The Gambit

by Allen Longstreet

  /no access

  /bypass

  /unauthorized

  Fuck, fuck, fuck! I was sweating from the heat of the computer towers. I knew it was moments before someone would barge in. I knew Rachel had left, it was past the time I gave her. I was debating on just running away while I still had the chance. I already accomplished what I wanted. No one could contact the airport and vice-versa, but, it just…didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel safe knowing that Owen’s flight could still be contacted through the control tower. That was something I couldn’t change, but what I could change would make it extremely difficult for the CIA and FBI to intervene. Come on, think.

  “Holy shit.” I muttered. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? It was elementary hacking for God’s sake. Nervously, I placed my fingers on the keyboard. My code had done nine-tenths of the work for me, I just had to manually correct what the main server was blocking.

  /back door

  …

  …

  …

  /

  “Yes!” I laughed in rapture. “Fuck yeah!”

  /settings

  /1. Systems 2. Server 3. Mainframe 4. SQL Database 5. Terminal Security 6. Administrative

  /6

  /1. Firewall 2. Software 3. Air Traffic Control 4. Communications 5. Master Permissions

  Finally, just what I wanted.

  /5

  /1. Internal (default setting) 2. External (emergency)

  /2

  /1. Local 2. State 3. Federal 4. Commander in Chief (wartime)

  That was more than I was ever dreaming of.

  /4

  /updated

  I was about to pull my flash drive out of the mainframe, but an idea came to me. I was going to add another thorn in their side. They deserved it. I quickly went back to the main settings.

  /1. Systems 2. Server 3. Mainframe 4. SQL Database 5. Terminal Security 6. Administrative

  /5

  /1. Entrances 2. Alarms 3. Emergency Functions 4. Security Cameras

  /4

  /1. Status 2. Feeds 3. Functions 4. Archive

  /3

  /1. Positioning 2. Individual Operations 3. Master Functions

  /3

  /1. Record 2. System on 3. System off

  I took a deep breath, and entered in the last piece of my plan.

  /3

  I pulled my flash drive out and turned around, scanning the walls for an exit sign. I found it in the far corner, and I ran out the door. The sunlight blinded me momentarily and before they even adjusted I started walking away from the room I was just in. I saw two workers walking in my direction. They were amidst conversation and seemed to be very casual with the fact I was in this alleyway with them. Now that I had my vision, I saw a metal gate a few hundred feet away. As I neared the men I grew nervous, but I tried to keep calm. I was wearing a uniform. Hopefully, they wouldn’t take a second glance at me.

  They didn’t. A euphoria settled in throughout my body as I reached the gate and pushed it open. I looked around, trying to regain my sense of direction. To my right, I saw the arrivals and departures lane, and I power-walked towards the main terminal entrance. My heart was beating out of my chest from pure exuberance, and I couldn’t stop grinning. I was so proud of myself. This was the ultimate hack, and it worked—it fucking worked. I reached the crowd of people and stuck my hand up. “Taxi!” I called out. A yellow Crowne Victoria swooped in to pick me up before I could take a breath, and I sat in the back seat.

  “Where to?”

  “Just go, I have plenty of money. Step on it!” I urged him.

  “Okay, okay!” the driver replied in his Arabic accent, and we pulled away from the airport.

  I was grinning so wide it was starting to hurt. I could have cried I was so happy.

  “Yes!” I screamed, laughing at the same time. “I did it! I fucking did it!”

  The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror with concern. Suddenly I heard sirens, and I looked through all the windows with wide-eyes, searching for the source. Adrenaline pumped through my veins at the thought of being caught after getting away with this much. The driver began to slow down.

  “Don’t slow down!” I demanded. “Hurry up!”

  “Mister, I do not block the cops way. I slow down.”

  As I processed his words, a line of twenty-something cop cars of all types raced into the entrance of the airport we were trying to leave. One by one they passed. Chargers, Tahoes, and Crowne Vics—they must have finally been alerted.

