CYPHER: A Dystopian Novel

by Barbara Winkes

  “There I thought Paul had all forgotten about me.”

  The woman shrugged. “I don’t think he did, but if that had been the case, I’m sure Ms. Moore would have reminded him.”

  Katlena wanted to smile at that, instead her vision turned blurry.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Officer Marya Delphy, Ma’am.”

  “Thank you, Officer.”

  “You’re welcome. Now let’s get out of here, shall we?”

  Moving proved to be difficult, but getting out of this place was a definite incentive. Marya respectfully acknowledged her slower pace, up to the corner where another black-clad member of the Committee’s team tended to an injured person.

  When Katlena recognized her, she froze in her step, falling to her knees beside her. “Noelle!”

  She only now realized the blood-soaked cloth the man was using in what seemed a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.

  “She shot Drago,” the man explained. “His men got to her before we could.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Katlena chided, gently brushing a strand of hair away from her face. The skin under her fingers felt clammy and cold.

  “Saving…your ass.” Noelle gasped. “Told you, I have no ambitions.”

  “Thanks, but remember I still need you after all of this is cleaned up, so don’t you dare bail on me. You hear me?”

  “Aye, Chief.” A weak smile skittered over her face. Her eyelids fluttered.

  “Noelle! Stay with me here!” She couldn’t deal with this. Katlena gripped Noelle’s hand tighter, but her colleague was unconscious. She reached out to check for a pulse with trembling fingers, noticing for the first time the blood on her hands. Hers, Noelle’s, maybe Drago’s. Her vision wavered for a moment, and then her heart skipped a beat. There was no pulse. Katlena refused to acknowledge the final reality that came with this fact.

  “We need to get her to a hospital! Now!”

  She didn’t like the look Marya shared with her team mate. They knew it was too late. Katlena wasn’t ready to accept that, let go of the woman she had worked with for three years. Noelle had never learned that her brother wasn’t a drug addict turned terrorist, but had become a smart and kind man who was ready to take on a lot of responsibility.

  “No!”

  “Ma’am,” Marya said softly. “We need to move.”

  “No! We can’t leave her!”

  A part of her was still aware that, even beaten up and confronted with tragedy, she had a reputation to save. Katlena allowed a few more tears to run down her face when she really wanted to break down and sob. She had been so sure that if she made it out of here, it would be her and Noelle working towards a better IdA, as they had always attempted. Noelle was gone, saving her life. She took a deep breath, trying to push aside the raging grief as well as various pains starting to register. “Where do we go?”

  * * * *

  Ami had wracked her brain some more, partly, because she needed the distraction, partly because it was puzzling that somebody should come up with allegations against Katlena at this moment. No doubt it was Drago’s doing in the first place, but the timing to get hold of these documents, forged in whatever way, was certainly no coincidence. Trenton was a player who liked operating in the complexity of the political scene, pulling the strings. For sure he hadn’t done her any favors for a long time, before it became clear that she was on Drago’s radar, but he had changed his mind on Katlena very quickly. He didn’t seem opinionated against her in the first place.

  Ami sighed, thinking that if she had taken a different road, a different direction over five years ago, none of this might have happened. She’d been young and naïve, just broken up with her boyfriend when a friend urged her to leave the house and join her at the party.

  To that day, Ami had only had a vague idea of what a cypher was. She had plans to study journalism, and motherhood was not on the horizon. She and Shelby hit the bars with false ID’s, and in one of them, they ran into a bachelor’s party.

  In a way, she and Oliver, Drago’s son, had a lot in common, unhappy with a present situation in their lives, unable to change it, taking everything they got for granted. The difference between them was that he was twenty-three, Ami barely eighteen, carrying ID that claimed her to be twenty-one. He was soft-spoken, looking younger than his age. He had kind eyes. None of them were sober when they went to one of the guest rooms upstairs. The concierge accepted his credit card, but Ami still remembered the sympathetic look the man had given her.

  She never tried to find Oliver. The real trouble started when Marc, her ex, wanted to get back together, but his parents, doing the math, opposed the thought of their son raising another man’s child. Marc’s parents were owners of a wealthy business. They had resented Ami from day one, and now that she had made a mistake, they saw an opportunity to get rid of her.

  She became a no one.

  Ami flinched when the door opened.

  “Time to go,” Kenneth said. “Seems like Drago lost after all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “I know the City has seen very difficult times, with the latest eruption of violence and the stronghold of greedy representatives. For sure, we have difficult times ahead, with the losses of the past two days, and the challenges that lie ahead. You all stood up today, not for the old system, but against a dictator who already was where he belongs: in prison. I don’t want anyone in the City feeling trapped, or afraid. I don’t want anyone to live their lives as a number. Everyone needs to do their share, but that means everyone lives and works in safe circumstances. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”

  The people cheering her looked just as beaten up as she did. Katlena had wanted to clean up some more, but she’d let herself be convinced that it would do some good to her image to be perceived as one of the people who had fought for their home, the City.

  Maybe it was true. In any case, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to stand on her feet much longer.

