After breakfast, the plastic crockery was collected up, the tables dismantled, and everything was taken back inside. A woman approached them as the various members went in their different directions.
‘My name is Susan,’ she said. ‘Jeremiah has told me you’re welcome to walk around out here just as long as you don’t cause trouble.’
Brodie was getting a bit sick of this line about trouble.
‘We won’t cause any problems,’ she said. ‘Actually, we’re interested in seeing how things work around here.’
‘then I’ll show you around.’
‘Thanks.’
Good, Brodie thought. Information is power.
The woman took them to a nearby river and showed them how their water was transported up the hill. Essentially they used a bucket brigade in the early morning that moved enormous amounts in a short time.
‘Can’t machinery do this?’ Ebony asked.
‘Machinery takes fuel,’ Susan said. ‘There’s no guarantee there’ll be any fuel when the End Times arrive.’
‘How do you know the End Times are coming?’ Brodie asked.
‘Jeremiah has told us,’ Susan said. ‘He knows these things.’
‘But Jeremiah could be wrong.’
Susan smiled. ‘He’s not wrong about this,’ she said. ‘The UN has been secretly pulling the strings behind governments for years. They have even pushed for limits on worldwide population growth.’
‘But surely that’s because of the stress on the environment?’ Ebony said.
‘There are limited resources,’ Susan said. ‘No doubt about that, but they want to pick and choose who should receive those resources.’ Susan’s voice grew hard. ‘No-one’s telling me that we have no right to live.’
Brodie doubted the United Nations was actually doing that, but she didn’t argue. Susan showed them where they grew small patches of potatoes, carrots, and onions. The quantities seemed so insubstantial that Brodie doubted they would feed a population as large as the Sanctuary group for any lengthy time.
When she mentioned this to Susan, the woman merely nodded.
‘These are just short-term supplies,’ she said. ‘After the End Times come, the rest of humanity will be laid bare, and there’ll be enough food for all who remain.’
‘Jeremiah seems pretty certain the world is ending,’ Ebony said. ‘In fact, he said it’s happening within the next week.’
‘He has told us that,’ Susan confirmed.
‘And you believe him?’ Ebony said.
‘It’s happening if Jeremiah says it’s happening.’
What a dangerous way to be, Brodie thought. It’s like a kind of blindness.
Susan slowly led them back up the hill to the compound. The door was open. Brodie wanted to turn around and never return to this madhouse, and she was sure Ebony felt the same. It would be so easy to escape from this place, but they couldn’t abandon Dan and Ferdy.
They followed Susan back to the main hall. The single, large chamber had posters around the walls talking about the New World Order and the End Times. Susan left them and returned to her regular duties—whatever they were—while Brodie and Ebony moved around the room reading the posters.
‘This is crazy stuff,’ Ebony murmured to Brodie.
‘I know,’ Brodie agreed. ‘But these people seem to believe it.’
‘A lot of people do. I read an article in a magazine last month about the End Times. It said that about one in five Americans believe the end of the world will happen in their lifetimes.’
‘It might be a type of wishful thinking,’ Brodie suggested.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I think a similar thing happened at the outbreak of the First World War. Some people believed the war would actually be a good thing.’
‘Why would they believe that?’
‘They thought it would clear away all the old hatreds, and the world could start again from scratch,’ Brodie explained. ‘Sort of starting with a clean slate.’
‘It didn’t really work out that way.’
‘Not really. Not with millions of people killed in the war.’
A man had been eyeing them from the other side of the room. He was a bookish looking figure with thick lens glasses and a crew cut. He sidled over to them and introduced himself as Ethan Craddock.
‘Have you been here long?’ Brodie asked.
‘About six months.’ He smiled pleasantly before glancing around. He seemed to make sure no-one was nearby. He lowered his voice. ‘We need to talk.’
‘About what?’
He didn’t answer her question. ‘There’s an area behind the compound where we leave our garden scraps. Can we meet there in an hour?’
