A Warrior's Journey

by Guy Stanton III

  He considered her for a moment and then said, “I’m known as Larc and he’s Talaric.”

  She met the younger man’s eyes and nodded in a confirmation of hearing his name. She was glad for whatever control the older man was exerting because all she saw in the younger man’s eyes was a naked fury that threatened to be unleashed on her without a moment’s notice.

  “Larc, Talaric if you would now step back please so that I can leave to see to your accommodations.”

  Obediently Larc stepped back a couple of feet followed reluctantly by the younger one. The door opened and she stepped through it. It closed with a resounding click behind her and her relief with the sounding of security was immense, but she kept the emotion to herself.

  Now was no time to show weakness in front of a Committee member, who was watching her like a hawk.

  The Committee member relaxed his examination of her and smiled, “I see that I was not wrong in my selection of you for the task at hand. Well done Evette!”

  She nodded her acceptance at the empty praise of his words, because they would carry no reward for her if she didn’t deliver.

  “You will see to the amenities that I offered to them?” Evette asked unsure as to how far he was willing to go to humor her lenient interrogation practices.

  “It will be done as you requested. Go home and get some rest so that you are ready for tomorrow’s questioning.”

  She turned to leave, “Evette?”

  She looked back at the Committee member over one shoulder.

  “Two more days Evette is all you have.”

  She nodded her understanding and continued on down the hall. She hadn’t gone far, when she broke out into a cold sweat. She almost stopped and turned back but forced herself to continue walking.

  She’d left her gun in the cell!

  She silently cursed herself under her breath as she realized the magnitude of her mistake. The blue eyed man had so distracted her that she had forgotten to take the pile of towels back out with her.

  That had been his game all along!

  He had distracted her with his offer of cooperation and she had forgotten everything else as she seized the life line she thought he had been extending out to her! What a stupid fool she was!

  He had manipulated her like she was a puppet on a string and she had danced right along with his tune. Her chances of surviving this incident had just gotten much slimmer. Would they try their break out in the night or wait for her to show up tomorrow?

  I watched from concealment as not two hours after the red haired woman’s arrival I saw her leaving again. The crowd of security people parted before her as they had earlier. She was the key to getting in. I drew back to where Orhanin and Thanic waited. I knew what we would do now. I told them the plan and they nodded.

  We would wait until the changing of the security detail and then we would acquire some clothes that hopefully wouldn’t be to bloody after we dealt with their owners. I started down from the rooftop as the two brothers followed silently behind me.

  Evette sipped on the cup of coffee in her hand. Her eyes felt gritty and tired, as did the rest of her as she walked into the station. She had not slept well at all last night. Who was she kidding? She hadn’t slept at all, which had been a common occurrence in her life as of late.

  There hadn’t been as many protesters outside this morning, for which she had been grateful. She hated pushing her way through a mob with all the touching that involved. She’d come in early today and the office was vacant for the most part except for the night guards.

  Security followed her in from outside and opened the first few doors for her, which she appreciated. She made her way through the building until she reached the interrogation corridor. She approached the room holding the two men half surprised that they hadn’t made a break in the night.

  The thought of them doing that with her gun had also attributed to keeping her up all night. Would they just shoot her with her own gun as she stepped into the room?

  As a Committee station rule she had been searched for weapons upon entering the building as she always was so she was next to defenseless against the two men with a gun.

  The pistol had been hid in her office for years in case of a rainy day. Well it was a rainy day, but they had her gun. They hadn’t found her daggers in the search this morning and she was hoping to take them out with them before they could use her gun on her if that was their intention.

  She was wide awake now and despite her sleeplessness, quite alert to the dangers of the situation that she now faced. She walked up to the window of the small holding cell. They were still there and thankfully clothed.

  There naked state had been awkward to say the least for her yesterday. They were sitting together on one of the two cots in the small room in deep conversation with each other. Again the one named Larc looked up at the one way glass somehow sensing her presence there. She saw that they had made pillows out of the left over towels and she swallowed hard. They must have found the gun then.

  Some part of her had hoped to see the towels still stacked up untouched. A sudden clattering sound from down the hall caused her to glance back down the way she had come, but she saw nothing. Turning back to the prisoners she went to the door and lifted her hand to the knob.

  The door was locked. The doors were always locked to anyone from the inside getting out, but usually left unlocked to anyone wanting to go in from the outside. She turned away from the door to the lone guard to ask him to unlock the door for her. Her unexpected movement saved her life.

  I watched as the red haired lady starred into the glass window at the far end of the hall. That must be where Larc and Talaric were locked up. I drew two daggers out from the leather belt that held up the baggy blue pants that I wore.

  The uniform didn’t fit well, but it had been enough to escape notice, when we had slipped into the security line outside before dark this morning. Redhead hadn’t looked to good this morning and hadn’t even looked at us, as we had broken from the security lineup to hold several doors open for her.

