CHAPTER 36
Locke hesitated, his hands on the last set of double doors. His stomach felt like an empty bag being filled with anxiety. He dreaded seeing the face of the guard on duty. The guard who wouldn’t leave the building alive if Locke predicted the future with any accuracy. But Locke was putting himself at risk as well. No bars to protect him. No shackles on Hamilton. Even riskier if Hamilton knew who caused his torture: Govicide Agents Hiss and Locke.
Hamilton might feel revenge was in order. What better way to do it than to kill an Agent who caused it?
Locke continued to hesitate. Opening these doors would put into motion a chain of events that could get Locke and Jade off the hook. But it would also let a Govicide Agent murderer free. And get a Guard killed. His knees shook like loose hinges.
He was wasting time.
Pushing the doors ajar, his hands wouldn’t let go of the door handles. A guard stood at the post.
Ned.
A surge of despair rose in Locke, anxiety now brimming over. He felt like ripping the handles off the steel doors. He wanted to push each door right through the walls.
This Guard, a male Locke knew well, would be die by Hamilton’s hand tonight.
“Govicide Agent Locke? Is everything alright?” Ned called out.
Locke waited, contemplating whether he could go through with this. He’d anticipated a Guard working who he didn’t know.
“Uh, yeah, Ned.” He stayed between the doors, holding them open. “Something came to mind. That’s all.”
Ned stepped from behind the podium. “What are you doing here? Why are you not dressed in black?” He bowed.
The bowing only made Locke feel worse. He held onto the doors to keep himself upright. He ignored Ned’s last question. “You don’t have to bow. I won’t tell.” Locke said.
“Are you sure you are alright?” Ned took a few steps down the hall.
“Yes, yes. I’m fine.” Gaining his balance, Locke allowed the doors to close behind him. With each meandering stride, he agonized his way to Ned.
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” Locke leaned his elbow on the podium. He avoided Ned’s interested gaze, fearing the Guard might see Locke was up to something.
“Almost did not recognize you, Govicide Agent Locke. Weird, huh? I see you for years dressed as a Detective. Then, I see you in Agent black. And the first time I see you in detective clothes again I am not sure it is you.”
“Sometimes I don’t even recognize myself, Ned.” Did this male really have to die?
“What brings you here tonight? You just missed your fellow Agents by an hour. They had a torture session with Hamilton.”
Bad news but maybe not. The pain might motivate Hamilton to help Locke without a lot of convincing. Still, he was the reason Hamilton got tortured in the first place. “Really?” A fake sigh accentuated the word.
“Yeah. Pretty good session, too. Lots of screaming and yelling. Those Agents brass knuckles were pretty bloody when they left.”
It took all Locke’s strength not to cringe. “I am glad to hear it. Very good to hear. Well, I have a few questions of my own for Hamilton since Agents are not unmandated to see him now.”
“Govicide Agent Locke, I do not think you are going to get much out of him. Maybe you should come back tomorrow.”
Though Ned was unknowingly on the edge of death, he was being helpful to his executioner.
“No. I have to do this now.”
“Okay, whatever you say, Govicide Agent Locke.” Ned pulled the keys out of his pocket.
Locke glanced at the floor, remorse overflowing in him, and Ned wasn’t even dead yet. “Please, just call me, Locke. Okay? Hiss isn’t here. Nobody’s recording this. We’ve known each other for a while. Call me what you’ve always called me.”
The Guard paused mid-stride to the doors. “You sure?”
“Yes.” Locke wanted to tell Ned to leave Homicide as soon as the doors were unlocked. He wanted to tell him to run far away. Two blocks. Five blocks. Ten blocks. He didn’t want Ned to die.
But, without the guard’s death, no one would believe Hamilton escaped on his own.
Ned unlocked the doors and gave the keys to Locke.
“Ned, I have to ask. What are you doing here tonight? Since when do you work nights?”
“I requested it, Govicide . . . sorry . . . Locke. You inspired me to be a better subject of the Masses. A better servant to the OWG. If a detective can become a Govicide Agent, then I can show more allegiance to the OWG as well. So, I started picking up extra shifts. So, I am here.”
