We followed Lara through the underground sewage system for about another fifteen minutes before we emerged through an opening into a forested area.
“This is part of Vinder’s park system,” Lara pointed out as we walked out.
I was thankful for trusting Lara to get us out.
“What happened back there?” Oliver signed.
“The drones used by the Council are able to both visually detect us and use our scent to track us,” Lara indicated. “The spray was a deterrent which prevents the drone from picking up any of our scents.”
“Wow! I didn’t know the drones could hunt us in such a way,” Oliver motioned.
“Now where do we go?” Susie gestured.
“I am going to take you to the backup building for the Resistance,” Lara highlighted.
TWENTY-FIVE
The backup building for the Resistance was quite close to the park and I understood why Lara had chosen this way to get there as we didn’t encounter anyone along the way although it was way beyond midnight already.
Once we reached the place we found it to be empty and it seemed like no one else had made it here so far.
“Let’s get some rest,” Lara motioned pointing to some rooms in the back.
I knew Lara was upset although she didn’t show it because she had expected to, at least, find a few of her friends here by now.
As Susie and Oliver headed to the rooms I walked up to Lara. “I am sure the others will arrive here in a few days time. Give them some time okay?”
Lara nodded and hugged me. “Thank you.”
I joined Oliver in his room. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better M,” Oliver motioned. “I knew it was a risky thing to come to Vinder, but I also didn’t have much choice after Susie and I went our own ways.”
“I know,” I signed. “She told me about it.”
“Yeah, I think she was quite unhappy with how you left us although she didn’t talk about it much with me,” Oliver indicated. “So, I thought it best she goes back home and tries to get her life back together, but I never thought she would come here and join Dr Liverfield.”
“Me too,” I signed. “I didn’t know what to do when I spotted her. How did you get here?”
“I managed to contact a friend who created for me a fake id which helped me get on the train to Vinder,” Oliver motioned. “It isn’t hard if you know the right people. The moment I got off the train I realized I was being followed, which meant these people must have tracked me once I was on the train.”
“What happened then?” I gestured.
“I ran away from the train station, but they cornered me and then took me to Dr Liverfield,” Oliver motioned. “And when I saw Susie there we were both shocked. I think she didn’t expect me to be there either.”
Susie knocked, entered the room and smiled. “Of course, I didn’t expect you. You were the last person I thought would ever come to Vinder. I was so shocked when they brought you in.”
“I didn’t get a chance to say this before,” I interrupted her. “But you did an awesome job playing along with the plan. Dr Liverfield never saw it coming.”
“How could she?” Oliver motioned. “The way Susie handled the gun on me was so real. Even though I never showed it I was extremely scared.”
“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” I signalled. “I mean Dr Liverfield’s man was fighting for his life. It was so intense in there.”
Susie grinned. “I have never used a gun in my life before.”
“Trust me I wouldn’t be able to tell,” Oliver smiled. “You were a professional. Next time I know who to call when I need protection.”
“Did you think I was going to kill you?” Susie signed. “We both know we haven’t had the best of relationships since the school project episode years ago.”
I was surprised Susie was comfortable enough to bring up the past at this very moment and glanced nervously at Oliver.
“I know what you mean,” Oliver motioned. “I wasn’t sure at all what was going on, but I am sorry for not trusting you then and now Susie. Sometimes it isn’t easy to let go of things, but I am really over it now. And I forgot to thank you for not shooting me.”
I smiled, was glad the two of them could, at least, talk about the past openly and I knew this breakthrough would make the three of us even stronger.
“I am so relieved all of this is settled,” I signed. “But I am really unhappy Dr Liverfield got away from us.”
“She couldn’t have gone far so fast,” Susie motioned. “You have no idea how good she is at brainwashing people.”
We both turned to Susie.
“It was that bad, huh?” I signed.
“When I was with her everyday all she could do was talk about the process and how it would bring humankind to the next phase,” Susie indicated. “To be honest, I did get sucked into the story and it was hard to resist when it was all she talks about. If I hadn’t met you Marinette, I don’t know what would have happened to me. Maybe I would have ended up being her new brainwashed apprentice.”
I smiled at her. “I doubt it. You would’ve figured the truth out eventually.”
“Dr Liverfield thinks she is some kind of god,” Susie highlighted. “The way she deals with all her people is scary. She doesn’t care about anyone or anything. She has a single mission and that’s it.”
