The Sensorians: Trust

by Brigitte Morse-Starkenburg

  “I'll avoid your face,” he sniggered. I wasn't in the mood for joking about that yet so ignored it, to Brody's amusement.

  Markus gave us permission and sent someone to watch the phone so we could relax for an hour. It was good to clear my mind and I could literally feel the endorphins flood my system. If only I had known this was probably the last time I'd feel this good for a while, I would have savoured it a bit longer. Things were about to take a turn for the worse and nothing had prepared us for the message we were about to get.

  CHAPTER 47

  Eliza

  “They love you my sweets,” Rick whispered in my ear. His mind wandered though, as he picked up some disturbance in the room and he quickly went to check it out. I tried to find it too and my body jolted. Ned and Daniel had squared up against each other, and two guards were already at their side, trying to escort them quietly out of the room. I focussed on their conversation and just managed to hear Daniel demanding that Ned leave the event. Ned was shaking his head vehemently, telling Daniel to leave him the fuck alone. The guard took Daniel by the arm and tried to guide him away from Ned, but Daniel resisted and was then manhandled roughly. Ned tried to calm things down, but by then Rick was already there and managed to persuade Daniel to go with him. I breathed a sigh of relief as Ned tried to make himself scarce. However, I'd relaxed too soon as I saw Daniel starting to gesture wildly and pointing at Ned and within seconds the guards got to him. Ned calculated his chances; he resisted, got away and was caught again within seconds. He was escorted out so swiftly, most people already had gone back to their conversations, though I did notice a few raised eyebrows and confused expressions. I feared the worst. Did Daniel confront Ned? Did he threaten to expose him? Had he told Rick already? I needed to find out what had happened, but I was cornered by several admiring Sensorians and followers and they were bombarding me with questions. I couldn't get away.

  Not long after I got my wish, but not quite how I would have liked it. Irena strode over with a grim look on her face.

  “Come with me. Now,” she said uncompromisingly.

  I knew it was serious. I really hoped my cover wasn't blown. If Rick had interrogated Daniel, all was lost. There was no way Daniel could lie to him. All Rick had to do was ask the right questions. I felt sick.

  I had to run to keep up with Irena's purposeful stride, her legs being so much longer than mine. My heart beat faster with every stride. She took me to the basement of the building, to a corridor lined with doors to what I assumed were rooms. The gloomy, sterile atmosphere was in stark contrast with the rest of the building and it filled me with a heavy sense of foreboding. We stood in front of room number 101 and even before she knocked I felt distress emanating from the room. I needed to shield. Cloak and shield with all my might if there was any chance of remaining undiscovered.

  The door opened. My knees buckled. My stomach churned but I managed to walk in, hopefully looking in control. I was not prepared for what I saw next.

  Ned, stripped naked and handcuffed, facing the left hand wall. Zaphire. My sweet, brave Zaphy, still deprived of her senses, sat, handcuffed, on the floor facing the corner on the right hand side of the room. In the middle, lay Daniel, passed out on the floor in recovery position. Rick stood over him, staring at me. Two guards stood on either side of Ned and Zaph, all with their guns out. What the hell happened in the fifteen minutes or so since Ned and Daniel were hauled out of the room upstairs! I could do nothing but stare. My mouth wide open.

  Rick spoke first.

  “We've heard some serious allegations, Eliza.”

  He was interrupted by two men that looked like paramedics rushing into the room. They quickly put Daniel on a stretcher and left with Irena in tow. They must work for Rick as they didn't bat an eyelid over the sorrowful sight of Ned and Zaphy.

  “Wh...what the hell h..happened here?” I managed to stutter, in utter shock.

  “Daniel accused Ned of being a spy. We got confirmation of that pretty quickly,” throwing a disdainful glance at Ned. “But before Daniel, err, passed out, he claimed you were in contact with Zack,” Rick accused.

  “What!” I managed to sound incredulous. “Why did he pass out?” I deflected, to be met with an awkward silence and a little snort from Ned, which was immediately punished with a hard smack to the back of his head by the guard.

  “I punched him.”

  Rick shrugged his shoulders in an apologetic way.

  “You knocked him out!” I shouted, shaking my head in feigned disbelief. “Now we can't get to the bottom of this!” I shouted with mock despair. I sighed, still shaking my head. “What else did he say?”

