While I did, I cradled Joie’s head into me. “Don’t look at him.”
“Why?”
“Just… just don’t look.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yeah.”
What to do? Then I spotted the radio and grabbed it.
I depressed the button to call out and stopped. I called once for Tony, he didn’t come. I didn’t need to be a GSS person to know something was terribly wrong.
On my dresser, connected to my tablet were ear pieces I used to listen to Jackson’s music at night. I put the end into the radio, the other piece in my ear, and knowing that Peter was secure in the Switch room, I tuned the radio to our private chat channel.
“Peter,” I whispered. “Peter, please be there.”
“Oh my God, Anna. Where are you?”
“Peter, Joie and I are in my room. We’re fine. What’s going on?”
“Listen to me, Anna. How fast can you run?”
“Fast.”
“Get out of the room, run to the stairs, come directly up here. They’re on their way up from the fourth floor. You can beat them if you go now.”
“Who?”
“Run!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. With Joie in my arms, I stepped over Lenny’s body, cautiously opened the door and peeked out. When I saw no one in the hall, I did what Peter instructed and I ran. Radio in hand, child attached, I ran.
My heart raced like it had never done before when I heard the voices on the stairwell below me.
I could do it, I could make it. It was only one flight.
37 – VISIONS
I heard the footsteps pick up pace on the metal steps as I raced to the top.
Peter must have been watching through the camera, because he opened the door as soon as I arrived, pulled me in and locked it.
I emerged into a cigarette smoke filled room. Nelly had one arm crossed over her stomach as she leaned on the counter, smoking her Pall Mall.
“Where are the kids?” I asked, setting down Joie, then looked at Peter. “What’s going on?”
Everything felt rushed, it was hard to breathe. I tried to take it all in. Before Nelly or Peter could answer, someone was banging on the switch room door.
Continuous banging.
The voices were muffled, but I could make out some of the words. They were definitely threatening to break down or shoot the door.
Peter threw off a strangely irritated energy, and walked to the counter that held all the controls. He leaned forward as he pressed a button.
I couldn’t see the monitor, Peter’s body was blocking it, but clearly he spoke to the person on the other side of the door.
“Hey, asshole. This is a safe room. You can’t blew up the door. It also has a fail safe moron, in case of infiltration. So go on, piss me off a little more, because all I really care about in this bunker is in this safe room with me. I’ll release the Sarin gas, kill off all you people and spend the rest of the apocalypse living happily ever after with a hot chick. Test my nerd ass on that one.”
He stared down, exhaled and stood up.
“Did they leave?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Peter replied.
“That was a really good lie.”
“That wasn’t a lie.”
“Which part?”
“The Sarin gas part.”
My eyes widened and I felt the puff of smoke seep under my nose. “Nelly, where are the kids?”
“Goddamn little bastards.”
“Who?”
“The kids.” She hit her cigarette again.
“They’re children.”
“They’re in on it.”
I faced Peter.
Hand behind his neck, he nodded. “They are.”
“What…” I threw up my hands. “Is going on. What is the situation?”
“OK,” Peter sat down. “When Tony was unable to get a hold of everyone, I switched the monitors to see what was going on. We weren’t monitoring the areas that were patrolled. By the time I saw, he was on his rampage and flew out.”
I pulled Joie close to my hip. “How many of them are in here?”
“Well…” Peter said. “There were ten remaining of the ones that arrived. Three are kids. Which left three women and four men.”
“Ok, that didn’t answer my question. Are the fire hall people here?”
“Yes.”
“How many are here?”
“Seven.”
“No. no.” Surely Peter was confused. I waved my hand. “How many broke in?”
“None.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“We had it all wrong.” Peter turned his chair to the monitors.
“We saw someone coming in.”
“We did,” Peter answered. “And I have been piecing together what happened and I think I have it down. Like I said we weren’t actively monitoring the areas we had patrolled. When Tony couldn’t reach Abe, I worried, when he couldn’t reach Ben, I pulled up this.” A few clicks on the keyboard and the image on monitor four switched to Ben holding up his hands. The person holding the gun on him was out of the picture.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Peter rewound. “No sound on replays.” He clicked. “Watch. This was before Abe even went up.” He forwarded it. “Now look.”
Stew, or as the others called him, Birthmark man because of the birthmark on his check approached Ben.
“Ben talks to him.” Peter narrated. “No problems. All is fine and then…”
I gasped in shock when Birthmark man pulled a gun on Ben. There was an exchange and the radio sailed to the ground. It looked as if Ben was going to get the better of the situation until another person entered the room wearing an arctic gear coat. His face was completely shielded, as he helped to overpower Ben. Birthmark man held him at gunpoint. “Who is that?”
“My guess… Lenny.”
“Lenny left,” I said.
“Yeah, after this… watch.”
As soon as Peter said that, the big man in the Arctic coat slipped out the blast doors and the doors closed leaving Ben under armed guard.
Peter swiveled his chair. “I went through the footage. Again, we only have four monitors and we use them wisely. One of them always shows the outside. We watched the outside of storage, never inside. When I pulled up that feed, that’s where I realized Lenny was hiding. He never left. He made us think he left. When he hid.”
“Why did he make us think he left? That makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does,” Peter said. “We think he leaves, we start focusing on what’s outside our home instead of inside. What you and I saw was Lenny heading to the hatch with a flashlight, because he knew Tony would send someone up that hatch. Focusing outside, keeps the focus off the others inside.”
“What happened to Abe?” I asked.
Peter switched the monitor. “Unfortunately, we lost him. He beheaded him.”
The image showed Abe’s remains.
“Don’t look.” I told Joie.
“Why?” she asked.
I threw out my hands.
Peter continued, “Lenny came down the hatch, dropped the arctic gear, and gathered the others.”
“I am completely lost. Where are the other fire hall people? The ones that stayed back.”
Nelly chuckled once. “What part of inside job aren’t you getting? There were never any people at the fire hall. That crew that came here… that was it. They had their story all together. They told us they hated Lenny. Made us think that Lenny left. When all along it was part of the plan to just over take the joint.”
Finally I understood. They were smarter than we gave them credit for. They led us to believe there was an outside force we had to watch out for, when all along, they were the ones.
“Not all,” I said.
“All,” Peter replied.
“The kids.”
“Crafty bastards,” Nelly griped. “I was chasing them. We get to the walkway and the strawberry blonde, Amanda, pulls out a gun. They kids freaking laugh and run to her. I was ready to give up when Peter here pulled me in this room.”