Ellie stood there on the street, staring at her office, trying to corral her thoughts that were flying in a million directions. Her hair clung to her face with sweat and her breath was loud and raspy, but all she could think about was how she was going to tell Bing that she had kept a secret from him. She had to face him. He had to forgive her. She needed him. Nodding to herself, she took a step toward the records office just as the upper floor exploded.
CHAPTER NINE
The first thing Ellie thought was that her face had somehow fallen asleep. It tingled and burned. When she tried to open her eyes, she realized it was tiny shards of glass and wood raining down on her where she lay face-up on the sidewalk. The blast had blown her off her feet, or maybe she had just stumbled, but she lay on her back watching her office burn.
She couldn’t have been out more than a few seconds because the chaos was only beginning. Sirens could be heard in the distance, and she was on her feet before people started running out of the front door. Soon the street was packed with people pushing and running in every direction as thick, black smoke poured from the hole that had been a vent on the upper floor of the records office. She knew that vent. It was the vent beside the bathroom, the vent she and Bing used to drag their smoke from the room. The vent in the red zone.
Ellie let the crowd push her as she scanned faces, looking for Bing and Big Martha. Within the smoke-filled building people shouted for help, barking orders and dragging people out behind them. The sirens ripped into the madness as firefighters parted the crowd, rushing in with their gear, ordering people to step back. A young man Ellie recognized from personnel bumped into her, bleeding heavily from his forehead. He slammed his shoulder into hers, spinning her around and nearly costing her the plastic bag with the stolen files. She clutched the bag to her chest, the mob’s confusion infusing her, making it difficult to think.
“Bing!” She screamed his name at the tallest head she could see over the crowd and cried out when he spun around. Jumping up and down, she fought to keep sight of him through the smoke and the madness. She saw his arm pointing away from the flames, and she rushed to follow his direction. The sound of something within the building collapsing roared behind her, but all Ellie could think was to keep sight of Bing’s skinny neck and messy hair as they both pushed their way through the panicked crowd.
“Ellie, my God!” Bing finally got to her, pulling her to him through a cluster of women. She stumbled over someone’s foot and heard people everywhere screaming but buried her own cries in her best friend’s sweaty T-shirt. Bing held her close, dragging her along through the crowd until they found an open space past the corner. Neither spoke. They held each other and watched their building burn.
“Did you see Big Martha?” Ellie asked. “Did she get out okay?”
“Didn’t you see her?” Bing rubbed her shoulder. “I thought you would have gotten out with her. Oh shit, Ellie, I thought you were dead. There was that huge blast upstairs, and when the ceiling came down, all I could think was ‘Where’s Ellie?’ I tried to get up there, but then all that smoke came pouring down. How did you get out?”
“I wasn’t in there.”
“What do you mean?” Bing looked down at her. “Where were you?”
The tone of his voice made the ebbing panic rise again. “I had a med check. I just ran out for little bit. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Bing chewed on his lip for a moment, scanning the crowd as the Feno security forces arrived and began cordoning off the area. Even as ambulances cut through the crowds, voices on bullhorns were ordering people to remain where they were, to remain calm and to make no attempt to leave the area. Bing pulled her along by her arm to the edge of the crowd, but a pair of men in red shirts ran yellow crime tape across their path, keeping the frightened crowd contained. Bing squeezed Ellie’s hand.
“Listen to me.” He turned her to face him. “You can’t tell anybody you were out of the building when the bomb went off.”
“But I was.” Ellie felt herself shaking so hard she was having trouble thinking. “I was at med check. They’re going to know. There’s going to be a record. Besides, why would I lie?”
“Why would you lie? Ellie, you’ve got to start thinking.” Bing glared at two young men standing too close to them and lowered his voice. “How do you think it’s going to look when they find out that you just happened to be out of the building the exact moment the bomb goes off in the exact area you have been reprimanded for tampering with? The bomb that kills the guard assigned to keep an eye on you?”
“Cooper?” Ellie staggered back a step.
“Who?”
“Cooper. That’s his name.”
Bing started talking again, but Ellie could only think about the young guard struggling so hard to maintain his composure as she threw every cruel nausea-inducing trick at him. He’d had grit; she had admired his grit.
“How do you know he’s dead?”
“What?” Bing grabbed her by the shoulders. “Ellie, are you even listening to me?”
“How do you know Cooper’s dead?”
Bing worked to find the right words. “He…when the ceiling came down…he was burning. We couldn’t…he was screaming and then…he was quiet. You’re bleeding.”
Ellie swayed on her feet, not wanting to hear her friend’s words. Bing grabbed her arm, where a thin stream of blood trickled. She had lost her bandage.
“Oh no. Oh no.” Ellie spun in a circle, looking down at the ground, hoping without reason to find the gauze pad and, more importantly, the tape with the cryptic message. “I’ve lost my bandage. I’ve got to find it. I’ve got to show it to you.”
“Ellie, listen to me.” He grabbed her once more. “Don’t worry about the bandage.”
“I had a med check. They took blood. Bing, I’ve got to tell you something.”
“There isn’t time. You’ve got to lie about that med check. Maybe they won’t…aw shit.”