  I desperately needed to find out what Rick knew. He seemed to be put out slightly by my outburst.

  “Nothing to start with. But he was holding back. I could tell. I pressurised and then he claimed you knew about Ned infiltrating. That's when I punched him. He said he had proof, just before he passed out.”

  The damned phone. However, it didn't look like Rick had the phone. Where was the frigging phone? I shook my head in answer to the accusation.

  “It's nonsense. He can't have any proof because it's not true,” I bit back.

  “He wasn't lying, Lizzy. I would have been able to tell. That's why I lost it with him. I don't want it to be true. But what I do know for sure is that Ned was here under false pretences, he couldn't hide his guilt from me. He was warned about it in the letter and now he will suffer the consequences. For the other matter, well, we'll have to wait until I can interrogate Daniel further as to what else he knows.”

  My father looked genuinely upset and not quite willing to give up on me. I had to persuade him to believe me. And hope to God that Daniel would stay unconsciousness for some time longer.

  “Dad, Daniel must just have drawn the wrong conclusions. He wouldn't be lying if he really believed I did what he accused me of. But I swear, on my mum's life, that I knew nothing about this. Trust me,” I pleaded, cloaking hard.

  Rick just stood there, intensely staring at me. Reading me. I couldn't read him very well at all. So much for not being able to hide your emotions from your closest relatives. I just hoped I was doing as excellent a job as him, hiding mine. I kept my mind blank, willing myself to believe my own story. Then, I noticed a little chink in his armour; his love for me. It made him make decisions he would normally never do. Reckless ones. He'd made up his mind.

  “I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You emit very confusing signals. You're cloaking. I can't decide. But I want to show you that I'm willing to trust you.”

  Irena was back in the room and I could feel her surprise at his decision. Rick was known to be an ultra careful man, making decisions only after hours of deliberation and looking at all angles. This was out of character for him, and Irena knew it. She was wise to keep her mouth shut though. I could tell he knew he was taking a massive risk and didn't want to be confronted over it.

  “Thank you. I'm sure I'll be able to explain whatever Daniel thinks I have done.”

  Suddenly I felt a sharp pain, right in my gut. It was Zaphire's hate, hitting me like a tonne of bricks. Shield Eliza. Ignore. I managed to block it out, with difficulty.

  Rick smiled ruefully. He had felt Zaphire's out-pour as well.

  “That leaves Ned to deal with. We have to send a strong message to Zack and Markus. We had a deal and they tried to undermine it. That cannot happen again. Agree?”

  He looked directly into my eyes and I met his eyes with determination.

  “Yes. I agree. We need to show we shouldn't be messed with.”

  I noticed Ned out of the corner of my eyes, shivering and terrified. I didn't realise what I had just agreed to sentence him to.

  “Take him next door and deal with him,” Rick ordered the guards, who eagerly complied, lifting Ned up under the arms and dragging him out. It chilled me to the bone, but I turned and followed my father out, leaving Zaphire a seething, desperate mess. A little bit of me died inside that moment
and I couldn't show any of it.

  CHAPTER 48

  Zack

  The message came in physical form. It came at 2.17am. Loud banging on my door woke me up rudely and I cursed so much, I swear the air turned blue. I shoved some clothes on and went to see what the urgency was, finding Markus and Michael already downstairs racing to the front door. I jumped the stairs and joined them just as they went outside. Stretched out on the floor lay a naked man. Facing upwards and completely covered in bruises and blood. His face barely recognisable but we all knew who it was. Ned. I threw up. Michael was already at his side, checking his pulse. Markus phoned 999, urgently making our location known. An ambulance arrived in under five minutes, and all that time I was rooted to the spot. Immobilised. In shock. I had been right to worry about Ned's loss of contact with us. This was my fucking fault. I heard an animal howl. No. It was me.

  Then, a sharp pain spread across my face. Markus had slapped me. I looked at him, not comprehending.

  “Come inside son,” I think he said. I followed him like a lamb.

  Several sweet cups of tea later, with the knowledge that Ned was still alive, but in a critical condition in intensive care, we sat in Markus' office trying to process what had happened. Ned's mother had gone to be with him, putting her grudge against him aside. His father still stubbornly denied him his forgiveness. Harsh. It reminded me of Eliza's indignation over this.

