I glared at Hudson, my eyebrows high. "You can't be serious." Venom dripped off my words. Hudson had the nerve to shift under my gaze like a small child being caught doing something wrong.
A horrible reek washed over me when I stepped into the room. It was hard not to gag, but I didn't. The smell of feces, urine, blood, and an unwashed body coated the area.
Half of Noah's face was still in the shadows. I eyed the side of his face I could see. His cheeks were too hollow. Dry blood caked in the corner of his lips and bruises peppered his skin.
He was thin. Damn too thin. They starved him for him to be this small.
"You know who I am then?" I asked. I stepped further into the room.
"Yes, though I don't really believe it." His voice was a rasp. Though starved and tired, his eye sparkled with life and hope for a second. That hope was replaced by uncertainty. He looked at my clothes. The Alliance insignia on my jacket over my heart. "Why are you here?"
"I am here to help."
"The men that did this to me were the Mayor's men. I believe the Alliance will do much worse." Noah tilted his head to the side, revealing the rest of his face from the shadows.
I gasp.
The entire side of his face was bruised. His right eye was swollen shut with puff angry skin. Dry blood trailed from his nose and his ear. This normal blond hair was more of a strawberry blond color and was matted in places.
I stepped towards him, lowering myself so I was at eye level. "My people, the Alliance will not lay a hand on you. We do not agree with this type of-"
"Torture?"
"Questioning." I corrected him. Alliance used other ways of questioning rebels. Most of it was mind tricks. Not bodily harm.
His good blue eye shifted to behind me. Alec stepped into the room. Noah's eye narrowed and crack lips tightened.
"Noah," I said to get his attention. His eye shifted to me as I spoke softly. "I am sorry. I am sorry for this treatment you have endured. I, along with Cadet Whitman and Chief Collins are here to save you. I promise on my life that Alliance will not harm you."
"You can't hold that kind of promise."
"Damn right I can," I shot. I placed a hand on top of his bloodied one. The shackles around his wrist had rubbed his skin raw. "You saved my life a month ago. If you didn't warn me about the rebels, Dad and I would be dead. We owe you a debt."
"Yeah, you and your dad. Not the rest of your lot."
I squeezed his hand only a little to not hurt him. "Lucky for you, Dad is with me and he will oversee your recovery and treatment. Plus he's an admiral, so people listen to him. Do you trust me?"
Noah studied my eyes. Shackles clunked together as he moved his other hand to place it over mine. "I trust you."
"Whitman, get the keys from Hudson." I half turned to where Alec stood between us and the door.
"I will unlock him," Hudson ordered and marched through the door.
Alec pushed him back. "The fuck you are. Give me the keys."
"I cannot give you the keys."
Those were not the words to say. I shot up, but Alec was already there. He grabbed Hudson's shirt and slammed him into the wall. "Give me the damn keys."
A rattle of keys and Alec released the man who stumbled out of the room. Alec turned to us. Keys in one hand and the radio from his jacket pocket in the other. "Do we call in the team?"
The plan was to rescue Noah quietly. Find him, take him out to our truck, and drive away. Anger festered in me. I wanted Fallon in jail. I wanted him to rot in jail for the rest of his awful life for letting this treatment happen to Noah. For allowing Noah to be beaten and starved. And for what? Why did Fallon do this to him?
"I'll call the team in." Taking the radio. "Noah needs medical attention now." I stepped aside to allow space for Alec to take off Noah's shackles.
I turned on the small little radio communicator. Clicking the talking button I said, "Admiral Sparrow. Admiral Sparrow, this is Cadet Sparrow."
A heartbeat went by. Then another.
The sound of shackles clanged to the ground.
"Admiral Sparrow to Cadet Sparrow," Dad's voice said over the radio speaker.
"We found the person of interest in the basement of the Mayor's office. We need a medic." Another long pause. "We need an emergent medic."
"We are coming in."
I turned to Alec who was still crouched by Noah. "It will take several minutes before they get here."
Noah's chest was heaving. His head shook. "No." His good eye pleaded with me. "I need to get out of here."
