Electronic Gags

by Kudakwashe Muzira

  They tensed when they heard a knock on the front door of the house.

  “Kyle, are you in there!” a voice shouted.

  “It’s my mom,” Freddie said. “Kyle must be fast asleep. If he doesn’t wake up she will go away.”

  Melissa knocked again.

  “Aren’t you going to let her in?” Jennifer asked.

  “I don’t want to see her at the moment,” Freddie said.

  “I want to see her,” Jennifer said, putting on her dress.

  Melissa knocked the door again.

  “Why do you want to see her?”

  “I want to thank her.”

  “For what?”

  “For raising such a wonderful son,” she said, putting on Grandma Nicole’s dress.

  “Jennifer, wait. I don’t want to see her right now.”

  “I want to see her,” she said, going out of the room.

  She opened the front door and came face to face with Melissa. Now she knew where Freddie got his height, oval face and full lips.

  Melissa glared at her. “Who are you and why are you wearing my mother’s dress?”

  “I can expla―”

  “Do you know how old my nephew is? Kyle is only eighteen years old. Go and find someone of your own age.”

  “It’s not what it looks like.”

  “What does it look like?”

  “Please come inside and I will explain.”

  “Your explanation must be good,” Melissa said, following Jennifer into the house.

  “Where is Kyle?”

  “Asleep. He was up all night.”

  “You must have kept him very busy.”

  “Yes, we kept him busy.”

  “There are two of you?” Melissa said with horror.

  Jennifer nodded.

  “Lord of mercy!”

  “I’m the second one,” Freddie said, entering the living room.

  Melissa ran into Freddie’s arms. “My son!” She held him tightly, unwilling to let him go, as if she knew she would lose him again if she released him.

  Freddie freed himself from her arms. “This is Jennifer, my girlfriend.”

  “Please forgive me, Jennifer,” Melissa said with an apologetic smile. “I thought you and Kyle were―”

  “No need to apologize, ma’am.”

  “You can call me Melissa.” She turned to Freddie and looked at her as if she was seeing him for the first time. “I still can’t believe my eyes. Tell me I’m not dreaming, Freddie. How did you get out?”

  “Let me write it down for you. Who knows? Maybe they will start recording us with your…” He pointed at her electronic gag. He took a piece of paper and wrote a summary of how he and Jennifer got out of prison and escaped from the police.

  Melissa read the note and pointed at his bare neck. “When I saw you, I knew there was something odd about you but I couldn’t pinpoint it.”

  I can remove yours if you want, Freddie said in another note.

  Melissa shook her head and wrote a note asking why he didn’t skip out of the country.

  I wanted to see you again, mom, was his reply.

  You were in the refuge, less than 50 km from Canada & you dragged this lovely girl back here just to see me? Is there something you aren’t telling me?

  It’s true, mom. I just wanted to see you again.

  Melissa’s next note was to Jennifer. Why did you come here instead of escaping to Canada?

  Melissa’s face had such an imploring look that Jennifer couldn’t lie to her. He wants to help Michael, she wrote back.

  “I knew it!” Melissa spluttered and angrily wrote: Freddie, when will you get tired of risking your life for Michael? Did he bewitch you?

  I’ve to help him. This time I’ll be careful.

  Do you know that Mike’s mom died because of him? Melissa wrote with guilt. She knew Danielle Wright would be alive if she hadn’t told her that the government was about to execute her son.

  “What?” Freddie asked.

  Daniele died trying to avenge Mike. Melissa’s hand shook as she wrote. She tried to use her NAST as a suicide bomb to kill Brandon Ward. She died in vain. Don’t do the same.

  I will be careful, mom. We are using computers.

  “Computers!”Melissa exclaimed. “You have dragged Kyle into this, haven’t you?”

  “We―”

  “Haven’t you?” Melissa rasped.

  He scribbled a reply under her fierce glare. Mom we are playing it safe.

  You will get us all killed with your foolishness, Melissa wrote back. Do you ever think about our safety? Go out of TDA now! She passed him the note and held his hand as he read it.

  Mom, I have learnt my lesson and I’ll be very careful, Freddie assured. If we fail to hack the government’s computers, we’ll skip out of the TDA next week.

  Melissa read the note twice before she replied. But you’ve to escape now, whilst they still think you’re in the refuge.

  Mom, I need only a week to try this computer thing. Jennifer & I won’t go outdoors during the week.

  Melissa sighed. “Promise me you will go within seven days,” she said, looking into his eyes. Then she wrote: By hiding here, you’re putting Kyle’s life in danger. If the CIB finds out, Kyle will face the firing squad.

  Freddie read the note, blaming himself for causing his mother so much pain and anxiety. I promise, mom. Don’t come here whilst we’re here. When the government finds out we escaped, they’ll record everything you say. Please don’t say anything about me. Freddie paused, resting his hand. It was a long time since he wrote so much. Kyle will come and update you. When you and Kyle talk about me, do so by writing notes and don’t forget to burn the notes.

  You must like my son very much, Melissa wrote to Jennifer. If I were you I would be out of the TDA.

  I love him, she replied.

  Then you must get out of the country and live happily ever after.

