Flowertown

by S. G. Redling

  “Oh,” Rachel sighed and Ellie could hear her spit, “a cocktail in Vegas would be nice.”

  “I’ll see what I can rustle up.” Ellie tapped on the door again and followed Bing to her room. She couldn’t remember where she had left the files or the pages she had ripped out of the care center files and hoped her usual slovenly ways would protect her until she had time to explain to her friend what they were doing there. Bing didn’t seem to notice anything as he flopped down on Rachel’s slightly neater bed and put his arms behind his head.

  “Okay, Ellie, tell me everything that happened tonight. Every detail.”

  “I told you.” The files were peeking out from underneath her pillow, so as Ellie settled in on her bed in the usual spot, she tossed a towel over them. “Feno busted the place.”

  “No offense, but you are a terrible storyteller. And you’d make an even worse spy. God is in the details, remember? Did you hear anything special? See anyone unusual? Did anyone get out of the building?”

  “It didn’t look like it. They said it was secure, that they had arrested seven people.”

  Bing sat up and looked at Ellie over the mess on Rachel’s nightstand. “You were close enough to hear their radios and they didn’t see you?”

  Ellie shrugged, dismissing the question. She didn’t want to get into a Guy-bashing session with Bing tonight or any night. She wanted to think. She heard Bing whistling a tuneless whistle, a sure sign that he, too, was working on a thought.

  “Okay, I don’t want to freak you out.” Bing swung his feet to the floor and stared at Ellie, who knew that that was exactly what he was preparing to do. “But do you think it’s possible that Annabeth and Torrez set us up? Like they thought we were getting too nosy, so they clued us into a meeting that they knew would get busted?”

  “Really?” Ellie pulled a pack of cigarettes off her nightstand. “Even for you, Bing, that’s a bit much.”

  Ellie fanned the smoke from her face and leaned over to open the window. Rachel probably wouldn’t appreciate a cigarette funk in the room, considering her condition. The window stuck, as it did when the weather turned damp, and Ellie had to get up on her knees to force the pane up. It was brighter on the street than it was in her room, and Ellie craned her neck to see what the source of the light was. That was when she recognized the telltale yellow flashes of Feno security trucks. Before she could get her head back in the window to tell Bing, her door crashed inward and a team of black-clad goons flooded the room.

  “Hands in the air!”

  “On the ground!”

  Orders were screamed around the room, and Ellie couldn’t catch Bing’s frightened eyes before one of the goons dragged him off the bed and slammed him hard against the floor. Three guns were trained on her, all of them held by serious-looking men, and Ellie raised her hands above her head.

  “On the ground!” The leader of the team yelled at her even though she was less than three feet from him. It had the desired effect because Ellie slid from the bed and joined Bing facedown on the floor. In seconds, her wrists were bound in plastic ties behind her back. She was able to turn her head and look down at Bing, whose head was at her feet. His eyes were huge with fear, and Ellie didn’t blame him one bit.

  “Where are they?” The leader put his boot on her back and stepped down hard enough to push the air out of her lungs. “Make this easy on yourself.”

  Bing spoke up, his voice thinner with fear. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Shut up.” Another goon pointed his weapon at Bing’s face, and the leader took his foot off of Ellie’s spine and crouched down close to her. He grabbed her hair and lifted her head.

  “I’m talking to you. Where are they?”

  Ellie closed her eyes and swore to herself. “On the bed. Underneath the pillow.”

  Someone stepped over her, and Ellie saw her clothes fly to the floor. “They’re here.”

  She kept her eyes closed as the leader talked into his radio. “We have the stolen property, sir. We’re bringing two suspects in for questioning.” Rough hands jerked her to her feet by her bindings, and as they were being dragged out the door, she saw the bewilderment on Bing’s face. She shook her head, trying to think of something to tell him that would make sense of the situation, but the guards pulled her along too fast to come up with anything. All along the hallway, doors slammed shut as they approached and then creaked open as they passed. It took every drop of her control to not make eye contact with Rachel, who stood wide-eyed and silent in the bathroom door. She knew Rachel would have enough sense to not step forward. When Feno security came out in force, heroics and loyalty were losing bets.

