“Dominic!” She said aloud. “It’s you!” Her look of anxiety was clear, and the tall man felt a twinge of shock over the realization that one of his agents had already been ‘made.’
“Go ahead, tell us all why you find this gentleman so interesting.” The tall man challenged.
Tina looked up. “He is the one who sabotaged the hydraulic system. He is the one that made sure the door wouldn’t close.” She said clearly.
Faces all around the room were startled.
The tall man blinked and then looked at Dominic. “It seems that I have underestimated these young people yet again.” He said.
Lock looked at Tina. “How do you know that?” He asked.
Tina looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting for her answer. “I cross referenced the activity logs on the panel you pointed out and then narrowed it down by who had access. Then I narrowed it again by who actually used that access and there were only two entries. I was able to discount the other one because his whereabouts at the time of the activity were known, and not down in the tunnels. Dominic here, she indicated the man who seemed to be caught red-handed, was the only one to fit the criteria.” She said triumphantly.
The tall man turned to Dominic. “You are sloppy. A young girl found you out. Now go until I figure out a proper punishment for you.” He ordered.
Lock found his dignity had been damaged. “You knew I was looking for you when I started this search and yet you brought me into this circle. Isn’t that dangerous?” He asked, questioning the tall man’s motives, or at least his judgement.
“Careful boy. I am more than capable of remedying this situation.” The tall man began. “First of all, none of you knows who I am, and I am not about to tell any of you that piece of information. I can simply vanish whenever I need to. Secondly, you are all disposable. I could snap my fingers and none of you would ever be heard from again.” He said, keeping the mood properly serious. Finally, I can monitor your progress if you are on my team. If you get too close to something I don’t want revealed, I simply send you off in another direction. It is much easier to keep you on a short leash.” He explained.
Lock stood up, it was a breach of protocol and it actually startled the tall man. “You sabotaged the main chamber doors. If a decompression comes and the main system fails, the backup system will never deploy.” He stated challengingly.
“All true. The backup system has never needed to be used, but neither has the main system. The situation is not as dire as you make it out to be.” The tall man explained. “We needed to get the control systems under proper control before the back-ups could be re-deployed.” He said next.
Lock looked skeptical, but he still had not sat back down. “Proper control? That sounds like someone usurping power.” He said and his tone was a warning.
The tall man had heard enough. “You both know too much now. I need to think on this and determine your future; if you even have one.” He said, and it sounded menacing. Then he turned to the maintenance man. “Take them away.” He commanded and both teenagers were up now.
Tina was not ready to hold her tongue now. “Wait a minute.” She started and the tall man rolled his eyes.
Tina grabbed the chair and flung it at the tall man. The legs of it tangled about his lanky frame and even though it didn’t have all that much force, it had been enough to knock him down. The two bolted for the door. The maintenance man was quick too, but not nearly as fast as the fleeing agents. They made their way into the corridor without preamble and were making their way up to the living quarters. The traffic was crazy on the main level and they both slammed into some poor soul who happened to be at the top of the landing.
“I’m so sorry.” Tina said and the startled man looked back at her.
“Murderer!” He screamed, pointing at Tina and waving to everyone around them.
The video of the maintenance man killing the fallen agent had not made it into the public eye, but a cleverly edited one where Tina swung the bat did. The monitors all had her picture on it and the crowd was acutely interested in the huge bounty being offered for her capture.
Lock looked at the monitors and grabbed Tina by the arm. “This is bad.” He said and Tina’s response was typical.
“You think?” She replied sarcastically. The two were off into the crowd even as people started realizing what was going on. They needed the confusion to last a bit longer if they were to get out of the public spaces. The lower corridors were no longer an option for them. You would think a ship of this size would have many places they could go, but it suddenly felt like the smallest ship ever launched.
They continued on at a full run, trying to get out of sight. The places were getting less familiar as they ran. They were getting winded. Rounding a corner netted them the surprise of a lifetime.
The space opened up into a large hangar. There were police barricades everywhere and bright lights suddenly bathed them in angry light. The two teenagers froze in place, a proverbial deer caught in the headlights.
A voice over a loudspeaker addressed them. “Do not run or you will be fired upon. Lay on the floor face down and do not resist.” The voice sounded almost mechanical. Both kids did as they were told and lay flat on the ground. Lock glanced over at Tina and she looked just as frightened as he felt. Of all the things this day had brought them, this seemed to be the last one, Incarceration.
The two were taken into custody and transported to the cells. There they were deposited into adjacent cells and then left alone. The bustle and bright lights were gone. The fear was still there, but the shouts in their head had dropped to a dull roar.
∆ ∆ ∆
A Family Reunion…
“Tina baby, is that you?” It was Tina’s Mom’s voice. She resided in the cell across from them. Tina was up at the bars quickly.
“Mom?” She replied.
Her mother broke into tears. “Thank the Lord, I thought I’d never see you again.” She cried. She looked over at Lock. “I see you found her, just as promised. You can see that things have taken on a life of their own now though.” She said.