‘Why?’ Ebony asked.
‘I’m an undercover operative with the FBI,’ Ethan whispered. ‘You can’t tell anyone, or I’ll be killed.’
Brodie and Ebony looked at each other.
‘Of course,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll keep it to—’
‘Jeremiah is a dangerous individual,’ Ethan interrupted her. ‘We need to let people know what’s about to happen here.’
‘You mean his End Times stuff?’ Brodie asked. ‘Surely that’s all in his head.’
Ethan looked fearful. ‘Not only is it real, but it’s imminent,’ he said. ‘This time next week, most of the people on Earth will be dead.’
Chapter Eighteen
‘North Korea has one of the most oppressive regimes in history,’ Agent Palmer explained as the plane soared over the Sea of Japan. ‘The country is held within a grip of secrecy and propaganda. Famine is common. Executions are rampant. Torture of prisoners is a common occurrence.’
We were sitting in the cabin on The Agency plane. It was a cargo transport ship, but it was empty except for a handful of seats in the rear.
‘You really know how to sell a place.’ I glanced out the window at the ocean below. ‘Is there anything good about it?’
She ignored me. ‘We’ll be swapping you for two Americans who have been held by the North Koreans for the last three years. After you extricate Zachary Stead from the compound, we will have an invisible plane waiting for you on the coast. You’ll need a transponder device to find it.’
We both stared at Agent Palmer.
‘Invisible?’ Chad was the first to speak. ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’
‘Not at all,’ she said, pushing back her black hair. ‘The world is a strange place, and you might as well get used to it.’ She pulled two syringes from her jacket.
‘What are they for?’ I asked.
‘I’ll be injecting you with the transponders so the North Korean authorities won’t detect them. Just follow the signal after you escape the camp. You’ll be able to see the plane, but no-one else will until you deactivate the invisibility shield.’
‘How are we going to fly this thing?’ I asked. ‘Neither of us knows how to fly a plane.’
‘It can fly itself. Once you climb aboard, it has VTOL capabilities.’
‘What’s VTOL?’ Chad asked.
‘Vertical Take-Off and Landing,’ the agent explained. ‘It is a ship, a plane, and a submarine. It has an automatic guidance system that can take you anywhere you want. Hopefully, that’ll be to a compound in Montana.’
‘So why aren’t we using it to go there?’ Chad asked. ‘If this super plane is so great.’
‘It hasn’t been properly tested,’ Agent Palmer said. ‘We at least wanted to get you this far safely.’
I sighed. This was all a bit much. First, we’d shared a passenger jet with a crazy bomber. Then the plane that we thought held Brodie and the others had exploded. Now we risked being blown up on an experimental jet.
What’s more, it was an invisible plane. I knew our lives had turned upside down over the last few months, but this was sounding awfully like James Bond. I should have been wearing one of those black and white tuxedos.
‘Do I get a code number?’ I asked.
‘A code number
?’ Agent Palmer said, frowning.
‘Yeah, like 007.’
‘You have a code name.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Axel.’
My name is my code name. Great.
I glanced at Chad, but he just grinned.
‘North Korea is a hostile place,’ Agent Palmer continued. ‘You’ll see things that will turn your stomach. Things that will make you sick. Just stay focused on your mission. You can’t help anyone if you don’t keep it together.’
‘We can handle it,’ Chad said, but he didn’t look too confident saying it.
The tone of the plane’s engine changed. After jumping from the plane, we’d get picked up soon after by North Korean forces. My heart thudded in my chest. We’d jumped from aircraft before, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. Nothing beat flying under your own power.
I wondered about our missing friends, but mostly I wondered about Brodie. I hoped she was all right. My stomach jangled with tension every time I thought about her.
It was now two days since we’d lost them. The longer they were missing, the greater the chance we would never see them again. It seemed the only person Jeremiah Stead really needed was Ferdy. It was terrible to think of Brodie and the others as merely being expendable.
