Sapience (10 page)

“Actually I think it is you, I turned out just fine.”
 She was content with staring out the window as she spoke. “Though, in all seriousness, you kind of have a point.”

“What’s the deal with the rest of your family anyway?” I asked in a hurry to change the subject before she could start feeling bad for us.

“What about them?”

“Isn’t your family mad at you for hanging out with me?”

“In this matter.”  She gazed into my eyes. “I don’t care if they’re mad.”

I pulled up next to the trailer she lived in and put the car in park. I was very aware of the blue eyes peering out from the window.

“Do you like it here?” She asked when I expected her to get out.

“The trailer park?” I asked.

“No, the town, Newberry.”

“I don’t know, it’s better than before.”

“Anything is better than before. Can you see yourself living like this for the rest of your life?”

“Maybe.” I said.

“I guess I’d better go.” She said with a hint of disappointment.

“If you have to.” I wanted her to stay. To hang out for a while but I decided to let it go, for now.

“Are you going to be at school tomorrow?” she was hopeful.

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t. Lillie would throw a fit if I were to skip.”

“Good, I’ll meet you in the parking lot.” She grabbed the door handle but didn’t open it. “Hey.” She turned back with a piercing gaze. “Let me take care of Blake next time.”

“You think there is going to be a next time?” I asked.

She shrugged. “If there is, I want to be ready.”

Before I could insist that I could defend myself she had shut my door and was walking up to her trailer.

She stopped at the door to watch me drive away.

Chapter 7

            
 
I was confronted by Lillie at the door when I got home. She assessed my various cuts and bruises after I had explained my situation. I could tell that she was angry but she hid it well.

“Are you sure this couldn’t have been avoided William?” She asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know. It’s impossible to tell when my mind is all clouded.”

She had her hands on my forehead and chin, she was turning my head to inspect a cut over my eye. “Make sure you clean this well, right now there is a twenty five percent chance of infection.”

“I will,” I said slipping out of her grip.

“And William, you must be circumspective to avoid fighting. Not only is it barbaric but there is a considerable amount of attention drawn to us,” she said as I was walking away.

“I have been trying.”  I didn’t add that I could have let Blake walk away after he had kissed Brianna. That part slipped my mind.

On the floor in the living room Adrian was sprawling over a group of papers printed off of the computer. He shuffled them rapidly marking random words every so often with different colored markers.

“What’s all this?” I asked while peering over his shoulder.

“I can’t be sure.” He answered with a frustrated sigh. “It’s a coded message.”

“You can’t solve it? That should be a piece of cake for you.”  I made sure to sound disappointed in his ability.

“Should it?” He rubbed his hand on his temples. “There are over two hundred separate encrypted codes and not so much as one key word.”

“And that’s supposed to mean something?” I laid the sarcasm on heavy.

“It means this message was designed specifically to block out you, Lillie and I.”

I could tell by the way he was breathing he was very angry.

“Who was it sent to?”

“Every armory in the entire Kingdom.” Lillie said from the couch.

I knew there was nothing I could do to help so I grabbed my gym gear and made my way outside to go for a run. I went three miles down the main road before turning around. At first I thought it would be creepy running down the barren road with the dark forest crowding in from either side. It was actually pretty cool. The rain had passed and the sun was bright enough to illuminate deep into the woods. Birds were chirping like crazy and a few rabbits darted out in front of me. It was the first time in my life that I could actually say that I was stress-free. Blake was a stress contender but Brianna washed away any sour feelings toward him.

After a long shower I was surprised to find Adrian and Lillie hadn’t moved an inch. I was a little curious to find out what was on the encrypted letter so I took a seat next to Lillie on the couch.

“If Reno is to Match what Match is to Hurricane.” Adrian flipped to the next piece of paper. “Then Hurricane is blasphemy… No that makes no sense.”

I remember solving riddles back at the government building and I don’t ever remember it being so boring. Adrian had only said one sentence and I was already yawning.

“Maybe, match means rocket?” Lillie chimed in. I strolled back to my room having heard enough. It felt wrong not being able to help. Once upon a time, they would have been looking up to me for the answers that even they couldn’t figure out. Now it felt like it would be easier to fly. I decided it would be best to go do some homework instead of getting in their way.

Later that night Lillie strolled into my room with a defeated look on her face. It was a face she didn’t wear very often. Did they not break the code? Or had they found out that what was on the documents was bad news. I desperately hoped it was the first.

“How would you like to skip school tomorrow William?”
 She asked like she wanted me to say no.

So I did. “Actually I wouldn’t like to skip school at all… but thanks.”

“William.” She said skeptically.

I held my breath. This could not be happening. I was finally starting to make progress with the others, wasn’t that more important?

“Why?” I finally asked.

“Well as you probably figured, Adrian and I haven’t solved the code yet.”

“I didn’t figure that.” I cut her off.

“Yes you did and anyway we need to know what is on that document.” She kept a firm expression.

“What does that have to do with me skipping school?” I was struggling to not sound like I was whining.

“We need you to sneak into the armory and steal the pass keys.”

I nearly fell of the end of my bed. “You want me to what?”

“Please William, you heard me the first time.” She placed her hands on her hips.

“No, because what I heard was 'hello William, Adrian and I have lost our minds.'” I could feel my heart start to race.

“Nothing is going to happen. Adrian and I are going to be watching every second. We will get you out if something goes wrong.”

