by Aman Gupta
Sam wiped away her tears.
“So, she wasn’t at Clarence before 1/1?” asked Sam.
“Not possible, isn’t it?” said Vik.
“Yeah, the timeline doesn’t match,” said Sam.
“Why did you kill her?” asked Vik as he sat back on the couch. “Did she hurt you?”
“No, Vira told me Trista tortured her,” said Sam. “I was just avenging Vira.”
“And you believed her? As far as I knew Trista, she was never the violent one, much like you. Who is this Vira, anyway?” asked Vik.
“Vira is my friend. She told me about the Brotherhood. How bad it was. How they tortured her for seven years,” said Sam. “Before she formed Alliance.”
“I don’t know what you’re into, Sam, but I suggest you get your facts right before you turn into something you’re not,” said Vik.
“I will,” said Sam.
They sat quietly for the next few minutes. Sam was speechless. Thousands of moments were playing in her head.
Vik didn’t know how to ask Sam about Sierra, as she was struggling with emotions herself. Her entire world had turned upside down.
“Why today?” asked Sam.
“What?” asked Vik.
“Why did you come today?” asked Sam. “I thought you wouldn’t come after you left that day.”
“Believe it or not, Sam. I wanted to protect you. I’m sorry I put you in this position,” said Vik.
“It’s not your fault,” said Sam. “Clearly, I’m in the dark about a lot of things.”
“What I can tell you is that this Brotherhood is your family’s legacy. Your grandmother and your father founded the Brotherhood,” said Vik. “But once he disappeared, your grandmother was alone. So, your aunt, Mart, committed a heinous crime and got herself here. I’m not sure where your father went. There wasn’t much alone. However, when I examined the bank accounts of Clarence’s officials, I learnt they had been taking private money for years. Josh and I went through those companies. Some powerful men used it for money laundering and buying their way out of jail. A company called North Trust Investments stood out. It was one of the thousand subsidiaries of a large company, and they were involved in a lot of activities. All the partners of North Trust were dead in reality, except one,” said Vik.
“Who?” asked Sam.
“You,” said Vik.
“What?” asked Sam. She was shocked.
“Yeah, I was shocked, too,” smiled Vik. “Someone had been protecting their family under your name and keeping tabs on you too. North Trust made sizeable contributions to selected penitentiaries all over the world. Clarence got the chunk of those contributions.”
“You think it’s my father?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know,” said Vik. “No one has seen him for years. I ran his face against the footage archives going back twenty five years. Zero hits. Zero! If he’s alive, he has vanished from the face of the planet for the last two and a half decades.”
“I never knew him. He left soon after I was born. At least, that’s what my mother told me, after lying for many years that he had died,” said Sam.
“I’m sorry,” said Vik.
“Me too,” said Sam. “So why did you come to see me?”
“To check how you were doing,” said Vik. “And to ask you a favor.”
“What favor?” asked Sam.
“You mentioned something about Sierra,” said Vik. “Do you know more about it?”
“Why?” asked Sam.
“Let’s just say like you, I’m trying to piece together my family,” said Vik.
“Not much. I could only decrypt like 1% of the data you got from Atlantis. I could give you the key so that you can decrypt the rest of it yourself,” said Sam.
“That would help a lot,” said Vik.
Sam picked up a wrapper lying on the floor and wrote a network’s authentication credentials on it using Vik’s pen.
“What’s this?” asked Vik.
“My secure network. You can access it using this key at the bottom,” said Sam. “It contains the decryption algorithm, a copy of your data, and the keys that worked. Hopefully, you can do better than I did.”
“Thanks a lot,” said Vik.
“So, how’s everything else?” asked Sam.
“Better than in here, for sure,” smiled Vik. “You look cute in orange.”
Sam punched him. “Shame they don’t have any pillows.”
There was a knock on the door.
The guard told that the warden was expecting Vik. Vik told the guard to give some another couple of minutes.
