CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR - SEPARATED
He was curled up on a soft and padded armchair with the little boy cradled sleepily in his lap. He smiled softly at him as he wiped the blonde fringe back from the boy’s face.
“You sleepy BumbleB?” he asked as he rocked the four year old in his lap.
“Noooo,” B whined. “I’m staying up.” He clung onto Sammy’s arms in grim determination with his tiny fingers.
Sammy grinned at him. “You need to go to bed.”
B pointed his other hand at the picture book that was balanced upon Sammy’s knee. “Finish story,” he ordered, as he clumsily tried to turn the page.
Sammy kissed him on the forehead and ran his eyes across the page to find the place he had just been at. He pressed his finger beneath the line as he began to read so that B could follow along with his voice.
He paused after a moment and looked down at B. The boy’s eyes were closed and he was leaning heavily against Sammy’s chest.
Sammy smiled slightly as he ran a hand lovingly over his brother’s cheek, before realising that it was stone cold. He froze slightly. “B?” he whispered. “BB?”
He had turned pale… he was so cold…
Sammy awoke and wildly stared about him to see the grim, dark walls of his cell grinning broadly at him. He shuddered and groaned inwardly as he remembered why he was here. For a moment a fat lump began to burble in his throat as he thought of the dream and he shivered as he remembered holding the cold body close. He remembered that moment. He remembered reading to B. He had done it almost every night when B had been a baby, but he never remembered B being so cold as if he were dead.
He closed his eyes where the vivid memory of his little brother was still fresh and then wrapped his empty arms about his chest, remembering how warm he had felt as he cuddled him against his chest.
He wiped his heavy eyes and blinked about the gloomy cell, the overhead lights having been dimmed to allow the prisoners to sleep. He could hear the soft snores of Kevin and their new friends as they escaped their dreary existence for a few, short hours.
He rolled onto his side and tried to settle back to sleep, but B would not leave him alone. He recalled the last time he had seen him and the gentle sanctity that had washed over him as they’d been reunited. He’d been completely broken before that moment with the thought of Brian’s coma and B’s disappearance. He’d thought he’d had nobody left, but B was still alive. Sammy had held him close and the touch had proved that there was still something for Sammy to fight for.
And then B had been torn away and now Sammy was again left with gnawing anxiety that consumed his chest. Why wouldn’t they let him see B again? Why had they made B sick? Sammy had no idea what was being done to him, but somehow he had to get B away from these people. He couldn’t stand the thought of him being tortured again. He remembered what he had been like after the first time. He hadn’t spoken for over a year. Occasionally he’d whispered a few odd words to Sammy, but there had been nothing proper. The boy had slept in Sammy’s arms every night and had followed him around the base constantly, terrified of being separated from him for too long. Sammy hadn’t minded having B around him all day every day, but it had creased him up in tears sometimes when he saw how fragile and haunted B had become. No five year old should have been like that.
How long had they been here for now? Sammy had almost lost count of the monotonous days and it seemed like forever since he had seen B properly. Their last meeting had not been under pleasant circumstances and even before then everything had been tense. B had been so miserable about Brian and he hadn’t smiled in so long.
He ran a hand over his eyes, pushing away the tears again. It was difficult for a lot of people to understand their relationship and only those people like Kevin and Darren, who had seen them grow up, knew how important B and Sammy were to each other.
He slowly raised himself on his elbows and blinked wearily about the shadowed cell. Around him he watched the darkness writhe and laugh like hidden spirits. He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up and hugged his knees. He seemed unlikely to get any sleep just now with memories playing around his mind. He smiled weakly as he thought of their plan to escape. Sammy didn’t care what he had to do anymore, as long as he could see B at the end of it.
He turned his head and then suddenly frowned as he caught sight of the guard station that was just outside their cell. There was nobody there.
Curiously he staggered to his feet and crept up to the bars, pressing his face close to them so that he could see the entire room beyond. There were several other cells, but they were all empty as usual. The other prisoners were kept in the other cellblocks. Paul and the others were only in here because there was no space in the other blocks.
There was definitely no guard around. He tentatively gripped the bars and then tried to prise them apart, but they held fast. He then stared down at the lock on the other side. He looked down at the bracelet on his arm and wondered if he could pick at it… He’d never picked a lock but how difficult could it be?
He slipped the item from his wrist and then examined the end and cursed. It would never be strong enough. He glanced back at Kevin and Paul and the others, still slumbering behind him. Maybe one of them had something he could use. They had always been under surveillance before, even though they could talk without being overheard. They’d never been left alone though and there had to be some way of breaking out.
He froze as he suddenly heard footsteps and then dashed back to his corner and ragged blanket. Heart beating wildly, he lie down and faced the wall so that the guard would not see his wide open eyes and tried to keep still.