  Too little, too late. My grin was replaced by a smug smile. They weren’t after me. They were after Owen, and he was already gone. I was the last of us, and after the line ended, the taxi driver pulled onto the main road outside of the airport. There was no trace left. We were gone. All of our efforts paid off. I opened my flip phone and called Rachel.

  Ring…Ring... “Hello?”

  “It worked,” I laughed in happiness. “Our plan worked!”

  Millie and her daughter were looking out the window at the Atlantic Ocean. The plane had just finished climbing, and the whole cabin finally leveled out. Every few seconds my ears popped. They hadn’t yet adjusted. I realized what was in my pocket and pulled it out.

  I slipped out a piece and began chomping on the minty gum. My ears started popping more frequently, and I smiled at the thought behind Rachel’s gift. It did come in handy, even though it was small. The fact that she gave it to me made all the difference. I glanced down at my watch and realized we had already been flying for forty-five minutes. Our plane took off at 3:15. There were touchscreen monitors behind the headrests of every seat. I had been using my finger to scan through the available movies. There were over eighty in total. I noticed a few people already plugging in their headphones

  The air smelled clean and filtered. Millie must have been hot because she turned on the little air vent above our heads. The cool stream of air blew partially on me, too. I didn’t mind, but that smell—it almost reminded me of a hospital. My mind flashed to the morning I woke up in the ICU. The endless beeping of the heartrate monitor, the icy air, and the sanitized smell. The plane smelled similar.

  That was the same morning I found out I was a wanted terrorist. That morning, was where it all began. I buried my old life that day, and every day since, I had been digging the hole deeper.

  Owen Marina was gone. Now, I was Milo Arregan. At least I was on this flight. Who knew what my real first name was on the passport. If only I could have turned back time and not went to the debate…but, would that have changed the outcome? Perhaps, I would have been T-boned by a car? Maybe, I would have been murdered outside of my apartment?

  After everything I had been through, it was apparent that someone wanted me gone. The question, though, was who?

  I met eyes with a man sitting in the first few rows. He turned away from me. His quick, jerky movements made me nervous. Why would he have turned around that far? I was one-hundred and eighty degrees behind him. It seemed intentional…

  Stop worrying. No one knows who I am.

  I glanced over at my seatmates. Millie was playing Angry Birds on a tablet and Pamela was reading on an e-reader. They were preoccupied on their devices. Whatever suspicions Pamela had of me, she must have tossed them aside. I had the feeling that I was being watched. I turned in the direction of the man.

  He was staring straight at me again. My heart started pounding in my chest because this time he didn’t look away. He stared for close to ten seconds before turning away. I craned my neck around to see the row behind me and the people beside me. Was he looking at someone else? It didn’t appear that way. I kept my eyes on him even after he faced the front again. Something didn’t feel right. My stomach was in knots.

  Suddenly, he picked up the phone in front of his seat and began to dial a number.

  My heart was in my throat. When he put the phone to his ear, I saw his jaw begin to move, and over the drone of the turbines it was impossible to make out what he was saying. He tur
ned over his shoulder and glanced at me again. This time with an intimidating expression, then he turned back around.

  I wiped my sweaty hands against my pants. My heart was going so fast I felt like I would black out if I stood up. The man was nodding and remained on the call. As horrifying as the thought was, I knew it was true.

  This man knew who I was. What do I do?

  I nervously reached for the flip phone in my pocket and turned it on. Come on, come on. Hurry up. I went to the contacts and found Rachel’s number. My eyes darted to the man. He was looking at me again. Fuck.

  I picked up the phone and read how to dial out. The plastic of the phone slipped around in my sweaty palms. I dialed Rachel’s number and prayed she would pick up.

  Ring…Ring…

  The flip phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that a weird number was calling. It wasn’t a 305 area code like all of our phones were. It probably wasn’t safe to answer. I began to put it away, and I halted, staring at the number.

  What if it is an emergency?

