The Gambit (58 page)

I nodded and turned to Rachel. She looked into my eyes like hers would never meet mine again. It killed me inside to see how much pain she was in, and I just hoped she knew she wasn’t alone in that pain. I felt it too. Her eyes darted across me, and she didn’t say a word. It was like she was trying to take a mental picture of me, trying to hold on to this moment as long as she could.

“Rachel, thank you for everything.”

She nodded, and her bottom lip quivered, but she pressed them together to hide it.

“Like I said, it was an honor to get to know you and to hear your story. I promise I will write it well.”

“I know you will,” I said with confidence. “I can’t wait to read it, even if I am behind bars.”

I gave her a wink. She cracked a smile.

“I love you,” she said softly. The words made my heart swell.

“I love you too. Don’t forget it, either.”

She nodded, and I pulled her into a hug. I squeezed her back and rubbed it lovingly. I tried to remember the feeling of her arms around mine, the scent of her hair, and how affectionate her beautiful brown eyes were as they gazed into my own. I had no idea how long it would be until I got to be with her again. I wanted something to remember, something to hold on to. I pulled back and cupped her face. She waited, and I went in to kiss her. We held it for as long as we could, and I wished I could have stayed there forever. I saw flashes of the beach, of how magical that night was. I planned on having many more with her once all of this was over.

When we separated, she embraced me again and put her mouth beside my ear.

“When will I get those flowers?” she whispered, her voice like velvet.

I leaned into her ear.

“
One day
,” I whispered back.

She looked at me with watery eyes, and a smile tugged at her lips.

“Until next time, Bonnie.”

I popped open the car door.

“Until next time, Clyde,” she said, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Good luck,” Viktor called out from the driver’s seat.

“Thank you. Take care of her, okay?”

Viktor nodded.

“Hurry, Owen. It’s now or never,” Grey said.

“Okay.”

I closed the door. They drove off. I looked both ways and weaved my way across the street. My heart began to race, and I jammed my hands in my pockets, just to double check I hadn’t forgotten the baggy. It was there. Anxiety began to course through my body. I neared the entrance of the CNN building, and it didn’t look as big as I remembered it to be. It was a faded beige, and there were bright red letters with CNN at the top corner.

I was ten feet from the revolving door. I made sure to keep my eyes down, and I zipped my jacket up tight, all the way to my chin. Today was the day I would finally be noticed, but I didn’t want to ruin my chances of that by being recognized on the way in. The whole
country
would notice who I was in less than half an hour. Suddenly, another thought entered my mind.

What would I
say?

I had a feeling that I would know
exactly
what to say when the time came.

I slipped into the revolving door, and the warm air of inside hit me. I quickly scanned my surroundings. The reception area was diagonal to my right, and there were many people walking around. I recalled Grey’s instructions and turned left. A few feet down that hall was a dead end, and the only way I could turn was right.

He was correct in his description. It was a
very
long hall, with many doors lining the right side. The left side was floor to ceiling glass windows. I passed the first door to my right.
One
. I saw the second one coming up.
Two
. Farther away was the third. I passed people and did my best not to make eye-contact with them. I prayed my jet-black hair was enough to make them not notice me.

Then, I reached it.
Three
.

The door read:

EMPLOYEES ONLY

I let out a shuddering exhale as I turned the handle of the door and pulled it open. The lighting was so dim I could barely see what I was looking at. There was a Hispanic maintenance man, mid-bite in his sandwich, staring up at me in shock. I tried to smile and act confused. My main goal was to seem trustworthy enough for him to stand up. I needed him to think I was just an innocent stranger who was lost. The man swallowed his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Uh, yeah, I think I’m lost.” I pulled out my flip phone and opened it. “I’m sorry, I have to find the name of the person’s office. Do you mind pointing me in the right direction?”

“Yeah, I can,” he said in a faint accent and stood up. My heart pounded, and I acted like I was scratching the side of my leg, but I gently opened the baggy instead. I had no time to use the glove. I would just hold my breath.

“Here it is,” I exclaimed, and turned my phone to him.

“Did you click off of it? I don’t see any—”

I jammed the cloth in his face, and he struggled to push my arm away. With one inhale, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he passed out. I began to undress myself, and I locked the door to the room. I saw the key ring on his side and knew I was in good shape to execute the rest of Grey’s plan.

Once dressed, I left my old clothes in the room and headed out the door. I walked with confidence, like I had nothing to worry about. I wanted to appear like I
belonged
. I continued down the long hall, and then I realized—Grey never told me where the service elevator was.

Fuck
. I walked aimlessly, roaming the different halls. At the far end of the one I was walking down, I saw a man in a similar uniform open a door and disappear. I figured it was worth a shot. As I neared it, I saw that it had some sort of locking mechanism attached to it. I reached for my key ring to get in as quickly as possible. With people passing by every few seconds, I didn’t want them to see me struggle. I was an
employee
here, not someone trying to break in. Upon closer investigation, there wasn’t a keyhole at all. It was a card slot, similar to a hotel door. I reached for his ID card and slid it in the slot. The light turned green, and I was in. My breath was rapid, and I tried my best to calm it. The hall was long. Its floor was concrete, and the sound of my feet scraping across it made me feel too vulnerable. I saw no one, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone around. The fluorescent lighting felt brighter than the lights outside, and the walls were stark white. I glanced to my left and right constantly, in an attempt to find what I needed.