  We will, Jennifer promised.

  The two women smiled at each other.

  Melissa wrote to her son. Do you have money?

  No. If I withdraw money from my account, the CIB will know I’m in District 1.

  She took her wallet out of her bra and gave him two hundred lucres.

  He mouthed a thanks.

  Thank me by staying out of danger, she wrote.

  He mouthed an ok.

  Melissa put her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “I’m going to the shops to buy some groceries. Write a list of what you want, honey.”

  Chapter 8

  Michael sat on his bed, regretting his decision to enter politics. His mother was dead, Freddie was dead and he would soon be dead, all because of politics. It was folly to think that he could fight the Ward regime and live. Now his folly had resulted in the deaths of those he loved. He had learnt of his mother’s death that morning from four high-ranking CIB agents who grilled him, trying to establish whether his mother was working alone.

  “Your mother blew herself up with her NAST.” One of the CIB agents laughed. “She thought she could use her NAST as a suicide bomb to kill the supreme leader. We designed the NAST well. When it explodes, it only kills its bearer.”

  After forcing him to speak without airtime and beating him for more than thirty minutes, the CIB agents established that he knew nothing about his mother’s assassination attempt.

  Michael wished he was dead. He hoped he would be among the next four prisoners to enter the death games. It wasn’t fair for him to be alive after causing the deaths of his mother and Freddie. He spotted four big fleas crawling down the cell’s walls but he didn’t kill them. He had given up fighting the fleas. He had given up hope.

  * * * * *

  When Kyle woke up, he went straight to the basement and found Freddie pacing round the laptop, waiting for him.

  “Morning computer genius,” Freddie said.

  “Morning escape genius.”

  “Mom was here,” Freddie said.

  “She comes here every morning to c
heck on me. I guess she almost fainted with joy when she saw you.”

  “Yes, she was thrilled at first.”

  “Where is Jennifer?”

  “She was in the kitchen the last time I checked.”

  “Let’s work.” Kyle took his laptop and opened a window with lots of figures.

  “What’s this?” Freddie asked.

  “It looks like the NASP accounts of the citizens of the Ten Districts of America. On the left are National ID numbers and on the right are the balances of the accounts of citizens.”

  “Can we cause the system to crush by giving people lots of airtime?” Freddie asked.

  “I’m not sure. We need to do something decisive because we will have limited time before the CIB discover us and shut us out. I think we must observe the system without doing anything that might lead to our discovery.”

  Freddie nodded.

  Kyle scrolled down the NASP accounts. “All accounts marked X have zero credit,” he remarked. “Can you figure this out?”

  Freddie shook his head. He had forgotten that he no longer had an electronic gag to limit his speech.

  Kyle opened another window. “Holy God!” he muttered. “Can you believe this, Freddie? There is a detonation button.”

  “What’s a detonation button?”

  “Let me see if it is what I think it is.” He clicked the button and a dialogue box opened. “Yes, it’s exactly what I suspected. It’s asking for the administrator’s password plus the ID of the target. The government can kill anyone with a NAST by simply entering his ID number here and clicking the detonate button to detonate his NASP.”

  “This is wicked,” Freddie said. “Can we put this to our advantage?”

  “I don’t think so,” Kyle said. “What will we gain by killing people? All high-ranking government and military officials do not have NASTs on their necks, so we can’t touch them.”

  “Do you have the administrator’s password needed for detonating NASTs?” Freddie asked.

  “I don’t know. I decoded some passwords yesterday… one of them could be for detonation of NASPs.”

  Jennifer entered, carrying a tray with toast and tea. She normally didn’t enjoy cooking but now that she was in love with Freddie, she enjoyed cooking for him. She placed the tray on the desk.

  “Thanks baby, I was starving,” Freddie said, pouring tea into a cup.

  “Any progress?”

  “We found out that the CIB can kill people by remote control,” Freddie said.

  “How?”

  “They simply select a person’s name or ID number, press detonate on their computer and someone’s NAST explodes.”

  “That’s good news!” Jennifer said. “We can use it to kill Brandon Ward’s soldiers, cops and CIB agents.”

  “It’s impossible to tell civilians from servicemen.”

  “All cops, soldiers and CIB agents don’t pay for speaking and their NASP accounts always have zero balance. My NASP balance was always zero when I was a cop.”

  “That’s it!” Kyle said. “The accounts marked X belong to security agents. That’s why they have zero credit. We can detonate these buggers and free our country. If it’s possible to select all Brandon Ward’s servicemen at once, we can wipe them at the click of a button.”

  “We can’t do that!” Fred said.

  “Why?” Jennifer protested. “That’s the only way to defeat Ward.”

  “If we kill all soldiers, policemen and CIB agents we will be no better than Ward,” Freddie said firmly. “Some of them deserve a chance. You were a cop yourself, baby. You must have friends in the police whom you want to save.”

  “If those friends you are talking about catch me right now, they won’t spare me,” Jennifer said. “Let’s kill them. It’s the only chance we have. This is war.”

  “No, we can’t murder millions of people. We are not like Brandon Ward, Jennifer. Ward has more than three million men and women in his security forces. How will we live with ourselves if we kill them? Let’s look for another way.”