  I opened it and answered the call.

  “Hello,” the sound of my voice was drowned out by the traffic that surrounded the taxi.

  “Rachel,” he whispered, and his tone was shaky.

  “Owen? What’s wrong? Are you calling from the plane?”

  “Yes. I don’t have much time. Listen.”

  “What’s going on?” my heart began to bounce around in my chest.

  “There’s a man who keeps watching me. He has turned around almost ten times and he is on the phone with someone. I think he knows.”

  The certainty in his voice made me want to puke. He had been on the plane for close to an hour, what could anyone do on a plane? Maybe it was the—oh my God…

  “Is it the air marshal?”

  “Could be. He just looked over again, he’s grabbing something from his pockets.”

  He was talking in such a low tone I had to press my finger over the opposite ear to block out the noise of the expressway.

  “Stay calm,” I comforted him. “You might just be overthinking it. Everything will be fine.” Now, it was my voice that was shaky.

  “No, Rachel. It won’t. I can feel it—he knows. It’s over. It’s all over…”

  “You don’t know that.” I trembled with every word.

  “He’s standing up. You were right, he must be the air marshal. You better get out of Florida, fast. They will be looking for you.”

  “Fuck! Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening. What do I do, Owen?”

  “Keep yourself safe, don’t worry about me. I love you.”

  The phone call ended. I stared at the screen, numb to the news I received. Reality settled in like a blanket of fire around my chest. I felt hot, like my skin was burning. The taxi driver hadn’t even acknowledged that I was on the phone. ‘It’s over. It’s all over…’ Owen’s words echoed in my mind and a rage percolated through my veins. My chest heaved with my rapid breath, and I chewed on my lower lip, feeling helpless as to what to do.

  No—it was not over. We had come this far. I wasn’t going to let us go down without a fight. I began to tear up as emotion bubbled up within me. He said it. I didn’t have to say it, he said what I wanted to say so badly, but couldn’t. ‘I love you…’

  I loved him, too. I wouldn’t let them take him away from me. Anger and the love I felt for Owen swirled around inside me like a powerful current, and it made me feel like I was invincible. Fuck them. They won’t win. I opened the contacts and dialed my cousin.

  Please, please answer…

  “Bueno,” Vinny’s voice came on the speaker.

  “Vicenzo,” I breathed into the phone. My anger distorted my normal speech.

  “What? Que pasό, prima?!” he shouted. He knew something was terribly wrong.

  “It’s Owen. The air marshal got him.”

  “Shit! No fucking way! What the hell are we gonna do?”

  My lower lip trembled, and I felt my eye begin to twitch from the rage deep inside me.

  “Get the Hummer.”

  “Everybody stay calm!” the booming voice of the air marshal resonated throughout the cabin as he pressed his knee into my spine. My cheek was squished into the floor, and my body barely fit in the narrow walkway. The cuffs clicked tighter around my wrists. It was hard to breathe.

  I thought it would be more dramatic. Maybe a chase, maybe a struggle, a fight…but no—none of that. Jamie Lee Curtis begged for her life when Michael Myer’s cornered her, but I didn’t. I had nowhere to run, being tens of thousands of feet above the ocean. The stony-faced agent walked towards me and yanked me out of my seat to where I was now. The most disturbing part were the faces of the passengers. They all looked at me as if I were a killer, and I guess in their mind, I was. Millie’s gasps and cries were getting old quick.

  “I had no idea, officer. I swear,” she mumbled every few seconds.

  “Don’t worry, ma’am, just stay seated,” he instructed.

  That was the thing that made me the most miserable. I wasn’t a killer. I was innocent, and a plane full of people believed otherwise. Oh, what damage the media had done.

  “Attention passengers, thank you for your patience. Please stay calm. We have a wanted fugitive aboard, and we are turning around. We will be back in Miami in the next half-hour. I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience, and for the safety of all our passengers, the flight will take off again after our dangerous cargo is removed by the air marshal. I assure you, you are all safe.”