  One woman in her mid-thirties stepped forward. Her clothes were dirty, her face smeared with soot.

  “I have a question, Ma’am. Chief. What about the competing groups? We don’t even know what it means anymore when someone talks about the rebels. Some have fought by our side today. Will they be rewarded or punished?”

  “No one who fights for a better society and can contribute ideas will be punished. I… I lost someone today—” Her voice caught in her throat. “A friend and colleague. Her brother was believed to be one of the enemies by the former chief, but if it wasn’t for him, I might not be standing here. We are talking, on behalf of the people who were forced into the cypher program, and everyone. We are learning from each other.”

  * * * *

  It had been important that she went out there to talk to the people, not wait too long. Katlena had refused all offers of food, but now as she stood in the shower stall, she was feeling dizzy. Clearly, it wasn’t just psychological though she couldn’t think back to the moments in the dark hallway without choking up. Telling Kenneth that his sister had died saving her hadn’t been easy, but she didn’t want to deny the responsibility. There was no denying she had a lot of it, with many people watching her.

  Before going back to being scrutinized at every step, she needed a moment to herself. She’d have to take it to break down in peace. There would be a few hours of sleep if she was lucky. Then the work would continue.

  She was shaking hard even in the hot stream of water, distantly aware that the swirls down the drain were slightly pink. She was lucky, considering.

  Her mirror image wasn’t reassuring either, but tomorrow, taking back her place officially, a lot would be covered up by clothes and make-up. The IdA building was still standing with minor damages.

  The same could be said for Katlena Cervantes.

  She stepped out of the bathroom still wearing only the towel, doing a double-take at the sight that greeted her.

  “I’m so happy to see you,”
Ami said, before she started to cry, wrapping her arms around Katlena.

  * * * *

  Ami understood she had to take a backseat in favor of bigger issues, like Katlena addressing the scared crowd that had gathered in front of the IdA. Now that they were back in the hotel, she wasn’t willing to wait any longer. Tonight, the restaurant didn’t have a lot of choices left, but she had managed to get some chicken soup, crackers and cheese.

  “Me too.” Katlena smiled, but her haunted expression told of the events of the past hours. It wasn’t the kind of hotel that provided you with robes, so she had simply put on shorts and a shirt, the traces of her ordeal visible. Ami had many questions, about Cara, about the documents that had almost convinced Trenton to leave Katlena on her own, but she was aware that Katlena wasn’t in any shape to answer any of them at the moment.

  “I’m sorry about Noelle,” she said instead.

  “Thank you.”

  Katlena pushed her plate away. “I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t finish the sentence.

  “It’s okay.”

  “Will you stay here? I know it’s a lot to ask, you being apart from Lily and all.”

  “Lily is fine with Mrs. Davidson, for now,” Ami assured her. “I’m going to make sure that you are too.”

  “You didn’t have to come.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  The questions lingered, but neither of them wanted to tackle any of them now. There was no need for many words, as long as they could be together for the moment.

  * * * *

  Ami hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep that night, but the first rays of sun woke her first. She debated with herself. Katlena was exhausted, still in a deep sleep, but she wouldn’t be happy to miss anything. She shouldn’t, actually, since this was her time. It was theirs—even considering she had barely escaped with her life.

  Ami slipped out of the bed when there was a knock on the door.

  “Good morning. There’s breakfast downstairs,” Kenneth Raymond said. “Not much today, but I guess it’ll have to do.”

  Ami cast a hesitant look behind her. Katlena hadn’t even stirred.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “We need to start at the IdA in an hour at the latest. People need to know that we are working.”

  “I know. We’ll be down in a few,” she promised. After she’d closed the door, she went back to bed, carefully scooting closer to wake Katlena.

  “Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” she whispered. “Time to put on the cape.”

  “You’re mixing metaphors.” Katlena’s voice was muffled by the sheet, and she slowly drew it away, getting up in a sitting position. “Oh crap. Remind me the next time that getting beaten up is a bad idea.”

  “I hope there’s not going to be a next time, ever.”

  Katlena set both feet on the floor, wincing with the pain the movement caused. “That, however, is a good idea. I’m sorry. I haven’t even asked you how things have been going with Lily.”

  “They’re going,” Ami said, watching her cautiously. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll deal with everything later. You should eat something first.”

  “Probably.”

  She still sat on the edge of the bed. Ami realized the last time Katlena had been getting ready for work, two armed men had broken down the door to her apartment.

  “The people have understood what Drago did. They are on your side, Katlena. I am too. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

  Katlena pulled her close for a deep, somewhat desperate kiss.

  * * * *

  Kenneth and Marya were downstairs with a number of other officers.

  “Chief Cervantes,” he said. “I’m so glad we’ll continue to work together.”

  “Me too. I could have done without the interruption.”

  In the light of day, her temporary imprisonment seemed rather unreal, but there was no denying her body had stored those memories. She was lucky to have made it, unlike Noelle. Katlena straightened her shoulders.

  “I was promised caffeine though?”

