In exchange, Bobby’s employers promised to make sure nothing ever happened to Julie Lippman. They would be her silent guardians, using the power of their global reach to keep her safe no matter where she roamed.
They sent Bobby regular reports; he lived vicariously through them.
He would not repeat the mistake of the soldier in that story. He would not dare bring Julie to this living hell, would not let her see what he had become. That was out, forever. But he could still be part of her life, in some small way. He could spend whatever equity he’d accrued to benefit her.
“Is someone telling you about Julie Lippman doing all kinds of wonderful things?” Eve asked. “Bobby, I’ve spent the last two decades looking for missing people. I’ve spent the last two decades looking for you.”
“They were…lying to me.”
“Yeah.”
“You did come after me.”
“I did.”
“Just like the sweetheart.”
“I’ve got the necklace of tongues to prove it.”
Bobby lifted his hand toward his head and began to make the cheesy hand signals, straight from Purple Rain:
I
Would
Die
4
U
And with that last letter, he pointed right at her.
Eve couldn’t help herself. She giggled.
“You dick.”
Hardie hated to interrupt this tender moment, but they were still trapped in a steel room with this crazy ex-boyfriend and nothing but knockout gas outside and bedrock below.
“Bobby…whatever your name is, listen.”
He turned in Hardie’s direction. A frown appeared, as if he were trying to figure out some complex math problem.
“Show us the way out,” Hardie said. “There’s gotta be one.”
“It’s okay, Bobby,” Eve said. “You can trust him.”
A strange look came over Bobby’s battered face. Part hurt, part confusion. “No. You don’t get it. There is no exit. No escape at all.”
Prisoner Zero started to grunt. “Huh-huh. HUH-HUH-HUHHHHHH.”
Hardie wondered what the hell he wanted.
Bobby said: “Shut up, Pags.”
“HUH-HUH-HUHHHHHHHH.”
Zero was pointing down at the ground. The room was dark, but when Hardie went down on his knees, he could see it. The faint lines of a seam, obscured by years of grime and filth. The lines formed a square.
Bobby held up the trigger. “Go near that and I’ll take you out. You won’t wake up from this.”
Eve moved quickly this time, throwing an arm around Bobby’s throat and immobilizing his wrist.
“Julie, what are you—”
“Open it, Hardie.”
“Guh-huh-huh-huhhhhh.”
Hardie placed his good hand on the side of Zero’s gurney and gave it a violent shove. The legs scraped against the metal floor. There it was, on the floor. In plain sight, the whole time. An escape hatch. The Prisonmaster here had positioned his old buddy over the single escape route. Hardie brushed away dirt and filth until he located the ancient handle. He had to scrape away grime with the tips of his fingers until he freed the handle.
“No!” Bobby said. “You can’t open that! We’ll all die!”
“What, another death mechanism? Sorry, Bob. Come up with a new trick. We’re all going. You, me, and Eve…”
Hardie caught himself.
“Julie…and my new best friend up there on that gurney. We’re all getting the hell out of here now.”
“No no no,” Bobby cried. “You don’t understand. There is no escape. Not for me, not for anyone they send here. Do you think I didn’t consider using that hatch myself over the past twenty years? Every day it’s crossed my mind. Every fucking day! And every day I tell myself no, leaving will only punish the ones I love. I would only be punishing you. Because that’s what they do, that’s what they’re holding over our heads. That’s the real death mechanism!”
Hardie remembered the images they’d pumped into his mask. Kendra’s house. The bedroom. Her sleeping form…
Eve told Bobby: “We can fight back. All of us. We can take these bastards down.”
Bobby shook his head and smiled. “You have family, Mr. Hardie. A wife and a son, isn’t that right? They will be dead the moment you leave this facility. They’ll see to it.”
“Not if I get to them first. Who are they? Who are your bosses? I want names.”
“That won’t do you any good. You can’t comprehend the complexity of the Industry—”
Eve said, “I hate to say this, Hardie, but he might be right. Once they know we’ve escaped, they’ll be relentless. They won’t hesitate to take out your family. I know how they work.”
Hardie stared at the escape hatch in the floor. So that was the choice? Stay here and keep his family alive…or leave and put their lives in danger?
Hardie had spent two years in exile because he thought he’d put his family in danger. He couldn’t keep hiding.
Sure, they might be in danger.
But he was the only one who could save them.
Hardie kneeled down, found the handle, brushed away the dust. “I’m going.”
Eve nodded. “Go, then. I’m going to stay here and take care of Bobby.”
“Not going to happen,” Hardie said. “Everybody goes home. All four of us.”
Eve shook her head. “You have a better chance if we all stay out of sight for a while. Ten escapees, they might notice. One, not so much. Not for a while, anyway.”
A strange, giddy look came over Bobby’s face. “You mean you’re staying down here? With me?”
“I’m not leaving you,” Eve said.
“Even after all that I’ve done?”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Okay, then,” Hardie said. He refused to waste another second down here. The hatch came loose after a few violent tugs. The smell was overpowering—wet rock and mold, as though some primordial creature had just woken from an eon-long slumber and released a silent belch.
“Where will this take me?” Hardie asked.
Bobby said, “You should recognize your location once you’re outside. Took me a long time to figure it out. One day they let a detail slip, and it all made sense. They’d want to pick someplace near the university, after all.”
“You know, it would really be great if you just told me.”
“A set of stairs should lead you to the surface. It might be a lot of stairs. We’re pretty far underground.”
Eve touched Bobby’s face, and he leaned into her palm. His mouth opened slightly, quivering. Hardie wondered when she was going to give up the act—that she was this guy’s long-lost girlfriend. It was a stunningly clever move, totally disarming their opponent. What he couldn’t figure out is why she wanted to stay down here a second longer.
“Eve, I’ll send help.”
“Don’t. Take care of your family first. We just have some unfinished business to take care of.”
Some vile thoughts went through Hardie’s mind. He pushed them aside, told himself to grow up. “You’re sure?”
“Go to your family. Besides, I need to check on the others. I’m presuming everyone’s going to be waking up sooner rather than later.”
“I can help.”
“Go,” Eve insisted. “Leave this to me. This is no hardship. I’ve been at war with Secret America for two decades now. Thanks to this place, I now have an army. And we’re going to kick their asses.”
Hardie was two steps down before Bobby spoke to him one last time.
“Doyle, Gedney, Abrams.”
“What?” Hardie asked.
“They’re the ones who put you down here. The ones who fund this place.”
Hardie repeated the names in his head. Doyle, Gedney, Abrams.
He started down the staircase then stopped, turned around, and picked up his old-man cane from the floor. He almost gave Eve and Bobby one last good-bye, but they were otherwise engaged.