AWAKENED

CHAPTER 31 - The Big Show

The back of my neck draws tight as I glance at the card and then hand it to Eve. She reads it and then stuffs it into her pocket with a huff. As we ponder the significance of the upcoming event, or the big show, as Jude described it, Autumn goos and Ash whines on the family room floor. They're oblivious to the surrounding dangers, but the subtleties of deception have awakened Eve and me to the possibility of treachery in our midst. We figured Jude had motives, but it appears the only reason she brought us here was to get access to Ziva's clone. If they decide to keep us around, I'm sure they could make use of a planetary scientist and a veterinarian, but that's beside the point. Truth is, they might kill us after the replay of the big show. We just don't know which fate awaits us.

We leave the goat in the bathroom and venture out into the maze of hallways, making a right at the first intersection. After that, we make a left and then another right. The hallway outside our apartment runs parallel with the main corridor. With that in mind, it's easy to zigzag our way to the primary thoroughfare.

At the security checkpoint, we show the business card to the guard. He looks us up and down, and realizes Jude doesn't hand out her card to just anyone. We remember the guard from last night. He has to remember us, too.

Inside the secure area, to my right, I notice the lab where Jude had the unborn children taken. When we came in last night, the lights were off, but now the inner chamber is dim, revealing a vast space. Several doors are on the wall opposite the lab. A gigantic screen, sixty feet across, covers the back wall. The bottom is six feet off the floor and runs almost as high as the two-story ceiling. In front of the screen, curved tables span the width of the room, each work space separated into three rows. Each table has stations for technicians to monitor the feedback coming in from the massive screen. The place serves as the bunker's mission control room, much like the ones used by NASA. When it existed.

The crowd gathered must be the few who have clearance because the bunker's greater population wouldn't fit inside this room, even with it being so large. People stand here and there, others seated at their stations, all of them talking, buzzing with something that borders on awe, but it's not excitement. As they discuss the topic at hand, they stare at each other with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows, their hushed voices tight and laced with the tension and stress that only fear can bring.

The image on the screen displays a swath of land filled with trees and mountains, and a large body of water big enough to be considered a lake, although half of its volume has evaporated from a drought or leaked out somehow. A caption at the top of the screen shows the footage as a replay. I have memories of watching news reports from around the world; the footage labeled as live. They recorded this camera view earlier and now are about to replay it for us, which is what Jude told us to expect. I have a sick feeling I know what I'm about to see, but I'll have to wait for my fears to be confirmed.

Standing by one station, Jude whispers into someone's ear and then notices Eve and me out of the corner of her eye. When she's finished with what she was saying, she starts toward us.

As she approaches, she looks past us as Martinez and her guards take up positions at the doors. I find this peculiar. I understand having security on the outside of the control room to keep people out, but blocking the exits can only mean one thing...

While everyone wrestles with what we're about to see, Jude's face shows no trace of emotion. I have this intuition that some people present have already seen the live version of the big show. It makes sense that the higher ups saw the broadcast as it occurred in real time, then summoned the mid-level people and told them. Hence the confusion and the fear as Jude tries to restore order to the meeting.

A crease appears over Jude's right eye and her brow rises. It might be a slight reflection of the turmoil she's so good at hiding.

"What you're looking at is an aerial view of Yellowstone, specifically the area several miles south of where your habitat used to be located. Come with me." Jude turns and approaches the station she had just left. She leans over and whispers in the person's ear again. The woman glances back at us and nods, her dark skin and tight-cut hair catching light from the screen.