by Sweth Water
She saw some light ahead of her. Maybe a torch or phone. She didn’t dare to peek again.
“Where are you?” Tom was saying. “I am in the lower basement. I have Summer with me. Rose. Come here. She did something and total darkness is here.”
The light flashed at her side. He wouldn’t be able to see her there.
“I understand that you have your own reasons to do what you did. The hotel will be surrounded by the police in the next five minutes. You just have to cooperate with me, Rose. I will make sure you will not face capital punishment for treason. No Anon broke into the Department. I am sure you know what that means.
“We can talk. I am giving you a chance to have a way away from the gallows. You can’t run away from here. Chase will be here soon, and then we will apprehend you. You listening?”
It was not good for her. The hotel would be surrounded and there was no chance of her to go out alive if she tried to run. Chase and Tom. She knew both the people and how vulnerable they were. But she fooled one of them. She smiled.
It was merely a coincidence that Tom was in the hotel. He was not raiding it. He just came out of the room and then the marathon started. Chase. She was here too. Might be on some assignment apart from apprehending her. Or was she the assignment?
She turned her head to left and right. Tom was looking somewhere else. She stood up and walked opposite to him. Crouching there wouldn’t give any good to her. Along the wall she was walking, her hands tapping on the wall. How long the wall was she wondered. She took some speed.
Tom was still saying something that she didn’t hear.
The power was back. She looked behind; Tom had his gun out and was pointing to the left side. Ahead of her was a long wall. His eyes caught her, and then they ran.
“Stop!”
Rose didn’t listen and was running with all the energy left in her. She would fall soon for sure. First the giddiness and now this running. It was not good for her and the baby. She hoped the baby was all right.
She was slowing down and then she stopped. Chase showed up ahead, a gun at Rose’s head.
“Right there. Stop.” she said.
Chapter
39
“You are doing a big mistake, Tom.” Rose said as she was led to the car.
They didn’t go through the main door. The police were not reached yet. Chase and Tom wanted to keep it a covert apprehend, it seemed.
“Stop talking.” Chase said. “You fooled us once, woman. I won’t let you do that again.”
“It was the part of the operation.”
“What operation? Now you Anons will justify your crimes by using the word ‘operation’? Seriously?”
“I am not bluffing, Chase. Listen to me.”
“Right now. Stop talking.”
She was in the back seat of the car with Chase. Tom started the car and chase had a gun in her hand. Rose was handcuffed, not behind her back though. Outside, nothing was changed. No word of the arrest was spread. Tom and Chase were good at what they do.
“Call Gin.” Rose said.
“She was kidnapped, remember?” Tom said.
“Yes. She was. I rescued her. My brother has some role in the conspiracy, Gin knows it. He even tried to kill me today. Please talk to her, Tom.”
“Is this another lie?”
“Of course.” Chase said.
“I am not lying. I have no remorse for what I did, that’s true. But whatever I did was for the good of other countries and human beings.”
“Other countries!” Chase gave herself a laugh. “Good that people think of other countries too these days. What of this country? You are trying to justify it by saying this! Stupid woman. You were trying to give the sensitive information to the other countries that could have led to a war. God saved us all! It was just luck that Tom was there in the hotel and saw you. And I was roaming the streets to find you.”
“I was not going to give the information to other countries!” She gritted her teeth.
“Then whom were you giving?” Chase asked. “Tom? Me?”
Rose said nothing. She didn’t want to tell the involvement of Gin in this. One day they would know the truth. Not today.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“You should.”
“Tom.”
“Yes?” Tom said.
“You said you would help me. Can you?”
“That was true if you had surrendered to us. We chased you. That agreement is over.”
“Any other way around?”
“Bribe?”
“I am not saying that.”
“I am from RAAD, Rose. No-one can buy me.”
“But the President did.”
Tom said nothing for few moments. “Because what I am doing is for the best of the countrymen.”
“By killing innocents?”
“I never killed innocents!” he glared through the mirror.
“I remember you raiding the house where two people were alive and one of them you killed in cold blood.”
Tom looked ahead.
“Yes, I know it, Tom. You can’t hide your dark side behind the mask. I can see what lies inside of you. The guilt. Nothing more. You may not have wanted to kill the man. For the sake of the demonstration to the other being, you killed him. Fear, yes, fear. It is the only tool that makes you tremble and you spit everything out.”
“Stop talking.” Tom’s voice was calm.
“Did it hurt you?” Rose shrugged. “I thought it was for the best of the countrymen. Let me tell you this, Agent Tom. People have different perceptions and that lead to the wars and crimes in the world. I never blame the people but the way they look at the world. Some see culprits. Some see gold. Some see fortune. And very few see the humans as one race. You forgot that too. Right? Again, I am not saying this to prove I am as good as you, no. I will leave the good and bad things to God. My only motive is to spread peace in the world, and if I have to go against my religion and country too to do that, I will have no regrets.”
“This woman talks too much.” Chase said. “You want me to shoot her, Tom?”