Lock nodded and lowered his eyes. Then he looked back up again. “How did this happen?” He asked.
Tina’s mother also looked down. “I underestimated the trouble you were in.” She admitted.
“When the murder happened and they took you, I had a recording of the event on the personal security in our home.” She began. Tina’s eyes grew big, but it didn’t last long. “The police wanted access to this footage, so I provided the passcode to unlock the video. The video showed that you did not kill the man who had come as a communication installer. I felt justified in releasing the information then. I sent the police out to rescue you from the man who had murdered the other gentleman and taken you away. I promised to lock down the house and let nobody else in.” She said. “I thought I was doing the right thing…”
“You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” Tina said. “We still don’t know how deeply we’re in it now.” She admitted. Something is happening and although we know very little, it is more than we’re supposed to know. We have been targeted as dangerous. The real questions is, dangerous to whom?” She said.
Lock waved for Tina to hush. “So, Mrs. Hull, what happened next?” He asked to get her to rejoin her story.
“Of course.” She said and then she continued. “I stayed at the house for a while. I didn’t go to work, and I didn’t report you absent at the school. It was only a matter of time before someone called on you and I wanted to know who that was going to be.” She looked up and locked eyes with Lock. “It was you.” She said now. “You were looking for Tina having found her phone and an audio recording of the event.” She looked at her daughter. “Great minds think alike it seems.” She said with a smile. “Anyway, I sent you after with the eight-hour time limit to see if you could really find her. I then contacted the police with updated information on Tina’s whereabouts in an effort to double my chances of g
etting my little girl back. I had planted a transmitter on your shoulder when we talked, and I gave the id of that transmitter to the authorities.” She admitted.
Lock took off his jacket quickly and found the bug. “How could you do that?” He asked her. “You may have just led the police to the very trouble we were all trying to avoid.” He said in a rush.
“Like I said, I misunderstood how much trouble you two were in. I also underestimated our police force. They had already gotten footage in and around the house and in some corridors someplace underneath where trouble was happening but not publicly known.” She continued. “I… I didn’t know they were looking for you already by then.” She told the two teenagers. “My message about the transmitter must have been a godsend to them.” She said, berating herself.
“You couldn’t have known.” Lock said, repeating Tina’s words. “Go on please.”
“Well, because I had unlocked the video, they were able to delete it.” She said with sorrow dripping from each syllable. “They began to run news stories of my baby killing some poor communication installer! I knew that this was not the truth, but the evidence was gone. I tried several times to contact the police about this injustice only to find myself incarcerated for obstructing justice. Because I had kicked them out of the house and locked it, I had blocked the investigation. At least that’s what they said.” She sounded miserable.
“But I didn’t kill that man.” Tina protested.
Mrs. Hull looked up again. “I know honey, I do. But nobody else does.” She said sadly.
“I do.” Lock injected. “Look, I still don’t know how deep this rabbit hole is, but I do know that the wrong people are currently in jail. This sounds like we have been manipulated on almost every level.” He declared.
Tina shrugged her shoulders. “So? Then what do we do?” She asked. Despite the emotions of the moment, the question was quite valid. Lock looked deflated.
“Seriously, I don’t know.” He sat down against the bars heavily. “I’ve been winging it since my trial.” He admitted.
Tina looked startled. “Trial?” She asked.
Lock explained what had happened to him when the maintenance man came for him. The trial and then the new status as agent which she had detected almost right away. The story had both women riveted, listening for clues as to who or what they were up against. But Lock didn’t know. He didn’t even know the tall man’s name. He didn’t really know the maintenance man’s name. He knew so little it was laughable.
“Look, I’m sorry I got you both into this.” He said sincerely. “I honestly didn’t know how far these people could reach. How deeply we were in their pockets. We were only puppets to them.
“You don’t know the half of it.” A new voice said and a three of them turned to the sound.
“Sorry to startle you, I’m detective Marshall Faulkner. I’ve been after the tall man for a few years now. He keeps his own nose clean and uses patsy’s like you to do the real dirty work. Most of ‘em never even find out they’ve been used. I figure he made a mistake by recruiting you two.” He said indicating the two teenagers. “You’re both too smart for him. You think on your own and put together pieces of the bigger puzzle without being led to them.” He said. “It is partially why you are here.” He said. Then he turned to Mrs. Hull. “The video you referred to is removed, not deleted. It is safe and can be brought out to prove your daughter’s innocence when the time is ripe. The maintenance man, or Roy if you will, doesn’t even register on our database as ever being born here. Since we have been in space for generations, something here is amiss.” He explained. I understand that you want more information. I can give you some of what we have found if you promise to be good. Can you do that for me, please?” He asked.
Mrs. Hull stood up again. “If you can prove my daughter’s innocence, I will become a model citizen.” She declared. The others nodded their agreement.
