by Clint Stoker
Dharmesh stood up and extended his palms forward to make it easier for Napal. Air was speechless and upset that Dharmesh could be so stupid. He gave Dharmesh a look. What was he doing? Napal shackled Dharmesh and tugged the chains.
“If you try anything stupid…” Napal was thinking along the same lines as Air.
“I won’t try anything.”
“For your sake, I hope you don’t.” Napal glared a warning.
---
Dharmesh was thrown in the open cell next to Ben. The first thing he did was apologized to Ben and try his best to comfort him. Air couldn’t bear to see them like that, so he went back into the file room. Dex was sitting at the round table deep in thought. His spidery fingers tapped against the laminate top. He shifted his thought to Air and scowled.
“The administration wants this outbreak to be purged as soon as possible.” Dex looked cross, as if the information required something more from Air.
Air shuttered at the thought of the impending interrogation and possible torture and the inevitable execution. He tried to think of any way to mitigate their suffering.
“I’ll interrogate them,” Air volunteered.
“You won’t. You’re too green. Napal will interrogate them. I’ll allow you to observe. Maybe after watching these first two, you can interrogate anyone they rat-out.”
“Yes sir.” The words burned his throat on the way out.
The door cracked open. Mist peeked in and called Dex out for a phone call. Air looked back to the holding room. Napal and Helix were still inside with the prisoners. He felt so helpless. Air opened the door to find Helix laughing at a sobbing Ben.
“Please, be decent, leave Ben alone.” Dharmesh jumped to his defense.
“Helix, Dex needs you back on elevator duty,” Air lied. Anything to get him out of the way.
“Not again.” Helix moaned under his breath.
“You’d better not gripe about it because Dex is livid.” Air added, just to apply a little stress for retribution.
Helix hissed a curse and stormed out of the room.
Napal sighed. “Sometimes I think Helix’s brain is decaying. He’s worthless… I’d like to drop him down the elevator shaft someday.”
Air laughed just to acknowledge the slight. “Can… Can I have a minute alone with these guys, Napal?”
“Why?”
“I think I can get this over with faster if I can just talk to them for a minute.”
Napal sighed and was about to say no but he was tired of opposing Air. “Just for a minute, I’m serious.”
“Thank you,”
Napal scowled at Ben and Dharmesh, then he walked out. As soon as the door closed, Ben whimpered with relief. He looked up at Air like he was his savior.
“I told you this was a mistake.” Air snapped.
“We were aware of the risk before we made the decision to move forward.” Dharmesh didn’t want to hear it.
“No, you don’t understand what they’re going to do to you. They are going to torture you until you give them names.”
“They can try but they won’t get anything from us, right Ben?” Dharmesh smiled at Ben, hoping the courage would spread.
Ben shook out of control. He tried to reply but he choked on his spurting breaths. He wasn’t in any shape to handle torture.
“They’ll get all the names they need and more.” Air shook his head at Ben. “Then they’ll kill Fields and Elena and Anna-Desi and…”
“They won’t get any names from us!” Dharmesh pressed his face against the bars. His lips were stiff and serious.
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter 13
Air stood in an alley behind the cleaning center. A white toga hung from his shoulders. He held his celebration mask in one hand and studied the eye-holes and the curvature of the nose. The mask stared back at him with an ominous presence. He wondered how the Founder convinced so many people to wear such a silly thing every night. He looked up past the giant buildings to the natural sky. The sun was setting somewhere across the city. Ganton startled him from behind.
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
Air put his mask on, to be legal, and turned to find Fenton and Ganton both in celebration garb. They must have been desperate to come to the cleaning center. What could they really do for Ben and Dharmesh?
“Don’t be. This is my part of town, I’m here most nights.” Air was mad at them for allowing such stupidity from Ben and Dharmesh.
“Well, just for the record, we’re here to get ben and Dharmesh and we don’t need your help.” Fenton seemed to grind his teeth down as he spoke.
