by David Barton
He attacked the first two guards he came to with his hands. Kicking his feet out to knock down a third. I watched as the man and dog duo moved around the group of guards, punching, kicking and biting their way through them. They reacted and protected each other. Despite the numbers being on the side of the guards, it seemed like they didn’t stand a chance.
Before long they had dealt with every guard, leaving them on the floor either knocked out or badly injured. I hadn’t even made it out of the elevator I was so scared. Not only scared of the guards but of this man and his companion.
I received a look from him before he and his partner walked down the escalator to the lobby. My shaking legs carried me out of the elevator. I had planned on making a run for it but I seemed so shocked by what had happened, all I could do was stare at the guards on the floor.
That was until one of them was well enough to raise his gun at me, “Freeze. Drop to your knees and don’t move a muscle.” I did as I was told, the cold floor pressed against my front as the man pushed me down and handcuffed me.
Next thing I knew, I was being transported by a police car to the nearest station. Unfortunately it was the central headquarters of the city. A large building full of cops and detectives and apparently I belonged there at the moment.
I was pushed through the double doors at the back of the station. The hallway walls were white tiled and the floor was white. It made it all feel very dreary whilst I walked down to the end. We went through a small archway on the left and I was confronted with someone standing behind a desk. He was a lot higher than I was and it left me feeling daunted.
He suddenly smiled bringing a cheery look to his face and he spoke in a non-threatening tone. “Hello, my name is Steve and I’m going to be the one to process you. After this you will be taken to speak to an interviewer.”
“What does the interviewer do?”
“He basically askes for your account of what happened and then obviously it gets decided what we do with you after that.”
“Sounds like fun.” A nervous laugh came out of my mouth.
He smiled again and leant down on his desk, bringing his face closer to mine. “Right now, you shouldn’t worry about anything. My job is to get your information down on paper. I don’t care what you did to get brought here. That’s not my job. So just relax and concentrate on this conversation and concentrate on answering the questions. Okay?”
“Okay.” I felt as relaxed as I could be in this situation. No longer was my brain running through all the charges they could put on me. Instead I was just focused on the man behind the desk. “So what’s the first question?”
“Well, usually I ask your name, address and all those boring details but I’ll take your driver’s license and just get it all from there.”
“Sure.” My hand moved to my pocket but it was empty. That’s when one of the arresting officers handed the man my wallet. They must have took it when I was arrested. I hadn’t even noticed it missing.
As he starts to jot things down he quickly looks up at me. “You’re not wearing a belt are you?”
“No. Why?”
“It’s just in case we need to keep you in a cell if all the rooms are occupied. So you don’t try and hang yourself with it.”
“What?” I looked up at the man with disbelief.
“It’s mainly for people high on drugs or extremely drunk but it is procedure.”
“Oh right.”
He went back to filling out the form. Finally he put the pen down and entwined his fingers together on the desk. “The last thing I have to ask is, are there any comments or complaints about the officers who arrested you or the way you were treated?”
I looked behind me where I had thought the policemen would be standing but they weren’t there anymore. Looking back up at Steve I answered, “I don’t think so.”
“Good.” He picked up the pen and spun the form around. “If you could just sign at the bottom, put your name then date it please.” Grabbing the pen I did as I was told. “Excellent. Now….” There was a soft buzz and I started to hear footsteps from behind me. “This officer will take you to one of our rooms and take your statement.”
I looked over my shoulder as a man wearing a police uniform came walking in. He too had a nice smile on his face. It was like they put all the ugly, mean policemen out on the streets and kept the friendly ones here. I chuckled in my head as the man spoke in a soft tone. “Please follow me and I will take your statement.”
We both left the small room after getting a bye from Steve. We went back to the original corridor and turned left. On our left after a few doors came a small room. I was led inside and offered a seat at a small table. Just like in the television shows, one wall had a massive pane of glass like a mirror.
There was no way to know if there was anyone on the other side, watching me. “If you take a seat we’ll get this thing started.” The officer sat on the other side of the table where a pad of paper and a pen sat. He flipped it over to a blank page and clicked the pen. “Whenever you’re ready.” He smiled at me.
“How do you want me to start?”
“Start from where you want to but preferably from the start, maybe when you entered the building would be a good start.”
“Okay.” My mouth started spilling out the words and I kept almost everything just the way it had happened. The only thing I changed was what happened once I was in the office on the top floor.
I said I was there because I wanted to talk to Mr Henrikson about my article. I had no intention of telling the officer what I had done to the computer or what I had taken. They hadn’t found the flash drive when they frisked me.
With the statement written and signed by myself and the officer, I was let go. They didn’t see the point in charging me with anything just for being desperate to get an interview. There was no charge for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They allowed me to leave through the front instead of the back. I saw all the detectives at their desks with piles of case files as I was escorted out.