"Noah, it's okay, help is coming," I said. His breathing was becoming erratic. He was fine moments before but with taking off the shackles, it seemed to unleash him. The sense of calm he had seconds ago crashed down on him.
"He's having a panic attack," Alec said. His two fingers check the side of Noah's neck for his pulse. He used the pulse in the neck instead of his wrist because they were raw and bleeding.
"Please help me get out of here. I can walk. They hadn't broken my legs. Check yourself. Please. Just. I..." I understood. Or tried to. Noah was free. So many things must have happened to him in this room. Many horrible memories. I would want to get out of this room as fast as possible too.
"We need him to stay calm. His heart is beating too fast."
"Sparrow? Whitman?" Ben called in the hallway. "Why did you call back up?"
"Because we need it," I called from the room we were in.
"Was it something we could manage?" Ben didn't sound angry as his footsteps stepped down the hall. I turned to the doorway where Hudson moved to the side to allow Ben in. Ben looked at me first then down to Alec and Noah.
"Dear god," he rushed into the room.
"His pulse is too fast. He can't calm down," Alec said. "He's having a panic attack."
Ben lowered himself to Alec. "Noah, I am Chief Collins, but call me Ben. We are here to help you. I need you to take deep breaths for me."
Noah shook his head. "I need to get out of this room." His hands moved to try to raise himself out of his spot. "I can walk, please I need to get out. I need to get out."
"I am going to check your legs." Ben ran his hands down his legs to check for broken bones. Next Ben had Noah lean forward to check his spine. "I don't detect any broken bones or spine injury. That staircase will be too small to fit a gurney. Noah, you're gonna need to walk up those steps anyway, so let's get you upstairs now. Sparrow, run ahead and meet the ambulance." I turned to run out of the room.
"Not her," Noah said.
I stopped in my tracks. Noah's eyes were on me. "Not her, she stays here. I want her here."
"Whitman go."
Alec stood and ran out of the room.
"Sparrow, get on his left side."
I walked to Noah. Like Ben, I put one arm under Noah's shoulder. "You know," I said to him. "You should have kept Whitman. He's stronger than me."
"He's not you." There was fear and disbelief in Noah's eyes.
Fear that this was not real.
Disbelief this was real.
"Count of three." Ben said, "One. Two. Three."
With our shoulders supporting Noah, we raised him up to his feet. The movement was too easy. He was too light. My one hand supported his back while my other lightly touched his side as we took our first steps. His hand gripped my arm tightly.
"Yeah, be careful of the ribs. I have a few broken ones, I think."
"I hope Fallon burns in hell for this," Ben muttered.
We reached the door of Noah's cell. "Not your style?" Noah said through heavy breaths.
"Certainly not."
"Chief Collins, may I?" Hudson started when we stepped out of the cell.
"No." We paused. "Don't you dare speak."
I eyed Ben. There was such hatred and anger in his eyes. What will he do after this? I mean, if Ben was who I thought he was, he could tell the King. Ben had a lot of power. More power than what a normal Alliance Chief would have.
Noah swayed in our arms. "We need to keep moving," I said. Ben only nodded and we turned towards the stairwell.
It took us a few minutes to get up the stairs with Ben holding on to Noah and me standing behind to support him.
When we reached the sitting room, there was a flurry of activity through the windows.
"All this fuss is for me? You shouldn't have." In the sunlight, Noah looked ten times worse. There was bruising around his neck, and his arms, the whole back of his head was a matted mess of dry blood.
The three of us walked into the foyer. Fallon stood in the doorway of his office. His eyes wide and fearful. "Collins, I can explain," he said and took a step toward us.
"Don't you talk," Ben snapped.
We didn't stop until we were outside on the porch. The street and yard were littered with black SUVs. Alliance officers with a few town guards littered the area. A small crowd of Charleston residents watched from the sides.
Noah swayed again and I braced him. "You okay?" I asked. Noah sighed deeply or as deeply as he could with his broken ribs. His eyes were closed and his face tilted to the bright noon sun.
"Better now."
