“The name’s Mateo, but just call me Mat, short and sweet ya see?".“Ahmm" Cara nods to Mateo.
I’m just staring outside the window of the truck. I see cactus and golden land all around us. We are on highway 285. The ride is less bumpy now and I can see man-made things around.
“What do you do here Mat?” Cara asks Mateo.
“I am a truck-driver-delivery-guy but nowadays I’m just a person who delivers notice pamphlets and drinking water to people"
“O-" Cara was about to say something but Mat interrupts her and says “Ah forgot to tell! I’m also a part-time security guard at the border of New Mexico, many people know me there for my exceptional qualities.”
Cara laughs and asks “Exceptional qualities? Can you list some of them?”
“See. My first quality is I can make a person curious about me. For example you both just consider yourselves.” He raises his shoulder and smiles.
“I’m not curious about knowing you at all” I reply while looking at the stout building beside us.
“Well you are not good at admitting I see," says Mateo.
I don’t reply and he and Cara both just continue chattering. I wasn’t listening to them but when I get bored of staring outside I turn towards them.“You live alone here?” asks Cara. “Nah I live here with my mother,” tells Mateo.
“Where is she then?” I ask.
“Well, I left her to my aunt’s house before the war. I knew she would be safe there.”
My parents live in Japan. I haven’t met them for more than 5 years. Don’t even know if they are safe. I’m really a disappointment as a daughter. My parents wanted me to become a doctor so they sent me to USA for my higher studies. But I was always interested in becoming a CI agent just like my Uncle Hiroshi. So I took the citizenship and started training for the same. When I went back to visit my home, after 3 years, in Toyama, only my mother came to pick me up at the airport. My father wasn’t happy with my choice. Because he has lost his brother, my uncle Hiroshi, who was a CI agent and died during a special operation.
Japan didn’t participate in the war. They know how bad things can get because they have been the victims of it in 1945. They want a peace treaty and many soldiers there have also died after fighting against occasional attacks from Nation C and N.
“Wait! that’s the gate to New Mexico,” says Cara suddenly and my memories wash away with the tides of her voice. I lift my head and see a large fence that is there in front of us. Mateo stops the truck at the side of the road and tells us to wait in the truck. Something clicks my mind and I try to talk to him but he’s already at the gate. There are some officers standing at the inspection booth. They wear highly complex-looking masks. We can barely see their faces.
“Can we trust these officers?” asks Cara.
I stay quiet for a moment and reply “Can’t say".
Mateo comes back and tells us that we have to first have to clear the security check then we can continue towards New Mexico. We leave our guns in the truck and walk out of it. Two officers come towards us they are wearing red-blue vests over their black uniform. Strange.
We walk past a huge security checkpost. It is having a security pod at the right-hand side. I go through it first. And then it's Cara’s turn. When she crosses the pod, it starts bleeping. A woman officer comes forward and tells her to step aside. Cara looks afraid. The woman officer starts patting and searching for the object that caused the bleep and then she finds the device that shows coordinates and time.
“Why are you carrying this device?” she asks Cara.
“But ma’am it isn’t harmful, it just a coordinate-viewing device.”
“Sorry but we have to proceed according to the protocol, you have to leave this here.”
“Alright.”
The officer takes the device with her and submits it to the checkpost.
When the officers leave, I turn to Cara and ask “Where’s the pen drive?”
“It’s there in the truck, I have hidden it well under the driver’s seat, they won’t be able to find it.”
“Oh okay,” I say.
As soon as we end our conversation, three officers show up “We have to take you in custody” says one of them.
“But why?” I ask. “You and your friends look suspicious and we have to ensure safety before letting you go.” A fat officer comes forward and gives me a pointed look with squinted eyes, he tells me to bring my hands forward, and then he puts a handcuff on them. I want to reveal my true identity to them but it’s not the right time or the right place.
Accompanied by three officers we go towards a two-story building. A confinement. I’ve been to many confinements before not as a prisoner obviously, but as an investigator from the CI. As soon as I step inside the building the surroundings change drastically, from a barren land to a bustling hallway. “Take care of those files.” I hear these words while passing the reception. The voice sounded quite familiar. But the officers kept dragging us towards the cells so I wasn’t able to see the person who spoke those words. They took me and Cara to a dingy cell with only one bed and a side table.
There aren’t many prisoners here. Cara looks tensed and so am I.
“What’s gonna happen?” she asks me.
“Cara, shall I reveal that I’m a CI agent too?” I add up another question.
“See Ayumi, you know all of these legal procedures better than me, so you should better come up with some way to get out of here.”
And suddenly at the spur of the moment, the familiar voice comes to my ear “How’s the report at NY? Got any message from Ben?”
It’s Felix! I know it’s Felix! I know him, he can get us out of here. I start screaming “Officer! Officer!”. Cara asks me “Hey Ayu? What happened?”
“It’s time to get out of here,” I say.
“Is anyone here? Officer?” And then suddenly a man appears at the cell’s door and asks “What is it?” It's not Felix. I tell the man that I know Agent Felix, firstly he thinks about it for a second and then says “Wait”. He leaves.
And within some seconds he comes back, not alone this time, Felix is there with him. He sees me and says “Ayu? How did you end up here?”. My emotions are stirring up in my mind, a familiar face in a tough time. What a weird coincidence this is. I have so many questions to ask him, about George, and NYC and I also have to tell him all about the conspiracy. But first I have to ensure that Cara and I get out of here this prison.
“It is a long story,” I reply. “I want your help to get our bail and I also want to tell you something.”
“Alright I--" he was about to say something but suddenly the alarm goes off in the building. A red light flashes outside my cell. Every police officer and security guard is running up and down, right and left. Someone comes and tells Felix “It’s an attack!”
An attack, but from whom? Felix tells us to stay inside. They have left our cell door open. I and Cara sneak out of the cell. But then we are caught by a guard who then tells us to follow him through the main exit. The building is mostly empty now only some prisoners are left inside. And they are being taken to some other place just like us. The scene outside the building is all blood and gore. Many police guards are dead, and then I hear Cara call out loud “Mateo!”
He turns, he is also being taken with the prisoners. Poor Mat got in all of this trouble due to us. He comes towards us and the guard follows him yelling “Wait!”.
“You alright?” He asks Cara, she nods. And suddenly a bullet hits him in the back near his ribs. And he falls to the ground. A group of people in black uniform stand in front of us. They are having heavy rifles with them. They shoot the guard who was taking us somewhere else. We run for cover. I pick up a guard’s gun. I see a garage next to the backyard of the prison building, I take Cara there to ensure she is safe. Cara is still stunned and is crying. “It’s alright Cara. We’ll get out of here.” I try to make her feel calm. “It’s alright? How can you say that Ayu? Mat died in front of us. He helped us even when we were complete strangers to him. How many other people are dying out there and you are saying it’s alright?” she is shivering and angry and the same time. Her anger and disappointment are completely justified. Her cheeks are soaked with tears. I don’t want to break down right now. We are trained for situations like these. I’ll have to find a way to escape. I leave Cara there. And go inside the prison building again. My mission is to retrieve the pen drive with the evidence, find Felix and get out of this hell with Cara and Felix. An enemy guard is there. At the door, I shoot him in his leg and he falls down. And I enter the building.
(To be continued)
Image credit: amybuzz/iStock (edited by me)
All the characters and events in this story are fictional
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