Arcadia : The Hidden Child

Chapter 3

We arrived in Director Brooks office almost an hour later.  It took us quiet a while to make it through the streets and then through security.  Her office was large, much larger than it needed to be and held an old wooden desk in the middle of the room with a large high-backed leather chair behind it, and large windows with velvet green drapes behind her.  There was a bookcase on the wall to the right and a very worn dark green carpet with a stars and bird design.
"Good day." The director said as we walked into the room, she was standing by the window with her hands clasped behind her back.  "I trust you made it here without problems?" She said walking over to her seat.  If she was angry then she was hiding it well.
"No problems," I said.
"Please sit," she directed us to the seats in front of her desk.  We walked over and sat down.
"You've caused a bit of trouble," her words slowed briefly as she looked from me to Cash, almost stopping, then she continued, "for me this morning." Her tone was still light and chipper which I found very discomforting.
I moved to stand up. "Do you-" I started.
Cash put his hand on my arm to signal me to calm down.
She watched us intently for a moment.  Was she trying to figure out our relationship or was it something else?  The way she was looking at Cash had me concerned.
"What should I do with you two?" She snapped her head back towards me.
Two?  Where was Ty now? I hadn't noticed until now he hadn't followed us into the room.
"Where is Ty?"
"Your friend?  He's fine."
"I would like to see him."
"There will be time later for that."
"I don't want later, I want now."
Cash didn't try to stop me, did he notice something seemed odd as well?
"You aren't in a position to make demands Ms. Winter."
I took a deep breath in, "You are right director." She needed to feel like she was in control, so make it happen.  "I apologize if my tone came across the wrong way."  I paused for a second and then added, "I would really appreciate it if Ty was in here with us."
She stared at me for a long second.  "Yes, I don't see the problem in that." She waved her hand in the air and a moment later Ty was walking into the room looking a little shaken up. I furrowed my brow and nodded my head towards him.  Was he ok?
He gave a small nod in response, although something still seemed off.
"Where were we?  Yes.  The problems you and your little group of rebels caused for me this morning."
Ty sat down beside us.
"Would you care to explain yourselves?" "You have tons of food, warehouses of food, food that went bad when you could be giving it to the people out there!" The passion in my voice was growing with each word.  "We went into the one building and you had loads of spoiled food.  I should ask you why you think it is acceptable to store food instead of giving it to the people who so desperately need it?"
"I would advise you to mind your manners and remember who you are talking to." She said, straightening her back and clasping her hands together in front of her body.
"I haven't forgotten, and I know exactly who I am talking to.  I am talking to the Director, the woman who is supposed to be looking over the well being of these people, and instead is causing them to suffer.  Why?"
Cash put his hand back on my arm and I batted it away and stood up.  The two guards in the room made a step forward before the Director waved them off.  "You aren't going to hurt me are you?"
I looked around, "No." I took a step back.
"Perfect," she spoke the words calmly.  "You really did a number on my warehouses you know?" She didn't wait for a response.  "You will need to be punished of course.  But how?  How will it be impactful?"
Death I am sure, I don't know why she was even pretending to think about it, execution's were her go-to. 
"It's actually perfect timing that you are here today.  Because of the mess you caused this morning, it triggered a response from my manager."
She reported to someone else?  No wonder she felt the need to be in control.
"He will be excited to hear that I have apprehended the one's responsible," she smiled mirthlessly.
Cash shifted in his chair which caused me to look in his direction.  He was nervous, but why was he nervous? This was not like him at all. Did he know something I didn't?
"Everything ok?" She taunted.
"Great." I smiled. 
"You may be excused for now, I have some things to wrap up before his arrival,"she said batting us away.
The guards lifted us out of the chairs and directed us down the hall into three separate cells that were barely large enough to hold us, they were the size of small closets and they were dark.  The only light came from a very small window high up on the wall.  There were no seats and only a small drain in the middle of the room, I can imagine what that was for. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
The doors clicked behind us, but that didn't stop me from running over to the door and trying to open it.
"Stop Araleigh." Cash said from the closet to the left of mine.  "It's no use."
"Ty?"
"Yea Araleigh, I am here." He must be to my right.  "Are you ok?"
"I am sorry Araleigh."
"For what?"
"Getting caught, this is all on me." He said somberly.
"No it isn't.  We all knew the chances we were taking when we signed up to do the mission.  Plus this isn't the end, only a little setback."
"Optimism?" Cash teased.
"Yep. We are going to find a way out of here."  I looked around the small room... we had to find a way out, this would not be the end of us. 
