“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Don’t worry,” was all Clark said.
Matt and Kelly showed up, which stopped my question immediately. I decided that the nerves in my stomach had every reason to be upset. I had no idea how I was supposed to sneak in the USB when I knew the metal detectors and security measures inside were meant to prevent such terrorist acts.
My anxious state grew worse as more people showed up. We had seventeen people, so two of them agreed to stay outside and meet us later. Clark told everyone that he had something to tell them when the tour was over, so he wanted everyone to stick around.
When we decided who the fifteen people were going to be, I steeled myself and walked inside with the group.
We entered the building and the man at the security desk looked up.
“Ah, Cody, are these the other Commission Kids for that project you’re working on?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Great. If you could just sign your names on this list, we’ll get you checked in. Your mother should be waiting for you.”
“Thanks,” Cody grinned. He motioned to me and I stepped forward, signing my name on the electronic tablet with a shaking hand. I stepped back and Melody also signed.
“Just wait for a moment. We’ll get everyone checked in before we scan you,” the man told us.
Melody and I watched as two more people signed in. Finally, Melody turned to the guard.
“Excuse me,” she called. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Over there, around the corner.” The guard pointed in a direction close to the front door.
“Thank you,” she smiled. She grabbed my hand and pulled me in with her. I followed, trying to hide my confusion.
Once we were in the bathroom, Melody pulled me to the large handicap stall and dragged us both in, closing the door.
“What are you going to do?”
“Hold this,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out another USB. “Don’t put it in your pocket.” I held the small USB in my hand and then watched her quickly unbutton her school uniform top. “Okay, give me that one,” she nodded. I handed her the USB and she slipped it under her bra to rest behind the wire under her right breast.
“Will that work?” I asked skeptically.
“I’ll say it was the bra wire if anything goes off,” she nodded. “Can you feel it?” she asked, moving her hands out of the way. I brushed my fingers over the underwire of her bra in the same way that Mark checked me at the Commission. I did not feel a bump when my fingers brushed over the spot where the USB was supposed to be.
“No.”
“Perfect, give me the other one,” she nodded to my pocket.
As Melody slipped the other USB under her left breast, I smiled nervously.
“It’s a good thing you’ve got enough to hide these under,” I teased.
“Lucky me,” she rolled her eyes, adjusting herself. “They’re actually a pain. Okay, can you feel any difference between the two sides?”
I checked her once again and tucked the second USB further under the wire when I felt it. Checking her once again, I nodded.
“It’s fine.”
She buttoned her blouse again and composed herself, slipping her school jacket on.
“Check again.”
I ran my hand along the wire once more and shook my head.
“It’s fine, just don’t move too much.”
We walked out of the bathroom to rejoin the others. Even though we had concealed the USB, there were no guarantees that we would get away with sneaking it into the Censor Board. I took a deep breath as we rejoined the students going through the metal detector as their bags were scanned. As soon as everyone saw the two of us return, they parted to be sure that we were next so that the guard would be hurried to get us through and might look past some things.
I went through the metal detector with no problem and my purse came out the other of the scanner side just fine, though the guard still placed it behind the counter, as we had known he would.
When Melody went through, though, her bag was fine, but the metal detector beeped. Everyone in the group tensed and my heart began knocking against my ribs.
“Put your jacket through the scanner and go through again,” the security guard advised.
Melody took off her jacket but when she stepped through the scanner again, it beeped.
“Do you have a watch on, or anything?” the man asked, standing from behind his desk to look her over.
“No,” she shook her head, double-checking herself.
The guard turned and look at another screen as we held our breaths.
“It’s around your chest…do you have a necklace on?” he asked, turning back to her.
She reached up to her neck and felt along the skin, shaking her head once again. The security guard was puzzled for a moment, so I spoke up, sounding more calm and natural than I expected.
“Is it your bra?”
Her hands went up to touch the underwire and her face lit up in realization. I knew Melody was part of the drama department, but even I was convinced that she didn’t think of her bra being the cause.
“Oh, it might be,” she said. “This is a new bra from that shop downtown. It might use a different kind of underwire.”
“Okay, that’s fine,” the security guard nodded, quickly turning away, uncomfortable, not bothering with a pat-down. “Next.”
I tried not to let the relief show on my face. Melody picked up her jacket and slipped it back on, smiling knowingly at me as I forced a wobbly smile to my lips.
The rest of the group went through with little trouble, though Dean forgot to take off his watch and it set the alarm off again.
When everyone was clear and the bags and phones were taken, Cody led us through a door and we trailed behind him in the large foyer to another door.
As we walked through the door, we found Cody’s mother waiting for us. I had seen Mrs. Venner once when I was meeting all the faces of the Commission of the People, but I had forgotten how young she looked for her age, particularly with her small height.
“Welcome everyone,” she grinned. “Oh, it’s nice to see all Commission Kids here.” She looked around, recognizing our faces.