The noise in this area was deafening. I had no idea how they managed to get any work done. Once back out on the street I looked around for the nearest tram. Luckily I was still in the fancy area so the tram was nice looking. I decided to ride the trams back to the paper.
Whilst traveling I moved the stick from my sock to my pocket. My fingers gripped the flash drive, not wanting to lose it. There could be some vital information on it that could make the article perfect.
When I was almost at the paper I got a conversation going with a lovely lady who had gotten on at the last stop. She worked in finance and even though she talked too much about her boring job, there was something about her eyes that kept me interested. I had no idea what.
She disappeared at one stop and I got off at the other. Just that simple conversation put me in a good mood. That was until I got up to the offices. I was first greeted by my friend who was standing by the photocopier as I walked in.
Then my eyes hit the girl who had sent me so many different signals yesterday and today she said we should just be professional friends. She still managed to look beautiful even with bags under her eyes. She looked my way just before sitting down.
My mind was telling me to smile but my lips weren’t listening. I got a half smile from her before she turned to her computer and got on with some work. There must be something going on she wasn’t telling me otherwise she would have come over and told me what happened with her source.
A small part of me thought she would be better off doing it by herself. Then I remembered this was my way of getting my job back. Being deep in thought meant I missed the first half of my friend’s sentence, “Are you?”
I looked away from Felicity and met his confused gaze. “Am I what?”
“Sleeping with Felicity.”
“What?!” I quickly grabbed him, taking him away from everyone else.
“Oh come on. That look you two just shared. It might have not looked the happiest b
ut that leads me to belief that there’s something going on.”
“Trust me when I say there isn’t and never will be anything going on.”
“But you’ve had a crush on her for ages.”
“Crushes go away.”
“Not this one. I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
“Even this one. Now, I need to ask you a favour and you can’t tell anyone about it. Not even Harvey.”
“Harvey isn’t here right now so it’s perfect timing. What’s up?”
I pulled the flash drive out of my pocket. “You’re still good with electronics, right?”
“Of course.” He took it from me and placed it inside his fist. “What do you need?”
“I downloaded a drive onto the memory stick. I just need access.”
“What’s it about?”
“An article. Don’t go looking at what’s on it, I just need the access and I’ll take it from there.”
“Of course. You don’t want me to move in on your article that you’re sharing with Felicity do you?” I didn’t know how he figured we were working together but it didn’t matter right now.
He smiled and I saw the twinkle in his eye and knew exactly what he was getting at. “It’s not like that. Just get me the access and maybe I’ll explain where it came from.”
“To be honest. I don’t want to know where it came from. Safer that way.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’ll leave you a message at your apartment when it’s done.”
“How long do you think you’ll be?”
“Won’t know until I get on it.”
“Okay, just let me know as soon as possible.”
“No worries.” I watched him go back to his desk, hopefully to start on the favour straight away. My brain dared me to take another look over at Felicity but I decided against it. I didn’t need to torture myself and I didn’t even need to be here.
I spun and headed back to the elevator. Taking it back down to the lobby I was happy to see Earl had come back from doing his rounds. He gave me a big smile which put me in a happy mood. As I came out of the building I looked around not really sure what to do. Then I shot off in a random direction. Not caring where I was going, just wanting to walk. If I sat down it would just let my mind think about Felicity. This way I could distract myself with the city.
I walked until my legs started feeling tired so I ducked into a little dinner. It was busy just like the street outside the windows. I grabbed the only window booth left and waited for the waitress to come over.
Before I had a chance to order a coffee my phone went off. The screen was lit with my mum’s number. I pressed it to me ear, “Hey mum.”
“Hi. Did you get my message earlier?”
“On my home phone?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t.” I thought back to the blinking red light. It wouldn’t have told me I had a new message. I had just thought it was Felicity’s message still blinking at me. “Sorry, are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine. I’d just like to talk to you about something.”
“When.”
“As soon as possible.”
“Where?”
“Where are you?”
“At a diner called Gran’s Lunch.”
“I know where that is. I’ll see you in a little bit.” She hung up. There was something in her voice that made me think something was wrong. Then again, if there was something wrong she wouldn’t have waited so long between leaving the message at my apartment and ringing my mobile phone.
Finally the waitress came over and I ordered a coffee. I didn’t order any food even though the homemade chocolate cake looked really good. Maybe if my mum was ordering food I’d get a slice later.
I’d barely drank a sip of my coffee by the time my mum walked through the door. She was smartly dressed in a suit with a long skirt. She looked like she had just come from a fancy brunch.
