The Divide_Legacy

by Mitchel Grace

  “Thank you.”

  “No, I should be thanking you. This is a big help,” she said and handed Roger a tray with what smelled like heavenly food on it. I wish I could be imprisoned by these kind of people, Roger thought and smiled.

  He took the tray upstairs to the third floor where, sure enough, he found two guards standing beside a door. Roger motioned down toward the tray as he approached, and one of the men opened the door for him to head inside. What Roger saw in that room was shocking. His timing couldn’t have been worse!

  * * * * *

  A few minutes before, Alisa and Travis had gone to the opposite side of the building only to find that guards were patrolling the west side, too. There were only a couple of them, though. Alisa had a plan, though she wasn’t sure how well it would work with Travis. He looked nervous, and there was no guarantee that he would be a good climber.

  “What are we going to do?” he whispered to her.

  “That’s simple. We’re going to time it just right, and then you’re going to boost me up to the second-floor balcony,” Alisa said while pointing to the balcony just in front of them.

  “What about me?”

  “I’m going to pull you up after that. Then we’ll be out of sight, and we can climb further up.”

  “Further up? You’re not serious!” he said with the hint of fear.

  “What’s wrong? You’re not scared of heights, are you,” she teased.

  “A little, but why would we go even further up?”

  “That’s simple. They have an important hostage, so it only makes sense that they would put her on the top floor where she can’t jump out the window, and any potential intruders would have to go through a lot of guards to get up there. We’re going to skip the guards and go straight to the source.”

  “It could work, but . . .”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

  Travis nodded, but he felt like a coward having to be comforted by Alisa. She was his age. How could she be this brave already? Was there really such a difference between insiders and outsiders?

  “All right, we need to move now,” Alisa whispered as the guards split and went in different directions.

  They moved quickly until they were just below the balcony. From there, Travis lifted her up and tossed her into the air. Alisa just caught the edge of it, and one of her fingernail split down the middle, nearly causing her to scream out, but she stayed quiet and quickly regained her composure. After that, she pulled herself up, took one calming breath, and leaned over the edge while extending her hand.

  Travis had his doubts about if a girl like Alisa could pull him up. She was light weight with a little muscle tone but not much. He wasn’t exactly a big guy, but in his experience, girls were softer than guys, and that wasn’t saying much because most of the men in Raines were soft themselves. As Travis jumped up, he quickly found that Alisa was no weakling, however. She grabbed onto his hand, let out a low groan, and then did what she had to. She pulled him up until Travis could get a grip on the ledge. From there, he pulled himself up just in time.

  As they lay on the floor of the balcony, trying to control their tired wheezing, the guards passed under them. She knew he was exhausted, but their job wasn’t finished. They would have to climb up to one more balcony, and it wouldn’t be an easy task either. They were directly under it, so Travis wouldn’t be able to toss her up this time. The concrete balcony was designed artfully, however, with several indentions that would make good handholds. It wouldn’t be easy, but the climb wouldn’t be impossible either.

  “What now?” Travis asked.

  “Now we climb. Follow my lead, and you’ll be fine,” Alisa said and stood.

  She jumped, grabbed the bottom edge of the balcony, and then got a firm hold of the floor of it. After that, it was just like climbing anything else. She found one handhold after another until she was at the edge, and from there, she was able to climb straight up. Travis was close behind, only he wasn’t fairing quite as well. Fatigue was starting to get the best of him, and his muscles were tightening. Halfway up, he couldn’t move anymore, and he could barely hang on at all. Thankfully, Alisa reached down and pulled him up to the edge. Then with one hard pull, they crashed down to the floor of the balcony, panting from exhaustion.

  “Let’s never do that again,” Travis said, exhausted.

  “We’ve still got to climb down,” Alisa answered.

  “Oh, don’t tell me that!” he pouted before they heard the balcony door swing open. There, in the doorway, stood a sight for sore eyes.

  “Veronica, is that you?” Travis asked and smiled for the first time since this mission began. It had taken a lot of effort, but they had finally found her.

  Chapter 11

  The Escape

  “What are you doing here?” Veronica asked in shock. As far as she knew, Travis had been a coward who dodged a terrible situation. Why would he be the one rescuing her?

  “It’s a long story, but we’ve got to . . .” he managed to say before the bedroom door swung open, and they saw Roger in a butler’s uniform, along with two guards. The guards glanced inside to see two people who didn’t belong.

  Travis started to reach for his gun, but Alisa put her hand on his to signal for him to stop. The last thing they needed was a lot of noise and two dead bodies. Thankfully, Roger remedied the situation. As the guards stepped into the room, he dumped the tray and slammed it into the back of the closest guard’s head before launching himself on top of the second one. They struggled on the floor for a moment, but finally, Roger wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and jerked hard. A loud snap could be heard as the man’s neck broke, and after a few seconds, he stopped moving. At that point, Roger stood to face the first guard who had regained his composure after nearly being knocked out. He reached for his pistol, but Travis and Alisa quickly pulled out their guns.

  “I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” Alisa warned him.

