Grandfather (46 page)

That’s when I remembered
the map. They didn’t turn off their lights. They just turned down
the other subway tunnel.

“
Let’s keep going,” I told
Marley, feeling her stop. I reached my hands out until I could feel
her arm. “We’re almost there.”

Sure enough, we came to
the turn leading to another subway track. We were close. We had
about thirty minutes before the meeting started, I felt.

I rounded the corner and
entered the next subway tunnel. I saw light up ahead. We followed
it for about ten minutes before it turned off to what I guessed to
be the exit. I was right. We reached a platform much like the one
from the entrance earlier. We climbed onto it and made our way to
the stairs, slowly climbing them. With any luck, Edgar and them
would’ve shot down any soldiers nearby with stun guns, keeping me
and Marley from having to shoot anybody. That’s what I kept telling
myself.

I slowed down as I saw the
buildings towering overhead. I peeked over the exit as my head
inched out of the ground. The sidewalks were empty. Most of the
lights to the buildings were turned off. It was unusual since we
were in the city center. Any other time, the place would have
pedestrians and vehicles scattered. The city was just so . .
.

“
It’s dead.”

Yup, Marley was right.
There was no life anywhere.

Edgar had said we were
lucky, and I saw why. Just a block away was the familiar building.
The Presidential Tower. The lights on the top floor were on,
obviously. Up there was where the meeting was being
held.

We climbed the remainder
of the stairs. I pictured the map in my head before looking in the
direction Edgar and them would’ve gone. I actually didn’t even need
the map to know where I was going, because two soldiers lied on the
nearest corner. I knew the soldiers weren’t dead. Killing them
would’ve been too loud. That was the whole point in the stun
guns.

“Let’s hurry up,” Marley
whispered. “In case there are more nearby.”

That wouldn’t have been
good. They would alert Cornelius when the unconscious soldiers were
found. It didn’t matter though, because we were too close.
Cornelius wouldn’t have time to prepare for us. I walked onto the
sidewalk and was about to cross the street when a movement to my
right caught my attention. I turned to see the very thing I didn’t
want to see. They hadn’t gotten all of the soldiers, because one of
them was just standing there, staring at me. He held a phone, ready
to dial. I quickly pointed my stun gun and shot it at him. His body
began shaking tremendously, as if he was having a seizure. He
dropped his phone and fell to his knees. I walked to him and kicked
him as hard as I could in the head, just to speed up the process.
The kick knocked him out.

I turned to Marley who was
just staring at the soldier’s body in shock. “I bet that hurt,” she
said.

I grabbed her arm and
pulled her around the corner. There were a few more unconscious
soldiers on the sidewalk. I didn’t see any others. Good. Maybe I
wouldn’t have to use the stun gun again. We took off running down
the sidewalk, growing nearer to the tower.

That’s when we heard it,
and my heart stopped. I felt like a kid who was just caught
sneaking around. I guess that’s exactly what I was
doing.

“
Stop!” somebody screamed
from behind.

Of course my first thought
was that a soldier had found us. As soon as Marley and I obeyed, I
knew it was no soldier. It was a woman.

I turned around slowly as
Marley did. The woman looked absolutely terrified. Or maybe she was
angry. Probably both.

“
Momma?” Marley asked.
“What are –”

“
We’re going back now,” Mae
demanded, charging after us.

I backed away. “Go with
your mom,” I told Marley.

“
You’re coming with me,
too,” Mae snapped.

Man, her lips were
trembling. I couldn’t have imagined her angry but yet, there she
was.

“
I’m sorry,” I said, about
to turn and make a run for it. I didn’t get the chance. Mae didn’t
get a chance to argue more either.

“
Freeze!”

We all spun around to see
four soldiers pointing guns at us from across the road.

“
Hands up!”

There was nothing we could
do. I flung them in the air. I turned to see Mae and Marley did the
same.

With their guns still
pointed at us, they crossed the street until they reached us, and
frowned while looking us up and down.

“
How did you get inside?”
one of them asked.

I didn’t know what he was
talking about at first. Then I remembered we weren’t dressed all
fancy. It was obvious we were outsiders.

“
I need to see Cornelius,”
I said. Hey, I had no idea what else to say. I hoped that would buy
us a little time to . . . to do something.

They all laughed except
for the one nearest Mae. Slowly, he came toward me. Then, he
lowered his gun down. The other soldiers quit laughing.

“
What is it?” one
asked.

“The boy,” he answered
without taking his eyes off me. It was really creepy. Then, his
eyes went to Marley.

“What boy?”

“The orphan,” he replied
“This is Carsyn. And I think this is that girl . . . what’s her
name.”

“It’s Marley,” she
answered.

Mae shushed
her.

The soldiers moved closer
to us, their eyes wide with amazement.

“Take me to Cornelius,” I
said.

They didn’t even have to
think about it. They looked toward the Presidential Tower and
nodded for me to start walking. I did so, followed by Marley and
Mae. The soldiers stayed behind us, keeping a close eye on us. At
least they had their guns lowered.

I kept walking until we
reached the familiar pathway between the rows of fountains in front
of the Presidential Tower. I remembered walking through the doors
to meet up with Cornelius. We ran past the fountain and to the
self-revolving doors. I didn’t know what to expect when I got
inside.

There were people inside.
But thankfully, they were unconscious. Edgar and Robert had already
gotten to them.

The soldiers gasped when
they saw them. “What’s going on?” One asked, holding his gun in
firing position, spinning in every direction to make sure harm
wasn’t near.

I threw my hands up. “I
need to see Cornelius,” I said.