“Don’t you? How many votes did Ben win again? Four? You didn’t vote for him. Is that how your council works? Nobody helps anybody?”
“I voted for him.” Fenton snarled.
“Then who didn’t vote for him?”
“It’s not important.”
“Was it Fields or Elena? Somehow I doubt it.”
“Ben had lost the election before the vote was posted.” Fenton stepped in closer for intimidation.
“I could have told you that. In fact, I did last night. But Dharmesh and Ben might die a little prouder if they knew they had the support of their friends.”
“Shut up!” Fenton didn’t care who might hear him.
Ganton shuffled his feet around and diverted his eyes. He didn’t like confrontations.
“He had no idea what he was up against. None of you do.” Air shot back.
“You don’t have the moral high ground here! You abandoned all your followers to come to this city!” Fenton panted like a serious weight had just been lifted off of him. It felt good.
Air stopped for a moment. He didn’t know how to defend himself for doing something he couldn’t even remember. He decided to let it go. They needed his help and he couldn’t live with himself if he sat by and did nothing. “What are you going to do about Ben and Dharmesh?”
“We’ll get them both out.”
“Then what? They can’t hide in a library forever.”
Fenton didn’t answer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand like he was recovering from a fist fight.
“I can drive them out of the city.” Ganton stepped forward pretending he wasn’t so shy. “Anna-Desi knows a safe place.”
Air took a long look at them. It wasn’t going to work. They were desperate enough to try anything.
“A.. Air,” Ganton stuttered, “I had…” He cleared his throat. “I had a dream about you. I can’t remember much of anything but I do know you can help us.”
“There isn’t anything I can do.” Guilt washed over Air. “I can’t get inside the building. I can’t open their cells. I can’t hide them from Dex and the fight he’ll bring if they do escape. Even if we could do all that, the Founder will find us.” They were all good justifications but none of it helped with the guilty feeling.
Ganton looked at the ground and then to Fenton who turned and walked back down the alley. The hopelessness settled in. Three more minutes passed like a prison sentence as they thought of the best approach to take. Nothing. Anna-Desi came around the corner wearing a celebration outfit and holding a plastic toolbox.
“Let’s get started,” she said.
“Where are Fields and Elena?” Fenton seemed shocked she came alone.
“Fields isn’t feeling well.”
She set the case down and flipped the two latched up. She looked down both ends of the alley before opening it. She lifted two cream colored bricks from the case and set them on the ground. The memory came back to Air in a rush. C4 plastic explosives.
“What are those?” Fenton had no such memory.
“It’s C4,” She replied, “We use this stuff for service projects. It levels old ruins. It could do some serious damage to the cleaning center.”
“I hope you aren’t planning on blowing-up the cleaning center.” Air stopped her hand.
“We won’t have to if you tell us exactly where Be
n and Dharmesh are being kept. We can make a small explosion where we need it or we can make a big one.”
“Come on, Anna-Desi.” Air sighed. “Put the C4 away. An explosion will just get all of us killed faster.”
“So you have a better idea?” said Ganton.
“I’ll help you get in but then you’re on your own. If I get caught….”
“No one’s getting caught,” Anna-Desi insisted, “So how do we get in?”
Air looked up the side of the building. The entire outer wall made entirely from thick glass, like a shell.
“We need to make it look like an accident.”
Air walked to the mouth of the alley and surveyed the street. Music resonated down the concrete corridor. A group of celebrators huddled across the street. Small crowds gathered at restraints further down the street. Parties thrived in lit windows high above. He looked up at a lamppost on the corner just in front of the cleaning center.
“It’s too light,” he said to himself.
Twilight was darkening the sky far above the city lights. There was too much lighting in the city to stay hidden. He looked back to Anna-Desi. “Bring me the C4.”
“I thought you didn’t want any explosions.”
“We could use a small one to make this work.”
