by Natalie Reid
“That wasn’t my intention!” he said, letting her shove him to the far elevator wall. He glanced briefly up to the blue dot in the corner that showed the camera hiding there, hoping that no one was watching this, and if they were, that they would think it was no more than a harmless inter-work conflict.
Suddenly Tom’s voice came through the line, saying, “Tell her you were scared.”
“I…I was scared,” he repeated, holding up his hands in a defensive posture.
“You were incredibly conflicted at the time.”
“I was incredibly conflicted at the time!”
Saturn stared at him, silently deliberating what he said.
“Conflicted about what?” she demanded.
“You had just lost your best friend,” Tom said.
Griffin’s eyes flicked to Harper for a moment, and she looked to him in confusion.
Instead of repeating what Tom had told him, he said, “I-I had been a jerk, and drove away someone that I cared about.”
Ritter let out an annoyed sigh of aggravation, saying, “Harper, tell her what a real nerd she was saved from.”
“I’m not saying that!” she whispered out.
Saturn turned to look at her and narrowed her eyes.
Harper tried to recover, saying, “I’m not saying that he’s not a jerk, but he’s certainly no criminal. He’s just new here.” She smiled, hoping that would make it more believable.
While Saturn had her back turned to Griffin, he extended his arm and punched the button for the top floor. When she felt the elevator start to move up, she turned back to glare at him.
“Did you just push that button?”
“What? No. It did that on its own. Probably someone needs to use it up top.”
“Well when they get on, I’m turning you in.”
“Hey, come on now!” Harper said good-naturedly. “We’ve been over this. He’s just new here. We recruited him because of an invention he was working on. If you try and turn him in, things are just going to get awkward for you. I’m trying to do you a favor.”
“I’m not an idiot,” she spat out. “They wouldn’t let a new recruit on the top floors.”
“Just punch her and be on your way,” Ritter sighed.
“I’m not working up there,” Griffin told her. “They’re just taking me up to something called The Fulcrum.”
Suddenly Saturn’s face froze and she took a step back from him. She turned to face the elevator doors, acting as if they were no longer there. When they stopped on the top floor, she hurried out as fast as she could.
“Griff,” Harper said, poking her head out and watching her rush down the hall. “I think you just spoke the magic words. I wonder if it’ll work on everyone.”
“If you’re on the top floor, turn left and go all the way down the hall,” Ritter instructed. “Make sure to—”
“Yeah, we got it!” Harper whispered. “We’ve had this part drilled into our heads several times an hour for the past week, thank you!”
They got off the elevator, and while they were walking, Griffin stuck his hand in his pockets. He clasped his fingers around something small in one pocket, and casually dropped it on the floor. Then, in the other pocket, he pushed a button and moved a switch forward.
Behind them, the object that he had dropped sprang to life. It was a small bee, and it hovered in the air, moving drunkenly around them. He had worked on this invention for weeks, using the same concept as the hover technology on a Task Force bike. However, most of his practice had come from chasing Harper around the back-room with it as Nel laughed hysterically in the corner.
Though now it was the real thing, Harper still looked like a kid just fooling around as she gave out a loud shriek and hopped in the air, yelling, “Bee!”
She ducked and swerved to avoid the mechanical buzzing bee, darting around in every direction, while Griffin controlled it from his pocket. With the bee, he led her down to the end of the hall. Once there, he spun the bee around her head, and she put on such a show of swatting, ducking and silent shrieking that, if anyone was watching from the camera above, they would probably be on the floor laughing.
Then, pretending to swat at the bee with all her might, she threw her hand in an upward direction, and Griffin steered it the rest of the way to land right over the blue light of the camera. The bee stopped there, as if Harper’s swat had killed it, and it died over the camera lens.
He looked around them, making sure that no one had come out to see what all the ruckus was about, and then ran over to the end of the hall. According to Ritter’s knowledge, the door to the room that received direct contact with The Fulcrum was on the right. Like all other doors, there was a key-code to the side of it. However, this was the one door in their plan that they did not have a code for.
Without wasting time, Harper took out a small tablet from her pocket, and connected what looked like a small antenna to it. She held it up a few inches from the camera, and when something appeared on screen, she pulled the tablet down in front of her.
“Yes, we’re in!” she exclaimed.
“How many times do you want to bet she’s going to say that tonight?” Denneck asked tiredly on the line.
“Don’t hate me cause I’m doing all the work,” she said while typing something into the touch-screen on the tablet.
“Just giving you the heads-up,” Trid’s voice suddenly announced over the line. “We’ve got more Task Force over here. Now’s your best shot at getting in.”
“We’ve got The Fulcrum in our sights,” Ritter said. “Just as soon as sweetheart over there gives us the codes.”
“Yeah, I could get them for you a lot faster if you all just shut up and let me concentrate!” Harper scolded.
A moment later, the feed from the camera appeared on the screen, and she called Griffin over to watch. She rewound the footage until she found someone entering through the door. She enlarged the image of the key-pad at this point, and both of them squinted to see the numbers he punched in.
