Chapter 6
Male voice, older: "Begin Alpha Recording Session 6."
(Pause)
Female voice, younger: "Hello again, this is Raine Elsie Johnson Bergrenn speaking."
(Pause)
"The next few days, I tried to follow the major around the city, but more often than not I would lose him among switchback side streets and twisting alleys. When that happened I would look around and try to find my bearings; I was excellent at getting lost. Nowadays, there seemed to be more people out and about, though not even close to how many there was before the takeover. I had to be careful – I didn't know who I could trust; but I would often stop and ask for directions back to the university. After all, I could always waltz up to one of the GSS men stationed on almost every corner, flash my ID, and ask for directions to HQ."
(Laughter)
"Sometimes I would duck into a shop, there were only a few still left open and they only sold basic supplies that could be bought with our food rations. I got to know several of the people and I decided to be open with my name. After all, most of the GSS men and soldiers knew me or of me and everyone of them knew the major. If he could come up with a disguise, so could I. Better to know people openly; all would have to do is figure out who would know me and help me in secret."
(Pause)
"I got to know my away around the city, the main streets at least, and the smaller ones near the university. I met with Petr one day and he handed me a v-phone. 'Be careful with this, Raine, most of them were destroyed. There are numbers encrypted into it already – don't call unless
there is an emergency.'
'Alright, alright, thanks, Petr. I'll keep it hidden.' I shoved into my interior coat pocket, that would have to do for now. He handed me a bag, 'what's this?'
'Disguises. I'm sure you can figure out them out. Change them often and try to blend in and, whatever you do, don't hide them in your room.'
I rolled my eyes, 'don't worry, Petr.'
He got serious, well, more serious than he usually is and looked my straight in the eyes, 'I mean it, Raine. I don't want you risking yourself more than you have to. You're important to m– the mission.'"
(Pause)
"'What do you mean?' I asked. 'I really haven't done much of anything....'
He cut me off, 'you told us about Bergrenn and we've been able to put a tail on him. We certainly don't trust him and we've been able to use him somewhat. It's been very helpful. And having your eyes and ears on the inside will come in handy.'
'Ok, ok, I just feel useless sometimes, I wish I could do more, be out in the action. What's even happening out there?'
Petr smiled one of his rare smiles at me, 'things have been going better than we've expected. We're still small, but the rebellion has been gathering strength and supplies, guns and such. We've planted a few bombs and we're poised to take over the lower south side of the city. The rural areas are mostly under our control and fighting has broken out in some of the other major cities. We're far from accomplishing much of anything, but things are moving forward.'"
(Pause)
"I stood shocked as I tried to absorb all of this information. I was filled both with hope and fear – things sounded good, but fighting in the streets? It sounded dangerous. Petr must have noticed my worried face, because he patted me on the shoulder and laughed, 'don't worry, Raine, you'll be quite safe.'
'I wasn't worried about me...' I started angrily.
'Ok, but I wanted to talk to you about a mission.' A mission? Excitement replaced anger and raced up and down my spine. 'First, we know that Bergrenn has other dinguses, but we're at a loss to who. We need to know who he pretends to be and, if possible, who his contacts are on both sides. We've got several moles that we're trying to weed out. Second, and this is the dangerous one, you can say no if you want to.'
'No, go on.'
(Pause)
'Very well. You need to sneak in the west hall here on the university. The classrooms are being used as offices for the higher up officers, at least as far as we've been able to tell. We have some cleaning people on the inside. If you can, break in and copy any important documents.'
'I think I can do that.'
'Good, Raine, I knew you would. I have some supplies you'll need. Here is a map of the west hall. The main offices are on the fourth floor, we believe.'
I peered at the sparse map, there were no labels on it. 'How am I supposed to read this?'
'Lemon juice. It's an old secret. Hold it up to heat, like a lightbulb, and the words will show up. There are instructions of what to look for on the back. Make sure you memorize this and destroy it before you leave. Your v-phone will can take pictures. Just program it to send them to the first number on the list and I'll get them as soon as you send them. You'll find your disguise in the bag, you'll see which one I mean. What else? Oh yeah, a lock picking kit.'
He handed me a ordinary wallet and I opened it. 'Right. And how would I use this?'
He actually laughed. Apparently, this was all hilarious to him. 'Ok, for most modern doors you take this thing' and he took out an electronic devise about the size of the bottom of glass, 'and you stick it over a lock and push the green button here. And voilà! the lock opens. If you're lucky, most of them will be like this. Some, however, may require the old-fashioned picks.' Here he demonstrated how to unlock a door using two metal pins. He had me practice and I eventually got it, though I doubted that I would be able to open anything under pressure."
