Electronic Gags (16 page)

“My
team disappeared,” Brandon Ward said with excitement. “I lost contact with my
team!”

Christopher
took off his headphones. “What?”

“My
team disappeared.” He put his index finger on the monitor. “I last saw them
here.”

Christopher
looked at Brandon’s screen. “The cops have stopped. They don’t know what to
do.”

 “I
will confirm with Professor Reed, but I suspect there is no cell network in
that part of the wildlife refuge.” The supreme leader winked at his brother.
“It looks like my team will outlive yours.”

“It’s
D5574,” Christopher said. “He worked in the wildlife refuge and he knew there is
no network in that part of the wilderness. I thought there was cell network
throughout the Ten Districts.”

“Me
too.”

“D5574
knew better.” Christopher looked at his screen. “The cops are closing in on my
team,” he said sadly. “It will take a miracle for me to win this game.”

“The
cops have the upper hand in the car race,” Brandon said. “Whilst your team has
to jostle for a way through the traffic, the cops just switch on their sirens
and the road is cleared for them.”

“Yes
Brandon,” conceded Christopher. “The cops have the upper hand.” He maximized
his Skype window and watched the live stream of the cops chasing his team. The
cameraman and the reporter were in the back of one of the police cars. Christopher
put on his headphones and switched on his microphone. “Reporter, tell us what’s
happening.”

“It’s
an exciting race, Honorable Senior Minister,” the reporter replied. “We are now
less than ninety kilometers from the fugitives. The cops are very confident and
they said they will to catch the fugitives today.”

“Thank
you, reporter.” Christopher switched off his microphone and switched to the
audio from the electronic gags on the necks of the cops in the leading police
car.

“This
is fun!” enthused one of the cops.

“At
this rate, we will catch them in the three hours,” his colleague said.

“Shit!”
Christopher gasped. “This doesn’t look good.”

“You
betted for the wrong horse, Christopher.” Brandon maximized his Skype window to
watch the live stream of the cops chasing his team. “This game is mine.”

Christopher
also switched to the live stream of the hunt for Freddie and Jennifer. The cops
were standing in confusion, looking at their laptop. All of them were waving
their hands to chase mosquitoes away.

“How
could this happen!” the officer in charge lamented. “We were closing in on
them.”

“Maybe
they tampered with their NASTs,” suggested one cop.

“It’s
impossible,” the officer in charge said. “If they tamper with their NASTs the
devices will explode and kill them. Where were they when we last saw them?”

“Let
me check their trajectory, sir,” said the young cop with the laptop. “They were
here and we are here, about fifteen kilometers away.”

“Let’s
follow their trajectory to the point where they disappeared.”

“Wait!”
the young cop exclaimed.

“What?”
growled the officer in charge.

“Maybe
the fugitives modified their NASTs and the devices exploded and killed them.”

“If
that’s the case, we will find their bodies at the point where they vanished
from NASP.”

 “Your
Excellence President Ward and Senior Minister Christopher Ward, I hope you are
listening,” the excited reporter shouted. “The chase is heating up. There are
many possibilities here. Maybe prisoners D5573 and D5574 tampered with their
NASTs and died in the process. We shall soon find out whether...”

“Maybe
your team is dead!” Christopher Ward shouted. “Maybe I won the game.”

“Let’s
wait until the cops reach the point where my team vanished,” Brandon Ward said,
nervously rubbing his hands.

Assistant
Police Commissioner Evans couldn’t help smiling as he watched the game. This
was his best day at work.

Freddie
suddenly turned right. They walked through dense bushes and Freddie crawled into
a cave. She hesitantly followed him into the cave. The cave’s mouth was so small
that they could only enter on all fours.

“I
would never dare to enter this cave if it had a large mouth.” Fred said, switching
his torch. “The cave’s mouth is too small for bears. There is nothing as
dangerous as entering a bear’s cave.”

He
switched on the torch and Jennifer looked at the bats hanging on the cave’s
walls. Without realizing it, she held Freddie’s hand. The bats sent shivers
through her.

“Do
bats really suck blood?” she asked nervously.

“You
are scared!” He laughed. “Tough girl is scared of bats.”

“Answer
me,” she said, clinging to him. “Do they suck blood?”

He
noted how cute she looked when she showed her vulnerability. “Of course not,”
he said softly. “They feed on insects. Come on, let’s explore our lodgings.”

She
followed him, his confidence easing her fear. “Cheer up, girl,” he said. “We
will live to see tomorrow. It will soon be dark. I think the cops will leave us
alone for today. Mosquitoes will slow them down if they have no mosquito
repellent.” He pointed at Stone Age rock paintings on the cave’s walls. “Look,
baby, our new home even has paintings. When the death games are over, I will
take you on a tour of the wildlife refuge.”

“Let’s
stay here, near the cave’s mouth,” she said, holding his hand, nervously
looking at the bats.

“Here
radio waves from GPS satellites may reach us. Let’s go further inside. There
are so many twists and turns ahead that I’m sure GPS signals won’t reach us.”

“How
come you know so much about NASTs?” she asked with admiration.

“The
manuals of the NASTs clearly state that the devices use GPS and cell tracking.
After reading my manual, I did some research on GPS and cell tracking.”

“You
are a genius, you know that?”

“You
praised me again today.” He laughed. “At this rate, I will get laid tonight.”

She
laughed and was suddenly a beautiful girl, but to his disappointment, she
quickly assumed her tough girl demeanor.

“D5573,
I can’t get off the feeling that I saw you somewhere before I got into prison.”

“Cut
the crap,” she said.

“It’s
true. I never forget a face. I think I saw you on TV, or in the press. Are you
a celebrity?”