Locke should’ve never asked the question. He patted Ned’s shoulder, turning his head so Ned wouldn’t see his worried eyes. “That’s . . .very good . . . of you.” A prickly ball inflated in his throat. “I want you to know I always thought you did great work serving the OWG. You are a good Guard, Ned.”
“Thanks, Locke. That means a lot to me.” Ned answered.
Locke unlocked the first door, leaving Ned behind. Once Ned went outside of sight, Locke collapsed against the wall. Out of the corner of his eye, prisoners in the first two cells watched him, but said nothing. They lay on their cots, resting.
Fourteen Agents. A spy. And now a Guard. How many casualties were needed? All started by one male: Hamilton.
No, that wasn’t true, his conscience reminded him. Fourteen Agents, yes.
The spy? Not exactly. Hiss ran him over in his own tantrum.
Ned? He’d be Locke’s fault. He’d lead Hamilton to Ned and Hamilton would do the rest. Hamilton’s hand would kill Ned, but Locke’s mind conjured the idea.
But Locke felt the choice was clear: Jade was more important than Ned. Ned needed to die so Jade and Locke could live.
Locke straightened himself. The thought of Jade not having to deal with the fetus strengthened him. This was about Jade. And somebody had to die for her to live. This was the way it had to be. Locke liked Ned. But he loved Jade.
Locke began the long walk to the last cell. His heartbeat pounded three times faster than his footsteps. The keys jingled in his pocket.
This time, as he neared Hamilton’s cell, Locke didn’t hear the murderers voice. No mumbling. No murmuring. No reciting. He guessed the recent torture session had something do with it.
Hamilton wouldn’t resemble the healthy male Locke saw before. A week of torture involving probable sleep deprivation, drugging, physical and mental violence, and hunger would leave the murderer in sorry shape. He might even be delusional.
Locke wouldn’t show sympathy, though he respected Hamilton. Hamilton, no matter what he’d done, had opened Locke’s eyes. Locke didn’t agree with Hamilton’s beliefs and motives, but he respected him for telling him more about the World. And there was still so much to learn from him.
First, though, was the jailbreak.
Striding along the bars of the cell, he looked in. On his cot, Hamilton lay on his left side facing the cell wall. His feet were nearest Locke. Locke couldn’t hear him breathing, and for a moment he thought the Agents might have killed him.If Hamilton were dead, some Agents would be in big OWG trouble.
His left foot moved. Good, he was still alive.
Hamilton didn’t seem to sense Locke’s presence. He stretched out his legs then his arms. He made a grimacing sound and rubbed his right knee, probably injured in the torture session.
This male was human after all.
Curling up once again, Hamilton cleared his throat a couple of times and coughed. He wiped his mouth with his right arm. When he put his arm down, Locke saw the sleeve was bloodied.
Never so vividly did the OWG get to see how subjects acted behind the scenes. Not even the System could track what everyone said or how everyone acted out of sight. The Masses still retained some privacy within their own living quarters. The OWG would find a way to get rid of that as well, since all Offender movements got started under a subject’s own roof.
Now, he saw behind Hamilton’s proverbial curtain. The murderer wasn’t aware Locke stood there watching him. No attitude. No posturing. No sarcasm.
However, Locke had a plan to hatch.
“Hamilton . . . hey . . . Hamilton . . . wake up,” he called out.
The murderer jerked and peered over his right shoulder. Locke glimpsed Hamilton’s face and tried not to react. The left side of his face was a bruise of purple and black. His left eye was swollen shut.
“Govicide Agent Locke?” A slur ruined Hamilton’s deep voice. His voice sounded more like a synthetic computer-generated voice Locke might hear on an OWG television commercial.
Locke didn’t answer.
“You should see the other guy,” Hamilton mumbled.
“What?”
“It’s a joke,” Hamilton added. “I kind of rammed my face into an Agent’s fist.” His pained smile showed some of his perfect teeth were missing.
