemy.”

  Jenkins laughed wryly. “Hard to know who is these days, isn’t it?”

  She was about to answer when the gunfire echoed, sounding uncomfortably close. Almost at the same time, the door was kicked open, a couple of officers in IdA uniforms walking in with their guns drawn.

  “Drop your weapon!” one of them yelled.

  “What the hell are you doing, Officer? There’s a dishonorable—” Katlena stopped when the man fired a bullet into the tabletop. Behind him, a familiar figure walked inside, smiling smugly.

  “Good evening, Chief Cervantes. Or should I call you…78454, I think it will be?” Drago asked.

  * * * *

  From her viewpoint in the break room, Ami could see IdA personnel gathering from all sides, talking in anxious voices, trying to find out what had happened. She went through the drawers in search of anything that could serve as a weapon, then slipped out of the room unnoticed, grateful for her new clothes that made her blend in with the plain clothes people.

  She needed to find Katlena. First of all, Ami needed to find out if she was okay. Besides, when push came to shove and the situation escalated, it seemed like a good idea to keep close to the woman with the gun.

  Ami tried hard not to imagine what might have taken place moments ago. She was still shaken fro
m the bombing, and she didn’t think she could bear to witness more senseless deaths. Especially not now, when the new life was finally in reach...

  She stopped abruptly when she heard a familiar voice. Insa.

  Ami risked a quick glance around the corner and then fitted herself against the wall, willing herself to become invisible. There were two armed men with the former chief secretary, talking to her in a curt, clipped tone.

  They weren’t threatening her.

  Insa hadn’t returned to work for the new chief. She was in on this. Ami chastised herself for not being more suspicious earlier. She ducked into an unlocked office while Insa and the two men passed.

  * * * *

  “Don’t be silly, Drago. Backup is already on the way. You once had a chance, but now there’s no way you’ll walk away a free man.” She couldn’t allow a moment of weakness with him. Katlena found it hard not to think of Lily, in an office another floor down with the social worker. Ami, waiting for her at home. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out she had taken her in.

  “I think you’ll find out that I will. Katlena.” His voice was soft and patronizing. “I know it’s always been your dream to head the IdA. You’ve had your fun. The people who worked for me have no use for a woman chief. Much less a gay one.”

  “I bet you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to say this line, right?” She gave him a grim smile. “Cut the crap, Drago. You’re arrested. This time you won’t get out of this so easily—”

  He’d moved fast, she had to give him that. Katlena was fit and trained, but it clearly wasn’t a good idea to get into hand-to-hand combat with a man she knew to be trained for black ops.

  “Face it,” he said, only moments later. The bastard didn’t even sound out of breath. “The people here aren’t behind you. They won’t give a damn.” For sure, it was true for the officer who cuffed her wrists behind her back, making a point of fastening them as tightly as possibly. She shifted minutely, uncomfortably aware of the gun at her temple and every ache that reminded her of the brief fight, the results rather mortifying.

  “If you say so. What’s the plan? You want to kill me? I’m not sure if the Committee that endorsed me earlier will let you get away with that, much less the people who are watching the City from the outside.”

  “Oh Katlena, so little creativity? I don’t want to kill you, never mind the fact that there is no life for any of us outside the City. You’ve been spending so much time worrying about our pitiful cypher friends, it will be a good place for you to be.”

  “You wish.”

  The sound of someone knocking on the door seemed obscenely loud.

  “Sir? The floor is secure. No one going in or out.” He gave Katlena a curious look, then quickly averted his eyes. Another IdA officer disgracing the uniform, probably because of promises Drago made to him. Of course. There must have been some of them on the inside to make this happen.

  Katlena was grateful that at least Ami was home, safe for the moment. She’d find a way to warn her somehow. How ironic that she’d spent $20,000 on buying her an identity when her own was at stake.

  “Good job,” Drago said. “Let’s move out of here, shall we? I’d like to continue working from my office. Put her in holding,” he advised the IdA officer. “The lady’s got a lot to consider.”

  The officer pushed her forward and out of the room.

  “You really think this is going to work out in the end? Think twice. The Committee endorsed me. Drago already has a lawsuit pending.”

  There was no reaction from her escort. Katlena was infinitely annoyed that Drago had sent an officer with her who was nowhere near her rank yet. She assumed it was intentional, to add to the humiliation.

  “Don’t be stupid, all right?”

  “Shut up,” he hissed.

  “Say that again? You dare—”

  “I said shut up!”

  Maybe it wasn’t clever to argue with an angry and armed man when cuffed, but his attitude was too irritating. Katlena had expected nothing less from Drago whose ego knew no boundaries, obviously, but this man was supposed to answer to her.