  “You are right,” Jennifer said, looking at Freddie with loving eyes. She had learnt a lot from him in the three days she had known him. He was tough, he was intelligent and he was kind. Freddie had suffered so much at the hands of Ward’s security agents, yet he wanted to spare their lives. Now she knew that kindness wasn’t weakness, it was strength. No weak man could spare his enemies like that when he had the power to wipe them in one instant. A weaker man would have taken the easy option. She put her arms round his neck and kissed him.

  “What was that for?”

  “For being such a wonderful man.”

  “I hacked CIB computers,” Kyle bantered. “I’m also a wonderful man. I also deserve a kiss.”

  “You will get one in bed.”

  “Wonderful! You will go to bed with me?”

  “You will get a kiss in bed… in your dreams.”

  * * * * *

  “TD Communications finished installing cell towers in the wildlife refuge but we still can’t locate the fugitives with NASP,” Brandon Ward told his brother.

  “That means you didn’t win the game,” Christopher Ward said rapturously. “Maybe your team died the moment it disappeared from the tracking system. Maybe their electronic gags exploded and killed them.”

  “You are right, I didn’t win. Maybe bears or wolves killed my team.”

  “Perhaps the wild animals tampered with the NASTs as devoured your players, triggering the explosion of the devices.”

  “But if that was the case, the cops would have found the remains of the electronic gags at the point where my team disappeared,” Brandon Ward mused. “Besides, the cops also disappeared from the tracking system when they reached the same point, meaning that my team’s disappearance was a result of network loss.”

  “Maybe the animals killed your team after it entered the area without cell network,” Christopher reasoned.

  “We can’t tell when exactly my team died. Maybe they outlived your team.”

  “Maybe they didn’t,” Christopher objected.

  “For now, no one won the game. Maybe TD Communications left out a pocket of the wilderness without cell network.”

  Christopher took out his phone, eager to prove his brother wrong. “Let me phone the Minister of Information.”

  As his brother phoned the Minister of Information, Brandon looked at his computer, hoping Freddie and Jennifer would suddenly reappear on NASP.

  “He said he believes TD Communications put enough cell towers to cover the whole area,” Christopher Ward said exultantly. “He said he will ask the TD Communications director to check whether his guys did a good job.”

  Brandon took out his cell phone and phoned Professor Reed.

  “Hallo Patriot President.”

  “Fine… Patriot Reed, what happens when someone’s electronic gag explodes? Does a gag disappear from NASP when it explodes?”

  “No, Patriot President. An electronic gag’s tracker continues to work after the gag’s detonation.”

  “Are you sure, Patriot Reed?”

  “Yes, Patriot President. I did a lot of tests on that. You remember that woman who tried to kill you by detonating her electronic gag?”

  “How can I forget her?”

  “Her electronic gag continued working after it exploded. Did someone disappear from the tracking system, Your Excellence?”

  “Unfortunately yes. Two of the fugitives taking part in that police drill simply disappeared on Wednesday. Is it possible that they switched off their electronic gags?”

  “Any attempt to do so would have triggered explosion and the gags would have continued showing us their position after the explosion.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I will go to the CIB headquarters to find out, Your Excellence.”

  “Go now.”

  “I’m on my way, Your Excellence.”

  Brandon opened his Skype account and watched the live stream of the cops looking for F
reddie and Jennifer. After a minute, he switched on his microphone. “Reporter, are you there?”

  Silence.

  “Hallo reporter. Are you there?”

  “I’m here, Your Excellence,” the reporter groggily answered.

  “Brief us on the chase.”

  “The cops are still looking for the fugitives,” the reporter said as the camera zoomed in on the visibly tired cops. “The cops only managed to track the fugitives to the cave where they slept on their first night out of jail.”

  “When was that?”

  “On Thursday. The police have a very good tracker among them, officer Akiak who hails from the Inuit people. He couldn’t proceed with the tracking because heavy rain washed away the fugitives’ tracks.”

  The supreme leader switched off his microphone and rose from his seat. “Christopher, I’m going to my office. I have a country to run.”

  * * * * *

  Freddie sat on a chair and Jennifer sat on his lap, watching Kyle scroll down the CIB’s NASP files. Freddie was worried. Time was running out. He had promised his mother he would go out of the Ten Distrcits in a week and there appeared to be no progress in the hacking. The only breakthrough was the discovery of the detonation button but Freddie was unwilling to use it. Any day, the supreme leader could release four more prisoners for the death games. With each day that passed, Michael and the other death row prisoners came closer to violent death. What was more important, the life of his friend or the lives of Ward’s servicemen? Freddie had asked himself the question over and over again. Ward’s policemen, soldiers and intelligence agents harassed, tortured and killed people at the whim of the supreme leader. But did they all deserve to die? There were moments when he thought of massacring them, but his humanity always took over in the nick of time to stop the bloodbath. He had to find a way with less bloodshed.

  “Kyle, where is your tracker?” Freddie asked.

  “It’s in the closet in my room.”

  “What is the balance of your NASP account?”

  “About seven lucres, I think. Is there a problem?”