Nothing.  No way out of here.  The walls were solid, the floors were solid, the door was solid.  It felt like I was standing in a vertical coffin. 
No! Don't think like that.  Our only chance would be when they opened the doors again, maybe on the way to our execution.  She didn't say we were going to be executed but that is what I am expecting.  I imagine not telling us was her way of torturing us.
Time seemed to pass so slowly.  Every once in a while I would hear boots walking down the hall and at first I would try to call out to them, but they either ignored me or slammed their hand against the door.  Cash told me to give up, which was unlike him... something had him shaken up.
It seemed as if a whole day had passed, but I don't think it had because their was still light coming in through the tiny window, although it wasn't nearly as bright.
Boots again.  Do I call out?  No. It was pointless.  But they were slowing down and I heard something jingle.  They were unlocking the door, not my door I realized... it was Ty's.  They were unlocking his door.  I heard them step in and a shout.  I ran to the door to press my ear against it.  "Ty! Ty! Are you ok?"
A hand slammed against my door and caused me to jump backwards. 
"Ty!"
"I am fine Araleigh."
"Not for much longer," the one guard snickered.
Panic tore through me.  I started banging on the door.  "Let me out!  Ty!"
I could hear the boots walking away and a few grunts, which I had to assume were Ty's.
"Cash.  Are you there? Cash?"
"Yes I am here," he said quietly.
"Cash, what are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
"We have to find a way to get out of here.  She's going to kill us."
"I know," he said quietly.
"What is going on with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Something is off with you."
"We're being held in a small room waiting to be publicly executed."
"That's not it.  There is something else."  I couldn't put my finger on it, but he was worried and I didn't feel like it was related to our current situation.
I heard the boots again, but this time they stopped at Cash's cell.
There was a shout and then a grunt.  "Easy man.  I am cooperating," Cash said before another grunt.
"Cash?"
"Tango." Cash said.
Tango? 
"Tango?" One of the guards repeated laughing.  "Did you just say Tango?"
Cash didn't answer, which resulted in another punch.
Tango.  I thought quickly.  Tango.  Two. Two guards.  I had joked when he was teaching me various fighting techniques that we should code name them in case we would ever need to use them.  He laughed at me, and I was only kidding, but is that what he meant?  It had to be.  He was telling me there were two guards.  In the training, he showed me how to pick out the weakest one and separate them to give me better odds.  The more I continued thinking about it, the less sense it made.  Did he really want me to take on two guards by myself in the Authorities compound?  Even if I defeated them where would I go?  I was literally surrounded by the enemy.
I heard the footsteps coming back.  This was it, this was my time.  I hope Cash and Ty were ok.  The door opened and I was standing in the middle of the room waiting for them. 
"Come on princess, you are coming with us," the first guard said.  I looked around when he pulled me out of the room, there were three guards, not two.  What could he have meant then?
They pulled me down the hall, trying their best to keep me off balance, pushing and tugging. 
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded. 
"You will see."
"Or you could tell me.  Or do you only do what you are told to do?" I looked at him, "Like an obedient dog."
The guard mumbled something under his breath and then backhanded me, almost knocking me to the ground.  The arm jerked free from the one guard on the opposite side.  I took the chance to reach over and break the grip of the second guard who had just hit me, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm behind his back pinning him against the wall.
Before I could look around a jolt of pain tore throughout my body freezing me in place.
"Enough." I heard a voice say.
I looked up and saw a man walking down the hall with three other guards around him.  He was dressed in nice clothes and had his dark hair slicked back.  He had high cheekbones and a pointed chin with thin lips and dark inset eyes.
"What's going on here?" He asked.
The guards all stood at attention smoothing out their jackets.  "She tried to escape." The one said clearly trying not to rub his wrist.
"She was trying to escape?" He stifled a giggle.  "You think she is going to try to take out three guards, much larger than herself, with no obvious plan of escape?"
"Yes." The guard was unsure, "No?"
"No." He looked at me, "Right?  Were you trying to escape?"
"No."
"There you have it," he clapped.  "She wasn't trying to escape." He looked at me and smiled, but his eyes glared, they were like endless pits trying to suck the life out of me.
"Let us go on," he waved the three guards who were escorting me ahead.  "Go ahead," he said urging me to follow them.  "I'll be behind you."
I looked at him one more time before getting in line behind the guards.  The way he looked at me made me feel something, something weird, familiar, unsafe.  I couldn't quite place my finger on it.
