Chapter 59: The Plan
On the morning of the third day Elliot, looked across to where he had hoped Jaspar to be.
“Do you think they got him?” Elliot asked aloud.
“If they did, then there is nothing we can do about it,” Jesse replied. “We have to be optimistic. There is still hope.”
Elliot was a worrier by nature. The thought did occur to him that his life was getting closer to doomsday. He had been hoping that his new leader would come up with more reassuring words.
“Come with me my friend,” Jesse said to Elliot. “I will show you how to fish.”
While Elliot had little confidence in his survival skills, he would prefer being trained to hunt than listening to Jasper and his tall tales.
There was a small stream, a four minute walk down the side of the hill. Before they reached the stream, Jesse held his hand out, blocking Elliot from going any further. It was clear that he thought he heard something approaching. The two fugitives used the trees for cover and waited.
Eventually, three people came into view. One was a young woman, one looked like Jaspar and the other a girl. As they came closer, walking along the stream bank, Elliot was sure that the women looked like Edita and Elisa. “It’s them,” Elliot declared in a whisper.
“It could be a trap,” Jesse replied, holding his hand out once more.
When both of them came into plain sight, Elliot, ignored Jesse’s warnings and walked towards them.
“Well, hello there,” he said aloud.
Edita failed to conceal her excitement and ran towards him and hugged him as only she could. Even Elisa had a smile on her face and greeted him warmly.
“How did you get here?” Elliot asked curiously. There was a broad smile on his face that he thought until recently might never return.
“We heard about you on news reports,” Elisa explained. “We heard that they were looking for you in this general direction. Before that we befriended a lorry driver who helped bring us into the country. It was all Edita’s doing. I just wanted to survive but she wanted to help you if she could.”
Jesse tentatively followed the small group down to the side of the stream. “This is Jesse, one of my fellow fugitives. You must be tired and hungry. Jesse was about to show me how to hunt for fish. I’d bet that you two would be better at it than I would.” “Well I did say, that I’d try my friend,” Jesse explained.
The group of four all tried their hand at catching fish in the small stream. As expected, Elliot was the worst of the four, but Jesse more than made up for his deficiencies.
A short time later they sat around in a circle eating raw fish. It was better than rat stew, Elliot thought to himself.
“What are you going to do next?” Elisa asked.
“Survive,” Jesse responded. “Isn’t that all we can do?”
“Eventually they will find us,” Elisa responded. “No offence, but Elliot’s popularity levels are in negative figures. Once anyone sees him, you’re taking a risk.”
“Maybe we should just eliminate him?” Jaspar suggested. “Then it would be easier for the rest of us.”
“That’s not an option,” Jesse replied. “I am honouring Stanislas code. No man gets left behind.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Elisa continued. “We can’t keep running. There has to come a time where we fight back,”
“Look around you,” Jaspar responded mockingly. “There are only six of us. We’re not going to achieve very much by fighting.”
“That’s not what I meant.,” the pregnant woman replied. “We have a disc that is supposed to be quite explosive. We don’t know what is on it but it could turn the tide in our favour.”
“Don’t you think you ought to know what you are dealing with?” Jaspar suggested. “How do you know it’s explosive if you haven’t seen it? It could quite easily backfire.”
“Yes but maybe it might work and turn the tide in our favour,” Edita replied. “At least if we die, we die fighting for a cause and not spending the rest of our lives looking over our shoulder, worried about the day we will be caught.”
“She’s just a girl,” Jasper replied. “Why should we listen to her.”
“I think she is right.” Jesse said aloud. “It is what Stanislas would have wanted. He would want us to do what we could to expose the Reapers and the President and their supporters for what they are”
“Are you going to spend the rest of your days wondering what some dead guy will do?” Jasper objected. “He’s dead and we will be too, soon if you keep listening to a kid.”
Jesse gave him a cold stare, before speaking again. “So, what is it that you propose.”
“The President is addressing a rally at Dumblebuss on Friday.” Elisa replied. “That’s two days away. I propose that we pass through security, get to the communications tower, make sure that the disc gets broadcast and expose the president for what he is. A fraud.”