  There was a note. It warned us in no uncertain terms not to try and undermine our deal a second time, or we would not see Zaphire alive again .

  “Obviously we need to take this threat seriously. So far, we have gravely underestimated how far Rick is willing to go to achieve his goal. But I still want to stick to our original plan to detain him whilst he's in our compound, and we'll attempt to rescue Zaphire,” Markus opened.

  Laura and Frank had joined us. They had arrived back in the compound late last night. Laura wasn't convinced. Neither was I. I needed to hear from Eliza first before I would willingly agree to carry on with our plan. Frank and Michael agreed with Markus.

  “What if Eliza's cover is blown? She won't be able to give us any more information as to the whereabouts of Zaphire. It will be a huge risk as at the moment we're only guessing where she could be held,” I objected.

  “Let's not speculate. As far as we know Rick still doesn't know about Eliza's collaboration with us. We'll know soon enough. For now we carry on preparing our rescue mission. Everyone get some sleep and we'll reconvene at 8:00am sharp tomorrow.”

  I was happy to retreat to my room, but sleep was out of the question. Ned's life was hanging in the balance and for all we knew Zaphire and Eliza's weren't safe either. I was scared what Markus might do to Eliza, if he found out about her betrayal. What if she needed rescuing as well? She had told me to concentrate on getting Zaphire out, but with the recent violence I was getting increasingly worried. Everyone I cared about was in danger and I blamed myself. I should have fought harder for Ned's safety and I started to doubt my decision to let Eliza go it alone.

  I must have dropped off into a fitful sleep because my alarm woke me in a dishevelled sweaty state on the sofa. My neck ached and my face felt tender. I must remind myself not to get on the receiving end of Markus' hands or fists again. Not that I could help the last one. The fucking horrific scene I witnessed yesterday kept forcing its ugly way back onto my cornea. I shook my head violently in an attempt to rid myself from it, but it wouldn't budge and neither would the sickening feeling that accompanied the image.

  My door opened. I became aware I'd ignored the knocking. Brody stepped in. His face distraught.

  “I heard.” He came over and for a moment wasn't sure what to do, but he stepped up and gave me a hug. “He'll pull through,” he mumbled half heartedly.

  Brody knew I blamed myself and was trying to be supportive, but even he was struggling to be positive.

  I still hadn't heard from Eliza, and Rick was coming to our compound today. The meeting was scheduled to start at two o'clock in the afternoon which gave us barely enough time to pull this off. This could all go horribly wrong and I knew I would not be able to live with myself if something happened to Zaphire.

  “Bro. You need to snap out of your fucking doomsday scenario now. Focus. Don't give up without a fight. That's not like you.”

  Brody was right. We fucking had to pull it off. Whatever the fuck it would take.

  CHAPTER 49

  Eliza

  I followed Rick in a daze. I had to focus and forget the scenes I just witnessed. I needed to find that bloody phone. Daniel must have dropped it in the scuffle. I didn't get a chance though as Rick escorted me to my room and told me to get some rest. He locked the door on me. Bollocks. Naturally I had an extremely bad night's sleep. I dreaded the moment the door would open in the morning and find out that Rick knew. That Daniel had woken up and told him everything.

  I woke up as I heard footsteps approach. It was Irena. Was that good? Her face didn't give much away but it wasn't hostile. I could hardly breathe, I was so nervous. I envisaged the sea and waves to calm myself down somewhat. She looked at me slightly peculiarly. I should be more careful.

  “Rick wants to see you, before he travels down to Markus' compound,” she informed me blankly. I think she was cloaking her distrust for me. She didn't want to upset Rick.

  She escorted me to his room where he was sat behind his desk when we entered. He got up and moved over to give me a hug. It took me by surprise, but I melted into it. I loved the familiar smell and it took me right back to when I was an infant. I remembered how he always made me feel safe and loved. I allowed myself to feel like that for a few seconds, revelled in it. I knew it wasn't going to last. He sighed. Readying himself to talk.

  “Daniel regained consciousness.”

  I felt him observe me closely. I couldn't help slightly stiffening and my heartbeat rose significantly but I quickly answered, to disguise my signals to be coming from relief, rather than fear.