  Riding handcuffed in the back of a paneled Feno security truck was worse than the ride after the bombing, although at least this time she had a pretty good idea where they were going. Bing tried to whisper something to her until the leader slammed his head back against the wall of the truck.

  “You can either ride in silence,” he said, “or we can wait until you regain consciousness to start the interrogation. Your choice.”

  The streetlights in the Feno compound burned brightly. There was no power problem down here, Ellie thought, as she squinted against the harsh light. She and Bing were marched at gunpoint past the cinder block building where Guy had first interrogated her, past the row of classrooms that had held her before, and down to a short brick dorm-like building. Two guards held open the doors as their escorts led them down the hall. Bing, who was taller than the guards, had no trouble keeping up, but Ellie was once again half-carried, half-dragged until they got to one of a dozen unmarked doors. The guard holding Bing unlocked this door and shoved them both in hard. Ellie stumbled and would have fallen if she hadn’t crashed into Bing, who had crashed into a set of bare metal bunk beds. The door slammed behind them.

  “Are you all right?” they said in unison.

  “I’m fine.” Ellie spoke louder. “You’re bleeding.” A trickle of blood ran down from a cut on his eyebrow from hitting the bunk bed. “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes, it hurts.” He blinked the blood back from his eye, his hands still bound and useless. “What the hell is going on?”

  “An excellent question, sir.” Mr. Carpenter stood at ease in the now-opened door next to an armed guard. “Bring in the chairs.” The guard stepped away and returned with two metal folding chairs that he set up before the front wall like desks in a classroom. Ellie doubted they were going to enjoy this lesson. The seats in place, Ellie and Bing were shoved down to sit and Mr. Carpenter leaned against the wall in front of them. He nodded to the guard, who left the room without a word.

  “You can’t hold us here.” Bing’s voice shook with either fury or fear, Ellie couldn’t tell, but she applauded him for his intensity, however ill-timed. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Ask her.” Mr. Carpenter smiled that charming smile.

  “This is the dreaded Mr. Carpenter, who so thoughtfully rearranged my desk while looking for my Twinkies.” Ellie had thought the man was frightening when surrounded by his goons. She was unpleasantly surprised to find him even more unnerving alone in a room.

  “Oh, Ellie,” Carpenter shook his head, “always making jokes. I like that about you.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Hmm, I don’t think that’s really an option because, you see,” he leaned in close enough for her to smell cinnamon on his breath, “I’m getting ready to fuck you. And believe me, when I fuck you, you will know you have been fucked.”

  Ellie didn’t doubt him, but that didn’t mean she had to show it. “Ooh, I’m tingling.”

  He laughed again and leaned back against the wall. Bing struggled against his restraints.

  “Is this the son of a bitch who tore your desk apart? Who accused you of stealing files? Hey, dickhead, ever heard of a search warrant?” Bing leaned forward, spit flying. “How about evidence? Miranda rights? You have no right—”

  Carpenter’s backhand knocked Bing off his cha
ir, and Ellie could see blood splatter across the linoleum floor. Bing spit and tried to get to his feet, but the other man grabbed him under the arm and yanked him back into his seat. He leaned in close to Bing, his finger jabbing at his face.

  “You don’t talk. Do you hear me? The smartest thing you can do right now is to keep your big mouth shut. Although I don’t think you’re very smart. Not if you’re running around with the likes of Eleanor Cauley.” He turned to Ellie. “Unless of course he’s your co-conspirator. Is that it? Is he part of your crew?”

  Bing spit blood. “Oh yeah, you caught us. The dreaded Twinkie smuggling ring.”

  Carpenter made a naughty-naughty sound at Ellie. “You haven’t told him, have you?” He smiled at Bing. “It seems your little playmate has been stealing classified Feno files.”

  “Bullshit.” Blood sprayed out from Bing’s lip. “Your goons planted whatever it is you think she stole. I’ve known Ellie for four years, and she doesn’t give a shit about your classified little secrets.”