We walked into a large open room a few moments later and Cash and Ty were sitting in chairs in front of a camera.  Unfortunately, I had seen this room too many times before, this was the execution room.  The time of day determined if it was in the public square or here in this room.  It was funny because this room was white everywhere, walls, floor, ceiling and it was all clean.  I guess that was the point, it gave the blood something to splash brightly against to leave that image seared into your mind.  I couldn't help but replay the last image I had seen of this room, a woman and her husband, killed because they were just trying to get food for their family.  It was that killing that sparked the fire within me, to help the less fortunate out, so that they may never have to suffer like that again.
The guard directed me to my seat, where both Cash and Ty looked at me confused. 
"What is going on?" The director snapped at one of the guards.
"Nothing at all," the man from the hall answered walking into the room.  "There was a little mix up in the hall but we got it sorted now."
"Sir," the director said straightening her back and patting down her skirt.  She admired him, I thought, and it sickened me.  "I didn't know you were here."
"Just arrived," he looked at me smiling again and then scanned the room.  "Who else do we have," he stopped when he looked at Cash and I couldn't help but notice that Cash's eyes flared briefly when they made eye contact.  "Here?" He said the words slowly as he moved on to Ty.  Did he recognize Cash?
"This is Araleigh, Cash, and Ty.  They are the one's that were responsible for the attack today."
"They were?"  Something had changed in his voice.  He recognized Cash and Cash recognized him, I knew it now.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?"
No one spoke.  "How about you girl? I assume you are Araleigh."
"If you would provide food to the people then we wouldn't have had to attack." I said.  I was holding nothing back, there was no use, I knew what was in store for us.
The man looked at the Director, "Do you not provide these people food?" "We do, sir," she shot a nasty glance at me.
"Araleigh, she says that she provides people with food." I rolled my eyes, "Not enough.  Rations are taken daily for small things.  The building we blew up had hundreds, if not thousands of pounds of food that was spoiled, food that could have been given out and used!"
"Sir, punishments must be administered if they don't follow the rules.  We have learned the most effective deterrent is cutting their food back."
"I see." He looked at Cash, "Cash," he paused to let the name sit for a minute, "Do you have anything to add?"
Cash looked at him, there was a hate in his eyes that I had never seen before, "No."
"Well it seems we have a problem we must solve for, how would you like to handle?" The man asked.
"I would like to execute them, now, tonight," the director said passionately.  "We have to show the stunt they pulled today will not be tolerated and will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy."
The man rubbed his chin, as if contemplating his decision.  Was he really considering another option to death or was he trying to torture us?  Although I had to believe if he was considering another option, it would be worse than death.
"No," he simply said.
"No?"
"No, you will not execute them." He said more assertive.
"Damian," the director pleaded and then caught herself, "Sir."
Cash shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"No.  You cannot execute them...not yet anyways," he looked at me and smiled.
"Sir?" The Director was confused.
What was going on?  I looked at Ty and Cash, who seemed to be equally confused.
He made eye contact with Cash and said, "I have other plans for them," and started walking out of the room.
A pit formed in my stomach as I saw the color fall from Cash's face.  Who was this man to Cash and why was he so nervous?  I had never seen this side of him before and I did not like it.
"Sir," the Director cried out.
He stopped and turned to her, clearly irritated, "Fine you can have the one in the middle, but Cash and Araleigh are mine."
She smiled.
"No!" I stood up and yelled.  "You can't have Ty," I said moving towards Damian. 
The guards moved to block Damian and Cash stood up and grabbed my arm to hold me back.  "Araleigh stop," he urged.
I lazily tried to free my arm from Cash's grip, I wasn't going to move, but I didn't take my eyes off of Damian.  We stood there, eyes locked, the world moving around us.  He seemed amused by everything going on.  I shook my arm again but Cash didn't let go.  Frustrated, I looked at Cash, "I'm fine.  I am fine." He let my arm go and I turned back to Damian who turned to leave.
"I will see you two shortly."
I shook my head and looked at Cash and then to Ty. "They can't have him Cash, they are going to kill him."
"I know that," he looked around the room, "just let me think of a plan.  I will come up with something."
"Who was that man?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me Cash, especially not right now.  I know you knew him, he knew you and he looked like he knew me.  So I will ask you again, who was he?"
"I." He started but was interrupted by Director Brooks.
"Let's go you two.  Guards, take them back to their holding cells." She turned to Ty, "You, come with me," she said grabbing him by the arm.
"Where are we going?"
"That's none of your concern."
She was pulling him out of the room while two other guards walked behind them.
The other two guards started shuffling us out of the room.  "Let's go you two."