I got the usual smile and peck on my cheek before she sat down. The same waitress took her order of a coffee and I ended up ordering a slice of cake. It kept looking better every time I looked over at it.
She took a sip of her coffee after adding some sugar and spoke, “I’m glad we could meet so soon.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, I know you haven’t seen your father in a while.” I didn’t feel like telling her what had happened. It would only push her and him further apart. At the moment I couldn’t think of why that was so bad but I still kept my mouth shut. “Me and him have been drifting apart for so long now I barely know who he is anymore. And he feels the same about me.”
“Have you two been talking about this?”
“Yeah, we finally decided to split up yesterday.”
Amazingly that coincided with when he came to me. Clearly not a coincidence. Was he really there to convince me to pick him over her? Or was it a goodbye type thing. “So you two are splitting up?”
“Yeah. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s you who’s getting the split.”
“I know but we’re your parents.”
“He hasn’t been my parent in a long time. Only you have and I just want you to be happy. Do you know if my sister knows?”
“You really should call her by her name.”
“I would have if she didn’t decide to pick his side in things.”
“There was never any sides.” I pulled a fake smile just to try and stop the subject going any further.
She pulled a great big smile. Then it slowly faded as her eyes started dancing about. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
“Is it about Harvey?”
Her eyes suddenly leapt to mine. She put on her best shocked voice. “What do you mean?” She had never been a good actress.
“You and Harvey. I know you two met for lunch yesterday. I can see you’re all scrubbed up so you’re either having an interview or you’re going to meet him for a meal. Hence why you got here so quick. You never did enjoy the city.”
“I forget you work for a paper.”
“You should give me a little bit of credit.” I laughed.
She did the same. She seemed so happy, something I hadn’t seen in a long time now. “I am meeting him for a meal. You don’t mind do you? Me and Harvey I mean.”
“Not at all. He’s a great guy. He’s already like a father to me.”
“He is.”
“Just make sure he treats you better than the last one.”
“I will. I’m sure you’ll make sure of that as well.”
“Of course I will.” I finished my coffee.
“How’s your article thing going?” She saw my confused look. “Harvey told me about it.”
I hoped he hadn’t told her the whole story. “It’s going okay.” My lips quivered with the need to tell her about Felicity and my father but there was something stopping me. It was like saying those words would bring the memories of that night back.
“So what’s it about?”
“Well, to tell you the truth I can’t really tell you much. It’s too secretive at the moment. If we’re right though, it could be a massive break for me. Not so much for Mr Henrikson and his business’.”
“How so?”
“Like I said. You shouldn’t know too much.”
“Okay. If it’s that bad. Just make sure you’re careful.”
“I will. Is there any other bits of news I should know about?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good. Then we can spare a few minutes to people watch.” She smiled as we both looked out the window to people watch. Something we enjoyed doing and it would pass the time, keeping my mind occupied instead of sitting in my head idly.
Once our fun had finished we parted with a peck on the cheek. By the time I got back to my apartment night had descended upon the city and buildings now were lit up like a circus. The streets no less busy with cars and people. The more rowdier of pedestrians now walking the streets.
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br /> I unlocked my front door and walked in, holding a cake box with a slice of chocolate cake inside. It had been so good I had seconds at the diner then brought a third on my way out.
My keys were dropped on the little table and as I shut the door a voice came from behind me. “Hey.”
My whole body went into shock. I dropped the box of chocolate cake on the floor and squealed like a little girl much to my embarrassment. My eyes shot around the darkness of my living room until I saw the dark figure in the kitchen. My arm shot out and my finger flicked the lights on.
Standing there, leaning over the counter was the masked superhero that had been in my apartment the other night. I saw the plastic bag swinging in the wind. “Have you never used the door in your life?”
“It’s not the easiest way into your place.”
“It is for a normal person.”
“I’m not particularly normal.”
“I noticed.” I picked up the box and took it over to the counter. “What do you want this time?”
“I was wondering if you could put me into contact with the girl you were hanging around with at the restaurant.”
I couldn’t believe it. I could understand why my mum would ask about the article but why was this now being brought up. “Why do you need to talk with her? I didn’t think you would be interested in businessmen.”
“What?”
I realised my mistake. “Nothing. What’s up?” My eyes scanned the slice of cake to see if I could salvage it.
He blew out a big breath. “I found some photos that owned to someone I was investigating. These photos featured your female friend and a few even had you in them.”
“Me? What are you talking about?”
“I think that’s why that shadow guy was here but I need to find your friend to make sure she’s fine and see why they’re keeping an eye on her.”
“I’m not really on chatting terms with her at the moment.” Despite the distance in our friendship I still found myself wanting to phone her. To see if she was okay. “I saw her at work earlier today, she seemed fine.”
“That’s good but I do need to chat with her as well.”