(Pause)
"'Anything that you can't open will be too high-tech and encrypted for our equipment. So search for anything that looks like it might be important and use this putty to copy any keys you might find lying around. I think that's everything.'
I raised my eyebrows, 'oh really? Nothing else? Because I think you've only given me a years worth of things to do in one night! Why not make it two!?'
'Raine, you'll be fine! The reason we're sending you in, is that if discovered, you can talk your way out of anything. Blame Bergrenn if something goes wrong. Wear a disguise, but don't be afraid to show who you are if you're caught. Alright?'
It seemed horribly complicated. Nonetheless, I nodded and tried to smile. He put a hand on my shoulder, 'just be careful and don't do anything stupid.' And with that, he left, melting into the shadows."
(Pause)
"I took everything back to the room. I had several hours before Celene came home first and I wanted to see what I had with me. Excited, I opened the bag of disguise. There were several different outfits: a dress and shawl that an old woman would wear, a service-person's uniform, a business suit, and, I gasped, a full GSS uniform. There were also several various muted colors of coats, skirts, pants, and shirts that I could mix and match. There were several wigs that I laughingly tried on: a old woman's white braid, a black bob, a long blonde one, a light brown one, and a red crop, no, that wouldn't be conspicuous. In addition, there was makeup and face putty. Underneath it all was a black cat suit and black beanie obviously for the mission. I tried on the cat suit and belt with plenty of pouches that came with it. Gracious, it was tight."
(Laughter)
"It showed off every curve of my tall frame. I begrudgingly admitted that it made even me look good. Quickly I took it off and put everything back into the bag. No more time for playing dress up. I still had time so I practiced the lock pick on every door. I got better at it, but it still took me forever to do it manually. Now, I needed to find a hiding place for everything. I walked down our hall. We had several storage closets, but they weren't even locked and empty. There were cabinets in the kitchen, but no lock. I thought that I remembered hearing something about an attic above the fourth floor, haunted, if I remembered correctly."
(Laughter)
"Well, ghosts weren't going to stop me. I hiked up the stairwell and looked around the fourth floor. There wasn't anyone around. I couldn't find any stairs or anything. But there had to be something. I went back into the stairwell and looked around. Finally, I spotted some ceiling tiles that looked different from the others. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach the ceiling. So I went into their lounge and dragged out a table and a chair. Precariously, I stood on the both of them and pushed the tiles upwards. There was an empty space so I shoved them over. Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring a flashlight. I shined in the space and saw a lot of dust and cobwebs. I thought I could pull myself up, though. There was a beam next to the edge of the hole and I pulled myself up."
(Pause)
"With the flashlight, I could see that if I walked across the support beams I could make it to the built-in part of the attic. Quickly, I peered around, the table and chair were down there. Then I saw the ladder, that would be pulled down. I marked the spot in my mind and scrambled across the beams and down the hole, leaving my bag up there. I returned the tiles and table and chair just as two of the girls on the floor walked into the kitchen. They greeted me and we talked for a few minutes; they never asked what I was doing there. Eventually, they left and I found the spot where the ladder came down – it was inside one of their storage closets and impossible to see, unless you knew what you were looking for. The ceiling was lower and with a quiet jump I could reach the edge and pull the hatch door and ladder down. I climbed up and pulled it up after me. There."
(Pause)
"This was perfect. Other than my footprints, there was no sign that someone had been up here in years. There were cardboard boxes filled who knows what. Perfect; I could easily hide anything up here. I would just need to watch my tracks, both literally and figuratively. I swished the dust over my footprints and hid my bag behind a pile of boxes. I looked around the attic some more. The ceiling was low – I almost had to duck. In the back there was another hatch door leading to the roof. I unlocked it (thanks, Petr!) and poked my head out. I could see a great deal of the university and the city. I thought that I could even climb out, but I wouldn't risk it in the daylight. I didn't want rumors of a ghost to get my new place searched. I went back downstairs, no one noticed me coming out of the storage room, and headed back to my room. I was so excited. I kept the map with me and, with the hour left, memorized it and ripped it up into a thousand pieces. I hoped that I wouldn't need it again, I was nervous, but I thought I should go tonight, if possible to get it out of the way."