“How are you so chum with the warden?” joked Sam.
“I told him that I represent North Trust Investments,” whispered Vik, as he leaned forward towards her ears.
They hugged each other and began whispering into each other’s ears. It was soothing.
“Can you get me out?” asked Sam.
“Not sure. My mind is a bit preoccupied,” said Vik “But I will try once I’m ready.”
“It’s okay. There are things I need to take care of,” said Sam.
“I’ll start with Vira. If she lied about Trista, maybe she lied about a lot of things,” said Vik.
“I think the bitch lied about everything,” said Sam.
“Talk to Mart,” said Vik.
The guards entered the room to take away Sam. Sam sneaked a couple of chocolates in her trousers.
“Find out what they did to Trista,” said Sam.
“Who’s they?” asked Vik.
“The warden,” yelled Sam as she was taken out.
Vik looked at the guard who was waiting to take him to the warden. Vik put on his jacket and tie and left with the guard.
*******************************************************
The warden began pouring a glass of scotch for Vik, who accepted it. Captain Brad Bell and Elliot James were sitting on the couch in the warden’s office, while Vik was sitting opposite to them. The interior was a bit dull and gloomy, as Vik expected.
“So, let’s start with your name,” said the warden.
“Vik,” said Vik.
“So, you were the one who gave Sam to us. Why?” asked the warden.
“We thought Sam might be missing her family,” said Vik.
“She’s going against the Brotherhood,” said Brad.
“Yes, I learnt about that. Clearly, someone intervened. Was it you?” asked Vik.
Elliot and Brad put down their glasses on the table ahead.
“No,” said Elliot.
“You pay us to look the other way. My boys and I did that,” said Brad. “We keep the illusion in place by implementing strict rules in the North wing. As agreed.”
“But, they’re free to make any decisions. Outside the view of the other inmates, of course. We can’t be seen being lenient to the local gang,” said Elliot.
“I understand,” said Vik.
“If I may ask, what prompted an inspection?” asked Elliot.
“We learnt that in spite of taking money from us, the Brotherhood were suffering all the same. In fact, quite worse,” said Vik. “Perhaps, we should arrange for their transfer to some other penitentiary who could afford to provide better hospitality. And before you deny it, we have sources inside your ‘administration.’”
Elliot and Brad looked at each other. They knew the next words were quite important. They couldn’t afford to lose such a sizeable investment, and lying was out of the question.
“What do you suggest?” asked Elliot. “Maybe we can revise our arrangement.”
“Personally, I don’t think we need to revise anything,” said Brad.
“One of the reasons you aren’t the warden,” said Vik. “Speak when you’re told.”
Brad went silent. Vik had learnt that from Victor Daulton. The art of an eloquent conversation. One of the many things he had picked from him.
“Yes, sir,” said Brad.
Brad was twice the age of the man sitting in fron
t of him. Calling him sir was bruising his ego, one blow at a time. The put-downs weren’t helping either.
“The North wing belongs to you. The South is for the others, with restricted access. The entire contraband flows through the Brotherhood, plus we refuse our services to other parties who have rivalries with the Brotherhood. What more can a prison offer?” asked Elliot.
“I was reading up on the history of Clarence. Weren’t there used to be 3 wings? North, South, and East?” asked Vik. “While we sit here in the West. And don’t tell me, we own the East. I know we don’t.”
Brad looked at Elliot, who didn’t blink. Elliot knew Vik was onto something. The East wing was Elliot’s ambitious plan for Clarence before he lost its control.
“East wing is off limits for everyone due to a tragic accident. No one has set foot in it for years,” said Elliot.
Vik couldn’t tell if Elliot was lying. He wasn’t looking like a nervous warden anymore. The change in demeanor was startling.
“I see. No issues,” said Vik. “I’m sure you aren’t trying to play both sides.”