  “No?” Carpenter pulled out a small digital recorder and pressed a button. Ellie’s mouth dropped open when she heard her own voice confessing the theft to Rachel. Carpenter let the audio run up to the point where she said she wasn’t going to tell Bing about it. At that, he flipped off the device and slipped it back into his pocket. Bing would not look her way. Carpenter sighed. “This is awkward.”

  “You’ve got me on tape confessing to stealing the files. Why don’t you let him go?”

  “Well, Ellie, I have a couple of reasons. Good reasons, too. For one thing, I don’t think you’re smart enough to know what to do with stolen files, and so I am positive you have an accomplice. Two,” he looked down at the blood on Bing’s shirt, “I don’t especially like your little buddy. But three, oh, number three is my favorite. Want to know what it is?”

  “I’m on the edge of my seat.”

  Carpenter raised his eyebrows in happy surprise. “What a coincidence. So is he.” He swung another backhand, this one even harder, and Bing’s head whipped around as he fell to the floor once more. Ellie heard only her own roar as she leaped from her seat, hands bound, and body-slammed Carpenter. Together they crashed into the wall, her knees pounding at him, her feet stomping down, until two guards rushed in and threw her back into the chair.

  Carpenter smoothed his clothes, and Ellie could see more than a few of her blows had hit home. She saw he favored his right leg as he stepped over Bing, who remained on the ground. Carpenter smiled and cleared his throat. “As I was saying, number three is my favorite. I’m going to keep your little buddy around, and every time you piss me off, he’s going to get another beating. As much as I would enjoy pounding the shit out of you, Ellie, it seems your psychological profile suggests this is a more effective method.”

  Ellie felt her mouth go dry. “What do you want me to say? I told you I stole them. There’s no conspiracy. I was pissed. I stole them.” The words tumbled out fast, but Carpenter held up his hand to silence her.

  “No reason to get windy now. You’ve got plenty of time to come up with a good explanation. I’m going to have my men cut your bindings, and you and Gilligan over there can cook up any fish story you like. See this?” He pointed to a jeweled Feno logo pin on his lapel. “This means I own you. You’re going to be here for a long, long time.”

  A heavyset guard held Ellie by the elbows as she lunged uselessly at Carpenter. She could hardly make out the words he was saying. All she could hear was Bing’s labored breathing mixing in with the rushing sound of her own blood in her ears. He laughed at her distress and pulled the recorder out once more.

  “I don’t suppose you’d like to make a statement before I go?”

  “I got a statement for you.” Carpenter grinned and held the recorder closer to Ellie, who stopped struggling against the guards and spoke very clearly. “Is it recording? Because you’re going to want to remember this. Fuck you. Fuck Feno. Fuck Flowertown. I am going to get out of here. Count on it. I will get out of here if it means killing every last person in this compound. I don’t care what it costs me, I don’t care what happens afterward, but I will get out of here, and when I do, I’m going to find you and I’m going to kill you. You have my word on it. Is that enough of a statement for you?”

  Carpenter stared at her for several seconds, his face unreadable. Ellie tensed, waiting for a blow to the face. Instead he laughed, a real laugh, and slipped the recorder into his pocket.

  “I couldn’t have written it any better myself.” He headed to the door and spoke to the guard there. “Cut their restraints, get him some bandages. They might as well be comfortable for the duration of their stay.”

  Ellie rubbed her wrists when the plastic was cut away and dropped to the floor to get to Bing. His face was bruising and swelling, but he looked more angry than hurt. He shook off her attention, using his shirt to wipe at the blood. Before the guards closed the door, Ellie could hear her voice echoing in the hallway from Carpenter’s voice recorder. As the door locked, she could just make out the sound of Carpenter laughing again.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Bing wiped at his lip with the last clean inch of his T-shirt. “I don’t suppose there’s any happy ending to this part of the story.”

  “Oh, Bing, I’m so sorry.” Ellie knelt beside him, and this time he didn’t push her away. “I don’t know what to say. Taking those files was a stupid thing to do.”

  “Agreed.”