Ellie couldn’t hear those last words as all sound was drowned out by the roar of Feno security vehicles rolling in one after another, surrounding the blast site. The trucks and jeeps formed a tight barricade outside the crime tape, and dozens of armed guards piled from the vehicles, their weapons trained on the frantic crowd penned within.
“Please remain calm,” a bullhorn voice blared over the noise. “Everyone stay where you are.” Unlike the early commands, this voice had the security force to back it up and the crowd quieted down, the sense of relief palpable in the air. In the chaos and terror of the blast, even Feno security was a welcome sight, anything that could make sense of the madness. Several guards climbed on top of their vehicles, resuming their weapon-ready stances; some stood shoulder to shoulder, filling in the gaps the vehicles couldn’t cover, while the rest returned their weapons to the vehicles and began to move through the crowd, breaking them into manageable, smaller groups. Bing held tight to Ellie’s hand as they got herded into a group with a dozen others.
Fire trucks continued to spray the building with water while ambulance lights flashed and radios cackled. As the first two ambulances pulled away from the scene, the crowd parting silently to watch them go, Flowertown’s final ambulance pulled in. It seemed rescue was going to work on relay today. Peering between huddled masses, Ellie could make out rescue workers treating people on blankets on the ground throughout the barricaded area. Mumbling something to Bing about looking for Big Martha, she cut through the crowd and spied a runoff grate. Hoping nobody was watching her in the chaos, she pulled back the drain and shoved the bag of files into the dark, narrow crevice. Finally able to catch her breath, Ellie stood on tiptoe and surveyed the area, then hurried back to her friend.
“Do you notice anything weird about this, Bing?”
“You’re kidding, right? Besides our building being blown sky-high?”
“That’s what I mean. Our building just got blown sky-high.” Ellie kept her voice low. “Look around you. Where’s the army?”
“They’re…” Bing craned his neck, looking over the crowd in every direction. “I don’t know. They’re not here.”
“No, they’re not. I saw a truck loading up this morning, packing up supplies from a depot. It didn’t look like they were leaving much behind.”
A woman bumped into Ellie from behind, her face covered in soot, her eyes wild. “What did you say? The army’s not coming? What do you mean?” The crowd picked up her panicked questions and a brushfire of rumor and speculation whipped through the crowd, spreading from their little cluster to the entire area in seconds. The calm that had settled burned off quickly as people began shouting and demanding to know where the army was. If they knew, the Feno forces weren’t telling. Instead, the guards within the barricade used their strength, their authority, and their nightsticks when necessary to pack the clusters in more tightly. The voice on the bullhorn rang out once more.
“Stay where you are! Remain calm. Do not force us to take preventative measures against you!” People booed and shook their fists while more guards climbed atop the surrounding vehicles and pointed their weapons directly at the crowd. “Please do not make this more difficult than necessary. You are going to be evacuated to a secure location until the nature of the attack has been ascertained. Remain calm. You will be instructed on how to proceed.”
All around them the crowd jeered and complained, but Bing grew silent. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and then shook his head. He held his phone up for her to see the “network busy” message. “This building is nowhere near the tower or the power relay for cell service.”
“What does that mean?” Ellie asked.
“They’re jamming us.”
For once Ellie didn’t think her friend was being paranoid. “What do you think they mean by evacuating us to a secure location? Do they think there’s another bomb?”
“I doubt it.” Bing scanned the serious faces of the guards surrounding them and saw one of the large security trucks open its rear panel doors. “I think they’re going to interrogate us.”
Before she could ask him anything else, the radios on the guards’ belts squawked to life. Codes and commands were relayed down the line, and like a practiced dance troupe, the guards moved into action. A group of fifteen people that was clustered closest to the end of the barricade was herded into the back of the waiting truck. The guns trained on the people from every direction left little room for arguing, and after locking the panel doors behind them, a guard pounded on the truck, signaling to the driver to pull away. As the truck left the barricade line, the rest of the convoy inched forward to keep the line intact.
“Where are they taking them?” It was the soot-covered woman who had eavesdropped earlier. “Are they being arrested? They haven’t done anything!” She grabbed at one of the guards surrounding their group and received a sharp elbow to the face for her troubles. The crowd surged around her, cries of outrage shouted down by the harsh bark of another guard.
“Stand down!” He and his comrades held their batons up in practiced formation. “Do not approach the guards. Do not attempt to leave your group!”
“She was just asking a question.” A man held the injured woman, whose mouth was now filled with blood. “You piece of shit—” Several people around him pulled him back before the nearest guard used his weapon in earnest.
The guard who had spoken, the leader of the team, warned them again. “You will be evacuated in due course. You are to follow our orders exactly. Failure to do so will result in detention and containment by force, if necessary. Do I make myself clear?”
Muttered obscenities drifted from the small pack as they turned their backs on the guards, drawing in closer together. Around them, the other isolated packs watched the exchange and followed suit. Throughout the area, the guards passed glances and messages on the radios as group by group, truck by truck, the barricaded area was evacuated.