  “Well, fuck you, and besides, consider yourself fired the moment I—”

  He shoved her face-first into the wall, knocking the breath out of her.

  “That won’t save you,” she gasped. “Drago won’t save you.”

  Katlena braced herself, but the hit never came.

  “That’s right,” Ami said. “Slow and easy.”

  Turning around, Katlena saw that she was holding a knife to the man’s throat. She blinked, wondering if she’d been hit one time too many today.

  “I told you not to come in…”

  “Yeah, I remember. Aren’t you glad I didn’t listen?”

  Ami took the gun and keys from the seething officer, training it on him with one hand while she opened the cuffs with the other.

  “You won’t shoot me, girlie.” He made a step forward.

  Katlena jumped when Ami pulled the trigger, hitting the wall.

  “Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Great aim you have.”

  “Well, mine is better.” Katlena gave Ami a quick, grateful smile before she took the gun from her, training it on the traitor. After he was cuffed and locked into a utility closet, she took a moment to pull Ami into an embrace.

  “I won’t say I’m not grateful, but why did you come here?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Ami said ruefully. “To pick you up after work, have a nice slow start into the evening? I did go shopping though.”

  Katlena chuckled. “That means if we make it out of here alive, you’ll have something decent to wear. That’s a relief.”

  “I thought so, but…um, you’re bleeding on me.”

  “Crap. So much for a safe desk job. Ami, we need to move.”

  “You have to clean up.”

  “Now. We need to get downstairs. Lily’s with the social worker.”

  Ami’s eyes grew wide. “How?” The hope and longing in her gaze was near painful. First of all, they had to assess the situation, get everyone out safely. If that was achieved, there was still the matter of Ami being a stranger to Lily. Katlena wondered if Ami had ever considered that. The timing for the reunion couldn’t have been worse.

  “I’ll explain later. I want her, and you out first.”

  “What about you?” Ami asked, sounding frightened. After threatening the IdA officer with a knife and firing a shot at him, the gravity of the situation was obviously catching up with her.

  Katlena shrugged, wiping her face with her sleeve. She winced at the red smear left behind. “Obviously, there have been some turncoats in the house, but I can’t leave the others behind. Drago will use everyone who is not on his side as a hostage. I can’t let that happen.”

  “Then I’ll stay.”

  “No.”

  “You said it yourself, there’s no time to argue. I’m not leaving you.”

  “This is the moment you’ve been waiting for all these years and now, it doesn’t matter?”

  “Lily matters to me,” Ami said calmly. “So do you.”

  Katlena had nothing more to argue.

  * * * *

  Ami felt like she was going to faint. That had nothing to do with the fact that the IdA building was under siege, or they were still in a potentially fatal situation. She had shot at a man with, at the very least, the intention to harm him.

  Everything paled in comparison to finally reaching her goal of five years.

  “Are you going to be okay?”

  At least Katlena hadn’t tried again to make her leave. This had to work out somehow. There had to be a way where they could be together, with Lily. All else would just be too cruel.

  It seemed like all staff had been gathered in the office area near the break room. The doors leading to the stairs were locked, but Katlena still had her keys. Her cell phone was in her purse though, in the chief’s office, currently occupied by Drago.

  “The protocol for a situ
ation like this is usually a lockdown,” Katlena explained. “Everyone who works in the building knows this. They are supposed to stay put. I brought Lily there myself earlier today.”

  She knocked on the door, Ami was watching her with worry. If she’d been the one on the other side of the door, knowing that there were gunmen loose on the building, she might not have opened it.

  “Sofia, it’s Chief Cervantes. I have Ms. Moore with me. The intruders are all a level above us. I need you to let her in.”

  “Wait, what are you saying?” Ami asked nervously.

  “You’re not going, fine. The least thing you can do is to stay here with your daughter and another civilian until this mess is cleaned up.”

  “But—”

  “Sofia, do you have a cell phone in there? I assume they cut the phone lines?”

  Sofia Landon, the social worker, finally opened the door a fraction. She looked scared.

  “Is there really no one? I have my cell right here.”

  “Would you close the door so we can finally proceed here?”

  Katlena exchanged a quick look with Ami before she followed her inside, obviously as baffled to find Cara here.

  “Mrs. Rivera. We seem to meet often lately.”

  Ami didn’t hear anything after that, her gaze locked onto that of the girl sitting on the couch with another woman. Lily had interrupted her play for a moment to look up at the newcomers. She had no idea who they were. The other woman knew though. With a pang of fear Ami realized that this had to be Jean Davidson who had taken care of Lily in the past five years—who considered herself to be Lily’s mother.