  The man put his hands up, and Roger threw a hard punch to the side of his head. He crumbled to the floor immediately. That blow would keep him down for now, but he would come to his senses and warn someone soon. Roger knew they had to move quickly. He shut the door and locked it before going straight to Veronica and wrapping his arms around her.

  “We don’t have much time, but I have to say that I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I . . .” Roger said before Veronica cut him off.

  “There was nothing you could do. Now, I don’t know how you got here, but we need to leave.”

  “Agreed. How well can you two climb?” Alisa asked.

  Roger looked sure, but Veronica, on the other hand, didn’t feel very confident. She was brave, but climbing hadn’t been a priority in the city, and heights would be scary for anyone if they knew they probably wouldn’t make it. Roger took her hand, however, and gave it an encouraging squeeze. He was going to be with her every step of the way, and she knew it. Maybe that would be enough.

  “Let’s do this,” Travis said, though he was probably more tired and less capable of climbing down than anyone. Still, he knew they were only going to get a short window to escape, and if they didn’t move now, they would be prisoners themselves soon enough.

  Roger went down first and quickly swung to the second floor where he waited for Veronica. She had some trouble even hanging on, and as she dropped down, her feet just landed on the ledge. She lost her balance and started to fall backward, but Roger caught her just as she let out a loud gasp. He quickly pulled Veronica out of view, but the damage had been done. The guards below them had heard, and their eyes would be looking upward.

  Sure enough, as Travis was climbing down, they saw flashlights shining up into the now darkened artificial light. Guns were drawn, and Travis was in their sights. That was when they heard the shots. There was one and then another. Then finally there were two more, although Travis was still hanging there, scared but unharmed. Roger peered over the edge while Veronica helped him down to se
e their savior. Lee had been waiting in the shadows, probably looking for a good way into the palace himself. When he saw his friends in trouble he acted, cutting down the guards before they could do a thing.

  “Listen up! We’ve got to double time it now that our cover is blown. There are about to be guards everywhere,” Roger said as Alisa swung down.

  At that point, Roger jumped down to the ground. He gave with his knees and rolled as soon as his feet touched down. Overall, it wasn’t a comfortable landing, but nothing was bruised or broken. He only hoped the others could follow his example because there was no time for climbing now.

  “Well, I was wrong about you staying behind,” Roger said as he and Lee stood back to back looking at the edges of the palace and waiting for the inevitable fight coming their way.

  “I’ll say! I think I’ve saved your ass twice now,” Lee teased.

  “Correction, you saved Travis’s ass. Mine was just fine,” Roger shot back with a grin.

  While they were talking, Travis jumped first. He landed flat footed, and it sent a shockwave through his legs before he fell to the ground face first. He was in pain, but overall, Travis was fine. He quickly rolled out of the way, and Veronica went next. The landing wasn’t perfect, and she fell on her arm trying to roll, but a bruise would be all she suffered on that night.

  Finally, Alisa jumped like she had a hundred times in her life. She had full confidence, but like most times in her life, bad luck chose the worst time to rear its ugly head. Her ankle twisted, and she went down in pain. She tried to stand, but right now, that just wasn’t happening.

  At that moment, two guards stepped around the edge of the house with their guns raised. Lee saw them first and fired a quick shot into the lighter skinned guard’s neck before he heard a second shot and felt an intense pain run through his left shoulder. He fell to the ground, but thankfully, Roger had his back. With a single bullet, his would-be killer was down.

  “Are you okay? We’ve got to move, but . . .” Roger said frantically.

  “I’ll be fine,” Lee said and forced himself to stand, but there was a whole new problem. Alisa couldn’t move on, and there was no way he could leave her.

  “Let’s go,” Travis said.

  “Wait. What about Alisa?” Lee asked.

  “I can’t go on, and you have to leave now, Lee. Thank you for everything, but this is where we part ways,” she said.

  “Screw that! Get my sister out of here, and I’ll take care of Alisa,” Lee said as he turned toward Roger.

  Roger didn’t want to leave him. He knew that Alex and Sarah would hate that, but if he didn’t trust Lee to get himself out and run, then none of them might get out at all. He had to move and hope for the best, so Roger simply nodded to him with a desperate expression that spoke of so much. He was afraid to move but just as scared to stay where he was. He didn’t want to lose Veronica, but how could he lose Lee when he had been as good as family to him?

  “I . . . I’ll help him,” Travis said as he broke through his fear to find courage.

  “Okay. I’ll leave it to you two and see you on the other side,” Roger said and took Veronica’s hand.

  They ran through the garden and hid as best they could as guards hurried toward the west side of the house. Finally, they made it to the sewer grate. They were almost home free, but Veronica didn’t like this. Her brother had risked his life to help save her, and so had Travis. She didn’t know who Alisa was, but she was grateful to all three of them. Could she really leave them now when it was obvious they weren’t getting out of this alive?

  “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I won’t leave him,” Veronica said.

  “Veronica, if I have to knock you out and carry you through this sewer, you’re leaving! I care about you, and Lee knows what he’s doing. Please, make this easy,” he said and extended his hand to her. She reluctantly took it, and they headed down. Roger made sure to leave the lid off, though, just in case Lee and the others needed to make a quick escape.