“Thank you for agreeing to give us a tour,” Sarah smiled.
“No problem,” Mrs. Venner assured. “Why don’t we get started? This room that you see behind me is the directory room, this is where all the grunt work happens…”
I remained in the middle of the group with Melody and Clark while Cody fell to the back. I was sure no one was paying attention to the tour as we moved through the building. My heart was racing and I felt warmer than usual, sweating as we went through the heated rooms of the Censor Board.
When we reached the main computer room, Mrs. Venner smiled and lifted her hands.
“Okay everyone, hands above your shoulders so I can see them,” she chuckled, walking into the room where the various computer monitors were flashing the flag of our country as the screensaver. “Do not touch anything. We can only walk down this main aisle, so squeeze together…”
We filed into the main aisle, Melody behind both me and Clark, Mrs. Venner carefully stepping over wires backwards and talking about the function of the computers. I had no idea how we were going to pull this off, but I was thankful that every Commission Kid on the tour was aware of what we were trying to accomplish, so they played along with the situation when it arose.
Melody let out a yelp and before I could turn around, I felt Clark’s hands on my shoulders as he caught himself from falling forward when Melody collided with his back.
“Are you alright?” Mrs. Venner called, having halted midsentence to look for the source of the shout.
“Yes, sorry, I tripped,” Melody called.
“Oh, watch those wires.” Mrs. Venner had to raise up on her toes to look over everyone, though I could tell by the way she was looking that she could not spot Melody.
>
“Oh, my earring…” Melody whispered.
“Did it fall out?” Kelly asked. We looked to the floor and Melody kept one hand on her ear as the other rose to her chest and gently worked the USB out from under her bra through the fabric of her shirt.
“I don’t see it…” I murmured, pretending to look around.
“Is everything alright?” Mrs. Venner called.
“Sorry, I lost my earring…it hooked on Clark’s jacket…” Melody responded, her hand falling down her torso and working the USB from the hem of her shirt.
“Did it roll under there?” Clark asked, motioning somewhere. We were all crammed together tightly, so it was hard for me to move and see where he was pointing.
“Oh, I see it!” Melody exclaimed. I lost sight of her for a moment as she ducked under one of the desks. No more than two seconds later she came back up, using the table to support her, and hooked her earring back in her ear. I was not sure if she had succeeded in putting the USB in the computer, but with the small smile on her face, I was confident.
“I got it! Sorry!” Melody said to Mrs. Venner.
“Ow! That’s was my foot!” Kelly yelped as Melody stood straight.
“Okay, we should probably get out of this crowded room,” Cody’s mother chuckled. “Come on, follow me!”
We filed out, the adrenaline pumping through me as we moved.
I glanced back at Clark and he smiled, nodding once.
I barely held back my urge to let out a triumphant shout.
As soon as the urge passed, I almost collapsed from the release of tension and added anxiety of knowing that this really meant we were getting everyone’s attention.
The final ten minutes of the tour went by far too slowly and I was anxious to leave. I constantly fiddled with my hands and hair, trying to remain calm. I wanted to ask Clark so many questions, but I bit my tongue and chewed the insides of my cheeks, trying to keep my composure.
When the tour finally ended, I was the first one out the doors. Everyone gathered on the front sidewalk as I took deep breaths, both hands cupped over my nose and mouth.
“Thank you, Cody,” Melody smiled broadly to the one who had gotten us the tour.
“Well?” he asked.
The simple word had everyone turning to Melody.
“We’re all set,” she said.
Everyone let out a relieved sigh and, like me, began laughing in disbelief.
We had done it. We had actually managed to infiltrate the Censor Board and send our message.
After we had calmed and finished congratulating one another and Melody, Matt grabbed our attention again.
“Clark, what did you have to tell us?”
“Oh, right,” Clark nodded. He bent to his shoe and pulled out a piece of paper from his sock. “Did anyone else get this in their locker?”
“No…” they chorused suspiciously.
“What does it say?” Kelly pressed.
“It says that we need to meet at nine a.m. this Saturday at the Bolt Campground outside of town,” he said, handing the paper around. Clark had tried his best to mimic the handwriting of the person who had been sending us notes just in case we had to cover how secretive we were being about who was really planning the rebellion.
“Who sent this?” Dean inquired.
“I don’t know…it kind of looks like the handwriting on the first notes…kinda…” Melody said, glancing over the paper.
“I guess we need to tell everyone else,” I said, taking the paper as it was handed to me, looking it over as though I had not seen it before.
“We’ll meet there, then,” Cody nodded to the note. “I should go, though. It will look weird if we’re out here too long.”
“Yeah, I need to head home,” Matt agreed. “I have a paper to write.”
“We better get to the Commission,” Clark told me.
Saying our goodbyes, Clark and I walked through the parking lot, heading toward the familiar car where Mark was sitting. When he saw us coming, he got out of the driver’s seat and opened the back door for us.