  “There wasn’t anything in them except death records of locals. I was just so mad.”

  “Imagine that.”

  Ellie sat back on her heels and looked Bing in the eye. “Go ahead. I know you have things to say to me. You might as well do it now.”

  He shook his head. “What’s the point? You don’t hear anything, Ellie. You’re like some subterranean troll that just covers itself with leaves until someone steps too close, then you lunge up and tear them to shreds. You have two emotions—apathy and rage—and nothing in between.” Ellie wanted him to stop, but she could hear the truth in his words. She closed her eyes for his killing blow. “It’s like you’re not even a person. You’re an…organism.”

  “That’s not true.” Ellie forced her eyes open. “I am a person. I’m just not good at it.”

  “Yeah, well, why don’t you work on it?”

  Ellie sighed and sat back, sliding backward until she rested against the bare metal bunk bed. Bing moved away from her, resting his back against the front wall. They sat in silence, listening to doors opening and closing up and down the hallway until Ellie had to speak.

  “I’m going to tell them anything they want. I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

  Bing looked up at her, his left eye swelling nearly closed. “I just slid my ass through a puddle of my own blood. That can’t be a good sign.”

  “I mean it, Bing.”

  “I know you do, but it won’t make any difference. You really are dense, aren’t you?” Ellie started to protest, but he waved her down. “I’m pissed because the troglodyte part of my brain still thinks ‘Me man, her woman’ and it’s somehow my job to protect you. Instead I’m being used as a punching bag because you’re so goddamn tough they know I’ll break first.”

  “I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “What are you going to do to stop it?” Bing swung his hands out, sweeping the room. “We are locked in a room on the Feno compound. There are armed guards outside. Trust me, there’s nothing I’d like better than to kill that Mr. Carpenter, and by that I mean let you kill him, but I think we’re kind of outnumbered.”

  “Then let’s get out of here.”

  “And do what? Catch a movie? Go to the beach?”

  Ellie got to her feet and surveyed the small room. There was nothing in the room except the beds, which were bolted to the wall, a stack of flattened cardboard boxes, and the two metal folding chairs. “Let’s break out of here. I meant what I said, Bing. I am getting out of here. I don’t care if I get shot do
ing it.”

  “Speak for yourself.” But she could see his eyes searching the room, thinking.

  “Why on earth would anyone try to escape? Right? Where would you go?” Ellie crouched down in front of Bing. “They’ve got guards out front, but it’s just for show. I’ll bet you a can of chili they don’t have anyone in the back. It’s nothing back there but barrier fencing. All we have to do is stay in the shadows, make it out of the compound and back to town.”

  “And then what?”

  Ellie shrugged. “What difference does it make, Bing? I’m going. I’m not going to stay here and watch them beat you to death because they’ve got something against me.”

  “Well, when you put it that way.” Bing got to his feet. “Any ideas for how we’re going to get out of here? Going to punch your way out?”

  “Sort of.” Ellie listened at the door and, hearing nothing, gave Bing the thumbs-up. She picked up a flattened cardboard moving box off the pile in the corner. “We’ll use this.”

  “We’re going to ship ourselves out of here?”

  Ellie laughed, happy to see Bing back to his usual smartass self. “Got a better idea?” She carried the box to the window and then stopped, turning back to her friend. “Why is this room empty? All these rooms? This building is almost completely empty.”

  “I don’t know. Off season?”

  “I’m serious. Since when are there empty rooms in Flowertown? Even for Feno?” She drummed her fingers against the cardboard. “Like that classroom where they took me before. It was empty. The file cabinets were empty, just old crap left behind. And these boxes. Where is everybody? Are we missing something?”

  Bing glanced at the door. “I can tell you where some people are, big people with big guns, including Mr. Carpenter, who looks like he’d be more than happy to show you how crowded this place can be. If we’re going to do something, let’s do it soon, okay?”

  “Yeah, right. Okay. Hold this.” She held the cardboard in front of the window. Bing took it from her, pressing the box with both hands against the glass. “You might want to move to the side. Way off to the side.”