I wanted to protest but it was hard to find the words. It was hard to find any words for that matter. Lillie casually walked to the door.

“Get some rest. Once everything is planned out in the morning we will come and get you” Then she was gone and I was alone in my room that had suddenly become much too dark for my taste. The walls seemed to be closing in on me.

My eyes burned when I woke in the morning. I looked at my alarm clock and sighed, it was six in the morning. I had only gotten three hours of sleep. Who knew it could be so hard to sleep when you thought you were going to die in the morning.

I laid silently in my bed grasping for more sleep that wouldn’t come. Around seven Adrian burst through my door holding a blue jump suit stamped with the Kingdom's logo on the chest. I didn’t bother to complain, there was no point. Instead I slipped into the uncomfortable one piece jumpsuit and let Adrian zip up the back.

“Try not to die today.” He said in a cocky voice. “I imagine it would make Lillie rather annoying if she was pouting all the time.”

I chose to walk out to the living room instead of giving him a response. Lillie was sitting on the couch frantically typing away on her laptop.

“Everything is going to be fine William.” She didn’t look up as she spoke. “Try to relax.”

“Can we stop by the school before we go?” I asked in a desperate attempt to get a chance to tell Brianna why I wouldn’t meet her in the parking lot today.

“Please, this is important. We can’t risk our mission on Brianna. I’m sorry.” Lillie said. I winced when she mentioned Brianna’s name. She figured that one out quick. “The others can wait.”

“Who’s Brianna?” I asked sarcastically, hoping to drain some of the tension in the room.

Lillie looked angry, she placed her hands on her hips and squared off with me “This is not a game. Your life is at risk and I’m not taking any chances. Until you decide to be serious, go hang around Adrian. You both seem to think this is all one big joke.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be serious.” I said, rubbing my sore eyes.

She nodded and closed her laptop. A cold chill ran down my spine as I realized it was time to go.

“Shotgun.” Adrian called and hopped into the passenger seat of a large black suburban that had materialized in our driveway overnight. Before Lillie turned the key she handed me an ear piece and explained that Adrian would be giving instructions in my ear the whole way.

Adrian’s attitude had me feeling uneasy. He acted as if whether I lived or died wasn’t important. As equals we used to be best friends, those days were gone forever. Only the keys to the document seemed to matter to him.

It was only ten minutes through town until you hit a poorly guarded gate that opened to a battered parking lot. I pictured myself dying a thousand different ways in that time. Two huge and meaty guards eyed us as we passed into the parking lot. They were holding guns as if they could come under attack at any moment. As if anybody had the guts to try that…

Military trucks painted in camouflage filled almost every parking space leading up to a large two-story brick building. Garbage was scattered all about as if nobody thought it important to keep the lot clean.

There was a cold chill that swept through the air marking the beginning of a long day. Heavy gray clouds covered the sky and I idly wondered if they would give way to rain or hold out.

We crept our way up to the brick building, Lillie clearly letting us see the tension in her body. There was a line of black SUV’s like ours, sitting in front of the main entrance. Adrian stared out of his tinted window as we found our spot in line.

“When the other laborers get out, follow them into the building.” Lillie informed me. I was sitting anxiously on the edge of my seat trying not to bite my nails. A habit I seemed to have picked up overnight. Lillie turned on her laptop and started opening programs.

“Okay.” I said as an image from one of the cameras inside the building popped onto her screen.

“We can watch your every step from here” she paused noticing the stress running through my body and added “you’ll be fine” to try and reassure me. She clicked a button on the keyboard and the camera shifted to another hallway.

“And if something goes wrong?” I said.

“Nothing is going to go wrong.” She continued to sift through all the cameras in the building. I was pretty sure she already knew them by heart and just didn’t want to take chances. Adrian pulled out a laptop of his own. I watched as he brought up information on the people working inside.

After twenty minutes in the back seat, some of the doors in the other SUVs swung open. Men dressed in the same jumpsuit as I started to climb out and walk into the building. I could see Adrian and Lillie’s plan starting to take shape. It was obvious I was going to break into the building disguised as one of these men. In the end I decided it best to wait to be told to leave the car.

“Well?” Adrian finally said.

“Adrian.” Lillie snapped. “William, I know it’s frightening but you have to follow these janitors into the building. The faster you go, the faster you can get back. This is going to be safe and easy, I promise.”

Her words were the final push I needed to get out of the car.

It was intimidating walking up to the large glass doors of the building. The walls were chipped and cracked from years of weather. I felt dangerously exposed, I was inside the belly of the beast without a weapon.

The walk through the building wasn’t too long. It was frightening at first, looking back to see the outer world slipping further and further away. The light bulbs in all the stained yellow lights buzzed in the silence of the halls as if to give a warning to any intruders. I had to pace myself to fall in line with the other janitors so I wouldn’t seem out of place. My heart hammered inside my chest; if it beat any harder I think the others would be able to hear.

Before long we emerged into a small room filled with mopping buckets. The room was dirty like the rest of the building, a green stripe separated the top and bottom half of the walls. It smelled of rotten cheese and I wondered what upset my stomach more, the smell of rotten cheese or the constant buzzing that sapped into your body like poison.

I hesitated in the door at first but after not getting any instructions from Adrian in my ear piece, decided to grab a mop. The others were fast, grabbing mopping buckets and leaving the room to start their task. I made my way after them and quickly separated down one of the many long hallways. I wasn’t sure which one to go down so I just picked one at random.