Tom laughed. “Let her talk, Chase. She won’t be able to talk for decades in the cell, if not executed.” He stopped the car at the signal. “You have done with your philosophy? Now tell me how you got inside the Department. We can have this conversation at the Headquarters too, but I am curious and can’t help thinking about it.”
“The same way I was in the office of Commissioner of Police.” She looked at Chase. “Chase could answer that question.”
“You had a fake ID! Damn it! I don’t think Rose is your real name too.” Chase said. “What about Base?”
Rose looked at her, and then at her hands.
“Oh God. You thought we wouldn’t know? You are not as good as I thought you were.”
“Where are the documents, Rose?” Tom asked. “We have to have them before they go to wrong hands.”
“They will never be.” Rose said.
“Where are they?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“You better prepare yourself for an interrogation and hope I wouldn’t be there. When I talk even—”
“Dead people speak.” Rose sighed. “I know that dialogue. Don’t you think it is too old? Some fancy lines you should have now.”
Chase smiled. “I am going to start liking this woman.”
People were roaming in the streets. She wished she were outside the car, to feel the cool breeze on her face. She liked winter. When she was going to bug the system in the Lufghan State Police, she thought of using Winter as her name. It didn’t make any sense so she chose Summer. The sweaty season.
Tom started the car when the signal was green.
Tom and Chase started talking about the next steps they were going to take. They didn’t ask any other questions to her. It was a relief. She yawned and blinked her eyes. The key of handcuffs was hanging on the right side of her, in the pocket of Chase. Rose could do the trick with
out having Chase’s attention. She looked ahead and folded her hands in her lap. Slowly, she slid her fingers over the keys and pressed her lips. Their talking was loud enough to not have their focus on her.
It was almost out.
And then there was the muzzle of the gun over her hand.
“Stop right there. I will shoot you.” Chase said.
Rose raised her hands.
Tom turned his head. “What?”
“Trying to—” Chase didn’t complete the line
“Watch out.” Rose said.
“Wha—” Tom looked ahead.
At that moment, she banged her head to Chase’s and elbowed in her stomach. She lost the gun. Rose didn’t give the chance to Tom to look behind. She surged at him.
Her feet were on Chase’s chest, and elbow trying to press Tom’s head against the dashboard. There was not enough light in the car to see the buttons. Her right hand was banging on all the buttons to open the doors. Tom used his hand and groped her neck. Just for a moment, she thought it was over. This feeling was like the one that she had on the train when her brother was trying to strangle her to death.
Soon she would be unconscious and the only chance that she had would be gone. Tom’s face was blurring and Chase started using her hands too. The car came to an abrupt stop. Rose pressed her feet under Chase’s chin and banged her fist on the buttons again. One last time. The door opened.
She kicked the door and ran outside.
Two shots were fired in her direction. She didn’t feel anything. Was she hit? She didn’t stop. Her hands were still cuffed. Like a mad elephant she was running; the blurriness was still there. She fell two times and stood again. Her arms were bruised and thick saliva came out of her mouth.
“I need her alive.”
She didn’t know who said that. It gave her the assurance that she was not hit and they wouldn’t kill her. It was not going to be a long run. Tom and Chase would catch her for sure. She cursed and thought how many times she had to escape from the different people.
Her breath heavy in her chest, she was inside a concrete barn. The door was made of solid wood and the bullets couldn’t penetrate it. She locked the door and fixed a rod behind it. She backed herself. There was no window and another gate there. Over her head only cemented ceiling was there.
There was a bang on the door.
She cringed. Her heartbeat was so loud and fast as if she was going to have a heart attack. Maybe the first time in her life. She swallowed and rummaged through the woods on her left side, something sharp to stop them.
“You made another big mistake, Rose.” It was Tom. “Open the door. If I ram the door down, I swear to God I will kill you.”
“It is over, Rose.” Chase said.
“It is not!” she shouted. Her arse hit the ground and she felt so helpless that she could do anything to have Coal here with her. But what would he do? He still believed she was a traitor. Tears fell from her eyes.
“There is no way to escape.” Tom said. “No-one is going to help you. Even this Base guy.”
“You don’t have any other card left, woman.” Chase said.
Was it true? She wished there were simple ways to tell them the truth and convince them that what she did might not be good in their Rule Book, but it was surely the right thing to do. It’s hard to convince the people who are bound to the rules. Everyone didn’t see the world like she did. She shook her head and stood up. It was no time for philosophy or to have arguments with these people. A road she started seeing.
The road that she should have taken a long time back. So many incidents would have never occurred had she taken that. Even Base had called Taking on that day as if wanted to tell her to leave with whatever was left. Rose didn’t. Gin was still not found and she had no desire to leave without finding her. And then putting the wrong names on the hard disk, including hers. She did everything in her power not to do what she was going to do now.
It was the only choice left, and they had started ramming the door.
“There is a card, fools! I keep the cards close to my chest. One card is still pending and it is my turn.” Rose shouted and wiped her face.
