Edict 42

Chapter 18- Frank

Frank had been weighing the two decisions in his mind for days now since his reassignment to No Man’s land. It was a lot for him to process, he would have to kidnap a man and destroy a building. People could potentially die and what was he going on exactly. Dr. Cox’s ranting about the future than mirrored Dr. Matters, the father of immortality being an alien and the government trying to destroy the world. It would sound like a joke a very big joke if he didn’t see how the government was moving with both these individuals. They had to be some measure of truth there. Perhaps apprehending Dr. Matters would be the most important thing to get to the bottom of this. From what Sally and Mark had told him however, he knew that they were probably following him to work. Frank looked at his arm. The chip would be the only way, it would have to be carved out otherwise they would find them anywhere. Frank wasn’t to sure in how far the tech had come but he knew once they had a name they could find that person on the grid like a pin on a screen. It would be almost impossible for them to escape without some level of conflict.

Conflict, Frank thought, we don’t need conflict when we aren’t sure of anything. Safety is the best option. Sally, Ryan, Alina and himself couldn’t come to any harm.

He got up from the chair in the livingroom and stretched he would be meeting the others again in No Man’s Land this time away from the building where they had first met. He didn’t want to draw anyone into conflict especialy people that were aliens in their own country.

Lily and Sam were upstairs with the babysitter he had gotten for the day. He didn’t want to say goodbye to them least they weaken his already shaky resolve. Frank took a pen of the table and wrote that he was gone and rested it on the fridge before heading towards the door passing the C 75.

He reached the door and as he was closing it.

The robot spoke looking him in the eye, “Have a good day sir.”

#

When Frank pulled up at the new location after picking up Mark, Sally and Alina were already there on time. It was what use to be a park, the see-saw and the swings, however, were either broken or covered with grass. The path way was the same with many spots of grass protruding. The trees in the area was good for concealing them as they talk but also it made it easy for them to be watched. There was Grafati marked on the ground here as well. Frank recognized the marking of a gang but even they knew better than to mess with a police officer in the area. It would give the government the perfect excuse to send the military to capture and detain the residents that were here.

Frank got out of the car first with Mark and he instructed him with hand signals to look around. He had to be sure that they weren’t being followed or watched. Despite all the precautions that they had taken before, all of the worse case scenarios started popping in his head. The government could take them out now and put the blame squarely on them for the disappearance of Alina. They could get ambush by some stupid gang member here that didn’t know the problems that he would cause out of hatred for the immortals. All precautions had to be taken so there wouldn’t be surprises. Frank had even set up small little alarms that would ring if someone stepped over it in the area.

When the two men felt confident that no one was there they headed to the car with the two women. Again they both sat in Sally’s car, however, the men sat in the back seat.

“Have you come to a decision Frank on what you plan to do now?” Alina asked as she looked back at him.

Frank glanced through the window. “You’re asking a lot and lots of things can go wrong on that approach. I have thought about it and the fact remains what if you’re wrong about the lab?”

“Its not wrong!”

“I believe her, Frank,”Sally said.

“Because two people spout the same nonsense doesn’t mean its not nonsense!” Frank shouted, “We need proof, Sally, proof!”

“Am I not proof enough? How am I to live? To survive now that the government is hunting me down?”

“If we do what you say its more or less we would become criminals for life. There is something going on here I am aware of that but the first step I will take is finding out the truth of the matter and for that we need Dr. Matters. Then we can look at ways to get it out to the people.”

“I already contacted someone I know from the media,” Sally said, “He’s not mainstream and would listen to what she has to say sometime next week.”

“Dammit, why would you do something like that already Sally, Mark did you know about this?”

Mark shook his head.

“You’re way to fast girl, that’s what keeps getting you into trouble.”

“And you’re way to slow, we don’t have months to pan out this thing if they get it done people can be infected and killed in the coming days. We have to act fast even you would understand that.”

“Planning is important and correct decision making otherwise things would fall apart. You would only get matayr and looked like a fool.”

“Matayr?” Sally asked.

“The government might want a scape goat to get rid of Dr. Cox and we would fall into that category. You have to think outside the box.”

“We can trust this contact,” Sally replied.

“Right,” Frank replied.