‘Three minutes till jump,’ a military man yelled through the open doorway.
‘One last thing,’ Agent Palmer said. ‘They know you’re mods, and you won’t be the only mods at the jail. There are others, and it could get hairy in there.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Jail is a tough place. You may have to prove yourselves.’
‘Two minutes,’ the military man yelled.
Agent Palmer did one last check of our gear. ‘I have a nephew your age,’ she said. ‘We shouldn’t be sending kids like you out there.’
It was the closest any of The Agency employees had come to a sincere desire for our safety.
‘We’ll be okay,’ I told her.
‘All this is going to change soon,’ she said enigmatically.
‘What is?’
‘One minute.’
There was no time for Agent Palmer to further elaborate. She simply pursed her lips and led us to the rear door. Seconds later, we jumped, assuming the position we’d been taught by Agency personnel. Below us lay the sea, a wide-open shimmering planet of azure blue. The chutes opened normally, and Chad and I were soon floating gently toward the water.
It was only as we landed that I saw a naval ship approaching. The flag hanging over its bow was red, white, and blue, and decorated with a single star. The ship pulled up alongside us, and we were dragged aboard by a group of soldiers.
‘Hey, fellas!’ Chad greeted them. ‘Going our way?’
The soldiers glared at us.
‘No sense of humor?’
The unsmiling military personnel silently handcuffed us with our hands in front and put us in a cabin below deck. I felt nervous. Chad still had his powers intact. Mine seemed to be in a state of flux, ready to turn on or off at any time.
‘You’re quiet,’ Chad said.
‘I’m worried.’
‘No need to worry. I’m here.’
‘That’s one of the things I’m worried about.’
The ship pulled into a dock. A warm wind swept across us as we disembarked. The overcast sky looked like rain as we were taken to a waiting truck and pushed into the back. It was like a delivery van. It had no seats. The engine revved, and the vehicle started. There were tiny windows on both sides, so we stood and gripped the bars, peering out. The vehicle trundled through a small village.
‘Oh no,’ I said softly.
Even Chad was speechless. Villagers walked past dressed in rags. They looked like they were starving. A dead body lay by the side of the road.
‘What’s going on?’ Chad asked.
‘Famine,’ I explained. ‘Like Agent Palmer said, this country is under the thumb of a brutal dictatorship. Add to that an embargo by the United Nations, and North Korea is completely isolated from the rest of the world.’
The rain started, and a sweeping wind soaked the landscape in minutes. Continuing down the road, we passed more hungry people and more bodies.
This is terrible. I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad.
A vast complex with no windows lay at the end of the road. It almost looked like it was made from a single block of concrete. The only entrance seemed to be a single gate guarded by half a dozen military personnel. The truck slowed as the gate drew open. We rolled into an internal courtyard and shuddered to a halt. The gate closed.
The truck’s back door opened, Chad and I stepped out, and we were immediately surrounded by a dozen guards. A door opened in the main building, and a man descended a short flight of stairs. He crossed the courtyard to where we were standing.
‘My name is Ro Chin. I am the commander of this jail.’ He grinned at us without a trace of humor. ‘How is it you foreigners say it? Oh yes.’ The smile fell from his lips. ‘Welcome to your worst nightmare.’
Chapter Nineteen
‘The American soldiers must have been most important to your government,’ Ro said. ‘They were of little assistance to us; the information they supplied was virtually useless.’
We said nothing.
‘Your names have been supplied to me, as have your abilities,’ he continued. ‘Despite your talents, I assure you we can make your time here most unpleasant. If you follow the rules, you may survive. Yodak has a mortality rate of ninety percent, even for mods such as yourselves.
‘Most of those deaths occur in the first year of incarceration before the inmates learn our rules.’ He drew closer to us. ‘Those rules are simple. We won’t tolerate disobedience. You will follow our rules to the letter, or you will pay the price.’
