The Secret Weapon (8 page)

“
Go home, Rudy. If you think there’s a problem, call me.”

“
If there’s no problem, then what?”

“
You go back to what you used to do before you were arrested. You get up every morning, and you go to work.”

“What if they won’t allow me to work at the hangar anymore?”

Coraset answered impatiently, “I don’t know, Rudy. You’re asking me questions I don’t have answers for.”

He put his hands on his waist and looked away. He nervously pulled at his bottom lip with his teeth. Rudy cleared his throat and said,
“My number is 83176.”

“7772,” Coraset reminded him.
“You’ll be fine. Go on.”

Rudy nodded. He was unwilling to leave Coraset, but he knew he had to.

“Go see your sister tonight, have dinner with her, and if you get into trouble, call me. It doesn’t matter the time of day. I’ll get back to you.”

Rudy glanced at Coraset and then
started down the road. He walked slowly. Each step to him was leading to an uncertain future. Coraset decided not to watch him. She needed to move on with her life. Rudy turned around one last time only to see that she was gone. He sighed hoping one day to see her again.

The buildings rose high above the city streets. Banners hung over every entrance with the wording ‘Celebrate Barat! Chancellor Dominic
Erato.’ Small national flags hung from short poles jutting out from wrought iron light fixtures that were evenly spaced on each side of the road. Trash cans and triangular sidewalk announcement boards had images of a man Coraset never seen before. She didn’t understand what in the world there was to celebrate. She put it out of her mind and decided to get off the streets. It never looked good to Federation Constabularies for people to be just standing around outside. She’d be apprehended and questioned. Coraset decided to go home and quickly.

When
she returned back to her apartment door, she stopped. There was a new numbered key board at chest level on the left side of the door. Coraset wondered if the apartment was given to someone else. She knocked on the door. When no one answered, she pressed 7772 in the keypad. She figured it made sense because that’s the only number she could think of, and the Federation assigned it to her. The number buttons turned bright blue, and the small screen above the keypad flashed:
fingerprint required
. Coraset pressed her forefinger to the screen. The keypad turned green, and the door popped open.

She
wondered what else had changed since she left. She was expecting to see her apartment empty, but instead, she found everything as she left it. The computer was still on the coffee table. The black leather furniture was in the same spot. The window curtains were still open showing a panoramic view of the afternoon day. There was a light film of dust, which normally bothered Coraset.

She went directly to her bedroom
, and placed her bag near the foot of the bed. Coraset pulled out her cell phone and placed it on a black solar plate near the window. She waited to see if it would respond. With one single beep, the Federation crest appeared in the center.

Satisfied that it would charge, Coraset went over to her dresser and
pulled out her lacy white underwear and matching bra from the top chest of drawers and found a long tank top that stopped around her calves. Coraset went to the shower, and she immersed herself in the sprays of the hot water from the tiled walls.

Coraset
noted for the first time in a year and a half she could take a shower without being watched. The water wasn’t cold. She could use her favorite peach smelling soap instead of the hard unscented prison brand. She scrubbed her body, wanting to get every part of her past down the drain. By the time she was finished, Coraset was exhausted beyond words. She quickly changed out the sheets and comforter on her bed and with a sigh of relief, she crawled under the clean linens, and she let the sleep takeover.

The next morning arrived with the rain hitting Coraset’s bedroom window. She sat up in bed, still exhausted, but she was glad to see and hear the rain. The desert didn’t give such a gift, and she took a moment to take it in. The rain drenched the window, distorting the view. Coraset smiled and settled back down into bed. For the first time in a long she was relaxed and not worried about a thing.

Her room was like an abyss, devoid of any semblance of human attachment. There were no pictures depicting the family she once knew, not of her biological father Michael Prescott or her mother Rhea Jefferson. Not even her two sisters Salina and Penny Prescott.

When Coraset
first left home, she ventured off to college, excited for a brand new start. She hardly came home during school breaks. Living with her parents were always difficult, the arguing, the fighting, and she didn’t want to go back to that turmoil. Coraset worked all she could when she wasn’t in school, and she barely called home. When her dad left her mom, she kept going with her life, never stopping to take sides or to hear her parents’ explanations. Coraset already knew the reasoning for the dissolving of the marriage. Rhea was overbearing, strict, and a workaholic. Michael loved spontaneity, travelling, and enjoying life to the fullest. He believed in working hard, but he believed in playing hard, too. Michael Prescott worked in advertising, and Rhea was a chemist. It was better they ended their marriage. When her mother found Brecco, she found her equal. He was older, more settled, a chemist, and Rhea was more compatible with Brecco. Coraset’s sisters were not happy with their mother getting married, but Coraset understood. She gladly accepted Brecco into the family as long as her mother was happy.

Coraset got out of bed once the rain stopped. She slid the tank top off and put on jogging pants and a tight fitting t-shirt. Coraset brushed her hair back, allowing it to hang down her back.
Coraset went into the living room to check the points on her card. She pressed the on button for the computer. Once it was finished loading, Coraset scanned her point card. To her surprise, all 400,000 points were there. She walked out of the apartment, feeling rejuvenated but a little reserved.

The streets were still empty. The
smells from the damp sidewalks and asphalt consumed Coraset’s nostrils. The once windswept flags hung from the heavy soak of the rain. Coraset looked up at the building in front of her. It was completed. The last time she left her apartment, it was an empty shell reaching up into the sky. Nothing about it was different. The same steel building like the one she lived in. No individuality, just a show of the power Erato had over everyone.