“Ok...
I was on TV once when I won a shooting competition.”

“Bingo!
Can I get an autograph?”

The
beautiful girl briefly came out when she smiled.

“Now
I remember. You won The President’s Sharpshooter Competition. You were a cop,
from the Police Special Branch.”

She
nodded.

“How
did a beautiful girl like you end up in the special branch?”

“When
I finished school, I went to the police academy and from there I was drafted
into the PSB.”

“And
how did you end up on death row.”

“The
CIB accused me of insulting the supreme leader.”

“That
makes two of us.” He dropped his satchel. “This is where we sit, D5573. From
here, the cave forks into two. The left side is the ladies room and the right
side is the gents if you want to... you know.”

“Jennifer...
that’s my name,” she said.

“I’m
Freddie.”

They
sat down and drank some water.

“I’m
going to serve you cornflakes, my special,” he said, opening his satchel.

Jennifer
watched him take out bowls, spoons, a packet of cornflakes and two bottles of
milk. She was beginning to like this man. In fact she was falling in love with
him. She tried to tell herself that she was drawn to him by the common danger
they faced. She didn’t like him, she reasoned. She was just grateful to him for
increasing her life expectancy. He was not her type. She wouldn’t have looked
at him twice in the street. Though he wasn’t ugly, he was fat, a big sin in Jennifer’s
eyes. She was a fitness enthusiast and believed obesity was a sign of weakness.
But several times today he had been tough when he had to and gentle when he had
to. He was tougher than all the men she knew and unlike most self-styled tough
guys, he wasn’t arrogant or rude.

 “This
game is taking longer than I expected,” Brandon Ward said, rising from his
seat. “The police commissioner will phone us when the police kill the
fugitives. I’m going to my office. I have a country to run.”

The
supreme leader walked out of the lounge, shadowed by his bodyguard. He went out
of the First Building’s eastern wing, which was the first family’s living
quarters, and entered the western wing, which had his office and a conference hall.

“Good
afternoon, Your Excellence,” Lopez, his secretary greeted him when he entered
his office.

“Afternoon
Patriot Lopez. Show me tomorrow’s program.”

“Yes,
Your Excellence,” Lopez said, bowing his head. “This week hasn’t been busy,
Your Excellence. The main thing on tomorrow’s program is the National Security
Committee and your official opening of the school for the disabled.

*
* * * *

Danielle
Wright looked at herself in the mirror. The blouse and skirt fitted her
perfectly. It would have been a beautiful outfit if it didn’t have Brandon Ward’s
face dotted all over it. This was the first time she willingly put on National
Party regalia. Every citizen had the ruling party’s regalia and was obliged to
wear it at the party’s rallies. When the National Party held a rally in an
area, the Youth Brigade, the party’s militia, closed all shops and forced
everyone to attend the rally. Danielle had attended many rallies and chanted
National Party slogans to protect herself.

She
looked at her neck and put her hands on her electronic gag. She was going to
use the electronic gag, the symbol of the regime’s oppression, to kill President
Ward and hopefully free the country from the evil regime. She believed that
news of Brandon Ward’s death would encourage people to take to the streets.

She
frowned when she remembered how she celebrated when Brandon Ward came into
power. The majority of Americans celebrated when Brandon Ward ousted the Democrat
government in a bloodless coup. People were tired of the lies and false
promises of the successive Democrat and Republican governments and saw Brandon Ward
as a savior. The previous regimes were a bunch of crooks and hypocrites, but
they didn’t kill American citizens; they did their killings elsewhere. The Ward
regime didn’t send drones, fighter jets or soldiers to kill foreigners; it was content
with killing its own citizens.

Brandon
Ward, I shall be waiting for you at the school for the disabled,
she thought with
a wry smile.

She
took off the outfit and went to the garage. She opened her toolbox and took out
a pair of pliers, the tool she wanted to use in the assassination of the
world’s most powerful man.

“I am beginning
to believe we can make it,” Jennifer said as they ate cornflakes. “It’s
possible, Freddie. We can hide in this cave for seven days and earn our
freedom.”

“I’m
not waiting for seven days,” Freddie said. “I’m fighting the supreme leader. I
have to save my friend.”

“Are
you crazy? Brandon Ward is the world’s most powerful man. Nobody can touch him.”

“Then
I will die trying.”

“First
let’s survive for a week and earn our freedom. Then you can try to assassinate Ward
and get yourself killed.”

“Jennifer,
you seem like a clever girl. Do you really think that the supreme leader will
give us amnesty if we survive for seven days?”

“That’s
our only hope. We have no choice but to take his word.”

“We
are rebels. Ward won’t give us amnesty. This is just a game to him. It’s a
drill to teach his cops to track fugitives with his new tracking system.
Besides, the cops chasing us can still track us without NASP. Seven days is a
long time. If they have good trackers in their team, they will find us.”

“So
what do you suggest?”

“I
have a plan.”

“What
plan?”

“First,
let’s finish our dinner and rest a little.”

Sergeant
Miller was more frightened than the fugitives he was chasing. He knew that the
supreme leader himself was watching the chase live. He knew Commissioner Hunt
and Chief Inspector Coleman were also monitoring the chase. If his team took
long to catch the fugitives, it would reflect badly on him as a leader. Chief
Inspector Coleman’s voice rang in Miller’s ears over and over again. “Don’t let
me down, Miller. The supreme leader will be watching you live on Skype.”

Now
the fugitives had disappeared. Without the tracking system, it could take days
for Miller and his team to catch the fugitives in the wilderness. It was
getting dark. He had no choice but to camp for the night. Mosquitoes swarmed over
them, singing bloodthirsty tunes. Miller wished he had brought mosquito
repellent or a mosquito net.