The Bagman's Destiny

Chapter 13

When your escape plan is as simple as getting in a van and leaving the way you came, you have to listen to the sirens ringing in your head that it won't actually be as simple. It may have taken four days to get there and four days to get back but the length of time did not make it any less or any more simple. I was too wound up about the fantasy of talking to the NYCR that I ignored all basic instincts to care about the sirens anyway; or to care about the safety of the one person I should've cared most about.

It started out simple enough.

"Can I please see your permits?"

I was tucked away in the back seat, I couldn't even see the 'Dupe' as they called them who was leering around Henry's open window and being demanding. There was something off about his voice though that I found intimidating enough. Henry handed him the fake documents which were passed as valid thanks to my possession of the old President's signature. Who has a signature identical to their parents? Maybe it was a weird mourning thing... The permits were passed back, handed to Szilvia while the guards opened the gates of the Washington D.C wall and then we drove through like it was no big deal.

Inside the wall made me nauseous. It was nothing like it used to be. There was no green in sight except for the chemical swirls colouring the mass of smog hung round the buildings like low clouds. You wouldn't find a kid on a bicycle or a someone walking their dog or anything close to family friendly in this neighbourhood anymore. The streets were empty. Everybody was probably inside their polluting factories or flash skyscrapers making another business decision to reduce the population's humanity. I half expected a tumbleweed to fly by the cracked sidewalk and bleak houses. The road was long and it was bumpy and the more I looked out my window the more I regretted it. So I shut my eyes while we made our way to the White House.

Pennsylvania Avenue had stripped itself of nature but not of people. There were hundreds of people whizzing by in their business suits or uniforms which surprised me as it was so early in the morning and everywhere else had been deserted. I turned to Twist who was just as surprised but now was not the time to consult each-other about it. We pulled up on the curb and all exited the van.

I carried the briefcase which contained the video tape by my side and nodded to Henry who nodded to Sofia who was our driver for the day. She nodded back and left us there, ready to return when the wicked deeds had been accomplished.

I held my breath as we started heading up the steps until we reached the front door. Despite all the people, there wasn't a lineup at the North Portico and we were the first in after punching in the first code. The entrance hall was pretty deserted to but that didn't mean there weren't people watching us. It was littered with cameras in the walls. We kept our heads down as we walked in unison until we reached the first hall and that's when we split into our two groups.

Henry, Harry, Twist and another I had not bothered to learn the name of started heading southeast towards the Oval Office where President Butterfly was expected to be. Tobias and I started heading towards the West Wing building which had been renovated into a broadcasting building with a giant satellite atop it's roof. The offices were still there but they were not for senior politicians, they were for media junkies; the news anchors, the camera crew, the editors and so on. It was the largest and the only station left in Butterfly Nation and of course it was right under President Butterfly's nose. Well, he made a mistake wiring all the televisions up to the satellite on the West Wing and he was about to find that out the hard way.

Tobias and I went through a series of doors with a series of codes before we arrived at the ground floor of the wing where a multitude of cubicles had been set up for the workers to yell at people on the phone, the TV screens or each-other.  It was easy sneaking through the mad house to the staircase. If you're quiet, you're invisible in this place.