‘I have a question,’ Chad said.
‘Yes?’
‘Can you order takeout?’
The military commander drew back a hand and slapped Chad across the face, knocking him to the ground. Chad’s hands were still handcuffed. He looked so furious I thought he was about to make Ro Chin burst into flames. Somehow, however, he kept his powers in check as two of the guards hoisted him to his feet.
‘You have a sense of humor now,’ Ro Chin said. ‘We will see how your humor survives over the days, weeks, and years that lie ahead.’
The commander turned his back, and a group of soldiers led us across the small courtyard. Another gate opened. We passed through it into another courtyard; this one was larger, and for the first time, we could see the full extent of the jail. It was a massive facility with hundreds of tiny windows looking out onto the courtyard.
A long scream, terrifying and pitiful at the same time, rang out across the courtyard. It was impossible to tell from which of the many cells it originated. The cry finally ended, and a helpless sobbing reverberated around the inner walls.
In the center of the courtyard lay a small windowless cinder block building with a metal entry door. A soldier stood on each side of it. They opened the door wide, and we were led down a flight of stairs. The door slammed shut behind us as we faced another set of doors. These were barred with a high-tech lock and opened via a retina scan. One of the guards placed his eye against the scanner, and the door quietly clicked open.
We passed through this and descended down another flight of stairs. It had been warm above ground. Now it grew even hotter. We reached another set of doors. This was activated via a code entered into a keypad.
‘You really don’t want us to leave,’ Chad said to one of the guards. ‘Do you?’
‘No-one has ever escaped Yodak Jail,’ the man said.
‘The accommodation’s that good?’
‘No-one has ever escaped,’ the guard repeated.
The door opened, and this time a hot fetid smell swept up from the steps below. Smoke filled the air. We descended the steps to the floor far below. At this level, we could see the underground chamber had been divided
into two primary cells. Darkened alcoves containing men in rags lay along the rear of both sections. Many of the men were Caucasians though some were Asian. Most had beards. Several looked old and worn out, although I suspected their appearance was due more to malnutrition rather than age.
A gate opened, and our cuffs were removed.
The same guard who had spoken to Chad relocked the gate.
‘My name is Lee. You will deal mostly with me during your time here. The conditions here are harsh, but it is only what you deserve. You must be punished for your capitalist-imperialist Western notions. We’re aware of your powers, but you won’t use them against the guards.’
‘I can’t promise anything,’ Chad said. ‘I’m an impulsive kind of guy.’
‘Your impulses will only cause you difficulty here,’ Lee said. ‘If you assault a guard, we won’t discipline you. We will discipline your fellow prisoners.’ He let this thought sink in. ‘Even a boy such as yourself can appreciate how your fellow prisoners will feel about you should you be the cause of their distress.’ He leaned close to Chad’s face. ‘You will be most unpopular. We’re placing you into the section with the other modified humans. You may notice you can reach the human prisoners through the bars.’
So this is how it is, I thought. There are mods, and there are humans.
‘Although,’ Lee continued. ‘I advise you not to eat the humans. Many are diseased.’
The comment was so ridiculous I expected the guard to suddenly burst into laughter, but he only grew more serious.
‘Food will arrive tomorrow morning,’ he said. ‘I advise you to remain alert. Twenty percent of new inmates don’t survive their first night.’
Lee turned his back, and the guards relocked the gate. We watched as they mounted the stairs and disappeared through the door above. Chad and I glanced at each other. We had to find Zachary Stead, but we couldn’t go around asking for him. We had to gradually earn his trust. This would be a slow process, but somehow we needed to speed it up as much as possible.
I peered into the shadows. Men were sitting in the gloom. Most looked filthy and unwell, although a few were larger and fitter. A long, drawn out cry came from the human section. It was cut off mid breath. From a dark corner to our right came a laugh. It continued for about a minute before developing into a wail that finally became weeping.
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