I turned a corner and saw another maintenance man. It took every bit of control I had in my body not to jump, or to let the shock I felt show in my face. He glanced at me a little funny but kept walking. An idea popped in my head. It was risky, but it reminded me of what Grey did in the car. I didn’t want to walk circles in this place forever. The midday news had probably already begun. I spun around.

“Excuse me,” I said. My voice echoed down the hall. My heart fluttered in fear.

He stopped and turned around.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“I’m the new guy. Someone told me to meet them by the service elevator. Is it around here?”

I struggled to keep my voice from trembling. His eyes darted up and down the length of my body quickly. He didn’t answer right away, almost untrusting in his body language. His questionable expression returned to normal.

“It’s around the corner. Halfway down the hall on your right.”

“Thanks,” I muttered and quickly turned around.

I followed his directions and found it. I pushed the arrow to go up and tapped my foot impatiently for it to reach the ground floor. The longer I was here, the more I risked my ultimate goal. I
had
to get on TV.

The doors slid open. I stepped inside

‘The newsroom is on the fifteenth floor,’
Grey’s voice echoed in my mind.

I hit the button, and the elevator accelerated. There it was again—the sound I used to cherish. The smooth hum of the elevator. No, this elevator wasn’t taking me to my apartment. It wasn’t taking me to see Cole in the hospital, or to a penthouse suite in Miami. It was taking me to fate’s doorstep…and
today
I decided I would knock.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my pounding heart.

The doors slid open. It was another plain hallway. It must have been disconnected from the main newsroom in its own secret corridor. I tried remembering Grey’s instructions.

‘According to the blueprint we found in the public records, there is a storage closet just behind the newsroom. On the security feed it seems like there is a set of double doors that connects the newsroom to the storage closet.’

The hallway wasn’t straight. It bent, almost like if I were to keep walking, it would form a hexagon. I meandered farther down and saw a doorknob jutting out of a wall. I hurried to it, and as I reached it, I saw black lettering towards the top.

STORAGE

So,
this
was it.
This
was what it felt like to have nowhere to run once I made my move. I was trapped. All by the work of my own hands. The fear I felt had never been this real, this raw. It ran through my blood hot, and almost burned. I tried to harness it and use it to my advantage. When I was ready, I would burst through the doors in front of me and tell the world the
truth
. My heart was beating out of my chest, and another wave of fear percolated through me. But this time, I held onto it. I transformed it into something different. Now, it almost felt like electricity, tickling my skin. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt so alive. It was courage. Courage was building up within, slowly replacing the fear.

What did I have to lose? Everything I had worked for was gone. My best friend was dead. My party was dying like a wilting flower. At this point, as long as Rachel was safe, I could live with whatever happened next. The repercussions didn’t matter anymore. My public image was trashed to the point where I couldn’t even show my face. I was a wanted man.
They
wanted to wipe out my mark and destroy all the good I had done in this country.

No
. Not today. Today, right now, was the moment I would fight back. It was the moment I would show them that they should have never picked me. Someone else might have given up. They might have quit after the cat and mouse chase across the country wore them down, but not me. Cole and I had a vision for what this country could be, and I wasn’t going to let them take that away. I wasn’t going to just so willingly hand over our country to the people who had fought so hard to run it into the ground.
They
were sick people.
They
were frauds, corrupt, and above all else—evil.

Freedom. It was the word they threw around so carelessly, acting like patriots, and trying to further convince the public that they had their best interests in mind. No, that wasn’t the truth at all. I knew the truth, and it was time for the rest of the country to find out. Our government was behind Black Monday.
They
caused the bombs and the stock market crash. The attacks at the debate were premeditated by Veronica.

Most importantly, the Confinement was never supposed to end. It was just the beginning. A chill raced up my spine at the thought, and my teeth clenched with anger. My breath shuddered, and I gently held the cold metal push bar of the double doors. My palms were sweaty, as was I. Darkness engulfed the storage closet, and from behind the doors I could hear the muffled voices of the news anchors. They were probably only ten feet away. Oh, were they all in for a big
surprise.

If someone would have told me a week and a half ago, on the evening of the debate, that I would be the most wanted criminal in the United States, I would have told them they were crazy. I would have never believed that any of this was possible. I was blinded from the Convergence’s success, and I was living in that bubble. If I would have only known that behind the scenes, the very people responsible for Black Monday and the Confinement were plotting something new. This new plan would allow them to stay in power, it would allow control of our country for another four years, and that would be enough to revive what the Supreme Court snuffed out. Like Viktor said, I was the oxygen to their dying flame.
They
chose
me
. I was the sacrifice they needed in order to regain what they had lost from the emergence of my party.