She handed Air one of the bricks and he peeled the waxy paper covering off of one corner. He tore off a small gob of C4 and rolled it in his hands like clay.
“What are you doing?” Fenton was deeply interested in the explosives.
“I’m creating an accident.”
Air rolled the C4 into a worm-like shape. He knelt down next to the lamppost and pushed the C4 into the crevice where the ground and the steel lamppost met. He formed C4 around the thick bolts that held the post to the concrete.
“We need a transport accident to happen here. Can you manage that, Ganton?”
“I have one parked around the corner,” Ganton smiled.
“Good. Now I need one of you two to get drunk.” Air pointed at Anna-Desi and Fenton.
“What good is that going to do?” Fenton spat.
“We need a distraction and unless your blood-alcohol content is up, you won’t be convincing enough.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Air?” Anna-Desi stood close. She trusted Air but needed the added assurance.
“This will work if you do exactly what I say.”
Anna-Desi nodded. “Ok, where is the closest bar?” she scanned the building.
“We should all be sober,” Fenton stomped, “We need to be sharp.” He spoke to Anna-Desi, ignoring Air.
“Listen to Air,” she said, “I think I know where this is headed.”
Fenton pressed his lips together and accepted his role as a follower.
“Go down the street to Club White. Make some friends and make a point to encourage them all to drink a lot. We need them to be completely sloshed. At exactly midnight, I want you to bring your friends to this point.” Air walked out onto the asphalt and tapped a foot to emphasis the exact place.
“Keep them here until you hear the explosion. No sooner. Don’t move until the C4 goes off.”
“Okay, I can do that.” Anna-Desi nodded and started down the street. She turned back to Air for a second and mouthed the words thank you and she was off.
“What should I do?” said Fenton.
“Hand me a few blasting caps and some wire.”
“What?”
“Everything we need should be in that case.”
“What’s a blasting cap?”
“Bring me the case and I’ll show you.”
Air sat on the ground and leaned back against the cleaning center. Fenton folded his arms and frowned. He didn’t want to take any orders from Air.
“Do you want to save Ben and Dharmesh or not?”
“I’ll get the case.” Ganton stepped in. It was easier that way.
Air lowered his hand to his side and tapped his knuckles on the glass of the cleaning center. The sound was dull and he couldn’t feel any vibrations with his other hand. The glass had to be at least two inches thick and solid.
“This glass is too thick.” He shook his head.
“Too thick?” Fenton shuffled his feet impatiently. It must be something he did when he was nervous.
“We’re going to have to use C4 to break it.” Air looked through the glass and tapped it again. “I don’t want to use too much C4 otherwise it won’t look convincing enough afterward.”
Ganton set the plastic box down next to Air. “Here it is.” He waited, wide-eyed, for another assignment.
Air opened the lid, pulled out a pair of wire-cutters and three blasting caps. Each cap was about the diameter of a pencil eraser and about three inches long. The blasting caps were each pointed on one end and connected to a wire at the other end. The wires all led back to a twisted bundle.
“Can I trust you to push a button, Fenton?” Air lifted an eyebrow.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“That wasn’t my question. Can you push a button?”
“Yes, of course I can.”
“Good, familiarize you’re self with this.” Air lifted a detonator from the case and tossed it to Fenton. It was dark-green with small yellow print on the side. It was small enough to be concealed in a fist but it was heavy, made from sturdy, powder coated steel.
“What do I do with this?”
“You’re going to detonate the explosives. When Ganton gives you the signal, hold the lever down and push the black button with your thumb.”
“Easy enough.” Fenton smiled. Suddenly he didn’t mind following Air’s orders.