  “Oh good. We can clear this whole mess up then, thank God.”

  He paused a few seconds before he answered.

  “He can't remember a thing.”

  Again I was under close scrutiny. I wasn't surprised he had memory loss. He'd been knocked out twice in close succession. I was relieved but had to show disappointment. I'm not sure how well I succeeded.

  “Ah. So what happens now? Do they know when he'll remember?”

  “Not sure. It will have to wait. I think the wisest course of action for me is to have you closely guarded today, apologies for being cautious. I want to trust you, but I have to be sensible and until I can get to the bottom of this it's safest for everyone.”

  I sighed. But I understood. It would have been reckless to just leave me to my own devices.

  “I get it, dad. You go to the meeting today and make sure you give your best speech yet. We will have time to sort this misunderstanding out afterwards.”

  “I hope so Lizzy,” he nodded.

  “I love you dad.”

  I meant it. Twisted and wrong as his ideas and actions were, he was my father, a part of me and who I was.

  “I love you too,” he whispered and kissed my head softly.

  “Promise you will let Zaphire go afterwards? It was horrible seeing her in that state yesterday.”

  I couldn't help sounding pained.

  “I'm sorry you had to see that. We will keep our end of the deal if they keep theirs. Don't worry.”

  I knew he would. He wasn't cloaking. Whether he would get the option to keep his word was a different matter. If not, Zaphire would be freed anyway if everything went to plan. It reminded me of the importance of getting that phone. Not only because it was the proof I didn't want them to find, but also it was the only realistic chance of contacting Zack.

  “Bye, Lizzy.”

  He turned around once more before he left, his arm moved as if he was going to wave, but thought better of it. He'd given Irena instructions to be my minder. I had a job
on my hands. It was 8:30am and I had to give Zack the location of Zaph, otherwise they would be searching for her blindly, with only a small chance of success. And if they were found out, Rick would know they had undermined the deal once again and Zaphire would be doomed to rot away somewhere we would never find her.

  I had to wait for Rick to be on that plane, scheduled to leave at 10:00am, to execute my hastily put together plan. For now, I could only sit and wait, so decided to force myself to eat some breakfast.

  ◆◆◆

  It was 10:15am. I knew Zack would be shitting it by now, having received no further information from me. I had to get out of my room. I checked the door. Still locked. I could hear Irena was outside anyway. I checked the windows. The little one opened. Could I even get through that? And then what? My room was on the first floor. I could break my neck, falling out of that. My eighteenth birthday was coming up and I had no intention to die before then. I sat back onto my bed.

  Could I trick Irena to come into my room? She had orders not to, but I had noticed before that she was no stranger to bending the rules slightly. It was worth a try. I had my tights ready in my hands and I positioned myself right behind the door.

  “Irena?”

  No answer.

  “Irena? I know you're there,” I tried again.

  I heard her shuffle and felt her tense up.

  “Come on, Irena. I'm bored. Aren't you?” I persisted.

  Still no answer.

  “Irena, come play a game or something. It'll be a long day otherwise,” I kept at it.

  “Please?” I now whined.

  “Irena, please?” I felt her resolve dwindle.

  “Just for a bit? What harm can it do? It'll break the monotony,” I carried on.

  I was winning. It wouldn't be long now.

  I heard the key unlock the door. I got ready to pounce. I only had one chance. The door opened and Irena cautiously entered. I pulled the door open and yanked her in. I took a swing at her legs, completely unbalancing her, turned her around and jumped on top, grappling for her arms to keep her under control. The element of surprise gave me an advantage, but she was passed that now and she fought back with all her might. I wound the tights round her hands as quickly and securely as I could and pushed her arms up. With my knee in her back, she had nowhere to go. I stuffed a pair of pants in her mouth to stop her from yelling out. She was absolutely fuming. Her rage was crippling me and I had to concentrate not to lose the upper hand. She may be bound and gagged but I didn't think it would last long if I left her to it. I needed more. I pulled her across the floor and stuck her in my clothes cupboard. I hauled my desk in front of it. She was kicking like crazy. I turned my TV on loud to try and cover up some of the noise. I didn't think I had long. I had to find that phone. Maybe not so much for hiding the evidence, that horse had bolted as soon as I overpowered Irena, but for giving Zack the location of Zaphire.