I Was Owen Stewart

Chapter Seven

Leaving Audrey Hepburn’s office, I told Elvis: “I can’t do this.  I’m just a reporter.  I don’t know anything about breaking into a bank.”

   “Don’t worry so much, son.  I’ll be with you on this.”

   “So I don’t have to do it on my own?” 

   “Man, this might be a test for you, but we still need it done right.  There’ll be a whole bunch of us.”

   The upside to agreeing to join was that I was no longer restricted within the compound, except for a few secure areas that seemed to be off limits to most people.  I got to take walks outside, eat in the cafeteria with the rest of the resistance, and come and go from my room as I pleased.

   I came to understand that the place was an old boarding school.  I could never figure out exactly where we were, but it was on an island close to the mainland.

   But for all my freedom, I spent most of my time over the next few weeks in a large classroom that had been assigned to our team.  The only furniture in it was a big wooden table and some folding chairs.  The only thing breaking up its drab white walls was a chalkboard and windows, which looked out over a large courtyard.  And when I wasn’t in that room, I was down in that courtyard running drills and learning how to use the gun that Groucho had given me.

   “Okay son, so I’m gonna be leading this mission,” Elvis said, as we entered the room together on the first of our planning sessions.   “I’ll also be handling the demolitions.  Let me introduce you to the others.  You already know Boris.”

   I stared in open disbelief at Elvis.  I had begun to think of him as a friend – my only friend here.  But I couldn’t see this as anything other than a betrayal.

   Of all the people in the Cavalry, Boris Karloff was the last person I wanted to go on a mission with.  If he had had his way I would have never made it out of Heston Ward alive.  I had been avoiding him ever since arriving at The Fort. 

   Elvis said, “Put your bad blood behind ya’.  Boris is a good man in a tight spot.  He’ll be handling crowd control with Chaplin.  Astaire is our driver.  And the little lady is takin’ care of electronics and security.”

   The woman he referred to was faced as Fay Wray, and she gave a confident nod, as he introduced her.

   “She’s the key to this whole operation.  Before Fay joined the Cavalry, she was a high level engineer with Network.  If anyone can break into a data bank, it’s gonna be her.”

   Elvis went over the bare bones of the plan.  It did seem that everything centered on Fay.  Everyone else was just backup.  Except for me, I seemed be just along for the ride. 

   On paper, it was simple.  We’d break into the vault by blowing through the basement wall of the building next to it.  Fay would bypass the security matrix to open the vault door and get us into the main building.  From there we’d make our way to the Teller’s room on the second floor – this was our target.  There would only be a skeleton crew working in the middle of the night, which should be easily overpowered.  Then, Fay would hack into the main bank.  When that was done, I’d upload my story, and everyone in New Hollywood would know what really happened with the hover barge.

   I couldn’t help but ask: “Why don’t we just put everything out there?  Tell them who the Directors are and what they’re doing?”

   “Baby steps, son.  Baby steps,” Elvis said.  “No one’s ready to believe all that.  At least not yet.  We push too much out at once, and they’ll just say it’s some PGA hoax.”