Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue -
Chapter 28
(Lucas)
The first thing I did when I woke was throw up.
It was a seriously lame thing to do, but I wasn’t going toworry about looking cool when I had a headache the size of Sapphire City andIndigo Island combined and was trapped in whatever prison cell Argot haddecided to toss me in. Plus, I was pretty sure this time, he’d picked out theguards himself.
Which meant they wouldn’t be like those bozos who fellasleep on duty as soon as I launched that not-exactly-oxygen tank at them so Icould take off out of there. Those moronshadn’t even searched me before tossing me in jail. Which was really incompetentfor a soldier that happened to be guarding one of the most highly securedprisons in Spectrum. Enough to get them fired, maybe even killed.
Wait a second.
I sat up a little straighter, which actually wasn’t all thateasy since I was chained to the wall.
The guards hadbeen incredibly incompetent. Too incompetent,in fact.
Argot would never have let such idiots guard a prisoner asimportant as me. Not unless he had some ulterior motive.
But what could that motive be?
What if he’d diverted his guards somewhere else? What ifthere was someone more important than me he had to keep under lock and key?
But who in the world could it be? I had knowledge that couldcripple Mask if given to the right people. What could be so important to himthat he’d pull all the guards off me to guard it instead?
Violet? Her guards had been significantly more decent thanmine, which was why I hadn’t been able to get her out in the first place. Butthat couldn’t be it. There were only about seven people assigned to that corridor.That wouldn’t use up all the guards.
What could it be?
My head throbbed, making me grit my teeth in both pain andfrustration. All this thinking wasn’t helping my headache at all.
Fortunately for it, my thinking was interrupted when someonestepped into the room.
I looked up, my eyes narrowing, ready to take on whoever itwas. The door was slightly ajar, and if I took out this guy, I might be able tomake a run for it.
But then I saw who it was. And all escape plans went out thewindow right then and there as I swallowed and managed to force out,“Commander.”
Commander Fallon eyed me, his face a mask of calm as italways was. “I did warn you, Lucas. If you had just surrendered on the ferry,you wouldn’t be in this mess, now, would you? And I wouldn’t have to terminatemy best hacker. Things turned out quite unfortunately for both of us in theend, did it not? All because you refused to come quietly.”
I forced a laugh, bitter in the cold air of the prison. “I’drather die than surrender to people like you.”
“People like me, is it?” Fallon took a step closer, leaningdown to face me. “The person who saved your life and took care of you all thoseyears?”
I sucked in a sharp breath as his next words hit home.
“The person you even went so far as to call your father?”
I glared at him as best as I could, but it wasn’t easy. Iwanted to crawl into a little corner and cry, a feeling I hated like nothingelse I’d ever felt. It took everything I had to keep my voice steady as Isnapped, “You’re no father of mine.”
“Really, now, Lucas. Let’s not get too hasty. I’m here togive you another chance.”
I gave a bitter laugh. “Another chance? Like the ones you’vealready given me? Please. Don’t even go there, Commander. At least make yourlies believable.”
“This is no lie, private,” he replied evenly. “I amauthorized to open that door and let you leave freely if you hold up your endof the bargain.”
“My end of the bargain? Yeah, and what’s that going to be?That I kill myself the instant I leave here? Because that kind of feels likeI’m getting the short end of the stick, doesn’t it?”
Fallon sighed. “Of course not. That would be far toounrealistic. You simply have to tell me something.”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing that bad. In fact, you can tell me inone word, if you’d like.”
I closed my eyes, exasperated with this entire stupidconversation and my gigantic stupid headache. “All right, fine, try me. What doyou want?”
His answer was one I never saw coming. “Simply the locationof Red and Blue.”
That one got my eyes open. “What?”
“Red and Blue. Where are they? Where were they headed?”
I stared at him, all stubbornness gone. “What in the worldare you talking about?”
“Red and Blue! I know you met up with them in Yellowton.Where are they?”
“I don’t know what you’ve been smoking,” I replied flatly,“but I’ve got no idea where Red and Blue are. I’ve never even seen thembefore.”
“Don’t lie to me, Lucas. You met up in Yellowton. Where werethey going?”
“I didn’t meet anyone in Yellowton.”
“Oh really? No one? Not even a boy and a girl somewhere inthe airport?”
I tried, I really did. But it was no use. My eyes widenedjust a tiny bit, but Fallon caught it immediately.
“Ah,” he said quietly. “So you remember.”
I fought to keep my voice even. “Even if they were Red andBlue, they didn’t tell me where they were going and I didn’t ask.”
“You had to have exchanged some information. You forget thatI’ve known you for years, private. You would never help someone out of the bluelike that, unless you knew who they were. So let me ask you again.” Fallon’svoice took on an angry tone. “Where areRed and Blue?”
“Even if I did know, I’d never tell you,” I spat. “I said italready, I’d rather die than help people like you!”
“Well, that’s a crying shame,” Fallon hissed, his tonedeadly. “Because you’re going to be in here for an extremely long time if youdon’t.”
To which I responded with, “Then I just get a whole lot oftime to nap and hang around while you’re running around out there trying toreplace people you’ll never replace.”
Fallon gritted his teeth. “You’re really not going to say,are you?”
“I said, I’ve got no clue where they are. Why don’t you godo something important and leave me alone?”
To my surprise, Fallon strode toward the door. But justbefore stepping out, he turned.
“You will tell ussooner or later, Lucas, don’t you worry. I’m just here to give you the warning.We won’t be so nice next time.”
His next words chilled me to the core. “Oh, and rememberwhat you said about napping? You might want to give up on that hope, private.What was it Argot said? Oh, that’s right.”
He smiled coldly and swept out. “See you in your nightmares.”
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