He heard someone enter the room and he closed his eyes, trying to return to sleep. There would be no more probing the cell door with the guard back.
There was a slight creak and his eyes snapped back open as he realised that the cell door had been opened. Had somebody seen him?
He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the heavy beat of his heart that was beginning to make him feel sick as he kept as still as he could. He could hear someone walking towards him.
‘Damn, damn, damn…’
A hand was pressed against his shoulder. “Wake up,” a cold voice ordered.
Sammy’s eyes flickered at Heather’s voice and he slowly rolled over, trying his best to feign sleep and disorientation as much as possible. “What?” he mumbled.
She moved away from him and stood up. “Stand,” she instructed. “I have a job for you to do. Come with me.” With that she strolled casually outside of the cell and then paused as she waited for him.
Sammy’s face creased in puzzlement, but obediently he staggered to his feet and then crept across the cell, careful not to awaken the others. There was still no other guard and Sammy eyed Heather warily, but at the same time he compared her slender form to his own. He could beat hr in any fight. This might be his chance to steal her keycard by some other means other than seduction.
Why did he feel slightly disappointed?
“What do you want?” he asked quietly. “Unless it wasn’t as early had initially thought it was. No doubt the Gerai would be desperate to make up for lost time after Paul had blown out the system.
She shook her head. Be quiet,” she said, her voice even colder than usual. She pulled a gun from her belt which immediately put a stop to any of Sammy’s plans. “Walk,” she said, pointing to the door.
Sammy nodded and gulped as he stepped to the door, trying to appear calm and composed when inside he had started to scream. Sweat was building up upon his body. ‘She knows we were planning something.’ If the cold tone of her voice was anything to go by then Paul’s original plan would never work.
He stopped as he entered the corridor and his head turned slightly so that his eyes could see the steel nose of the gun that Heather was holding. “Where are we going?” he asked quietly.
“You’ll soon see,” she said. “Go to the second door on the left.”
Sammy nodded and slowly began to walk forward, taking small steps so as not to provoke Heather into shooting his back. He had survived this whole ordeal so far and he intended to see it through to the end. He wasn’t going to let B down now after everything that had happened.
His eyes darted about the silvery corridor which was dimly illuminated with small lights that nestled in the ceiling. He froze as he heard footsteps coming towards them, but Heather gave him a small prod with the gun, urging him to go onwards.
A guard turned the corner and stared at Sammy in surprise. “Hey, what are you doing out - ” he began before he spotted Heather. “Oh it’s you, ma’am,” he said. He saluted.
“I’m taking the prisoner to catch up on some work,” heather told him airily. “Continue your patrol.”
The guard saluted smartly and passed them, not even glancing at Sammy once more. Sammy’s eyes watched him as he disappeared back into the cell room where the others would still be sleeping.
“You have a lot of authority,” Sammy commented to heather as he began to walk towards the door Heather had indicated before. His mouth was slightly dry as he spoke. The Gerai were probably really pissed about the blow out yesterday and would be determined to make up for lost time. That didn’t give them much time to escape. Sammy was bound to work quickly if they forced him to work at night, and it would look too suspicious if Paula blew out the system again.
“It’s good when you have parents who have a strong influence,” Heather said. “It gives me power over people. I like to be in control.”
And at the moment, she truly was. Sammy didn’t know if he dared tried to attack her when she had a gun pointed at him. Even if he did fight her and win, he would have to make it back to the others. A lot could happen in between. There didn’t seem to be many guards about the place, but Sammy had no doubt that the few that did patrol were heavily armed. He couldn’t risk getting caught or killed. That would really hinder their escape and B’s chances of getting out. Sammy wasn’t comfortable in just waiting for Darren and the others to help them. He needed to get to B quickly. He couldn’t wait that long in case he was really sick.
His eyes tried to spin around in their sockets to stare at Heather. She usually liked to speak to him and at the moment that was the only card Sammy could play if he was in danger.
He stopped again as he reached the door. “In there?” he asked, knowing that a few corridors beyond was the circle ‘slave room’, as Kevin liked to call it, and Sammy’s usual little work office.
“Yes,” Heather instructed, her breath brushing against his neck.
Sammy shivered slightly, beginning to realise that he liked having her close to him. It definitely didn’t feel as unpleasant as it had the first time she had done it to him. He’d been spending too much time with the Gerai and especially Heather.
Heather leaned over him and pressed her hand against the panel at the side to open the door. Sammy stepped through it and began to head towards the circle room, which would be at the end of the corridor.
Heather suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Wrong way,” she informed him coolly.
Sammy frowned slightly. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“Somewhere where you can work in private,” she said simply.
Sammy felt even more puzzled and a small bubble of panic was beginning to blow up inside of his chest. What if he was isolated from the others? If the Gerai realised that they were planning something then they would soon be separated.