The evacuation worked from the outer ring in, groups exiting in three directions, the now smoldering building blocking the fourth. It was impossible to tell who would be next, so Bing and Ellie huddled together, within but apart from their little pack.
“What do you think they’re going to ask us?” she asked.
“The usual, I’d guess.” Bing studied the faces around him. “Where we were, what we do there, did we see anything unusual? You know, for all their commandeering of the scene, I don’t get the feeling that these guys really know what they’re doing.”
Ellie saw one of the guards burning a hole in her with his angry gaze. “I don’t know about that, Bing. They seem pretty sure to me.”
“No. Evacuating everybody? Containing the area like this? They’re panicking. They didn’t see this coming and they don’t have a suspect, or they would have handled this much differently. This is a PR nightmare. They’ve scared these people more than the bomb did. It’s going to take a lot to whitewash this in the news.”
“Who says it’s going to make the news?” Ellie stared up at Bing. “Maybe they don’t care about PR anymore.”
Bing put his hands on his head, a sure sign of worry. The tension in his face made him look more bird-like than ever, but this time it didn’t make Ellie laugh. It was a hell of a way to bring it about, but she had finally become as paranoid as her friend.
“Fuck it,” Bing said, dropping his arms and digging into his pocket. “Let’s burn one.”
“What? Now?”
He held up a thick joint. “You got something better to do? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the jitters are going to help anybody during our interrogations.” He lit the tip and breathed in deeply. The smell made Ellie’s body come alive with longing, and she took the joint from Bing and inhaled until her lungs ached. They faced each other, holding in lungfuls of smoke until they both smiled and exhaled together.
“Good call, Bing.” She could feel the rage and fear trickling down her spine, evaporating in the smoke of Bing’s excellent weed. She hit it again as a man behind Bing leaned in.
“Mind if I hit that too?” He was nearly as tall as Bing and had a tattoo curling up around his neck. “Can’t see any reason to talk to these dirtbags straight.”
Bing nodded, and Ellie passed the joint over. He took a hit and gestured over his shoulder to the rest of the pack. Bing nodded again. “The more the merrier, man. Let’s smoke up.”
Nobody in their group refused the joint, so it burned out quickly. Without hesitation, Bing pulled another fat one from the bag in his pocket and passed it back. The tattooed man shook his hand, introducing himself as Torrez.
“I really appreciate the smoke, man. That’s mighty decent of you.”
Bing shrugged. “Times like these, you know, we’ve got to stick together.”
“I’ll tell you what.” Torrez glanced around to keep an eye on the guards. “When this is over, we’ll get together and I’ll repay you with weed of my own.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“No, but it’s the right thing to do. Repayment in kind, you know what I’m saying? Come to my place and smoke my weed.” He held Bing’s gaze and lowered his voice. “All you want.”
Bing stood very still, considering the man before him, then nodded. “All you want.” Torrez bumped his knuckles against Bing’s, then turned back to continue smoking with the rest of the group. Ellie watched the exchange, feeling the familiar softness of her high thoughts. All you want. Those words again. Bing lit another joint—how many did he keep in there?—and Ellie repeated the words again and again in her mind. When had she heard them recently? It had been recently.
She had said them. In the med center, when Olivia had been taking her blood, she had said those very words. Take all you want. That was when the needle had pricked her. That was when the tech wrote the note on the tape.
“Bing, I have to tell you something.” Before she could finish, the guards around them shouted as a team and began herding them toward an awaiting truck. Bing grabbed Ellie’s hand and she could feel the swea
t in his palm.
“Don’t tell them anything, Ellie.” He spoke from the corner of his mouth. “Don’t tell them you were out of the building. There’s too many people to check. They won’t catch it.” The guards shouted again, and one by one they climbed into the back of a windowless paneled truck with benches lining the sides. There wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit, so Bing and Torrez sat on the floor of the truck, their backs to the drivers. As the truck pulled out, Ellie could see the two men whispering to each other.
The drive was short, less than twenty minutes, but the lack of air and windows made Ellie feel shaky and sweaty by the time the truck came to a stop. The guards opened the doors and shouted at everyone to get out and proceed into the dining hall. Ellie squinted in the bright sunlight as she tried to figure out where they were.
“It’s the Feno personnel compound,” Bing whispered to her, sidling up beside her. The guards here were armed, lining the walkway the group followed into the dining hall.
“How do you know?” Was there nothing Bing was not privy to?
He pointed to a sign over the dining hall door. Feno Personnel Dining.
“Oh.”
“Keep your eyes open, Ellie,” he whispered to her as a guard directed them to a line of tables stretching the length of the room. “And keep your mouth shut. Don’t tell them anything they don’t need to know.”
“I don’t know, Bing. If they catch me lying about that med check…”
“Next in line!” A short, thick woman with a clipboard shouted at the new group. “Please step forward in an orderly fashion to the next available reporting clerk to make your statement. Ladies and gentlemen, you are not in trouble.” From the singsong way she made her announcement, Ellie guessed she had made it several times already today. “This is not an arrest. We are trying to gather as much information as possible. Please answer the questions honestly and clearly so we can return you to your quarters as quickly as possible. Next in line! Please step forward in an orderly fashion…”
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