The Wire Hanger

Chapter 37

On the other side it blended perfectly into the wall, so that you wouldn't know it was a door at all. I crept cautiously out, keeping in mind the direction that the adults had gone. The Centre was lit up by an enormous spotlight in the centre of the atrium, which reflected against the glass in a thousand directions. This also meant, though, that there were enough shadows against the outline for me to slowly shift through. I glanced up but couldn't see the room where all the ID bracelets were kept, or the destroyed bookstore we'd picked our way through. Nor could I see the three adults, which I supposed was a good thing — if I couldn't find them, neither could the Protectors. But it didn't help the immediate problem.

            I shifted on my feet uncertainly for a moment, nervous outside of the safe confines of the bathroom. I started shuffling towards the direction I knew the adults had gone, keeping a mental map of their blinking lights in my head. I thought of Noah watching my light and was briefly reassured. Then I saw movement towards the front doors, the ones I'd seen from inside the fake mailbox.

Two Protectors had my brother by either arm and were frogmarching him out of the building.There wasn't time to consider my options: I made a split second decision and moved as quickly as I dared towards Esau, away from Obadiah, Jezebel, and my mother, who were somewhere in the shadows, going the wrong way. I slipped into a nearby doorway, as close as I dared, and watched with my heart in my throat. All the Protectors in the near vicinity were focused on my brother, who was not being particularly cooperative. He writhed from side to side in the grip of the Protectors, and was yelling incoherently about how if his father knew what they were doing, there'd be hell to pay. I was no longer sure this was true, and couldn't help but wonder if my father was somewhere in the building — maybe even watching — but part of me still admired his conviction. It must be nice, to still be so sure of some things in the world.

            Before I had any idea what I meant to do, Esau was out the doors, and gone. I looked wildly around, saw the "Visitors" door near me, ran for it, and pushed it open. Esau was being hustled into the van. The side panel slid shut behind him, along with a Protector. The ones remaining started to walk back into the Centre, leaving the back platform unattended.

            Well. That was stupid of them. I waited for half a breath to make sure that their backs were turned and set off at a dead sprint for the van. Halfway there I heard the engine turn over, made a crazy leap for the platform, rolled over the low bars that circled the edges, and just as the van drove off I was clinging to the platform's pole, crouched below the rearview window, hanging on for dear life.

The van set off at a leisurely pace through the city. I stayed down as low as I could, behind the bars that surrounded my platform, and hoped desperately that nobody would see me. My hands were both clutching the pole so tightly that my fingers were beginning to lose feeling. When we stopped at a red light, a car came so close it nearly bumped the van, but when I peeked through the bars it was obvious the driver was in his own world, fixing his hair in the rearview mirror.

            We kept travelling south, and with a sudden pound of my heart I realized we must be headed towards the tower. Where else could it have been? The Centre was the powerhouse of the corporation, but the tower was the stronghold of the Protectors, and we were in their clutches now. I wasn't even sure they could be distinguished from each other anymore. What had I been thinking, jumping on the back of this van? They were definitely going to catch me, and then what? Then my mother would face the loss of both of her kids? How could I have done this to her? Jumping on this van had been just as impulsive as hopping that train, what felt like a lifetime ago, and it was a miracle I wasn't dead already.

            I didn't have much time to castigate myself before we were pulling into an underground parking garage near the base of the tower. I smelled the familiar odor that meant we were near the ruined aquarium. When it was destroyed, the water that didn't wash out to the now-vanished lake would have sunk into the ground around here, salting the earth. As soon as the van pulled to a stop and I heard the doors opening, I leapt off the back and crouched between two parked cars. By dropping even lower to the ground I could see Esau's feet and two pairs of identical black boots. He wasn't protesting anymore, just walking along meekly. Somehow this was worse than the shouting.

            I followed the boots, creeping between cars, until they punched in a code — I watched carefully — and disappeared through a door. I waited a beat, the space of two breaths — I couldn't let them get too far ahead of me — then pressed the same buttons and followed. The door shut behind me with a quiet finality, the way you might seal off a tomb. Something prickled at the back of my neck.

It was very different from the Centre. All gleaming steel, with none of the fishy smell that pervaded the garage mere feet away on the other side of the door. There was also almost no place to hide, but luckily the corridor seemed deserted, at least for the time being. I caught a glimpse of boots rounding a corner ahead of me, tip-toed after them, and moments later came face to face with a window into a small interrogation room. All around me there was no sign of human presence. Everything was clean, shining, and sterile. I sidled up to the window and peeked inside.

Inside the room, Esau sat alone, both his wrists handcuffed to a chair. His head hung heavy towards his chest. I rapped lightly on the glass, which felt remarkably thick. When he raised his head I saw the blood still dripping from his oddly misshapen nose. One of his eyes was swelling shut, the bruising streaking down his cheek. As soon as he saw me his good eye widened in panic. He was mouthing something at me, but I couldn't understand it what he was saying. Then he slumped over in his chair, as though defeated by an invisible enemy.

It seemed like nothing was making any sound, as though my ears had been plugged with cotton. I looked around wildly to see what Esau was so afraid of. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears, a sudden squeak of boots, and a muffled thud coming from the other side of the glass. Hands wrapped around each of my upper arms and lifted me off the ground.