“It doesn’t sound like the most detailed plan in the world.” Elliot said aloud. “It’s easier said than done.”
“If you have a better idea,” Elisa responded, “be my guest.”
It sounded romantic, “going down fighting,” but Elliot was afraid that it would be equally as foolish. How long could they really last on the run he wondered. Some day someone would find them or rat them out. Currently his life wasn’t very enjoyable or safe. He was afraid of death for all of his life to date but maybe it was time to grasp the nettle.
Elliot Tomkins was attempting to pass through security at the Dumblebuss rally. He didn’t see why he should attend, as he was not a changeling and could not disappear in a crowd. The others with the exception of Jasper had insisted on it though. He had allowed his face to go unshaven for several weeks now. He had a flimsy beard that most men would grow in two days. He also had dyed his hair and beard blond. The fugitive had no baggage to be scanned so he walked straight up to the metal detector when it was his turn. Elliot tried to remain as calm as possible, knowing that panic or apprehension was the enemy. The bell failed to ring and the security guard took a long hard look at him before letting him through.
Elliot took his place in the crowd, twenty yards from the podium, but put a hood over his head with the intention of making it difficult for people to recognise him. It was not raining at this time but the possibility remained that the dark clouds over head could open up. Most of the supporters were chanting and waving flags jubilantly as the Vice President took to the stage. He, however couldn’t fake it.
“Do I know you from somewhere, friend?” a tall man with relatively long dark hair asked him as he removed the hood covering Elliot’s head. The man addressing him was very powerfully built and up to this point had been enthusiastically cheering and hollering. He seemed to be disappointed in Elliot’s lack of enthusiasm. “No, I don’t believe we’ve met. I would recognise a face anywhere. Yours doesn’t ring a bell.”
“It’ll come to me. It’ll come to me,” the strong individual said to himself before cheering and waving once more.
Elisa, Jasper, Edita and Jesse made their way to the communications room. Elisa was posing as the President’s daughter, with Jasper and Edita as her children and Jesse as a Secret Service bodyguard.
Jesse led the way to the entrance to the communications room that was guarded by two security guards. “The President’s daughter and their two children would like to see the communications room,” he informed them. The two guards both looked at each other before one of them allowed them to enter.
At this point the President was about to take to the podium. A woman in her early thirties who saw the group enter approached the woman who she recognised as the President’s daughter. Jesse could not help but recognise the Reaper standing by the doorway.
“It’s so great to see you again Lisa Anne,” the woman approaching them greeted them.
“I’m sorry,” Lisa Anne replied, “but I don’t recall your name.”
“Justine,” the woman said slowly, in a way that failed to hide her disappointment. “Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten already?”
“Was it Chicago?” Elisa responded in the hope of making a recovery.
“No it was Cincinatti,” Justine replied once again in a slightly frustrated manner.
“How could I forget, Justine? Anyway, my daughter is very curious about how this control centre works. Go ahead Carolanne and ask her.”
Edita looked around the room. There were numerous television screens showing the rally from different angles. There were about nine different operatives in the room including a manager who seemed to be giving orders.
“How do you control the big screen there beside Grandpa?”
“Well Ove there, has control of that but under instruction from the Producer.”
“What if I wanted to screen my favourite movie from a disc? Could I do that too?” “Well you’d have to insert the disc here,” Justine said pointing to a slot in Ove’s control panel, “and Ove would then have to press this button to override it.”
It was at this point that the Producer approached the group. “Can we get these people out of here?” he asked abruptly.
“These people, Warren, are related to President Westwood.”
“Oh, well can you tell them to please be quiet?”
Jesse waited for about five seconds into the Presidents speech before he grabbed the Producer around the throat in a tight grip. “Everybody freeze, or the Producer won’t last the night,” he said defiantly as he faced the Reaper. Jasper proceeded to load up the video from the disc in his possession. Part of him didn’t want to do it, but another part of him contributed to an adrenaline rush. Perhaps this video might change the world, he thought to himself. It was what Jesse had said to him. Part of Jasper wanted to believe that Jesse was right and for a reason that even Jasper could not explain, this was what he was gambling on.