As they watched the man typing in the numbers, Harper whispered them aloud. “Six, one, six, two, three, five.”
Then she took the antenna from the tablet and stuffed it away.
“Right, we’re in!” she informed them.
“Stop saying that!” Ritter scolded.
Harper went to the key pad and stopped. “Wait, what was the code again?”
Griffin looked at her with wide eyes, but before she had a chance to panic, Jessie’s voice came on the line saying, “Six, one, six, two, three, five.”
“Whew!” Harper exclaimed, punching in the numbers and letting out a sigh of relief. The door opened and she stepped inside, saying, “Now we really are in.”
Once they closed the door behind them, Griffin moved the lever that controlled the bee, and let him fall to the floor. He knew if he kept it there, it would attract attention, and someone would soon come over to inspect what had happened.
The room they now found themselves in had a large glass table in the center and a counter off to the far wall with a few assorted computers and machines. The table had a screen on its surface, and seemed to act like a large tablet.
Harper raced over to the table in the center of the room and pushed a button underneath it. Griffin stood by the door, listening for the sound of anyone approaching. He smiled as he watched his friend maneuver through the different files on the table. Her hands flew with quickness, and her eyes were alight with the thrill of finally being a part of a team that was uncovering a government conspiracy.
He left his post by the door to stand next to her. She glanced over at him briefly and gave him a sweet smile. When she turned her head back to the table, Griffin leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
Harper’s hands stiffened and her face reddened. “What was that for?” she whispered, so softly that only he would be able to hear.
Before he could reply, Ritter’s annoyed voice came through the line, asking, “Did I just hear kissin
g?”
“No,” Griffin announced breathlessly, staring down into his friend’s blushing face. “Whatever gave you that impression?”
He tweaked the corner of his mouth in an embarrassed smile, and realized with a surprise that his stomach was tightening into knots. Harper bumped him on the arm with her elbow, trying to play it off as a joke, but her face didn’t lose the feminine and rosy glow that his kiss had elicited.
Clearing her throat, she finally looked away and got back to work.
“Here we go,” she announced when she had pulled up what she judged was the right file. “I’ve got your entrance pass right heee—oh wait.”
“What is it?” Ritter asked.
“Um, well…” She cleared her throat again. “It’s probably nothing. I wouldn’t really worry about it.”
“Stop wasting our time and just tell us!”
“Ward’s there.”
“What?!”
“You said to just tell you!” she reminded him. “Don’t get mad at me.”
“Does this change things?” Griffin asked.
There was a pause. Then Ritter’s voice came back on the line.
“Give us the codes.”
Chapter 17
The Fulcrum
Jessie stared out the windows to gaze at the massive ship before them. It was a great silver creature sitting just under the very roof of the Earth. There were several large segments jutting out from the main body, reminding Jessie of the tops of the five government buildings in the business sector.
When Denneck steered their ship close enough, a message appeared on their communications panel, demanding that they send over the entrance codes in order to pass through. Ritter went to the panel, typing out the ten digit code that Harper had provided for them. He sent it, and the message disappeared. Jessie stared at the blank screen in apprehension as they waited for a response.
A few moments later, a message came back to them, saying: Pull into hangar two.
A sigh of relief passed through the ship, and Denneck steered them closer to The Fulcrum. As he did this, Ritter went to the back room of their ship and wheeled out two plastic domed stretchers.
“Right, our two ace pilots are gonna be signing off for a bit,” Ritter announced.
Tom’s voice came on the line, slightly out of breath, saying, “Jessie, please be safe.”
Ritter laughed. “No luck there, lover boy. You’ve picked yourself a thrill seeker.”
“Don’t worry Tom,” she said, ignoring Ritter. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Ritter flicked at his chin uncomfortably before asking, “Any sign of her yet?”
They could hear the sound of crunching snow and heavy breathing. “I’m following her tracks. It shouldn’t be long.”
Denneck steered their ship into the second hangar and landed near the entrance. He and Jessie both laid down inside the stretchers, and Ritter closed them shut.
Inside the stretcher it was warm and stuffy. There were holes that allowed air to come in, but not enough for it to circulate. As Jessie waited for something to happen, it was hard to keep her breathing even and appear as if she was asleep. She constantly hungered for more air, but she had to keep reminding herself to breathe slowly. The plastic dome over her might be thick enough to distort her features, but she would still need to appear as though she had been drugged.
It felt like ages until Ritter grabbed the ends of both of their stretchers and wheeled them over to the exit ramp. She couldn’t believe that she was trusting him with their lives. He had told them that Task Force wouldn’t dare tell anyone outside the force, even the government, that one of their own had defected. He had said it would make them look weak, and had assured them that the workers up on The Fulcrum would have no idea, at least right away, that he was a wanted man.
