Black Sun Rising

Chapter Twenty-Three

I wish I had never come, Nina thought, as she lay on the floor of the cell, staring up at the ceiling. She had no idea how long she had been confined, but she guessed it had been four or five hours. The white walls glowed at a consistent low brightness, offering no clue as to the time of day. She wondered whether they would dim or switch off at night. Somehow she suspected they would not.

Don't be ridiculous, she told herself. They're not going to brainwash you. This is just a stupid overreaction. At some point Sara's going to hear about it — Dave's probably arguing with her right now. I wonder if Sam tried to talk to her. Ha… Sam's probably in the next cell for breaking Cody's nose. No, if anyone's going to do the diplomatic stuff, it'll be Purdue. Then she'll need to hear my side of the story and Cody's, and I can tell her that I lashed out and ran because he grabbed me. That should worry her.

This is a litigious place; I can suggest that I'll sue them for harassment or something along those lines. I won't, of course. I couldn't afford to unless I let Dave help me, and I'm not doing that. But the threat should be enough to get her to back off and let us leave without any more interference. Well, assuming Dave doesn't mind us leaving. I'm sure he'll be all right with it. Even if he's not, Sam will — ah, no, Sam's here to work, isn't he? He probably can't leave. Well, I don't care. I'm leaving this place even if I have to walk across the desert alone. These people are seriously weird, and the more distance I can put between them and me, the better.

A small hatch in the door slid open. Nina leaped up, requests for the door to be opened tumbling rapidly from her lips, but she got no reply. She caught no glimpse of the person on the other side of the door. Instead she saw a small tray being pushed through, containing a cup of water and a dish of what appeared to be greenish mush. Suddenly aware of how thirsty she was she reached for the cup, but as she raised it to her lips she noticed the smell of the herbs and set it down untouched.

Sam stormed out of Sara's tent and made straight for the river. The aftertaste of the pulque was bitter in his mouth. It was beginning to make him feel a little nauseated. Reaching the sandy riverbank he waded in, walking out until he was waist deep before dropping down to let the water cover his head. He opened his mouth and swallowed great gulps of the pure water, washing the taste away. He could feel the cool liquid all the way down his esophagus, spreading out from his throat as if it was charging through his veins.

As his body cooled, so did his anger — a little, at least. He stayed under until he could picture Cody's face without his hand balling itself involuntarily into a fist. Then he surfaced and made his way back to dry land, ready to go and find Purdue and make a plan to locate Nina and get the hell out of this place.

A sob from behind the sage brush caught his attention. Someone was sitting on the flat rock, trying not to be seen. He crept around the vegetation until he could see the person crying.

"Julia Rose?"

The young woman tried to abort her sobbing, but there was no concealing the distress on her face. "Oh, hey, Sam," she said with as much nonchalance as she could muster. "I was just, um, I."

She fell silent. Judging by the tension in her jaw, Sam was sure that she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from bursting into tears. He was not sure what to do. Crying people were not his area of expertise. They stood in silence, Sam waiting for her to finish her sentence, Julia Rose battling to govern her emotions.

"Do you need me to, er… get anyone, or anything?" Sam floundered, hoping that he could help Julia Rose without provoking a flood of tears.

She shook her head vigorously. "What would be the point?" she asked.

"How do you mean?" Sam was nonplussed.

"There's no point," she said, avoiding eye contact and staring into the river. She picked up a handful of pebbles and began hurling them in powerfully, one by one. "I'll be fine. Just like always. Just give me time."

"Did someone do something to you?" he asked. First Nina, now Julia Rose, he thought. Is it just my bad luck today?

Again, Julia Rose shook her head and snuffled. "I told you, Sam, I'm fine. Just stupid is all."

"Hey." Sam crouched beside her on the rock. He desperately wanted to go and find Purdue, but the idea of leaving Julia Rose in this state made him feel a little nervous. Having helped her to get here, he now felt somewhat responsible for her. "Come on. You're not stupid. Tell me what's wrong."

She looked up at him, as if to confirm that he was serious. "It's totally stupid," she sighed. "I'm not even exaggerating. I… I was up at Sara's tent. I saw you going there and I followed you. I was going to listen, in case she told you anything she hasn't told me."

"And did she?"

Julia Rose laughed softly, a laugh that sounded half-desolate. "Yeah. Oh, yeah. And that's why it's stupid. I can't believe I listened to everything she said before. Dumbest thing I ever did. She's so full of shit, and I didn't even see it coming."

Sam attempted a comforting pat on the back. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Everyone gets taken in from time to time. I had the odd flicker of it myself! She's persuasive."

"I know," said Julia Rose, "but I usually know better than this. I was raised to have some street smarts. And I was so proud of myself for my objectivity! I was going to come here and uncover, I don't know… something. I was going to expose FireStorm as the new Scientology. Then what do you know, the minute I actually meet Sara, I develop some stupid girl crush on her and… I should have known better. There's no point in hero worshipping people. They'll always let you down."

As much as Sam wished that he could make the girl feel better, he was out of his depth. He tried to think of something comforting to say, but nothing came to mind — at least, nothing that wouldn't be a lie. Rather than spin a line, he decided to concentrate on the practical. In his experience, that usually helped more than awkward attempts at comfort. Neither helped as much as a dram, but in the absence of any available drink he chose the next best option. "How much did you hear"?