This time, the soldiers
were more cautious. They kept their guns pointed at us while
leading us to the elevator.

“
This is dangerous,” Mae
whispered. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“
Too late for that, Momma,”
Marley whispered. “We’ll be fine.”

“
Oh, Marley, I can’t
believe you’d do such a thing again.”

Marley didn’t say
anything. She probably didn’t know what to say. Or maybe she was
disappointed in herself. I bet anything that was the first time Mae
was ever mad at her daughter.

When we reached the
elevators, I tapped the ‘up’ button. The number above the door
didn’t move for a several seconds. There was an awkward
silence.

I was getting impatient
and anxious. The elevators were never going to move! They
eventually did, and when they reached us, we jumped inside. Marley
hit the button to the top floor. We made eye contact, both of us
breathing heavily as gun barrels stood inches from our
faces.

It seemed as if we were in
the elevator forever. As I gazed at the city through the glass, the
word
dead
came to
mind again. It was a bit sad.

The elevator came to a
stop, dinged, and the door slid opened. We walked out slowly. I
recognized the front desk. There was nobody there. I glanced to the
hall to the right. That was where Cornelius’s office was. Marley
looked at it too, remembering. We walked closer to the desk and
looked down the hall.
We looked down the
other way where we were kept in cells. Shivers ran down my spine
just being there again. Why did I always end up in places I didn’t
want to be?

“Follow,” one of the
soldiers demanded, taking us down the left hall. He knew exactly
where he was going, and I knew he was right because I first heard
the voices. I couldn’t make out words. We got closer and closer
until we reached two opened double doors. That’s where the voices
were coming from.

I stopped before the
soldier entered. I couldn’t breathe. I glanced at Marley and Mae.
Mae was absolutely terrified. So was Marley. I had to admit, I was
afraid, but there was no turning back.

“
Let’s go,” the soldier
demanded, bursting into the room. “We found three people sneaking
around,” the soldier said before I could see anybody.

I took a deep breath and
forced myself to calm down. No, there was nothing that could make
me calm at that moment. But it was worth a shot.

I entered . . .

And found myself in a
perfectly round room. In the middle was a round table that could
have seated twenty or so people. On it was a large map of the city.
There were several different colored markings, but I wasn’t sure
what they meant.

Sitting on one side of the
table was the shocked Cornelius. He couldn’t take his eyes off me.
I felt as if he kept going from anger to happy to annoyed to
surprised. Beside him were four men and two women. They had to be
the leaders.

The thing I hadn’t
expected to see was what was behind them. Seven soldiers, each
armed with a handgun, standing perfectly at attention. They had no
facial expression. None of us had expected there to be others. We
no longer outnumbered Cornelius. It was a fair battle.

Standing on the other end
of the room across from Cornelius was Belladonna, Edgar, Robert,
Cain and the others. They were just as shocked as Cornelius, unable
to keep their eyes off us as the soldiers led us inside. Edgar’s
face was completely red.

“
They were sneaking
around,” the soldier leading us in told Cornelius, who had just
started to laugh so hard his eyes were watering.

“
Idiots!” Edgar screamed.
“You never listen!”

“
Can’t keep away,”
Cornelius said, still laughing.

“What are you doing here?”
Belladonna angrily asked. “How dare you disobey my orders and
–”

Cornelius’s laughter grew
louder, forcing Belladonna to go silent. “Carsy
n . . .
Marle
y . . .
You’ve been sorely
missed.”

Marley, Mae, and I stood
side-by-side as the soldiers stayed close to us. What did they
think we would do?

I glared at Cornelius. He
waved a hand, and the soldiers who captured us left
immediately.

“
You got me in a lot of
trouble,” he said “I do have to ask . . . how did you come by the
recording and letter?”

“Your office,” I
blurted.

“And I do wonder how you
three got away,” Cornelius said. “Somebody assisted you, didn’t
they?”

I snickered. “I guess you
weren’t that good at keeping an eye on us,” I told him.

“Doesn’t matter,”
Belladonna said. “Grandfather’s era will come to an end
tonight.”

“You think you can destroy
us,” he said, amused, turning his attention back at her. “What will
happen to the people? No president, no authority . . . who will run
the country?”

“
I’ve got a few ideas,”
Belladonna said.

“They’ll sure as hell be
better than yours,” Edgar exclaimed, the anger not leaving his
face. Or perhaps he was just worried. I just couldn’t tell the
difference.

“One would ask why you
came, Carsyn,” Cornelius said, ignoring Edgar. “Me? I know
why.”

I said nothing.

Cornelius snickered. “It’s
your parents again, isn’t it? That curiosity keeps getting you into
trouble, doesn’t it? It’s been in the back of your mind all
along.”

You know it was
true.

“
Yes, I lied about your
parents. No, Benjamin isn’t your father. And the necklace has
nothing to do with them.”

There it was. The truth.
It’s what I wanted. Should have known. And he was right . . . my
curiosity
did
keep getting me in trouble. One day, I wasn’t going to be so
lucky.

Cornelius continued,” But
with that said, who’s to say I don’t know the truth about
you?”

Great. Answers were always
replaced with more questions.

“
This is nonsense,”
Belladonna barked.

Cornelius ignored
her.

I moved further into the
room. Marley was behind me, followed by Mae.

“
Let me tell you something,
Carsyn. What if I told you your heritage explains why you can open
the safe for me?”

“You’re lying,” I
spat.

“Am I?” Cornelius asked,
raising a brow.

“Don’t listen to him,”
Edgar snapped.