Coraset exhaled and went back inside of her building. She took the elevator down to the
first basement level where the entire floor was a store. Anything a person could ever want was found in that store.

Coraset picked up a basket and looped the handles on her forearm
. She went to the produce section and stared at the perfectly displayed fruits. Something as simple as picking out fruit became difficult. She was hungry, but she had no idea what she wanted to eat. Coraset huffed in aggravation, and decided to grab a pound bag of grapes, four apples, and four oranges. She knew the fruit alone wouldn’t hold her over. So, she went to the meat department. Coraset wasn’t much of a cook, considering everything else she was capable of, and it kind of bothered her that she couldn’t put together a simple meal for herself. She put the meat and fruit back. She exited out of the grocery store with an intention of going up to the penthouse restaurant to eat dinner.

She walked out of the store
, hit the up button to the elevator and waited. Coraset noticed a brunette was sitting on a marble bench on the far end of the foyer. Coraset thought it was strange that someone would be just sitting outside of a grocery store in the basement level of the building. No one ever did that.

She
took note of the woman. Her brunette hair was in a French roll. She wore black perfectly creased pants, a tight fitting double breasted jacket with an ivory blouse, and pointed toe high heel shoes. Coraset didn’t have a good feeling about her. She touched the elevator down button but moved on to the stairs to go up. She wasn’t about to climb 40 or more flight of steps, but Coraset didn’t want the woman to have advantage of her by using the elevator. She dashed up the steps.

Coraset
stopped when she heard the door from the first level basement come open. She peered over the edge of the stairs to see if she could get a glimpse of who was coming. She heard murmuring, the door slammed shut, and then she heard the familiar sound of guns being cocked. Coraset started running up the steps, and the footsteps below her was quickening, as well. When she got to the 10
th
floor entry door, she listened and waited breathless. The pursuers were still coming up the steps, but they’d stop on every level opening doors, checking for Coraset. She continued going to the 15
th
floor and stepped into the hallway. She couldn’t hide nowhere on the floor. Every single door was locked, and there was no breaking in because all of the doors were steel. Coraset straightened and listened for the footsteps in the stairwell.

After she heard two sets of footsteps go pass, Coraset moved to the other side of the door so she wouldn’t be seen just in case someone peeped in. She peered up and down the hallway to see if anyone was coming out of an apartment.
Slowly, the knob turned. Coraset held her breath.

The barrel of a gun began to appear. Coraset waited until she saw a hand. She positioned herself
carefully, and she kicked the gun out of the assailant’s hand. He grunted and swung the door open meaning to hit Coraset with it. She jumped out of the way and with one swift motion, she kicked him square in the neck. He fell to the floor with a deep yell, and Coraset kicked him in the stomach and grabbed the gun. The man curled up in utter pain grabbing his sides and stomach, and she jumped passed him and started running down the steps. The other aggressors heard her, and they started running back down. Coraset got to the 11
th
floor landing and pulled out the magazine to make sure it was fully loaded and checked to see if there was one in the chamber. Seeing that the gun was set to be fired, Coraset knew they meant to kill her. Being taken as hostage was not a part of their plan. She took in a deep breath, and she continued down the stairs keeping close to the wall. She got to the lobby level, and a man busted through the door. She shot him in the chest. Coraset knew if she tried to make a break for the lobby entrance, she probably wouldn’t make it. She continued down two more flights to the first garage level.

Coraset entered cautiously, ducking as she walked behind
Erato Federation vehicles. Every parking spot had a SUV, and she stealthily walked through them listening and watching. She heard the stairwell door slam open against the wall and orders being barked. Coraset made her way carefully to the exit and out onto the street.

She saw a ma
n standing at her building entrance, but he didn’t see her. The trees and street décor blocked his view, and she managed to get across the street. She went three blocks and decided to hide in building three garage. Before she could get to the garage gates, someone pulled up right in front of her at the entryway. Coraset pointed the gun, and the window rolled down revealing a familiar but friendly face.

His name was Brochudo, a husky black man with dark eyes and a round bearded face. He was
bald headed and smiling.

“Get in,” he stated as the glass
slid back into place.

Coraset
looked around one last time, and she opened the back door and got in. The man backed out onto the street, and he headed for the Barat Region outer exit. Their identification was scanned, and they were allowed to leave. Coraset looked out the back window at the closing gate.

“No one is crazy enough to follow this car,” Brochudo’s deep voice
sounded from the front seat.

“Where is he?” Coraset asked as she slouched down in her seat.

“Bel Air,” Brochudo answered as he reached in the compartment next to his seat. He pulled out one CD, looked at the cover, and then put it back in. Then he pulled out another. He peered at the blonde posing beautifully on the cover, and he took the CD out of its cover. He pushed the disc into the player, and a song with an upbeat tune started playing. Brochudo started singing. His deep voice was a horrid contrast to the songbird singing from the speakers.

Coraset
sat back and watched the scenery pass. She was glad to be in safety. She tried to find a reason why anyone would want her dead. She couldn’t picture the warden having enough power or reach to send someone after her, especially an entire team of killers. Maybe it could have been Lea Cassis who sent them in order to stay off revenge, but Coraset never thought about going after Lea, not even once.

Brochudo drove through hills filled with forests and empty mansions. Some gates were pried open, rusting off their hinges, or completely disconnected from the walls that surrounded once exclusive properties. Coraset kept her gun in hand, still unwilling to think the run for her life was over, but she saw no sign of the people that were chasing her.
She wondered how many others were after her. Who did they work for? Why were they trying to kill her? She needed answers.