"Plenty. Enough to remind me that when someone looks that slick and so put together, they probably got where they are by sticking it to someone." She shoved the back of her hand across her face, roughly wiping away the tears. "But don't worry about it. I'll get over my disappointment, just like I always do. And then I'll write my article, and maybe it'll keep a few people from pouring more cash and adulation into Sara's lap. Maybe it won't. But I'll still have tried. Even if the only place I ever get to post it is my blog."

She smiled, and Sam found himself returning it. There was something about her pluck and wry humor that reminded him of himself. "Look," he said, "I've got to get back to the camp — but if you've been following Sara as closely as I think you have, there's something I might need your help with."

Purdue's long, thin fingers moved swiftly over the touch screen, swiping and tapping while Sam looked on and tried in vain to make sense of the endless strings of letters and numbers that flashed up. They were in the corridor where Sam had faced the three challenges, on the wrong side of a locked door.

"Is it going to take much longer?" Sam's impatience finally got the better of him. Purdue did not reply or look away from the screen but held up an admonishing finger while continuing to tap with his other hand. Sam turned to Julia Rose instead. "Are you sure there's another door in there?"

Julia Rose nodded emphatically. "I've never been through it, but I met Sara in here for a one-to-one session on the first day. Cody brought me in through this corridor, but she came in through a different door. You can hardly see it from inside — once it closes, it just kind of blends back into the walls."

Purdue gave a small gasp as the locking mechanism released and the door in front of them swung open. "There we are," he said, unfolding from his crouched position. "Hurry now. We have only a few moments before the system corrects itself and locks us out again."

Sam, Julia Rose, Purdue, and his bodyguard all stepped through into the round room. Once the corridor door was closed the walls looked completely solid, as if there were no exits at all. Purdue reached into the pocket of his black shorts and pulled out a roll of red electrical tape, then felt for the outline of the door and placed a few small pieces of tape along it so that they would not become confused by the featureless walls. Julia Rose reached out her hand, ready to feel for the cracks that would betray the presence of another door.

"Don't!" Purdue's voice rang out in the empty room. Julia Rose froze, her eyes wide and her hand suspended in the air. "Don't touch anything," Purdue said. "Every surface that you see in here is a touch screen. Don't activate it. This will have to be a visual search."

Painstakingly all four of them pored over every inch of wall, spaced out at intervals and working their way around in a circle. Sam felt his eyes beginning to ache as he searched. The walls appeared seamless. Could Julia Rose have been wrong?

"I have it!" Purdue called. He beckoned the other three. The fissure in the smooth wall was almost imperceptible, with no discernible way of prying the door open. Purdue looked it up and down appraisingly, then began to wrap electrical tape round the tips of his fingers. At first Sam thought it was simply an unconscious gesture, perhaps a nervous habit, but as Purdue began to swipe at the screens with his covered fingers, it dawned on him. He was concealing his fingerprints. The screens must be able to identify users by their prints, Sam thought. That's clever… extremely creepy, but definitely clever.

"That should do it," Purdue said as the screen displayed a "Verification Pending" message. "Fortunately they are using screens not dissimilar to my tablet. I believe I know whose work this is… If I'm correct I must congratulate her — and thank her for not blocking the access code. We will know in a moment whether she did or not. The system is set up to request three forms of identification. Fingerprints are the first. Easy enough to avoid by rendering them unreadable, but the second form is the iris scan, and the third is DNA, neither of which can be fudged without a little forethought. I have authorization to access most areas of the camp, but no doubt they will be alert to the possibility of my attempting to release Nina. Ah!"

The message on the screen changed, replaced by the words "Access Granted." The door slid open, but this time only three of them passed through. Kai stopped in the doorway and wedged his foot against the sliding panel, jamming the door open.

The corridor that lay in front of them was lined with the same material as the circular room. With a few swift taps, Purdue was able to call up a map labeled "Solitary Reflection Units," which showed that there were four small rooms concealed behind the walls. Three were empty, but one contained a moving shape — a thermal image picked out in red, green, and yellow. Purdue tapped the figure and a panel opened up displaying her height and weight, the temperature within the cell, the time of her last meal, and the time at which she was next due to be offered water.

"Can you reprogram that?" Sam asked, pointing to the water timer. "Someone's meant to bring water in five minutes."

Purdue shook his head. "I could, but not without more time. We will have to do our best to get her out before anyone arrives." He stared intently at the screen, his fingers swooping and pecking as he tried a variety of override codes that might open the cell doors. Sam held his breath and counted the seconds as they passed.

Just as the cell door swung open, they heard Kai at the other end of the corridor. Someone had entered the circular room, and now he was speaking to them loudly enough for the rest of the group to hear. It was as much warning as they could have.

Sam made for the door to Nina's cell, but Purdue held him back. "Wait," he said. "We need to do this the right way, or we will trigger all sorts of alarms." He led Sam and Julia Rose to the cell door and stood outside. "Nina!" he called. "We are here to free you, but you must do exactly as I say. Come to the door, but do not step out."

Nina, looking small and fragile, did as she was told. It took some effort. Every cell in her body was screaming at her to run, to get herself on the other side of the door and not stop until she had open sky above her head.

Purdue reached out and took her hand. Her fingers closed gratefully around his. A yell came from the circular room as Kai prevented the acolytes from entering by the only means left to him. As the sound of the fight reached them, Purdue hauled Nina out of the cell… and threw Julia Rose in to take her place.