Infiltrating Harmony

Infiltrating Harmony Part 7

I couldn't get to the elevator fast enough. I dipped and dodged vocations who stood innocently at coffee machines and water fountains, just trying to make the day go a little quicker.

Knocking over a woman vocation, I sent a stack of papers flying into the air. Every vocation in the office stood up and turned their head all at once towards me. Just in case the robots saw me as a threat, I didn't even stop to say sorry. I jumped into the elevator and rode it down to the lobby.

I ran past Berlin's desk. She stood up and looked at my back curiously, but I didn't have time to explain.

"Jerry! Where are you going?" I heard her exclaim, but I had to ignore her. If I was correct, Genie could be in trouble, and although our feelings for each other had borderline disappeared, I had to get to that apartment to see if she was okay. Deep down, I still cared about her.

    I rounded the corner and saw my chance to step on the gas. There was no one on the sidewalk in front of me, a rather rare occasion in the city of Boston.

    For the second third time this week, I was sprinting. I was only 25, so this shouldn't have been a tough feat for me to accomplish, but it annoyed me. I didn't know being a spy was going to be this much exercise.

    Once again, my fish tie flapped annoyingly in the wind, my leather work shoes hitting the pavement with a constant rhythm. I was practically bounding towards my old apartment building.

    Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God, was an accurate description that went through my head. What if they took Genie. What if... what if she's dead?

    I didn't think it was possible, but I started to run even faster, and within minutes I was in front of my old apartment building.

    I flung open the front doors and entered another elevator, which took me to my floor. I was getting tired of hearing BINGs, but with a BING the doors slid open and I was on the old hallway, the same musty smell lingering.

    Stepping out of the elevator, I glanced at my old front door. To my horror, it was open a crack, as if it had been broken into.

    "No, no, no," I said as I crept towards the open door, silently. I had to be quiet, what if there were members of Destruction in my old apartment, with Genie sitting confused at the table?

    I could imagine it now. Genie sitting at the breakfast table, having already taken her daily dose of HARMONY. The Destruction members would break in through the front door and scream, "Come with us ma'am!"

    "Sure thing," Genie will have said, as she gets swept away.

    I kicked open the door, and examined the room from top to bottom. It had been ransacked.

    The TV was in pieces on the floor, and the breakfast table was on its side. The window that sat on the far end of the room was shattered. Food from the fridge lay everywhere around the room, creating a revolting stench that reminded me of Genie and I's inability to purchase new groceries.

    But Genie was nowhere to be found. A tear came to my eye.

    "Genie!" I screamed into the room. "Genie! Please! If you're in here say something!"

    To my surprise, a voice came from the coat closet that sat just off of the front room. I crept up to it, and put my ear to the door to hear what was happening within.

    "In here!" exclaimed Genie.

    I kicked open the door, and sure enough, sitting there on the floor criss-cross applesauce - unharmed - was Genie Chapman. "Oh, hello Monty," she said. "Some nice men came to visit today."

    "Yeah, I see that," I said, and helped her up. We walked into the front room, where she sat in her usual chair at the tipped-over breakfast table.

    "What did they say to you?" I asked, resisting the urge to cry. If I was being honest, I couldn't have been happier to see she was alright.

    "They said something like, 'We are just looking for information. We will be out of your hair in no time,'" replied Genie. "They were actually  exceptional guests."

    "Genie, guests don't put you in a closet."

    "Yeah, you might be right. Anyways, this place is a mess."

    "You can say that again," I said, and looked around at the shrapnel from the TV that I stood on.

    Genie walked over to the counter, and reached up to the cabinet just above her head. She pulled out a HARMONY syringe, and quickly injected it into herself. She sighed with satisfaction. A tear rolled down my face.

    "Did you tell them anything?" I asked.

    "Nope," said Genie. "Not a thing. Probably why they put me in the closet. No one puts useful people in closets."

    "True," I said. I walked over and took the seat next to her, wiping my eyes. "Listen, Genie, do you remember the blaster I have hidden in the ceiling panel above our bed?"

    "Yeah," she replied, staring at the wall.

    "I want you to use that on any vocations who come here uninvited, do you hear me?"

    "Yeah," she said, still staring at the wall.

    Fury rose up inside of me. She wasn't listening to me. The HARMONY was messing with her brain, and she was going to end up dead.

    "Genie!" I screamed, trying my best to control my temper. I was failing. "You have to listen to me! I want you to shoot anyone who comes here and asks about my job! Do you understand, Genie?"

    "Yeah."

    I began to shake, but I couldn't do anything. She was nothing but emotionless mold now, lost inside a maze of happiness and peace. I stood up and kissed her on the forehead, walking towards the open door. I looked back once to see if she had moved, but of course she hadn't.

    I exited the building and started back towards the hotel, it was past 5:00, anyways. Everyone would have probably left the office by now. While walking, I checked my communicator.

    There was one message from Officer Anderson. It said: I THINK IT MIGHT BE TIME TO INCORPORATE BERLIN INTO THE OPERATION. GOOD LUCK. DON'T FREAK HER OUT.