“What did Dr Liverfield mean when she said soon she would know about how to make a sound?” I signed looking at Susie.
Susie shrugged. “I don’t know and she never talked about any other way, at least, in front of me.”
I had a sense Dr Liverfield wouldn’t say such a thing without a reason, but for now I had to let it be.
“I need to go back into the Council building,” I motioned.
“Why??? Are you crazy?” Oliver signed. “They could be waiting for us there. Isn’t the place quite heavily armed and protected?”
“Maybe and maybe not,” I indicated and explained to them about the young dead woman Cecilia and others trapped there as test subjects.
Susie was shocked. “We must help these women. I didn’t know about all this Marinette. If I had known …”
“It is okay,” I interrupted because I knew Susie was being truthful and I didn’t want her to feel bad about it anymore. “We now have a chance to fix it.”
Susie nodded. “Yes, let’s do it.”
“Hold on the two of you,” Oliver indicated. “Just because the two of you managed to pull an elaborate plan on Dr Liverfield we still need to be very careful when dealing with her. This is her city and she has many allies. We cannot simply go walking into this Council building. There will be lots of surveillance around.”
Lara walked in and we shared with her our thoughts of rescuing the women.
“I agree with Oliver,” Lara signed. “We need a plan before walking in there.”
I was surprised Lara didn’t try to talk us out of rescuing the women. I guessed after everything that had happened she probably felt we needed to do more damage to Dr Liverfield and her operations.
“Did everyone forget who has access into the building?” Susie smiled waving her access card. “And guess who knows how to disarm the security system at the entrance?”
I grinned. “Oops I didn’t know that.”
TWENTY-SIX
It was late at night, the square in front of the Council building was empty and there weren’t any guards or drones moving around.
“Are you sure about this?” I motioned.
It was my first hint of doubt ever since we had decided to go ahead with this rescue mission.
“Give me a few minutes to disable the drones at the front and then it should be all clear,” Susie highlighted. “Wait for my signal.”
Susie walked off to the Council building and after she entered it we waited until I received a message on my phone and then Oliver and I started moving towards the building. Lara had decided to stay back at the Resistance location in
case the others showed up and I thought it was the best decision for her since she was still quite upset that no one had showed up.
“Don’t worry M,” Oliver gestured.
“Worry about what?” I highlighted.
“About whether Susie is going to betray you again,” Oliver smiled. “I am pretty sure this isn’t a trap.”
I grinned and was amused that, of all people, it would be Oliver who would be the one telling me to trust Susie again and not doubt her. In fact, I had no doubts about Susie at all and I knew I could trust her because if not we wouldn’t be standing here and Oliver wouldn’t even be alive.
“Thanks for the comforting thought,” I signed. “It’s good you have finally grown up.”
“How much does Lara know about your ability?” Oliver gestured.
Knowing Oliver I knew he would be careful to trust Lara.
“She has seen me speak a few words,” I motioned. “But she hasn’t seen the sound you heard in the kitchen that time when I was with you with Felix. However, that doesn’t mean she isn’t aware of it.”
“I am impressed that you have made such progress M,” Oliver signed.
“The Resistance provided me some stuff to help practice so I do owe them a lot,” I indicated.
“I am sensing there is a but coming,” Oliver interrupted.
“But I don’t know how much I can trust Lara yet,” I signalled. “She is a complicated person and the whole Resistance agenda is another thing, which I don’t know enough about.”
Oliver nodded. “Keep that in mind always because here in Vinder we are completely out of our league. From the little I have seen here everyone is playing a mind game.”
“There was one person I trusted at the Resistance,” I motioned and shared with Oliver about Claire.
“Do you think she made it out alive from the Council raid?” Oliver gestured.
Oliver always had the ability to ask the right question at the right time whenever we were together.
“I really hope so,” I signed. “She seemed like the one person who cared more about me than anything else.”
As we stepped into the Council building Susie was standing beyond the entrance gantry and waved us to join in. We crossed the gantry without any alarms being set off and then Susie pressed the lift, we all got in and the lift started going up.
“Are there people in this building at this hour?” Oliver motioned.
“I don’t think so,” Susie gestured. “We still need to be careful though. I heard that some floors have robot patrols.”
“Do you know which floor the women are at?” I signed.
“I am not sure, but we can start with the floor you were held up in,” Susie indicated.
As the lift reached the floor Susie had selected I pointed out through the transparent glass. “Oh my gosh! Look!”