“Oh. I get it.” Locke answered, his eyes darting from Hamilton’s smile to the floor. Then, back to Hamilton again.
“You got a lot of courage showing up here.” Hamilton propped himself up on an elbow, groaning. Unlike the male who moved smoothly around the cell not long ago, this Hamilton moved like someone twice his age.
“Courage? Why?” Locke asked. He already knew the answer, but did the topic have to arise so soon?
“Well, you are the reason I had all this done to me, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t know I was causing that to happen.” Locke pointed to Hamilton’s face.
“But it wouldn’t have stopped you even if you knew, right?”
What was there to say? Locke couldn’t turn down an assignment.
Hamilton didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s okay. If I knew you were going to get tortured I wouldn’t have stopped my murders either.” Hamilton sat up. “But, there were many times over the last week where . . . well . . . you get the idea.”Hamilton wiped his mouth. Talking seemed to cause it to bleed more.
“You wanted to do to me what you did to those fourteen others?”
“Yep. You got it. And Govicide Agent Hiss, too. We can’t forget about him, can we?” Hamilton’s tattered eyebrows danced on his forehead.
Hamilton still had a sense of humor. The scoundrel in him still existed. The torturers hadn’t erased it.
“No, can’t forget about him,” Locke said. Hiss seemed a subject on which he and Hamilton could agree.
“So, Govicide Agent Locke, you just missed your comrades. You going to beat on me on your own?”
“Even if I was here for that, it wouldn’t work, would it?” Locke asked. He already knew that answer, too.
“No, it wouldn’t. But how would you know that?” Hamilton tried to rise, but only got off the cot a few inches before sagging back to the mattress.
“How do I know? I know because I’m still out here and not behind these bars. If those Agents couldn’t get out of you that Jade’s pregnant through non-credit sex they’ll never get anything out of you.”
“Hmmm, good point.” Hamilton successfully lifted himself off the cot this time.
“And, I’m sure by this time you know that for a while Agents weren’t allowed anywhere near you. And you obviously didn’t tell them about me being here a week ago either. So . . .”
“Another good point, Govicide Agent Locke.” The murderer limped around the cell.
“Why?” Locke fit his face between the bars. The cool bars chilled his cheeks.
“Why what?” Hamilton eased himself into his chair, facing Locke.
“Why didn’t you tell them?”
Hamilton rubbed his left shoulder, wincing. “Just to see if I could do it.”
“C’mon now, Hamilton,” Locke kicked the bars. “For the fun of it?”
“Okay, you caught me on that one. I have my reasons. None of which I can reveal to you.”
“Well, if you don’t reveal them to me now, how will I ever know? It’s not like Govicide won’t keep you alive forever.”
“I think you already know. You’re just not aware of it yet.” Hamilton stood, pushing himself off the chair. His legs didn’t appear to have enough strength to lift his body on their own.
Locke rummaged through his experiences. He had suspicions but no knowledge. “No, I don’t think I know.”
“Well, you should. But, let’s put that away for now. Why are you here tonight if it isn’t to torture me?” Rubbing his left knee, Hamilton stretched his legs.
“I am here to . . . give . . . you something.” Locke’s spine felt like one of those iron bars. He couldn’t back down now.
“Give me something? I could really go for a beer right now.”
“Beer?” Locke narrowed his eyes.
“Never mind. Let me guess,” Hamilton limped to the bars, “I have to do something in return?”
For a moment, Locke thought he heard movement in the corridor. A quick glance revealed nothing. “Yes, you have to reciprocate.” Locke nodded.
“You are the reason I got tortured for the last week. How can I trust you?”
“For the same reason you didn’t tell those Agents about Jade being pregnant.” This was even tougher than he thought. His words got stuck in his dry throat. “You could’ve helped yourself out with those Agents but you said nothing about Jade.”
“You’re right. But, like I said, I have my reasons.” Hamilton sat back down. He tried to put his hands on the back of his head but his injuries prevented it. He placed them in his lap.
Locke gripped the bars harder. “And I have my own reasons for asking. But I want to tell you the whole story first.”