“What do you think, Mark?” Sally asked.

Mark bit his lip as his eyes drifted from Frank to Sally and then rested on Alina. “I think we should talk to Dr. Matters first and then go from there. We have to understand and verify information but I don’t think this will be anything remotely easy. Nor do I want to contemplate what would happen if we had to fail.”

Frank paused for a while before he finally spoke.“So how do we do it?”

Alina looked at the clock in the car.“It has to happen today and I brought mask.”

#

In the distance the sun was setting, Frank watched it as he heard quiet complaints coming from behind him. A mask was on his face and the windows were up the tint made it hard for anyone to see inside the car. Frank gripped the steering wheel tightly with his gloves on despite all the precautions he took he would need to clean it before he return it to the owner.

So many things could go wrong but he had to stick to the plan that was the only way this would work. Frank had stolen a car and tied the man in the back seat. They would release him after it was done somewhere else. He was hogtied covered up and muffled in the backseat. Frank was looking at the road that Dr. Matters would be taking to go back home.

The plan was a simple one block his passage, causing him to slow down and grab him from behind. It was very simple he was aways from work and on the least busiest roads he could take. If there was resistance they would fire upon them but not enough to wound just to pin them to escape.

It all had to go right, they had been over it a few times and despite his many times running the law, he felt nervous, was it because he was on the other end of the badge or was it because that what they might find out might be nothing more than thin air?

No, he shaked his head. There had to be something the government was hiding something big.

Something was coming, from the car that he saw passing his, he knew it was Dr. Matters. He pulled out of the ditch on the road and followed behind it. Frank checked the rearview and no one was there. Mark hadn’t give him any signal about Dr. Matter being followed.

He had now come to the block location and Sally drove the car out to block the road causing Dr. Matters to come to a sudden halt to avoid a collision. Frank stopped right at the side of him and drew his gun.

He got out from his car with his mask on and moved with a cautious pace towards Dr. Matters car.

When he was by the side he shouted, “Get out of the car!”

From his angle Frank saw that Sally got out of her side and aimed her gun at Dr. Matters in the car. He slowly got out his face looked panicked and as Frank went to secure him. He got a signal from Mark on a beeper, “trouble was coming.”

“Move,” Frank said pushing Ryan back into Ryan’s car in the back seat.

“Okay, okay, don’t shoot,” Ryan responded.

He signaled for Sally to get in. Not long after he did that did Frank see the secret police pulled up by the car he was in before. Sally got in the car and started the engine.

“Step out the car!” he heard the voices shout behind them.

Frank turned and saw the guns pointed at the car. “Drive, follow the plan.”

Sally drove on to the side walk and maneuvered the car. It growled in response as it found its way up.

Gunshot rang out from behind them in response the back glass shattered.

“s**t get down,” Frank said to Ryan has he lowered him down. “They’re aiming for the tyres.”

Sally had already adjusted the car back on to the road and he glimpsed the police rushing back towards their cars. Frank searched Ryan and threw his phone out the window.

“f**k!” Sally shouted as she sped up.

Frank lifted Ryan back up and peered through the window, no one was following them. He looked at his clock as they pulled up in the spot where they would make the transition.

“Give me the knife, I have to cut the chip out of his arm.” Frank took a knife from Sally. “This is going to hurt a little, or maybe a lot but we don’t have a choice.”

“Wait! Wait!! Ryan shouted, “You want money I can pay.”

Frank, however, pinned him down and cut in an angle to get out the chip from his arm. It wasn’t deep down so the flesh didn’t need to be pierced by much. That didn’t stop the blood from flowing widly.

“Sorry we don’t have the luxury of much tissues on hand but this might do for now. Frank handed him some alcohol and a shirt. He discared the chip out the window.

They pulled into the location they had as the change spot. It was an area that was lonely and few people passed by there.

He dragged Ryan by the arm out of the car placed a bag over his head and put him into the next vehicle laying down in the back with something covering over his body. Both Sally and Frank then took of their masks and got in the truck. Sally took point driving while Frank stayed near to Ryan.

“It was easy wasn’t it?” Sally asked, as she drove along.

Frank merely shifted his head in the next direction. “Get us out of here.”