A World Without Trust

Chapter Twenty One

Harry and I have headed towards the training facilities in sector 9 and the other two have headed off to the prison.

“Can you read me? Over?”

“You can speak normally Calum.” Harry replies through the small black walky talky.

“Oh… yeah, cool. So you can hear me?” Harry rolls his eyes and a smile widens on his face.

“Yes Calum, loud and clear.”

“Shouldn’t we be quiet?” I ask getting a little bit antsy.

“Somewhat so, but still act normal or we’ll attract attention to ourselves.” Harry and I are walking down what used to be a normal Los Angeles side walk. Old shop windows looted and smashed with vines and weeds slowly creeping up the walls and into the buildings. Brown and red leaves mixed with litter pile up in gutters making the sight of what was once a glamorous shopping district into an abandoned looking town that has been discarded and un-loved for years. I look down at the piece of paper with the prisoner’s numbers on and wonder if one could be Luke. We have six more numbers than the other two, so our odds of finding Luke are higher.

“That’s it there.” Harry says pointing to a large building that looks like it used to be a large warehouse for companies to store their extra stock when their shops were full.

“It’s huge!”

“It has a fully equipped gym, hall for seminars and classes, gun ranges, dojos and a swimming pool.”

“That’s flasher than the school I went to, not to mention any place in West Palm Beach.” I replied generally shocked.

“You’d be surprised at the equipment you can get your hands on when you take over America!”
“How do we get in?”

“Easy, we just walk in!”

“What?”

“All we need to do is flash our all access pass to the guy at the door and walk on in there. Just make sure you keep your helmet on.” Harry instructs. This is all beginning to feel real now. I could be minutes away from seeing my brother, minutes away from completing the task I set out to do all those months ago.

“Thank you Harry. Thank you for helping me find my brother!” I say getting a little too excited.

“Okay Essie, we haven’t found him just yet… but you’re welcome.” Harry replies putting his arm around my shoulder and giving it a squeeze before letting go.

We’ve been scoping the place out for about half an hour before we get a radio call from Calum.

“He isn’t here. We’re making our way over to you guys.”

“Are you one hundred percent sure he isn’t there?” Harry replies into the small device.

”Positive. We’ve interrogated all our numbers and not one of them is called Luke.” A wave of relief washes over me that Luke isn’t trapped in the prison. Now we know for sure that he may possibly be in the training facility.

“See you soon, we’re going inside.” Harry replies to Calum before attaching the walky talkie back onto his belt. “Let’s go then!”

The smell of freshly polished floors takes me back to gym at high school. A waft of body odour seeps into my helmet and makes me crinkle my nose up as we walk passed the changing rooms. A loud voice is yelling some instructions coming from a room down the hallway. We had no trouble getting inside just as Harry said, all we had to do was show the guard our passes and we were granted access. My heart is beating out of control as a group of broad shouldered boys walk out of a changing room door. I can’t stop staring at the one with blond hair walking away from me. I didn’t see his face so I have no idea if it’s Luke or not. Yet something inside me is pulling me towards him.