(Pause)
"Soon Celene and the men were home and we sat down to a quiet dinner. I was as nervous as could be, but kept call and even managed to have a few minutes of polite conversation with the major. After getting into bed, I realized how difficult it was going to be to get out of the room without waking anyone. I waited until midnight, I was to worried to wait any longer, but I was certain that everyone was sound asleep. I crept silently out, only grabbing a flashlight and my black boots. I went up to the attic and quickly changed into my black outfit. A thrill of excitement coursed through me, but I knew that I had to keep calm."
(Pause)
"I made my way, keeping in the shadows, to the west hall. I easily broke in with the electronic lock pick and silently shut the door behind me. Once inside, I had to take several deep breaths to push the fear and exhilaration down. Then, as calmly as could be, I got to work. I took the stairs to the fourth floor and looked around. There were a few classroom up here, but most of it was administration offices. Remembering the map, I headed to the first door and held the lock pick against it and, to my relief, it opened quickly. I went in and, using my flashlight, and carefully searched the drawers. I was glad that I had thought to wear gloves, though they made it harder to flip through documents. I took quite a few pictures and it took me about fifteen minutes. I hoped that they had made their way safely to Petra and the resistence."
(Pause)
"After the first room, I made my way quickly through the rest on the floor. There was tons of important information and I got all of it. I had to pick a few locked drawers, but after the first one taking me five minutes, the rest went smoothly. In one of the rooms, someone had left a set of keys and I made copies of each of them; I just hoped that I wouldn't have to be the one to find out where they went. I actually finished with everything in about two and a half hours and was feeling pretty good. Before I had went in, I had check to see if there were security strips put up yet and they weren't so my picture wasn't going to posted all over GSS's most wanted. I couldn't stop smiling to myself as I put everything away. I made my way out the back and that's when the excitement happened."
(Pause)
"Of course, I got cocky and wasn't paying enough attention. I rounded a corner and literally bumped into a couple making out against the wall. What on earth were they doing out this late!? They were as surprised as I was, but I became more so when I saw the girls face. I knew her, she hadn't been in my dorm, but I had had a class with her. And here she was kissing a Ginsanean soldier. I was shocked. The soldier got over his shock first and barked in Ginsanean, 'halt! Who are you!? What are you doing out!?' I pretended not to understand and turned away and took a few steps starting to run when he grabbed my arm."
(Pause)
"Well, I wasn't about to get caught just like this! I spun around and wrenched my arm free. I tried to shove him away, but he grabbed my arms. So I drove my fist into his nose. Blood gushed out. That was a first. He held a hand up to his nose and the girl bent over him. I almost asked him if he was alright, instead I kept what little senses and turned and ran. As I ran, I could hear the girl squeal as he pushed her off and came after me. The brick wall next to the left of me exploded twice with gunshots. I dove to the right behind another wall and kept on going. I could hear him calling for help on his radio and I ducked into path between two buildings. I kept running. Two soldiers appeared to my right across a field and shouted at me. I screamed in Ginsanese, 'she went that way and pointed behind me.' Unfortunately, they'd heard about that oldest trick in the book and took off after me. I knew I couldn't loose them so I tried to think of a way to get out of this mess."
(Pause)
"I could always just turn myself in and confess that I couldn't sleep and got frightened, but the v-phone and lock pick would raise more than a few eyebrows. I didn't see what Petr meant by blaming the major, no one would believe that he had anything to do with it. So I kept running. I hate running. I don't mind the short sprints, but distance? No thank-you. They weren't any faster that I was or else I would have been in trouble. It was dark out – the quarter moon was obscured by clouds – and I was afraid that I was going to trip over something. I thought of bribing them, but what did I have? Fear and adrenaline gave me strength and speed and helped me ignore the growing ache in my side."
(Pause)
"When I heard sirens in the distance, instinct took over and I blindly ran faster. I ran into the city and managed to slide under some boxes and they ran by. I kept hearing cars drive around, shouts, radios, and sirens. All for me. Maybe they had discovered that someone had broken into their offices. I thought for sure that I hadn't left any tracks, but maybe they could still tell somehow. I waited a good half hour before things died down a bit and I snuck back to the dorm after circling around the university making sure that I wasn't being followed. I returned everything to the attic and snuck back to the room in my nightclothes. And miraculously everyone was still asleep."
(Pause)
"Well, I've been going on for awhile now, I could use a break."
(Male voice, indistinct)
"Thank-you, sir. Yes, tomorrow then."
Male voice: "End Alpha Recording Session 6."
Link to chapter 7:
http://www.quizilla.com/users/MaiKeKulanaKeaAnekona/stories/366924/voice_of_hope_break_the_silence_chapter_007