"Where are they taking him?"
One of the guards just looked at me and laughed.
I thrust my hand forward and caught him in his throat.  He quickly grabbed for it coughing, while the other guard pinned me against the wall.
I put my hands up, "I'm fine."
"Don't move," he said looking at Cash.  "Are you ok, Nil?"
He held his hand up, "Yea," he said coughing one last time.
The other guard let me go and yanked me into the middle of the hall.  Nil looked at me and slapped me across the face, "I slipped, princess."
My face stung, but I wouldn't give him any satisfaction of rubbing it to soothe the pain away.  I stood up straight and continued to walk down the hall.
"Do you need me to do it again,"
"That's enough," Cash interjected.
"Boyfriend coming to your defense?"
"He's not my boyfriend and I can handle myself thank you," I snapped.
"You aren't her boyfriend," the one guard looked and laughed.  "Maybe I will have her."
I snapped back, "She is right here and there is no way that would ever happen."
"Yea she would be too much for you to handle," Cash laughed.
"I don't know, we could always see," he said stopping me and pulling me to the side of the hall and pinning me up against a wall.
"I would stop this and let me go."
"Oh you would?" He laughed and looked at the other guard, who seemed a little uneasy.
"Yes," I said simply.
"Yes," he repeated bobbing his head back and forth, "I have thought about it and no." He leaned in to put his mouth on mine.
I used all of my strength and swung my head forward crashing into his.  The pain he felt was enough for his grip to weakened on my arms and I moved forward sweeping his legs out from under him, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him, pinning him to the ground with my foot on his back. 
He screamed out in agony, while the other guard froze looking at both me and Cash, waiting to see what our next move was going to be. Moments later a few other guards made their way back down the hall and saw me standing over Nil.
"Back away!" The yelled out in almost perfect unison, grabbing their stun guns off their waist.
Cash held his hands up, "All is good here," he glanced in my direction, "Araleigh, let him go and back up against the wall."
"I don't have to listen to you," I snapped.
"Araleigh," he paused and turned his whole body to face me, "there are a lot of them and only two of us, we are outnumbered and they have guns pointed at us.  You need to let him go and get against the wall."
I didn't move.
"If you want to find Ty and save him, you need to let the guard go.  We can't save him if we are dead."
An image of Ty being escorted out of the room flashed back.  I let the guard go and moved towards the wall, but not before giving one last twist on his arm making him scream out again.
The other guard moved over to help Nil up who had batted his hand away, clearly angry and probably embarrassed.
"Well I'm glad that was resolved," Damian said walking down the hall.
Nil tried to stand at attention but his arm must have been hurting him too bad.
"Tell your goons to leave me alone and to stay off me." I flipped a loose piece of hair from my face.
"Done." He looked at the two guards that were with us, "James, take Nil to the holding cell."
"What?" Nil shouted out and James looked confused and hesitated.
"Now."
"Yes sir."
James grabbed Nil by the arm and escorted him down the hall.
"As for you two," he looked at me, "you seem to be a handful, a little spark."
Neither one of us spoke, but I imagine it was for different reasons.
He shrugged his shoulders, "Let's go."
"Where are you taking us?"
"I imagine you are hungry, I will take you to a private room and have some food brought in for you." "I'm not going anywhere with you.  I need to find my friend."
"You all made quite a bit of a mess today and the Director is very upset," he said condescendingly.
"I don't care," I said the words slowly and with intensity.  "I will not stand idly by and let my friend be murdered." He stared at me for a long moment.  "Fine."
"Fine?"
"You two go to the room and eat some food and I will bring your friend to you.  I want to show you I can be reasonable."
I hesitated.
"Go.  Now." He barked, "I am not a patient man and can change my mind very easily."
Cash grabbed my arm, "Let's go."
I started moving with Cash.
"Very well." He pointed to two of the guards, "You two take them to the hospitality suite, the rest of you stay with me." He turned to look back at the two guards walking up towards us, "And please don't touch her, I don't need to lose another one of you tonight." He was irritated.
I looked at Cash and he shot me a glance to stay quiet and to fall in line.  I didn't say anything but snuck a peek behind me.  I saw Damian and his group turn down a hall.
"In here," the guard leading us said a moment later, opening a door for us.  The lights, sensing our presence, turned on. 
There was a large table and chairs in the center of the room with glass windows on the opposite side of the room.  There were a couple tables on the back side of the wall and a television above it.
"The food will be here soon."
"And Ty?"
The one guard looked at the other who gave a nod, "He will be here soon."