"They are ready for you," Ben said, drawing our attention to the street before us. The black ambulance's back doors were open. Alec and two medical officers pushed a gurney towards us.
"Collins, Sparrow!" Dad called to us from the right. "I take it this is Noah?" He reached us before the gurney did. He hovered close until we were down the four steps of the porch.
"I am," Noah said. "You're Dave Sparrow. Nice to finally meet you. Wish under different circumstances."
Dad shook his head slightly. "I wish that too."
The gurney reached us and the medical officers stepped forward. "Wait," Noah said. His grip around my waist was tight, it was taking all his strength to stay standing. "What am I? Another prisoner?"
"No," Dad said. "You are my guest. We have an ambulance that will take you to a hospital in Chicago."
"Then be questioned?"
Dad shook his head. "What these men did to you is not what we do. You have been severely mistreated and they will pay for their actions. You will be our guest as we sort through this mess. You say you are Peace Arrow and they want to work with us. I want to work with you."
"Why?" He was so defensive about this. To work with us is what he wanted. Then why was he so uncertain?
"Because you saved my daughter and me. You risked your life to save us and to get a message that the Peace Arrows want to work with us. If you will talk, I will listen. In Chicago, you will not be held in a cell or be mistreated. Now, you won't have full liberties, but you will be taken care of."
I rubbed Noah's back carefully so as to not hurt him. "Hey, remember what I said. We want to work with you. Let us work with you. You said you trust me, do you still trust me?"
Noah's good eye turned to me. He studied my eyes for a long moment. "I trust you." Noah nodded to the medics. They replaced Ben and I.
"I am Dr. Francis," one medic said. "This is Nurse John. We will oversee your treatment."
"Collins," Dad said, he stepped back to be out of earshot of Noah and we followed him. Alec helped Noah get on the gurney before he stepped to my side. "Did Fallon give you a reason for this?"
Ben shook his head. "No."
Dad looked at me and Alec. "Where was Noah in the house? The basement?"
"Basement. He was chained to the floor," I nodded.
"That's enough reason for me," Dad said. "Make the arrest." He handed Ben handcuffs.
There was a flicker of amusement in Ben's eyes. "Oh, I've been wanting to do this for years."
"Try not to look too pleased."
"Of course, sir," Ben nodded, though his smile did not fade.
Ben rounded to where plump Mayor Fallon stood on the porch. "Mayor Fallon," Ben called to him. "You are under arrest." Ben was able to rattle off Fallon's charges and his rights without a toothy smile.
I glanced at Dad. "Can cadets make an arrest?" I asked. "If you guys weren't going to arrest him, I was going to try."
Dad gave me an amused smile. "You can't, as a cadet and an ensign. Mind you, we don't make many arrests. Leave that to the Guards, mostly. Thank you both for your help today."
The day didn't go quite as planned. We were supposed to put Noah in our car and drive away before we gave him to the medics. But he was so injured, and I was so angry that I called Dad without question. "Did I do okay with calling you guys in?"
Dad looked me over, probably noting what I was thinking, that I may have jeopardized the mission. "Yes. We assumed Noah was being mistreated but didn't think it was to this point. We were going to arrest Fallon eventually, but with what transpired today, it is for the best."
Ben walked down the path. Behind him, two officers dragged Fallon away. "Well," Ben said, stopping beside me. "I will show these two how to do a report and I will send it to you by tonight."
Dad nodded. "Good. You three better get back to the camp. Thank you for the help."
Ben headed toward the truck we came in. Alec and I followed.
"Cadet Sparrow," called Dr. Francis. Dr. Francis stood beside the gurney where Noah lay. Nurse John was placing an IV into Noah's inner elbow. "Can you step over here for a moment?"
I took a step toward them.
Dr. Francis moved to the side and took Noah's hand. "Hey, I just wanted to say," Noah paused to clear his throat. "I wanted to say thank you."
"Of course. These guys will take care of you. I promise. I need to go, so you won't see me in Chicago, but my dad will be around."
Noah gave me a weak smile. "Thanks. I hope to see you soon."
I gave him a smile before I turned and walked to the truck.