  Dangerous cargo…I snorted at the captain’s snarky reference. The air marshal dragged me to my feet and pushed me forward. With my hands behind my back and my goatee slipping off my face from having been ground into the floor, I was forced to face the passengers. Many of them glowered at me, shaking their heads, and whispering to one another. Half of the people on this plane would have loved just to shake my hand before a week ago. That was how I was treated in public. Now, I was infamous…not famous. Why should I suffer in silence?

  “I’m innocent!” I shouted. “I was framed!”

  “Shut your mouth,” he shoved me forward. The handcuffs dug into my wrists as he pushed me around. We reached his seat, and the person who was sitting next to him had already moved. I sat in the middle, beside his aisle seat, and I tried to find a comfortable way to sit with my arms contorted behind my back. There wasn’t any. There was a freckle-faced, redheaded man who sat beside me on the left, and the moment I met eyes with him, he glanced away in fear. The air marshal joined us, picked up the airplane phone, and dialed out.

  “We’ve got him,” he said and hung up. I knew it was over from the moment he turned around and we met eyes the first time, but his words solidified it. Hearing them made the reality even harder to face. They’ve got me, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

  “Ma’am, one of our agents in Miami just got off the phone with the air marshal. We’ve got him! Owen is in handcuffs!”

  Half of the room erupted in cheers. The other half didn’t even flinch. I was one of those. One of the ones who dreaded the moment we caught Owen. Just another person added to the list of people who had been mistakenly made a target by the government…but, I knew that this was far from a mistake.

  Veronica was gasping with laughter. She clenched her fists and shook them. “Yes!” she shouted and turned around to face all of us. The victory had changed her demeanor quickly. Her piercing blue eyes were no longer cold. They shimmered like there were jewels behind them, and her maniacal grin made her wrinkles more apparent. They were subtle because she always hid them with makeup.

  “We did it!” she threw her hands up and started a round of applause. When the clapping subsided she opened her mouth to speak. “I just wanted to say thank you, to everyone, for all your hard work. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”

  No shit. The government would be nothing without all of its worker bees.

  “She caught an innocent man because o
f us,” I leaned in and said to my colleague Kyle.

  “What was that?” Veronica snapped. My pulse quickened and I turned to meet her accusing glare. This was the first time she had addressed me, or even spoke to me for that matter. I avoided her at all costs. I knew it was in my best interest to keep my mouth shut, but the urge was so difficult to ward off. The fifty-something workers around me all stared, awaiting my response. The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

  “I said, you caught an innocent man because of us. You wouldn’t have been able to do it by yourself.”

  Mumbles from my colleagues spread around the room. Veronica’s eyes turned to slits, and her jaw tightened from my words. She slowly walked out from behind her metal desk and strode towards me. The clacks from her heels were unnerving. My body heated up from the stress of the moment, and I could practically feel her anger washing over as she glowered at me. I had told myself many times that I would be prepared for the consequences of my rebellion against Veronica, but was I? My heart pounded in my chest as she reached me. I had my arms crossed and stared back at her sternly.

  “So, you think a man who helped kill seventeen and injure nearly a hundred is innocent?”

  “Yes,” I spat, “because I think he was never supposed to make it out of that debate alive.”

  I thought her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets they grew so wide, and her nostrils flared. She didn’t yell. She didn’t scream. She just leaned down to where her mouth was inches away from my ear, and I could feel her hot breath on my neck.

  “If you even think of those words you just said again, you will be considered a threat to National Security and a traitor of the United States. You and your family will be deported to some foreign country where you will have no way to support them because we will wipe your slate clean. You will have nothing.”

  I clenched my jaw, trying to suppress my anger. I could have done it right now. I could have broken her neck as close as she was. I was trained to kill someone with my hands—she wouldn’t have had a chance. Then I saw an image of my wife and kids in my head. I couldn’t…if I killed Veronica, we really would have nothing. We’d be toast.