He stared about him at the unfamiliar corridor and noticed another guard patrolling, but he did not even bother questioning Heather. He saw it was her and merely saluted at her.
Sammy continued uneasily and suddenly he found his dream slipping back into his mind. He blinked for a moment and remembered the last time he had held B before they were separated. “Have you found anything out about my brother?” he asked softly. She had seemed cooperative before and now Sammy only hoped that it would continue, even if she was suspicious of him. She might be the only way he could receive piece of mind about B’s safety.
“I haven’t spoken with Marlowe yet.” She paused for a moment, but he still sensed her gun against his back. “He tried to escape yesterday apparently.”
“Escape?” Sammy asked, his mouth turning dry. He closed his eyes and smiled briefly. If B was well enough to try an escape attempt than he had to be healthy at least. He breathed deeply, remembering the way B had been when he had last seen him. He had been dreading that he would be worse.
“He didn’t succeed,” Heather informed him.
Sammy nodded and his stomach crumpled a little, even though he knew B could never escape alone when the base was filled with Gerai. He shuddered slightly. B wasn’t stupid and he would have known he hadn’t much hope of escaping and yet he had been desperate enough to try… what was Marlowe doing to him?
‘Stop it!’ he told himself ruthlessly as Heather pushed him into another corridor. He could play these grimacing mind scenarios all day and still not come close to the truth. At least B was well though and had the strength to escape. Sammy had been scared that his strength was melting away last time he had seen him.
“I still want o see him again,” Sammy murmured. “Just for a minute.”
“I’ll raise it with the doctor, as long as you continue to work hard. You have a lot to catch up on,” Heather said. Her voice was beginning to warm a little, but it was still much colder than anybody else’s voice Sammy knew. She seemed to like to act professional.
“Maybe he could help me. He’s very smart,” Sammy said softly. Together him and B could re-write the Gerai computer system in minutes, he was certain of it. And it would be nice to keep him in sight so that Sammy could protect him…
“We’ll see,” Heather replied.
Sammy smiled, a small ray of hope beginning to light up inside of him at the thought of B.
He walked in silence for a moment, casually glancing about him to try and remember the layout of the base in case it ever came in useful, but it stretched out like a maze of corridors and Sammy was not even sure if he could find his way back to the prison cell.
“So were are we going?” he asked again. “An office somewhere away from the others?” He tired to peer through some glass that led into another room but could see nothing like a computer system.
No, in here,” heather said as she abruptly placed a hand upon his shoulder to stop him. She pointed at a door on the opposite side of the corridor.
“Right,” Sammy mumbled as he placed his hand upon the panel to open it.
He expected to see a computer or at least a desk. Instead, it was completely empty. He turned around as Heather entered and locked the door behind them and tried to peer at one of the panels on the door, but it only displayed the temperature of the room.
He frowned slightly as he stared at the dim lights over head. “Why have you- ”
Heather leaned the gun up against the wall and then suddenly she had him pinned up against the wall, bringing her face so close to his that Sammy could see the perfect curves of her lips. She pressed herself closer to him. “You know exactly why I’m here,” she whispered.
“Oh,” Sammy said, his voice barely audible as it caught in his suddenly, barren and dry throat. He gulped slightly, bus his hands had fallen to the curves of her hips without him even noticing. “Do you always try and seduce the prisoners?” he asked his mouth so dry he almost didn’t get the words out.
“’Try’?” she asked. “You mean I haven’t succeeded?” Her hands had entwined themselves about his back
Sammy gulped again as her hands began to roam his back, but his heart rate had jumped up another few levels until it was almost lifting him from his feet. Heather was gorgeous and he couldn’t deny that anymore. His breaths were catching in his mouth as he stared at her, suddenly longing to pull the blond her from the restrictive bun and let it cascade down her shoulders.
“Um, that would kinda depend. I mean, um, you may have me all alone in a room but - ” he began nervously, until her lips met his in a warm and passionate kiss.
Sammy closed his eyes as he unconsciously pulled her closer. He couldn’t believe she was doing this. He had never believed it when Paul had spotted the attraction.
As she pulled away, Sammy stared into her blue eyes for a moment. “I take it that just because we’re kissing doesn’t mean you’re going to do me any favours like get me outta here?” he murmured.
“Not a chance,” heather replied.
“Oh well,” Sammy mumbled as she pressed her head against his neck. “Never mind.”
She tilted her face and again their lips met and Sammy felt himself tremble slightly in pleasure. He had been feeling something bringing him closer to Heather for days and now he couldn’t fight it anymore. So many distraught emotions had clogged up his mind, but now he was able to let all of that go and release every bit of pressure that had been building over the past few days.
He just had to remember not to forget the keycard while he was relaxing…