Justine was clearly horrified, afraid and angry at the same time. The other staff in the control tower were more concerned with their own safety rather than the thought of playing the hero.
Suddenly, the Reaper lunged for Jesse. He was clearly unconcerned about the welfare of the producer. Jesse flung the Producer across the room. Even as strong as Jesse was, he was six inches smaller than the Reaper. They wrestled with each other for several seconds before the Reaper flung him to the ground. Elisa, Jasper and Edita stood in the way of the control panel defiantly. It was at this point that the two armed security guards entered the building. They shot Jesse who had climbed back to his feet, in the back, before shooting each of the other accomplices once each in the stomach. All four of the fugitives fell to the ground.
President Westwood stood at the podium in the centre of the stage and started to address the boisterous crowd in front of him.
“My fellow Americans it makes me so proud to serve you. I have worked long hours day after day just to get to this point. I have achieved a great deal in my eleven years in office but there is still lots more to do. As you know I can make history by becoming the first President in history to serve more than three full terms. As you well know, the greatest threat to the American people are these changelings that have infiltrated our society. They are the cancer that must be removed.”
It was at this point the large television screen to the President’s right stopped showing close ups of the President and cut to entirely different view of him. It was a police video showing him as if he were in custody being questioned. The video looked similar to the one which resulted in Governor Calahan’s execution four years previously.
The volume on the video was turned up quite high and for a moment both the crowd and the President were distracted by it.
“You want me to show you how to deal with a problem like Calahan,” the President appeared to say in the video. “I’ll show you. Watch and learn.” It was at this point that the President changed form, in the space of a split second, into Governor Calahan.
Two Police officers who were also in the room seated opposite him started to address him just like in the video released four years previously.
“Ok Mr Calahan,” a middle-aged police officer with a moustache began. “this is a routine check. We asked you in here because we’ve had a number of far-out complaints. Two neighbours said they saw strange things happening at your house. Their complaints are pretty crazy but we have to check them out anyway for procedure.
One of them said they saw a strange object in your back garden at 3am at night on the 19th of last month. They seemed to think that it was a UFO. Do you know what that could be?”
“A UFO? You ask me down here about a UFO in my back garden? Don’t you think that if I had a UFO in my back garden this would be the first place I would come if indeed I made it this far. The aliens would probably zap me before I made it to my front lawn. Please tell me that you have something better than that. Maybe I turn into a werewolf at night and go around gobbling people up.”
It was at this time that the video was frozen for a second or two before being stopped altogether. President Westwood turned around to face the audience once more. He was slightly fazed by what he had just seen. “This is a scandal. I will ensure that whoever is responsible for this hoax will be brought to justice. These changelings will stop at nothing to undermine our great nation.”
The tone of the audience was relatively subdued, before one loud voice bellowed out from the people in attendance. “Here he is,” the tall strong man bellowed out before lifting Elliot with his two hands and raising him above his head. “This is the man responsible for all the evil doings. This is the most wanted man in the world. Tonight he is going to get justice.”
President Westwood regained his composure and his confidence returned to egotistical status. “Bring him up here,” he said. “Bring that evildoer up here. We’ll deal with this criminal the way he should be dealt with. Finally we have him.” The crowd started to chant with vitriol. “Hang him. Hang him,” they said as they clenched their fists and held them above their heads before recoiling and extending their arms in a repetitive motion. By now the strong man had reached the edge of the stage. He threw a deflated Elliot onto the stage where he was quickly handcuffed by two police officers. “Thank you young man. You are a truly upstanding citizen. There will be a reward for you after this. Trust me. You know what you have done. You have captured the most elusive terrorist of our times. Our army and police forces have been working day and night to catch this guy and you have finally caught him. I salute you sir. What is your name?”
“Harvey Burbage,” the man said with his hands on his hips and a broad smile on his face. “It’s a pleasure to serve you Mr President. With you, the country is in safe hands.”
Those were the last words that Elliot could remember, before a punch from one of the police officers knocked him out cold.