IT WAS AN ODD EXPERIENCE, BEING BROUGHT DOWN INTO Agency headquarters in handcuffs. They’d even cuffed Danielle, despite the fact that she hadn’t been involved in what happened with Dillon. They didn’t trust anyone, after all.
Agents Blue and Nineteen said nothing during the elevator ride down into the base and subsequent walk to one of the small concrete interrogation rooms. That’s when they split up Danielle and me. This didn’t surprise us. In fact, we’d planned for this before we’d even approached the maintenance shed.
As I sat there and waited in shackles, I wondered briefly if they would actually torture me. I hadn’t seen them do anything like that, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
Several minutes after they sat me down at the small plastic table, the lone door opened again and Agents Blue and Nineteen returned. They closed the door behind them and glanced up at the small dark bubble in the ceiling, which I knew housed a panoramic security camera. No doubt Isadoris was watching us.
As was Medlock.
He’d been very clear: Any signs of evacuation and he’d blow the base. Any signs of me telling them about his plans and he’d blow the base. All of our lives depended on what I said in the next few minutes.
“What did you need to tell us, Carson?” Agent Nineteen asked.
I buried my face in my shackled hands as if I were tired or frustrated, or both. I split apart my palms slightly so I could whisper to Agents Nineteen and Blue but not be heard by any of the recording devices that were surely in the room.
“Whatever you do,” I said slowly, clearly, and softly, “do not react to anything I’m about to say. It’s imperative. Cough if you understand.”
There was a slight beat and then one of them cleared his throat. They obviously had no idea what was going on, but it was good to know they both still trusted me enough to follow my lead without blowing the whole operation right then and there. That was a good sign, I thought.
“You need to get us away from any security cameras,” I said, again as slowly and clearly and quietly as was possible. I began shaking my shoulders and head as if I were crying or something instead of talking. “Our lives depend on it. You have to trust me.”
There was another delay. And then a voice spoke. It was Agent Blue.
“Well?” he said. “Quit stalling. What did you want to tell us?”
I breathed out a low sigh of relief. They were playing along. So far, so good. But, this was still the early and easy part of our intricate, ridiculous, nearly impossible plan to save the day and fix this entire mess once and for all.
“I don’t know where to begin,” I said, finally raising my head, making my face look as distraught as possible. “I think I might barf.”
Agent Nineteen and Agent Blue stared at me warily. I wasn’t sure if they were still acting the part or not. I had no idea what they’d do, or if there even was somewhere in this building out of sight of security cameras. I had come up with the barfing thing, hoping that the bathroom might be one of those places. Or at the very least to give them a believable reason to get me out of this room.
“Come on then,” Agent Nineteen said.
They lifted me from the chair and led me out of the interrogation room and down the hall toward a bathroom. As we walked, Agent Blue coughed into his hand. At the end of his cough he faintly whispered something.
“When you get out, say you need to lie down,” he said into his hand.
We got to the bathroom and Agent Nineteen opened the door for me. It was a single occupancy restroom, with just a small sink, toilet, and mirror. It was obvious from the way they’d acted that there were cameras in here. So I bent over the toilet and pretended to barf as best I could. Then I flushed, washed my hands, wiped my mouth, tried to look as sick as I could as I walked back into the hallway.
“I think I need to lie down,” I moaned. “Are these really necessary?” I held up my shackled hands.
“I suppose not,” Agent Blue said, before removing them.
“Can I lie down somewhere?” I asked again.
“Yeah, come on this way,” Agent Nineteen said. “There’s a couch in Director Isadoris’s office. We can talk in there.”
I nodded and followed them down the hallway. I could only assume this meant that Director Isadoris’s office was the only place in the entire base that didn’t have security cameras. Who watches the one guy in the country who, after tomorrow’s purchase, would be able to watch anyone he wanted on the entire planet?
This thought made me even more determined, more sure that we were doing the right thing.