Along the corridor there was smoke emerging from one of the rooms whose door was slightly ajar. I rushed out of the lift before Susie and Oliver could say anything and upon reaching the door, I opened it wider and more smoke raced out into the corridor.
I took a step back covering my mouth as Oliver peeked inside. “There is too much smoke here, but it looks like some kind of lab. I can see a lot of broken glass on the floor. Whoever was here has done a good job of getting rid of everything.”
It seemed like Dr Liverfield and her men had already come here to destroy whatever evidence they had so no one would be able to track them.
“Let’s try another room,” Susie pointed further down the corridor.
We walked over, Susie opened the door and we discovered that this room also had a lot of broken glass, but this time with purple patches everywhere.
“They didn’t want anyone else to have the purple liquid,” I signed unhappily.
It was a dead-end because whatever evidence had been here was now destroyed.
I walked out while Susie and Oliver continued to investigate inside the room. There was another room a few meters ahead and I went to it, opened the door and was shocked by what was inside.
TWENTY-SEVEN
There were a series of large cages inside the room and inside three of them were three young women all chained up. Each of the women wore the same hospital gown I had been given and they were all asleep and looked tired.
“Oh my gosh! What is going on here?” Susie motioned when she joined me followed by Oliver.
“We need to open these cages now,” I signed frantically before Oliver could even say anything.
I didn’t know how much time we had left, but apparently Dr Liverfield’s associates had either decided to leave the women alive or completely forgotten about them and could be back for them anytime. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill these women as they were another part of the evidence of the process.
“Look around for something to open the doors,” I motioned to both Susie and Oliver.
Oliver and Susie went around the room and outside of the corridor to find something, but found nothing. Then Oliver went to the first cage and tried to pull the lock apart, but failed and by this time all the women in the cages had woken up and were looking at us in desperation and I felt so much for them and it was overwhelming.
“Move aside,” I signed. “I am going to open this my way.”
Oliver stared at me briefly, stood aside and look puzzled while Susie walked nearer to watch and I realized it was time they both knew the raw power behind the words I spoke out.
I went to the first cage, spoke the words “Open now” with authority and the lock on the cage broke apart into pieces right in front of our eyes. The first woman in the cage moved back a bit in fear initially, but I smiled at her and extended my hand through the bars which she gently reached out for.
“What the heck M?” Oliver signed. “Did I see wrongly or did you just destroy the lock by your words?”
I opened the cage and Susie came forward to help the first woman out while I went to the remaining cages and opened them.
“I will explain it all later,” I signed. “Let’s get them out of here before someone comes back for them.”
The three women were weak, we struggled to keep them standing as we helped them walk to the lift and took it back down.
Inside the lift one of the women looked at me. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
I smiled and waved for her to rest.
“How are we going to get them out of this area?” Susie indicated. “We won’t make it far on foot and people will certainly notice even at this hour.”
“I messaged Lara earlier when we found them,” I gestured. “She should be here in another five minutes.”
I hoped Lara had an answer to Susie’s question because we definitely couldn’t take these three women in their hospital gowns on the bus. People would notice, start to question us and it would be a matter of minutes before the Council guards found us.
Susie nodded as we walked out of the Council building and through the square with the three women and, fortunately, at this time of night there weren’t any people loitering around. As we reached the other end of the square a black van pulled up and Lara got out.
“Wow! You found a set of wheels,” Oliver smiled.
Lara grinned. “A few of my Resistance friends made it to the building right after you left and one of them had a van.”
I was happy for Lara and I wanted to ask her about Claire, Sam and the others, but I knew this wasn’t the time for it.
“Everyone get in,” Lara highlighted.
We all shuffled into the van and on the way back I was glad both Susie and Oliver were smart enough to never mention what I had done earlier with my words.
The three women huddled together and remained quiet throughout the trip.
“Any sign of Dr Liverfield?” Lara motioned.
I shrugged. “Nope, but her people had been there because there was a lot of stuff which was destroyed.”
“It can only mean she has started moving all of her operations out of Vinder,” Lara hi
ghlighted. “I had expected this from her.”
“That’s what we think too,” Oliver motioned.
“Was there any evidence at all left?” Lara gestured.
“There was nothing,” I signed. “All the purple liquid seemed to have been destroyed.”
“But doesn’t she need to be here for Council matters?” Oliver motioned. “She cannot simply disappear.”
Emerging Above the Silence Page 11