She pulled the phone from her pocket and closed her eyes. She hoped the signal was there. At the most important times, these phones didn’t give her much needed help. She prayed to God and then opened her eyes. The signal was there.
She sucked in the air and dialled the number.
“Few seconds away to get you.” Chase laughed.
It took few moments to explain everything over the phone and then she heard a familiar voice.
“Hello, Madam President!” Rose said.
“Rose?” There was a long pause. “Are you alive?”
Chapter
40
“The martial law has been lifted. According to the press secretary of the Office, the threat is over and everything is under control. When asked about the threat, they didn’t give any clue on that but said ‘we are happy that the citizens are safe.’ You can see the military officers moving out of the city with tanks and cars. People are cheering and I am not sure if you can hear me at all. This is—”
Coal muted the TV. He didn’t understand it. Rose was still at large, or was she arrested? He didn’t have any information on that.
There was nothing left to do now.
Holl was captured.
And probably Rose too.
He was happy to see Holl lying there in the train. He could still feel the trembling of his hands there. Tears of happiness had fallen from his eyes and he’d sunk in the chair.
Holl was taken into the custody. Coal returned home after that. Wherever Rose was she was safe. Even if she is apprehended, she would be safe in a cell. Taking had said that she died. Taking was wrong. He was sure Rose somehow survived. He wondered what help she could have had and from whom.
When he returned home in the evening, he talked with March. She said that Taking and Gin were in his house. He was happy to hear that Gin was okay. March told him about Rose that she helped Gin to escape from the kidnappers who were paid by Holl. They sat on the couch in his house and talked.
March told him about the assignment Rose was working on and how Gin told her to take the documents. It was still not understandable for him why Gin would have chosen Rose to steal something very vital to the nation from the Department. March didn’t tell him everything, he believed that. When he asked if she knew Rose was strangled, she shook her head.
He sat on the chair and scratched his stubble. He could finally rest now without any worries. Everything was under control. March had told him that people who were behind it would be taken into the custody soon. He was sure it would not be public. President Earl would think of doing it covertly.
He took the picture of Rose from the table and looked at it. She was alive and she was happy, he assumed. What else he could hope for his wife!
They both had chosen their ways. Ways that might not be connecting to each other. The burden of thinking her as a traitor was also gone. She was neither a traitor nor a patriot.
Days and nights spent together he would cherish alone. He wished Rose were here with him. They had so many things to talk about. The most wonderful woman he met in his life was gone somewhere away from him. The reason behind it was still not known to him.
Maybe they were meant to be separated now. He hoped they would meet again and everything that happened would be behind them. He loved Rose so much, and losing her again was unbearable for him. He was sure that Rose would be feeling the same way. She was a woman with so many feelings and emotions; it would hurt her more than him.
He put the frame on the table and wiped his tears.
I love you, Rose; and I want you to be happy, with me or without me.
Chapter
41
Rose was laughing so loud.
Tom was driving the car and Chase was in the back seat.
“I love you both. You are amazing.” She looked in the rear-vi
ew mirror and found Chase glaring at her. “Darling, don’t be rude. You were just in the dark. I told you I was not a bad person. You people just don’t hear it out and start judging based on your laws.” She was sitting in the front seat beside Tom.
Tom breathed very deeply.
“I know this, Tom,” a genuine smile on her face, “the urge of killing someone and on the next second you are told to drop her at the airport. I don’t blame you. You were doing your job. I should have told you guys earlier, but then I thought of talking with the President first. See, we sorted the things out. It was easy.”
No words from both of them.
“Come on, guys. Cheer up. You don’t want to kill me with boredom, do you?”
“You just got lucky.” Chase murmured under her gritting teeth.
“I am always lucky. Do you think I should change my name from Rose to Lucky? That would suit me, no?”
“What is your plan now?” Tom asked as he slowed down the car at the airport.
“Leave the country.”
“To hunt some other secret plans?”
“No. I want to stop now. It has been years doing this thing. I just want to raise my baby.”
“What?” Chase said.
“I am pregnant, Chase. I just want to see the baby grow. Nothing else. And, yes, I hope that Coal will forgive me for what I did. He would be told about the real plan. Maybe after that we will be together again. Until then I may have to suffer alone.”
“I didn’t know that. I am sorry if ... if I harm you in any way.”
“It’s okay, Chase.” She turned her face to Tom. “I am sorry, Tom, for the deceit. I really mean it. And I hope that Coal would find out about the baby from me; I have not told him yet. Thank you. Thank you, you both.”
She got out of the car, took her suitcase, and walked inside the airport after showing the ticket and her ID. She was a good citizen of this country. Only a few people knew that she was an Anon. The officer gave her a look and then nodded.
The flight was at 11 p.m. She still had time to relax. The flight would be of sixteen hours without any stop. She sat at the corner where the couches were. Ahead of her were the shops to buy magazines and books. She could check that later if she was in a good mood. Reading was soothing. She would read history most of the time. She believed that history could change the course of future if read properly. A person who doesn’t read history is a fool. She could be anything but fool.