“Go ahead. I haven’t heard a good story lately.” Hamilton crossed his arms.
Locke started at the beginning with Jade’s pregnancy test. His interview with the Director, and how he planned to ask for leniency. Then his idea to solve Hamilton’s case and receive authorization for Jade’s abortion without penalties. He finished by explaining how everything fell apart when he realized the case wouldn’t be solved in the time allotted. Plus, Jade’s suicide attempt.
Hamilton remained silent, massaging his shoulders, rotating his neck. He nodded at the correct points and shook his head in others.
“ . . . and I came home just in time to stop her from committing suicide.That’s when I decided I needed to ask you for a favor.” Five minutes of talking and Locke’s vocal chords felt scarred.
Hamilton’s expression changed. At least, Locke thought it did. It was hard to tell through the bruise.
“And how is she? How is Jade now?” Hamilton stood, favoring his right leg. Whatever the Agents did to his knee would cause Hamilton to hobble for a while, maybe indefinitely, not that Hamilton had long to live anyway.
“She’s fine. I wouldn’t have left her if I thought she might hurt herself again.”
Hamilton walked around the cell, his right legs scuffling. “Lots of bad luck in that story.”
“You could say that.”
“Where do I fit in all this? And more importantly, what do I get in return?”
Locke was about to do the worst thing one of the Masses could do: Make a deal with an Offender. Yet, he felt no guilt. This was the only way out. It was un-mandated and would get Ned killed, but he had already weighed the choices.
“I know what the OWG charts say about you. Well, before the torture. You are healthier than anyone they have ever seen. No matter if you’re twenty-five, or thirty-five, or forty-five. I mean, we don’t know how old you are.”
“I’m thirty-nine.” Hamilton stopped for a second to grin at Locke then continued creeping around his cell.
“Thirty-nine? Older than I thought. Well, that proves my point. You’re fit, but there’s no record of you. Never been to an OWG hospital. Never got medicine through the System or from the OWG. So, you must . . . ” Locke took a chance. “ . . . as a Free Enterpriser . . . have some kind of medical setup on your own.”
“You think I’m a Free Enterpriser?” Hamilton lowered his head, keeping his eyes on Locke.
“You said it before. I thought I might as well as say it for myself.”
“Right, right.” Hamilton nodded. “That certainly got your attention. But, really, as described and defined by the OWG, we aren’t Free Enterprisers.”
“Well, in any case, you’ve been getting medical care outside of the System, right?” With each word, his talking became tougher, as if time was slowing down.
“True. No denying that. There’s no doctor in the OWG who could keep me in this condition. Not with its technology.”
“But, the OWG has the best technology.” Locke retorted.
Hamilton stopped behind his chair. “How do I put this, Govicide Agent Locke? OWG technology is not OWG technology. It’s old Free Enterpriser technology.”
The footprints gleamed in Locke’s head. “Yes, somehow I knew that.” He nodded. For once, an un-mandated sentence of Hamilton’s made sense. But he had no time for it right now. First things first. “I want to know if you can direct me on how I can get medical care for Jade.”
Hamilton opened his right eye wider. “Why?”
“She can’t go to a OWG facility because it’ll show up on the System.”
“I know how the OWG works. But I’m confused. Is she sick?”
“No. She needs an abortion.”
“Sorry,” Hamilton hung his head and shook it. “I can’t help you, Govicide Agent Locke.” Then, as if his injuries healed, Hamilton walked over to the bars.
“Why not? Is it because I’m a Govicide Agent?” Locke slapped the bars.
“I just can’t.”
“Why?” Locke’s chest touched the steel holding Hamilton inside.
“Because we don’t believe in abortion.”
“What do you mean you don’t believe in it? Abortions exist. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”
“Oh, Govicide Agent Locke, we know what they are. We just don’t believe in performing them.” Hamilton shook his head as if the mere thought disturbed him.
What did that mean? Abortions were as common as a tooth extraction in the OWG. And both were treated the same way: an operation.
“It’s because I caused you to get tortured that you won’t help, isn’t it?” No disguise could cover Locke’s feelings now.