“Okay, then let’s talk in a more comfortable environment.” He suggested and he pulled out an access card that could unlock the cells. He held the card over the lock and paused. “If you try to run, I’ll have to shoot you.” He said with a smirk. Then he swiped the card and the cell door lock opened.
He led the three down to a room that was much like the one Tina had been staying in. The only differences were that there were several chairs with actual cushions around the room and a large table in the middle as if conferences were held in here instead of interrogations.
“Now if you’ll all have a seat, we can begin.” He swiped his card on this door and it locked them all in. “Just a precaution you know, after all you are all wanted for various infractions.” He said and there was a chuckle that nervously moved around the room.
He moved over to his seat at the head of the table and sat down. He slipped the card into his inside jacket pocket and placed his hands on the table. “You have no idea just how much trouble you’ve stumbled into.” He began. “In truth, there is no greater amount that you could have found.” He glanced at Tina. Murderer? You are tiny, almost insignificant, compared to this. The tall man represents someone even bigger and more dangerous that nobody has ever seen. This ship has been sailing through space for the better part of seven generations and nobody knows who he works for. Nobody even knows who he is. The running bet is that he’s not human. He’s some kind of entity that can live for very long periods of time and that he is slowly manipulating things aboard this ship for his own amusement and maybe even some outcome that none of us can even comprehend.” He began.
Lock shook his head and Detective Faulkner looked up at him. “He’s no myth. We’ve met him. He intervened in my trial and saved me from jail.” He declared.
The detective laughed. “How’s that working out for you?” He asked. “I just took you from a jail cell.”
Lock grimaced. “Something went wrong. He turned on us, said we were too well informed.” He admitted.
Marshall looked on all three faces. “You were a threat, that is true, but she was the real threat.” He said indicating Tina. “She was able to uncover his lackey in mere moments when we were chasing our tails for months.” He admitted with a bit of sting. “You see, he can manipulate us as well. That’s why you are wanted but still at large.” He told Tina.
“I’m not at large, I am here.” Tina replied.
“Not officially. Nobody has read you any charges and nobody has taken your prints or read you your rights. No, you are here only in spirit. The papers will not show you here.” He said. It sounded chilling.
Lock knew that this was just another power play of some kind. He was getting used to it. “So what’s the next move?” He asked the detective.
“We need to get real evidence on the tall man. I know that he is looking for you right now and that he feels fear for quite possibly the first time. We need to use that as leverage to get him put away and locked up.” The detective said and it sounded personal. In fact, it sounded too personal.
Mrs. Hull leaned forward on the table. “What are you not telling us?” She asked. He looked at her as if asking what she was talking about. “He hurt you somehow, that much is in your eyes.” She said. Marshall suddenly understood where Tina got her abilities from.
“I… He killed my wife.” He replied, then he sighed. It was like a weight lifted from him. He looked visibly calmer now. “I know he ordered it. He didn’t do the actual killing, and that’s why I can’t prove anything. All others involved except me are dead.” He said and a trace of his grimace bled into that last sentence.
Tina shook her head. “You broke the law taking us in without processing us. You are putting yourself at risk to chase a vendetta. That won’t sit well with that badge.” She suggested.
“If I find justice, real justice, I’d lose the badge to do it.” Marshall replied.
Lock saw this beginning to get out of hand. No matter what his motivations, this man was at least talking to them, telling them needed intelligence. He didn’t want this spiraling down into an
emotional tirade. “I can see that this is important, I get it. I also get that we are in the fire right now with no one to water down the coals. If you go on a personal killing spree to right your wrong, then we stand no chance of surviving this.” His words made sense even though they were jagged pills to swallow. “We need you to promise to remain focused. If you go all emotional on us, then everything falls apart. The tall man wins.” He said. The truth had hardly ever hurt worse.
“You’re right, of course.” Marshall said. “I am looking for something from you. I need you to promise me that you will search for and hopefully find the evidence I need. In exchange, I will work to absolve you of your problems. It is a fair trade. Don’t you think?” He asked them all.
Lock was the one to respond. He had somehow asserted himself to be the leader here. “It sounds like a solid plan to me.” He replied for the group. Then he turned all business. “You had mentioned filling us in on some information?”
Marshall shook his head. “You’re right of course. We are wasting time here. Okay.” He said and took a moment to collect his thoughts before beginning again.
“The main thing we need to focus on is the tall man’s plan. As both of you were able to deduce, he’s planning something diabolical. Nobody would need to disable secondary functions quietly without being worried that those machinations were found unless they were evil.” He began. “You discovered only the latest in a string of systems that have been affected. So far, we have no real pattern from the list. The only thing in common is that they are all back-up systems. Otherwise they spread across the ship and do not interact with each other at any level. If we could find the pattern, we might be able to catch them red-handed performing the sabotage.” He said. He leaned back in his chair as if fully exhausted. “We have spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out his plan. Nobody knows what he’s going to hit next. Nobody knows what the puzzle is that these pieces fit into.” He said, admitting failure on an intellectual level.
Eternals Among Us: Book one Page 8