“I thank you for your trust and your investment,” said Elliot. “But Clarence is a business with many branches. Like any business, we have our shareholders and investors while we serve our clients. Though we appreciate North Trust’s investment, you aren’t the only one who has hired Clarence. We aren’t in the rehabilitation business to serve the public. We’re in the protection business. We protect people, interests, resources, and other things considered valuable.”
Elliot picked up the glass and took a couple of sips. Vik could tell he wasn’t done.
Elliot continued, “We have invested sizeable contributions to create a state-of-the-art infrastructure. One of the features of such a system is that some freedoms must be compromised to benefit the people at large. You might find such an arrangement unreasonable because you happen to be both a client and an investor. But rest assured, the freedoms that must be compromised to maintain the illusion of fairness are still worth less than the liberties that are gained. Every asset and individual, albeit paid for by influential parties such as yourself, are looked after with utmost care. But I wouldn’t like my investors to feel they’re underserved when they were the ones who approached us first to create a safe-haven for certain individuals. We’re competing with the world’s top safe-havens, and we can’t afford to be weak if we are to survive. To put in simpler terms, I would not like to be questioned about how I deliver my services when I wasn’t consulted on the services that I am being assumed to provide. North Trust or the Brotherhood aren’t the only ones hiding or biding their time. I have to consider my bottom line as well as fulfil my fiduciary duty to our shareholders.”
“I’m not questioning your ability to deliver the services. I’m saying they aren’t being delivered, altogether,” said Vik. “Regarding your fiduciary duty to the shareholders, like us, we aren’t only here for profit. Clarence is an investment, like so many others. If the investment threatens to pull the bottom line of our related interests in other sectors from under our feet, we might look for alternative leadership. Clarence is much bigger than Elliot James, even though Elliot James has taken Clarence to unbelievable heights.”
“I have done everything I can to deliver the services. For instance, we created a regime to ensure that no client chooses the North wing. The ones that do, frequently request for an upgrade to the South, thereby freeing the Brotherhood to conduct their business and leave in peace,” said Elliot.
“What about the officers? I’ve heard that the guards treat North rather harshly,” said Vik.
“Occasional unrests do occur, but that’s part of the illusion. My officers don’t like being told that they’re slaves to the prisoners,” said Elliot.
“Yeah, employees are never slaves to clients,” said Vik. “What a terrible way would that be, to conduct business.”
“I will make sure that the Brotherhood’s interests are more carefully looked after, from now on,” said Elliot.
He understood Vik’s intention of separating Clarence from the man who built it. Clarence was part of a network, and the network could survive without Elliot.
“That’s all I ask. So Brad, how’s Trista?” asked Vik.
“Trista..she’s fine,” said Brad. “To put it bluntly, she got caught in the West wing.”
“That’s unfortunate. The Brotherhood misses her. I hope she finds her way back to North wing soon,” said Vik. “Unbroken.”
“Of course,” said Brad.
“Splendid,” said Vik. “I’ll leave for now. Many more stops to make. You can imagine.”
“Yes, we understand. If we could do anything to earn us some extra love, please do feel free to call,” said Elliot.
“I’ll hold you to that promise someday,” said Vik.
He shook Elliot’s hands and nodded to Brad. He picked his car keys from the table and walked outside the door.
Elliot and Brad followed him to the elevators. Vik waved as he pressed the button to the ground floor.
“He knew about the East wing, yet he pretended not to,” said Elliot. “I get a feeling he was warning me that they might pull the Brotherhood out of Clarence if things didn’t go their way.”
“Would that cause a problem?” asked Brad. “Brotherhood wants to take over the South wing. However, the South wing has some ‘prisoners’ who aren’t supposed to be alive. We have to protect them from the Brotherhood.”
“I’m not an idiot, Brad. I won’t give them the South wing,” said Elliot. “Why do you think we divided them up in the first place?! Regarding the Brotherhood, it’s time we put some money on the horse that’s more bankable.”
