The File

The File ~ Chap. 24

Cole

The guy took me to a cell and threw me inside after quickly untying my wrists.  Then he locked me in.  I pounded on the thick metal door and looked out the small window.  The guy smirked at me before walking away.

“Let me out!” I shouted after him.

When I saw that I was alone, I backed up and quieted down, giving my sore throat a break.  Then I sat on the edge of the small cot and rubbed my chafed wrists.  I winced as I accidentally rubbed off a scab that had formed where the rope had broke skin.  The bleeding took a while to stop again, but I barely noticed.  I was too preoccupied thinking about my close call with death.

After the guy had disabled the video camera, he had again pressed the blade into my skin pretty roughly.  Then he said that if I shut up and cooperated, he would spare my life—for that moment, since he would prefer to watch me suffer in the electric chair, which had to recharge after the jolt it had given.

It didn’t feel right to cooperate with people like him—and I didn’t want to—so I hadn’t answered right then, but then when he began to slide the knife gently across my throat, I gave in.

I gingerly touched the scratch the guy had given me when threatening me.  It was still sensitive, so I flinched and quickly took my hand away.  At that moment, I really wished I had access to a shower.  I was so beat up and sore, I just wanted to relax and wind down.

Although, winding down didn’t seem like an option in a place like this.  Here, I was just a prop to use.  They knew Tate wouldn’t give up the information willingly, so they had to get something to force it out.  That was where I came in.  I was important to her, and they knew they could get their answer if they put me in danger.

I just hoped that after telling her to let me die, she would oblige and keep the information to herself.  Otherwise, all the running we had went through would’ve been for nothing.

I sighed.  I already knew that these were going to be my last days, for however long that would be.  But I just couldn’t accept it.  I had grown up with the thought drilled into my head that I would go to school, and get a job that I would retire from when I got old, and then die of old age or something else that at least allowed me to live until my eighties.  Now, I knew that was impossible.  I had put myself into a position that no amount of negotiating would get me out of.

Exhausted from the denial and the overall pain I felt from everything, I laid down on the cot and closed my eyes.

It didn’t help.  Because all I saw when I closed my eyes was Tate.  She was the only thing I could even think about now.  She was the one thing I still had in my life—or, now, what I used to have.  And right now I knew that if by some outrageous luck we could escape, I still wouldn’t go home.

When I first jumped out of that train window, I had done it because I knew it wasn’t safe for one teenage girl to go off on her own with two extremely strong men on her tail.  I had jumped so I could protect and help her with whatever it was she had planned.

Of course, when I reached her, I had found out that she didn’t have any plan, but that had been okay.  That was how I could help her.  And we had gotten so far….

If we got out now, I would be with her because that was the place I knew I belonged.  With Tate, I knew where I stood in the world.  I knew who I was, and what I could do.  I knew what I could feel.  I just knew…everything.  Things were right when I was with her.

It amazed me how true that sounded when I thought it.  And just to be sure that I wasn’t going crazy from the electric shock, I said it out loud too.  After hearing it said aloud, it still sounded right.  My brain wasn’t fuzzy and my ears weren’t clogged.  Everything was clear.

I couldn’t believe what I was thinking, but, hey, I could barely believe that I had gotten into a mess that involved the navy and an enemy—whoever it really was—so it had to be true.

Speaking of the mess that I was in—not that I had really stopped talking about it—I was still the one that was clueless about everything.  That could always account for why I was confused, but to tell the truth, I didn’t mind—being clueless I mean.  A chance like this, as bad as it was, was a one in a million occurrence, so it didn’t really matter what your thoughts or knowledge of the details were.  It was just crazy—and a little amazing—that you were in it at all.  Nobody would ever think that they could get caught up in a scam like this.  Especially not someone my age.

Not that I was saying that everyone should go find and join a person on the run because of secret naval information.  I was just trying to say that it was a pretty unique situation for a person like me.  And it was nice to try to help someone—even if it ended in my death.

Ugh, I really had to stop thinking about that part.

Tate, just think about Tate, I thought, and pray you’ve done a good job of keeping her safe.

Then again, I had been the one to think of sleeping in the bushes, which made it easier for the Dynamite Duo to find us.  So maybe I hadn’t been so successful.  In an unintentional way, I had led her right into the danger.

Negativity was definitely not the best thing to have on the mind either.  I really had to think of something good.  Family and friends didn’t work because it would just make me sad that I would never be able to see them again and they might never find out why I had suddenly disappeared.  School was just as depressing because…it’s school, ’nuff said.

Food was always a good idea.  I probably wouldn’t be getting much here—dang it!  All the freaking negativity…. Anyway, food was tasty, as long as there were no vegetables.  I could deal with fruit, and the rest was great.  Oooo, maybe not fish.  That was actually kinda gross.  Right now, I wouldn’t really mind it though.  Anything was fine really.

Yeah, that train of thought was not working.  It might’ve been positive, but it was making me really hungry.  My stomach was starting to growl like one of the girls in my school with a bad hair day.

I pushed food out of my mind, and couldn’t decide on what to focus on.  I wanted to sleep, but I just couldn’t.  It was too risky.  I could go to sleep and never wake up.  Someone could come in and kill me in my sleep.

Okay, seriously, positivity was really hard right now.  But who was I kidding?  It was obvious what I wanted to think about, and I had already tried that out unsuccessfully.  Tate.  I couldn’t deny it and I wouldn’t try.  She was always on my mind now, and I couldn’t control the urge to daydream about her.

I let my mind run it’s own way.

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