  The laughter in the small group was hesitant, but genuine. Marya handed her a cup with the steaming content, and Katlena gratefully breathed in the scent.

  “What are we dealing with this morning? When we’re going to the IdA, will we have to be worried about snipers?”

  “For the first few days, I’d prefer if we take the tunnels.”

  Katlena suppressed a shudder. The thought made her feel claustrophobic, but she preferred a minor panic attack to being shot. It would mean disregarding Noelle’s sacrifice to be careless.

  In time, they would pick up the pieces. Noelle’s body had been retrieved. They had to arrange a proper funeral.

  “All right, then,” she said. “Let’s get to work.”

  * * * *

  The IdA was once more a symbol for the whole City. There was a lot of cleaning up to do, before they could get to the real work of dismantling the parts that had never been necessary to begin with, and strengthen those still needed.

  Ami could see Katlena was touched by the number of volunteers that had shown up to help clean away glass and debris, even though at this point, no one could guarantee absolute safety. They had a big task ahead of them, sorting out the lives of people that had been messed up by the system, and especially, Drago.

  Ami shuddered when, for the first time, it occurred to her that he had known about the attack that killed his family. That was the man who had been watching her, and looking for Lily for years. He’d gotten too damn close, to them, to Katlena.

  She cast a glance at her. Katlena was studying one of the files from his office with a frown. She’d have to ask her. Just to make sure there were no more secrets between them.

  “This is nuts,” Katlena said, tossing the folder onto the desk with a sigh. “I’m so ashamed for all the times I didn’t even think of asking, questioning anything. Apparently, Drago had some contracts with suppliers and other big businesses around the City. They would cut the supplies of cyphers, sometimes have them work for free, and the profits went straight back to him. No wonder he was living in a mansion.”

  Ami nodded. She hadn’t seen the property Drago owned, but she could imagine. The enormous house sat on a sprawling estate outside of the City which was probably the reason no one had burned it down by now. They wanted to do right by the people who had lost their identities to a handful of greedy men, but there was a lot more to consider than handing back identification papers.

  “Did you sometimes—” Ami cut herself off, trying to find a better beginning. This was the woman she trusted with her life, and Lily’s. The woman who had let Ami make love to her with her wrists tied above her head. The flash of heat was highly inappropriate at the moment, and she struggled to banish the image. “There’s been talk. Paul was going to send someone for you, to—to bring you in for questioning.”

  Katlena leaned back in her chair, studying her quizzically. “Really? Well, at least he wasn’t going to hold a gun to my head. I hope.”

  “They found some protocols, from interrogations and such, where torture was used in some cases. Some of which you had signed.”

  “Paul and Maryann still want me as chief though.”

  “I’m not accusing you of anything, or judging.” Amy held her gaze. “I just need to know.”

  Katlena hesitated. “I hope you won’t be even more disillusioned than you already are. I didn’t torture anyone. I did sign off on those papers sometimes though…I followed orders, and I believed what my superiors told me about the people in question being dangerous, terrorists. I can hardly believe how naïve I was—not that it’s an excuse.” When Ami didn’t say anything, she continued, “I guess I’m lucky that the people around here still have some use for me. If you don’t…you’re free to go.”

  “You know I won’t, because of Lily, and…because of you.”

  Katlena’s eyes welled up as if the latter statement came as a surprise to her. Maybe th
ey both had a few too many trying days in a row.

  “Look, I know it’s far from perfect at the moment. Trenton, and Cara, they played us too, in order to get to Drago. Never mind that their motives were a little less ulterior. We have a chance to make this happen, not just for us, but for everyone in the City to be free.”

  “Sounds great,” Katlena said, a wistful tone to her voice. “Drago was basically the mayor and chief of police, among other things, all in one. It’s time to make sure all the power isn’t concentrated in one place anymore. I’d like Kenneth to take over until we can have elections, turn the IdA into the City police. It should have never been more than that anyway. I’ll have Rivera’s record purged too.”

  Ami wasn’t sure if Cara would thank Katlena for that, but she didn’t comment on it, her mind still reeling from the dimensions of the work to be done.

  “You’ll need to hire more people,” she said.

  “Definitely. There are ten-thousands of cases in the archives. We will pay them some compensation, but it’s going to take time.”

  “What’s going to happen to Jean Davidson?” Ami asked, unsure how she would feel about either answer to this question.

  “I suppose that depends on you. Drago’s son has been out of the country for a long time, chances are he never cared what was going on around here—less so about the fact that he has a daughter. Technically, what she and her husband did was a felony, even if they did it to protect Lily.”

  This was a kind of responsibility Ami had not expected to rest on her. “She took good care of her. I can’t repay her by trying to have her sent to jail.”

  “You have other options.” Katlena sounded as if she was still worried some of those might not include her. “Lily is your daughter. It doesn’t matter that Drago or the Committee had a special interest in both of you. There are probably many other similar cases. See, they kept telling us that the cypher program was for elderly and sick people, and those who were unemployable. In fact, they wanted the cheapest possible work force. I’m sure there’ll be other younger people who have been tricked the same way they did it with you.”