As soon as he got in the car and began to drive, I turned to Clark excitedly.
“So?”
“So what?” he chuckled. “It’s all set. She plugged it in and started the program. It will spread like a virus from here,” he whispered, leaning close.
“When will we see it on the computers?”
“Within forty-eight hours,” he answered. “It has to spread through the entire system and catalogue each computer. Then it will send the message out in random waves from all the computers in the Censor Board.”
I smiled and danced in my seat a little, hiding my face in my hands, laughing in utter disbelief. Clark laughed as well and collapsed back in his seat.
“I cannot believe…”
“I know!” I gasped. We met eyes again and started laughing once more, thrilled at what we had accomplished.
“Oh my God…” Clark breathed.
“Can I hug you?” I asked.
Laughing, we hugged each other, smiling broadly.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
There were no words that accurately described my shock at hearing my name being called by a familiar voice as I was walking toward Mark after school on Thursday. I whirled around. Mark even stood straight from his position leaning on the car to look at the person coming towards us.
“Dad?”
“Hey,” he grinned, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug.
“What are you doing here?”
“I decided that I have not spent nearly enough time with you lately, so I am taking you out on the town for some quality father-daughter time,” he smiled. I grinned as well, but there was heavy worry in my heart.
“Is…is that okay? I mean…Dana said that I was supposed to go to the Commission every day after school…”
“Well, I think Dana would understand that I want to spend some time with my daughter,” my father chuckled, keeping his arm around my shoulders as we turned to face Mark. “After all, I’ll be leaving for a month. I need to spend all the time with you that I can.” He turned to Mark, who looked back and forth between us from behind his dark glasses. “What do you say, Mark? Can I steal my little girl?”
“Dad…” I hissed, embarrassed.
“Oh, right,” my father said quickly. “I’m sorry, Mark. I forgot you can’t speak.”
“Dad…” I said again, “he can’t really understand, either.”
“Mr. Sandover?” Clark said behind us, just as surprised by my father’s sudden appearance.
“Clark,” my dad greeted. “So, since I’m leaving soon, I wanted to spend some time with my little girl. Is it alright if I steal her for the day?”
“Well…I mean…of course, you should spend time with her, but…did you talk to Dana about this? He might get worried if he finds out that she wasn’t at the Commission today…”
“I’ll call him,” my father assured. “Or maybe you could tell him for me. Could you do that?”
Clark looked at me and I became concerned for Clark’s safety. If he told Dana that I was not there that day, there was a large probability that he would punish Clark just as he had done when I was attacked outside of Archangel.
“Uh, sure…” Clark said slowly.
“Thank you,” my father smiled, rubbing my shoulder. “It’s cold. Come on.” He guided me to our car as I threw a worried glance at Clark and Mark.
At first, all I could think about was what kind of torture I might have subjected Clark to by agreeing to go with my father for the afternoon, but when I started spending the “quality time” with my father that he had wanted, my thoughts of the Commission and Dana faded away. I did not even think about how Dana and my mother had been together. I was just enjoying time with my father as I had during times before the Commission.
My father and I had always had a special relationship. While I did not like that he was in politics and that meant that I was also likely going to be going in
to politics when I got older, he tried his best to leave the politician outside when he got home. He was always loving and caring toward me and my mother and tried to give us everything we wanted.
We used to spend one weekend out of the month for just the two of us. When I was a child in First Tier, our time would involve activities such as playing at the park, or going to the zoo, or spending money on ice cream and candy that my mother never wanted me to have because it would make me hyper. As I had grown older, those days changed to shopping and going to concerts that my father never really liked, but it would always end with a wonderful dinner out and some fun times where we would talk about everything and nothing.
When I entered Third Tier, schoolwork got in the way of those weekends, and we had them less and less. By the time we got to Central, those times had disappeared.
As my father took me shopping for some new clothes—even though he was bored and horrified by some of the things I tried on—I started to realize how much I missed those days and how much I should have valued those times when we had them.
After shopping for clothes, my dad was an even greater sport by going shoe shopping with me. He played along when I started trying on ridiculous shoes just to make him smile. I loved his smile and his laugh and I found myself sitting down and hugging him in between every pair of shoes I tried. I never wanted the day to end. I always wanted to be able to wrap my arms around him and feel him kiss the top of my head. I wanted to hear him call me “sweetie” all the time and spend time with me as if we didn’t have the shadow of Dana Christenson looming behind us.
After a pair of new shoes, we went to a café that my father had become fond of, though I had never been there before. Where ice cream had been in our days of the past, coffee now stood in its place.
We sat on the second floor, which was almost completely empty apart from one elderly gentleman in the corner falling asleep behind the evening paper.
“Thanks for taking me out today, Dad,” I smiled, taking a fork full of coffee cake from the piece we were sharing.
“I don’t know when we stopped having these days…” he admitted with a small smile.
Inside, Pt. 2 Page 12