  I had followed behind her at a distance, while Thanic and Orhanin worked on clearing the building of anybody who would oppose our exodus. I brought the first knife up and through it hard, the second knife following within a second of the first.

  The lone guard gasped and clutched at his chest reflexively, although he was already dead from the knife impaled through his heart. The woman had turned away from the door unexpectantly and the knife meant for her had whizzed past her to imbed harmlessly in the wall behind her, where she had just been moments before.

  The cup in her hand slipped to the floor and shattered into pieces spilling the dark fluid everywhere. She didn’t start screaming or try to escape, but instead faced me squarely, as a warrioress of my own people would have done. I watched as she pulled two slim knives out of the sleeves of her coat and then took the coat off. She was a game one that was for sure.

  I advanced out of the shadows and down the hall towards her. I reached up with both hands and pulled two daggers that were close to the size of hers out from underneath the collar of the blue shirt that I wore. As I drew closer my eyes confirmed what I had already seen from a distance. She was a very attractive woman.

  Her beauty would get her no pity though, but I would see that she got a warrior’s honorable death. My pace quickened into a run and I saw her kick her funny looking shoes off. We were at it then in a dangerous dance of whirling bodies and slashing blades.

  She was quick!

  Perhaps the quickest opponent I had ever faced. She slipped out from in front of my slashing advance and made a quick stab at me. I barely parried it and then quickly retaliated back with several thrusts of my own.

  I missed but caught her with a boot kick that sent her crashing back hard against the wall. I saw her grit her teeth and she fairly sprung away from the wall slashing as she came at me and I backed away from her onslaught. She threw a kick of her own that caught me in the stomach. I l
et the force of the kick carry me on backward to the floor.

  I wasn’t prepared for how quickly she followed. The impact of her bottom on my stomach drove the air from my lungs, as I saw both dagger filled hands descending towards my chest in a downward arc. My arms shot up between me and her and I knocked her arms outward throwing the trajectory of her blades away from my chest. I thrust my head upward and smacked it hard into hers.

  She was stunned from the blow to her head and I could have killed her in that moment if I had wanted to. Instead I threw her up and over me to crash once more against the wall. Leaping to my feet I wheeled to meet her assault.

  She was good, very good even, but I was better. She over swung with one strike at me and I smashed her hand with my fist, which sent her blade flying away, even as she grimaced in pain at the blow to her hand. I kicked her feet out from under her and as she fell to the floor face first. I jumped on her back pinning both of her hands to the floor with my knees. With one hand I grabbed a handful of the red dyed hair and pulled her head back sharply from off the floor even as my other hand still holding a knife slipped under her throat. The blade of the knife was no sooner touching the skin of her throat, when I dimly registered a shouted command from a familiar voice.

  Breathing hard I stopped the movement of my hand and looked upward to see Larc crawling through a shattered window clutching something in his hand. He stepped toward me and I gathered that he didn’t want her dead or maybe he wanted to kill her himself.

  I removed my knife and hauled her up to her feet while I held her from behind. Both of us breathing hard we waited to find out what Larc intended to do to her.

  He stepped up in front of her and lifted her chin up with one hand, “One good turn deserves another.”

  And with that said his other hand smashed into the side of her head and she went as a limp as a rag doll in my arms.

  I hadn’t missed the brief look of pain that had crossed Larc’s features, as he had knocked the fiery woman held fast in my arms into the realm of unconsciousness. Larc liked this one!

  Who wouldn’t? She wasn’t hard to look at and she had spunk that was for sure.

  “Do you want me to bring her along for you?”

  I couldn’t resist asking. For a moment I think he was actually considering it, before he shook his head no.

  “You sure?”

  He looked aggravated with me so shrugging I dropped her. Then he looked really aggravated with me as she connected hard with the floor.

  “Do you have a way out of here?” He asked testily.

  I nodded and both of them followed.

  Talaric looked like he’d had a rough time of it, but he kept up. We passed several fallen guards and office people along the way. Orhanin and Thanic had been busy.

  “Do you have a place that we can hide out in until we can get out of this God forsaken city?” Larc asked as he and Talaric put on some uniforms that Orhanin provided.

  “I found a sanctuary for us. A place that no one goes to anymore I think.” I replied.

  We made our way back out of the building the way we had come in and blended in with the usual crowd of protestors, until we were past them and moving out into the city.

  Throbbing wasn’t the word for it thought Evette to herself. Her head felt broken. Nothing could feel that bad and not be. To make matters worse she couldn’t move otherwise either.

  “I see that you’ve decided to rejoin the living Evette.”

  Evette opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a room that was dark except for a bright light that shone directly into her eyes and hurt them. She was tied to the chair that she was sitting in. The voice had been familiar to her.

  Committee member Tomlinson stepped out of the shadows and briefly blocked the harsh light, but then it was back as he stepped behind her. He had a club of some kind in his hand. She had to play it cool if she had any chance to save herself.