“I’m telling you, it’s not.”
“You’d help one of the Masses, wouldn’t you? Someone else out there who wasn’t working for Govicide trying to stop you and all your others.” Locke heard his own desperation.
“No, Govicide Agent Locke, I wouldn’t.”
“You kill fourteen Agents but you don’t believe in abortions? You made a lot of subjects suffer.”
Hamilton came closer. “What do you care about that? You did a study about how certain murders shouldn’t be investigated because it might cost the OWG too many credits.”
“That’s different. We Agents are out there making sure Offenders like you aren’t taking away everything from the Masses. We’re special because without us subjects would die!”
“You mean . . . like me?” Hamilton’s blank stare cut through Locke like a guillotine.
Dang, he caught Locke in a contradiction.
“Do you really think you’re better than everyone else, Locke?”Hamilton dropped the “Govicide Agent” title. “That all you Agents are so much better that each one of your murders should be investigated? But for the Masses, well, you’ll have to do a few calculations first. Do you think because you passed some test . . . oh, wait a minute, that’s right, you didn’t pass the test. You failed, right? But just because Agents pass some test, it makes them better? More valuable? More important?”
“I don’t have to listen to this.” Locke backed away from Hamilton. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“Michael, what don’t you understand? I can’t.” Hamilton shrugged his shoulders. Locke wanted to feel hatred from the male in front of him but he felt nothing of the sort. Instead, he felt genuine caring and sympathy coming from Hamilton.
But, Locke had put off the inevitable for long enough. “I’ll let you go.” As soon as the words were out, he no longer felt parched, his hands stopped shaking, and his anxiety disappeared. But this wasn’t over yet.
Hamilton opened his mouth, and paused. He seemed to consider the proposition for a second. “Let me go? You mean, let me walk right out of here?” Hamilton lowered his voice. He tried to peek around the corner, perhaps to see if this was some type of setup.
“There’s no one out here but me, Hamilton. This is my plan. My girlcomrade needs an abortion.” A warm feeling replaced all those others, from his toes to his head. The feeling that he was doing everything he could to help himself and Jade. That he didn’t cave in the face of incomprehensible pressure.
“And this is all so you can stay on as an Agent and the two of you don’t get in trouble?”
“Yes.” Was Hamilton going to do this for him after all?
“You’d have to make it look like a breakout, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s what I thought, too. We could work together on this.”
“And the guard?”
Ned . . . just bad luck Locke told himself again. The thought caused Locke to look down the hall. “You’d have to kill him, because I’m not sure the OWG would believe a murderer broke out and let anyone live.”
As before, Hamilton seemed to think about it, rolling his neck one way then the other. Locke estimated getting out of there would be a hard reward to pass up.
“Just to be clear. You want me to kill, or assist me in killing, a guard so I can break out and take your girlcomrade to get an abortion in order for you to keep being a Govicide Agent?”
“Yes.”
Hamilton stepped to his right. He and Locke were almost nose-to-nose.“You know this is how it starts, don’t you?”
“How what starts?”
“This is how the OWG started. How the System started. How Govicide started.”
These three sentences bothered Locke, but he kept his face blank and unreadable. They bothered him because, as he suspected for a week now, Hamilton knew a lot that Locke didn’t.
“I don’t need a history lesson, Hamilton. You going to do this or not?”
“A history lesson? It wouldn’t be a history lesson, per say. It would be a lesson in humanity and how good ideas go bad.”
Locke re-assessed his situation. He expected Hamilton, like any prisoner, to jump at the chance to break out of the prison. Locke had the keys, a plan, all of it, and still the killer hesitated.
“You don’t trust me, do you Hamilton? You think I’m going to break you out of here and then turn on you, right? You think I’m making this whole thing up?”
Hamilton retreated to his chair. “You misread me. I think I can trust you more than any person I know inside the OWG. That’s not saying much but it’s something.”
“Then, let’s get you out of here. Get Jade her abortion and we can all go back to the way things were.” Locke dug in his pocket for Ned’s keys.
“Didn’t you hear me? We don’t do abortions.”