“What do you mean?” asked Brad.
“Maybe we can start a bidding war with East,” said Elliot. “Make North wing a lot more hospitable.”
“What about the ones we have lost? Should we just get rid of them?” asked Brad.
“We can’t take a risk. Perhaps, it’s better we relocate some of our prisoners from the East back to North,” said Elliot.
“What if they don’t want to leave?” asked Brad. “Claudia can be persuasive.”
“He asked about Trista. So let’s start with her. Let’s hope the conditions haven’t gone to her head yet,” said Elliot.
“Yes, sir,” said Brad.
“He didn’t talk about Claudia, though. She is often mentioned in the notes associated with the money transactions, but he didn’t mention her name at all. Strange, don’t you think?” said Elliot.
“The woman went mad after Marge died. No wonder they don’t care about her,” said Brad.
“Claudia knows the real identity of their leader. The Brotherhood wants her dead,” said Elliot. “As long as we have her, we control the Brotherhood and guarantee their investment in our enterprise. Shame, no one spends a dime on Claudia’s behalf.”
Brad walked out of the octagonal building with a couple of other officers armed with heavy artillery. They took the jeep to the East wing. A high caliber gun was mounted on top of the jeep as they raced through the mud.
The East wing was spread over five acres of land. From the outside, it looked like a remnant of a burnt castle. The walls were black, and the stone was covered with vegetation that had grown out of it.
Brad stopped the jeep a hundred yards away from the East wing. He spotted a couple of figures standing on top of the castle. They were pointing their gun at Brad.
“Drop the gun, you bastard!” yelled Brad. “And tell Claudia that we need Trista back. Hope she’s alive.”
A few minutes later, the 20 feet high wooden door opened. The creak of the door echoed to Brad’s ears. A woman was pushed out the door, before it was shut again.
“Disable the shield,” said Brad, on the radio.
“Done!” said the voice.
Brad raised his hand. A young woman hopped forward using a stick and one good leg, through the deserted yard.
“Get the girl,” said Brad.
/> The guards jumped from the jeep, and ran towards the girl. One of them picked her up and walked back towards the jeep. The other pointed his gun at the two men standing on top of the castle.
“Check her,” said Brad.
They found a note tied to her neck. Brad unrolled the paper and read it silently.
“What does it say, Cap?” asked the guard.
“They’ve run out of food,” said Brad. “As always.”
“When did we give it to them?” asked another.
Brad looked at the guard and walked by with a disgusted face.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked the guard.
“Why? What did I say?” asked the other one, who was new to the gig.
“5 years ago,” said the guard. “We haven’t given them food for 5 years.”
“What do they eat?” asked the other guard.
“Each other,” said Brad. “Let’s go.”
The guards looked at each other and hopped back on the jeep, as the laser shield came back on. Trista was lying in the back of the jeep in shock. Her eyes hadn’t blinked the entire time. She hadn’t just seen a ghoul or a monster for herself. But spent a day inside their dungeon.
Chapter 28: Nefarious
The early morning gong went off in the Clock Tower near the Town Square like always, to tell the citizens of Morrow that it was 8 AM. Soon, the roads started filling up with people performing their morning rituals. Some enjoyed the long walks, while some went for work. Small boats could be seen in the river, where the fishermen waited to catch their share of fish for the day. The sanitation workers had already cleaned all the roads and the markets where they were allowed to set foot.
Kate had been running around a park located near her home. She had been out since 6 AM. Her brain was hurting more than the body. Her brain had reached an impasse with her heart. She wanted to find Katie, but not at the expense of losing her friends. It was a terrible thought, but she couldn’t think past it. She knew Vik wouldn’t have asked for her help if he was sure he could do it all alone. He needed her help even though he hadn’t said the exact words. As she was on her 57th lap of the park, she saw a shadow looking at her through the bushes. She stopped and went towards the shadow, cutting through the grass.