  Suddenly the club descended in front of her face to rise chokingly against her throat. He held either end of the club as he choked her. She struggled to get air. She was gasping for air when the pressure was released only enough to keep her from passing out.

  The Committee member leaned down and pressed his lips to her ear and said, “Now that your awake dear how about explaining to me how out of the forty odd people in the building at the time you are the only one left alive to tell a tale?

  He released the choking hold of the baton from her throat and she sputtered and half gagged as she caught her breath.

  “Well I’m waiting and I am not a very patient man!”

  Evette told him everything she knew about the fight and what followed.

  The Committee member paced back and forth in front of her, when she finished he asked, “And how did the two prisoners escape from the cell to halt your throat from being cut?”

  This was the part of the story that she had to take a wild gamble on. She couldn’t breathe a word about the gun.

  “He had helpers they came up and busted the window out while I was fighting with the other man.”

  He stopped pacing and looked at her intently. She feigned her most truthful and honest look in her repertoire. It was a good bet that the man hadn’t been alone and she was sure that the audio recorders would back up her made up story.

  There were no video recorders in the interrogation area for fear of public censure should footage be leaked to the media. The Committee member resumed pacing.

  “One of your attackers mentioned that they were heading towards some sanctuary within the city. Do you know where or what that might be?”

  Evette shook her head no at a complete loss as to what the answer to that might be.

  “I believe your story Evette.”

  She got no chance to savor the relief she felt at those words before she felt the impact of a backhanded slap that rocked her head backward. The slap was followed by another that rocked her head back the other way.

  Her neck felt like it was broken and her face felt like it was on fire. The ringing in her ears and the clamoring in her head wouldn’t stop.

  “That is to drive home the magnitude of your failure! The only reason I don’t end your life is because you have been a valuable asset to us in the past and we’re short on agents right now. You will be released later in the day. Until then you can reflect on the error of your failure to do your job!”

  The Committee member slammed out of the room and Evette was left to suffer in the bright glare of the light. Her face was swelling up and her bruised eyes closed shut trying to block out the glare of the harsh light.

  Her body shook slightly, but she didn’t make any sound. The only thing that betrayed how she felt inside was the tears that squeezed out from the corners of her eyes.

  Chapter Eleven

  Escape or Die

  Evette limped slightly as she made her way home to her apartment that evening. They had left her cuffed to the chair for the whole day. She hurt all over, but at least she still had her life, whatever that was good for.

  They expected her to come to work tomorrow to resume her old duties. With any luck by the time she was missed tomorrow she would already be well on the way to being out of the country with Mama and the kids. All she was going back to her apartment for was to gather up a few items and to satisfy any tail that they may have put on her to make sure she was going home.

  She went down the hall to her room. The door was ajar again. She slammed the door the rest of the way inward and stormed into her apartment. After everything that she had suffered through today she was in no mood for anymore of Missy’s foolishness.

  “Missy!”

  She didn’t see her anywhere. The light was on in the kitchen and she headed for it. She pushed through the doors and couldn’t help the scream that escaped her lips. Missy was lying stretched out on top of the table. She had been tied to it and horribly tortured.

  Her sightless eyes stared up at the ceiling in a clear testament that life was no longer present with
in her. Evette backed up slowly through the doors hers eyes on the horror before her. Who had done this?

  She thought she heard something in the room behind her and turned to see the source of the sound in a panic only to be met with a cloud of knockout gas. She clung to the door fighting to stay conscious, but it was no use. She slipped the rest of the way to the floor all ability to reason leaving her.

  Evette lifted her head slightly from where it had been resting against her chest. It was hard to lift her head because of how tight her arms were about her head. Dimly she realized, as she looked around that she was hanging from the ceiling where her chandelier had once been.

  The chandelier was gone, with only its chain left, to which she was cuffed to. She had been stripped down to her panties and bra and the realization of that caused an inadvertent moan to escape out from her bruised lips, as she remembered the vision of what had been done to poor Missy lying in the kitchen.

  She couldn’t feel her hands and her arms hurt horribly.

  “Well, look at what we have here. A traitorous slut if I ever saw one!”

  It was Robert her fellow agent! Robert had done this?

  It was hard to talk but she managed to get out, “Why are you doing this Robert? Missy? Why?”

  He waved a hand dismissively, “Missy was just me having some fun while I waited. Sort of like a mouse for the cat to play with, while it waits for its main target to appear, the traitorous little rat that she is!”

  “You think I’m a traitor? I haven’t done anything to betray my country!”

  “Oh yes you have! I intend on getting the whole story out of you too! I’m going to make my career with you! When the Committee finds out how you’ve been in cahoots with the strangers among us they’ll have no choice but to appoint me as chief inspector for the Committee.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Now let me go!”

  “You’ll squeal little rat in time! It appears that the office has already worked you over some, but you haven’t felt anything yet.” As he said it he ran one hand caressingly over a deep bruise on her side above her hip that she had gotten with the fight with the stranger.