Air pulled another wad of C4 from the brick. This time he cupped it into a ball with his fingertips. He tuned to look at the lamppost and estimated the distance between the post and the glass with his thumb. He counted the paces between the post and the cleaning center to be more accurate. Ganton and Fenton boosted him up the side of the glass. He jabbed at the glass with the sharp end of the wire-cutters. A shallow scratch in the glass. He hit it a few times, hoping to crack it, but only a few, very small, flakes came off. He worked on the glass harder, scratching as deep as he could into the glass. When he realized it wouldn’t go much deeper, he pushed the blob of C4 into the scratch. They lowered him to the ground and he looked through the box for some tape. He found a thick roll.
“We’re looking at over two inches of laminated glass. It can stop a bullet – several bullets.”
“Are the explosives strong enough to break it?” Ganton knocked on the glass.
“The C4 will break it, but that’s not the problem.” Air paused to think. He looked to see if they had drawn any attention yet. The streets populated a little more. A group of celebrators laughed and danced. He smiled to himself. It was good that very few people knew what C4 and explosions were.
“We could put ten-pounds of C4 on this glass and nobody will know or care what we’re doing. The problem is if we blow up a city block, there will be a swarm of purgers here in less-than twenty minutes. We need something to initially look like an accident, and that means the less we use C4 the better.”
“How do we break the glass but nothing else?” Fenton bobbled the detonator in his hand.
“I need a sack, some kind of bladder that can hold water.” The plan unfolded in Air’s mind. It was like he had done it dozens of times.
“A water bladder?” Fenton raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, do you know where we can get something like that?”
Fenton held his chin and played with the detonator .
“Would an IV bag work?” Ganton suggested.
“It could work. Do you know where to find one?”
“The hospital is close enough.”
Air paused to imagine how an IV bag might work. It was the best they could get in a short time. “Okay, go quickly.”
Ganton left the alley and darted down the street to his transport. Air and Fenton walked back to the center of the alley
to avoid being seen too much. They unraveled the blasting caps and counted out four. Air showed Fenton how to connect the caps to the power supply and explained how to push the caps into the plastic explosives. They returned to the lamppost and connected one blasting cap in the strip of C4 along the base. Then, they attached the blasting caps to each of the small mounds of C4 that were pressed around the four bolts. Air explained to Fenton how the plastic explosives work. Fenton listened, intent on hearing every word. He hadn’t been interested in anything Air had to say before, but if he had a pen, he would have taken notes on the explosives.
When Ganton returned an hour later, he presented Air with a square package. Air opened the cellophane and unfolded a stack of IV bags. He took one in his hand, and put the extra’s in the plastic tool box. Air left them in the alley and walked three blocks down to Café Allure where they had private bathrooms with locks on the doors. He filled the bag in the sink. Then he covered the entire bag with layers of tape until he had exhausted the entire roll. Hopefully, it was strong enough. He hid it under his toga and returned to the cleaning center.
Ganton and Fenton stood puzzling at the post and the glass. They could only guess what Air’s plan was.
“What time is it?” Air stepped in to the mouth of the alley.
Fenton looked up at a large clock mounted across the street. “It’s eleven thirty-five.”
Air slid the water-filled bag out from his clothes and handed it to Ganton. “All we need now is a solid piece of wood.” Air made a square with his hands to demonstrate the ideal size. He walked down the alley to a large dumpster. He lifted the lid open and searched through the trash. A roughly cut piece of sheet metal that looked like it had been scraps from the elevator repairs caught his eye. He pulled it out, careful not to cut himself on the jagged edges.
---
Ganton and Fenton lifted Air by holding his feet so he could reach the C4 on the glass. Air inserted the blasting cap and covered the entire blob with the tape-covered IV bag. He used a fresh roll of tape to secure the heavy bag to the glass. Then he taped the sheet-metal over the pillow. It had to be tight. When it was secure, the wires hung freely down the side of the glass. It looked ridiculous, a mounded collection of tape and steel hanging from the cleaning center like an architectural blemish. There was no shortage of confused bystanders either. Dozens of celebrators gawked at the unusual sight. Thankfully, nobody asked any questions, except Fenton.