  “How in the world did you find me?” Veronica asked as they walked in quick steps, paranoid that at any moment guards would discover how they had gotten in and be coming for them.

  “It’s a long story. We killed the ones who took you, and then Alex and Sarah tried to negotiate with Charles Boyd, but they couldn’t give him what he wanted, so we found a way into the palace, thanks to a friend of Alisa’s.”

  “Who is she?”

  “I don’t really know. Lee befriended her.”

  “That explains it. He’s always been a sucker for a pretty face. In this case, though, I’m glad he was. Do you think they’ll be all right?” Veronica asked with the hint of insecurity.

  “I do. I didn’t think he had it in him, and I certainly didn’t think much of Travis, but they’ve proved me wrong on this trip. Your brother can handle himself, and if something happens, I swear to you that we’ll get him back just like we did with you.”

  “I believe you, but why would you have done all of this for me, Roger? You could’ve been killed.”

  “I thought that would be obvious.”

  “Well, it isn’t, so you’re going to have to explain it to me.”

  Roger stopped and pulled her close. Then he kissed her. It only lasted for a moment, but for both of them it felt like time stopped. They had been building toward this for the last year, and it wasn’t in the ideal situation, but Roger was finally showing her how he felt.

  “I love you. I used to love you like family, but that changed sometime over the last year. I know I’m older than you by about nine years, so it’s complicated, but that’s the truth. I helped save you because it would have broken my heart if anything had happened to you,” he said and took her hand as they started to move again.

  “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

  “For a lot of reasons. It’s complicated. I didn’t know how your parents would react or how Lee would either. We’re all like family, so I didn’t know how everyone would perceive how I felt.”

  “I know, but you should have said something to me. I feel the same way.”

  With that, a very minor issue was solved. They just had to hope that Lee and the others were fairing as well as them.

  * * * * *

  Back outside, Lee had gotten on one side of Alisa, and Travis had gotten on the other. They pulled her along until they got to the edge of the house where their fate became clear. About twenty yards away, there were over a dozen men ready to fire at them. There was no fighting this, not anymore. They were caught. The only question was what would happen to them next.

  “Drop your guns, or we’ll be forced to kill you,” one of the guards said.

  They all complied, and the guards detained them roughly by throwing them in the dirt and handcuffing them. Afterward, they dragged them into the palace where they saw Charles Boyd for the first time. He looked frustrated. He saw three people, and none of them were his prized prisoner who could get him whatever he wanted.

  “Where is Veronica Morgan?” Charles snapped.

  “She’s gone, and you’re not going to find her,” Lee said.

  “And who might you be, boy?”

  “Just a hired hand,” he lied, knowing that the last thing he wanted was to be used by this man against his parents.

  “See, that doesn’t seem likely to me. Alex and Sarah Morgan had another child, and you’re the spitting image of your father.”

  “I wish I was a Morgan. It would’ve made my life a lot easier, but I was forced to come here from Raines. I did my job, but as you can see, I wasn’t able to escape.”

  “I don’t believe you, and if you don’t start telling the truth, I’m going to hurt your companion here,” he said and moved toward Travis.

  “You don’t want to do that!” Alisa exclaimed.

  “And why not?” Charles asked with a wicked grin.

  She had to choose her answer carefully. It was clear that Lee was trying to hide his identity for a reason, and she didn’t want Trav
is to be hurt either. Ultimately, there was only one way to do this.

  “Because that’s Lee Morgan. If you hurt him, you’ll have no leverage,” she said.

  “I can’t say that I see the resemblance, but you do look a bit more like royalty,” he said while taking note of his unsculpted frame. In fact, this boy looked like he might not have lifted a finger at all in his life.

  Meanwhile, Travis shot Alisa a look as if to ask what in the world she was playing at. What would this accomplish, and ultimately, what would it mean to him? Was he destined to die in this palace or be a prisoner for the rest of his life? No matter what, it didn’t seem that Travis’s future was bright.

  “Who might you be?” Charles asked Alisa while looking her up and down. She was a beauty, but then again, she was obviously a commoner. That made her untouchable in Charles’s mind.

  “I really am a hired hand from this very city. You killed my brother this afternoon,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, my dear, but I remember the men I kill. I haven’t murdered anyone today.”

  “You didn’t directly kill him, but you allowed the pit to be built. You even encouraged people to fight in it. It’s your fault that he . . . that he . . .”

  “Enough of this pointlessness! I don’t care about your sob story. You’ll be dead by tomorrow anyway.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lee asked with fear in his eyes.

  “Don’t be so surprised. You’ll die right along with her. Of course, I won’t be the one to kill you. The people have to be entertained somehow, and the pit gives them a reason to get up in the morning. The two of you will fight in the pit until you both die. Maybe it’ll happen quickly, or maybe one of you will survive for days, but either way, death will come.”

  “Please, don’t . . .” Travis managed to say before Charles backhanded him.

  “You aren’t in Raines anymore, boy! You’ll speak when I address you,” Charles said with an arrogance that rolled off him.

  “You should listen to him,” Lee said.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because he knows exactly how to manipulate his parents,” Lee lied, hoping that Travis actually had a plan of what to say.