Jessie had found herself agreeing to his plan, but as she waited inside the stretcher for something to happen, she began to have second thoughts. The whole thing seemed rather convenient, and Ritter was known for double crossing people. She couldn’t believe that he could go rogue and that Task Force wouldn’t inform anyone. Or, she worried, maybe he hadn’t gone rogue, and the act with Commander Vin had been a ploy to get her to trust him.
Before Ritter pushed the button to open up the doors and let the Fulcrum workers inside, he addressed Jessie in her ear-piece, saying, “You starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing?”
Through closed eyes, she remembered him with Nel, and how hard he strove to please her. She told herself that some things couldn’t be an act.
“Just get on with it,” she whispered. “It’s hard to breathe in here.”
“Okay,” he said, punching the button to open the doors. “Time to steal the show.”
“Yeah, just try and beat my bee performance,” Harper challenged.
“If you try and talk to me again during this thing,” Ritter warned. “I will rip out your eyes in your sleep and nail them to your throat.”
“I don’t think I’d sleep through that.”
Ritter ignored her as two workers strode up the ramp of their ship, looking between him and the two stretchers he was standing over.
“Ritter,” one of the workers addressed him. “We weren’t expecting you tonight.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting you either,” he said gruffly. “I was on my way to Mercury’s, when those military rackers had to start up a racking hissy fit.”
The two workers stood in front of each of the stretchers. The one that had spoken before asked, “These two are military?”
“Can’t you tell? They’ve got a stench to ‘em.”
The workers came around and began to wheel the stretchers off the ship and into The Fulcrum. The ground was smooth as they walked, but the air felt alight with tension.
“What exactly is happening down there?” one of them asked.
“There’s a big fight on the air base,” Ritter explained casually. “The soldiers are throwing a tantrum because my men came to collect a Lieutenant of theirs. These two were the instigators of the whole thing, so Vin told me to bring ‘em up here, teach ‘em some manners.” He sniffed, stuck his hands in his pockets, and then commented, “You can stick ‘em with the others.”
“We got it sergeant,” one of them reassured him.
They wheeled them through a corridor with a series of small rooms on each side, presumably a place to hold prisoners. When they reached a room towards the end of the hall, one of the workers looked back to him.
“We have it from here sergeant. You can go now.”
“Why don’t you have that drink at Mercury’s,” the other one offered with a smile. “I hear something called an Aura Wave is supposed to be good.”
The door opened, and one of them was about to open the lid of Jessie’s stretcher, when Ritter placed his hand over it.
“Here’s the thing,” he said in a low voice. “This soldier you’ve got here has caused me a world of trouble in the past.”
“Couldn’t you just have roughed them up on your ship?” the worker asked, catching on to Ritter’s meaning.
He smiled at them. “You know it’s no fun punching a sleeping dummy. I was hoping you might wake them up for me. Especially this one,” he said, looking down at Jessie’s stretcher.
The two workers looked at each other.
“Look,” one of them said. “Under normal circumstances we might be able to make an exception. But we’re on red alert with Ward here, and our security’s not as tight as it should be. I just don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“Right, I understand,” he said with a nod. “Then could you just do me a favor really quick.” He clicked the clasp of the stretcher and readied his hand on the lid. “Could you tell me what this is?”
As one of the workers leaned down to look at the lid, he shoved it up and slammed it into his face. The worker fell unconscious to the floor, and before the other one could call out, Ritter punched him in the face and kicked him in t
he stomach so that he soon joined his friend on the ground.
“See Harper,” he said. “That’s how you get rid of someone.”
“I’m not talking to you, remember?”
With the cover of her stretcher open, Jessie sat up and took in a deep breath. As Ritter dragged the unconscious bodies of the two workers into the empty holding room, she went over to Denneck’s stretcher and opened it up.
Ritter pulled the uniforms off the two workers and stashed the men in the corner of the room. Jessie and Denneck quickly pulled the uniforms over their clothes while Ritter wheeled the stretchers into the room and out of sight.
“Your mom should be in one of these rooms,” Ritter explained, motioning down the hallway.
She took in the expanse of the outside corridor. It was such a short distance left. She wanted to go bounding down the hall as fast as she could, but she knew she had to be patient.
With weak legs, she walked up to the first door on her right. She peered inside and saw a man lying on a thin bed. The man had his back to the door, but his hair was such a peculiar shade of red, that she could have sworn she had seen it before. He gave out a low moan and shifted in bed. Though she had never seen him in person before, she recognized his face the moment she saw it.
“Roger?” she whispered to herself. Was this really Rosie’s husband, she wondered. And, if he had been one of The Thirty that was taken, how were Rosie and Mick surviving right now? How had she not noticed every time she went back there to visit Katherine?
Quickly she dug the worker’s key card out of the shirt pocket and slid it to open the door. She wanted desperately to keep moving and find her mom, but seeing Roger, she knew she couldn’t just leave. He had a family that was waiting for him back at home.
Before she could open the door, Ritter put a hand on it to stop her.
“We don’t have time for that.”
She turned and shot him a glare.
“He’s right,” Denneck agreed. “Let’s find your mother first and then we’ll see about the others.”
