Fools Of Us All - Chapter 3 (See August 20, 2006)

I ducked behind a row of garbage cans, holding my breath as the cop car drove slowly by. I don't think they were looking for me specifically, more that they were doing a random search, hoping to round up some 'undesireables'. I definitely would have qualified in that category. All of this trouble over one hijacked broadcast signal. I'm curious to know what will happen after our next strike.
The past month had been pretty hard to get through. I had realised that the country was in bad shape, but that meeting I had attended really opened my eyes.
Just then a loud crash came from behind my head. Immediately the cop car stopped, its spotlight coming to a rest on my hiding spot, casting weird shadows around me. The garbage cans still hid me from their view, but if either one of them got out to check out the noise, I was in serious trouble. I reached down to my ankle holster, silently cursing the decision to leave my large knife at home. A door on the car started to open, but just then a large black tabby jumped out of the garbage can it had been hiding in, rushing off with a startled yowl. The cop car slammed shut and it drove off, leaving me alone in the dark once again.
Not wanting to take anymore chances I hurried down the alley, turning into a doorway, knocking gently on the boarded up door. A small knothole opened and shut, quicker than most people would have noticed if they weren't looking for it. A small click came from one side and the door slid open. I walked in, feeling the air in the enclosed entrance settle around me in that peculiarly stifling manner that it had. A bright light shone along the length of one wall, floor to ceiling. It started to move, spinning around the room, circling me a few times. When it was satisfied that I wasn't carrying any tracking devices or anything else that I shouldn't a door on the inner wall slid open. I stepped through into a dark room full of computers and largely devoid of people. At one of the computers sat Dar, his shaved head glowing in light of the monitors. He glanced up and offered me a strained smile before going back to his work.
From behind a hand grabbed me on the shoulder, spinning me around. Instinctively I leapt back and landed in a fighting pose, my heart thumping heard in my chest. The deep chuckle coming from the man before me helped me to relax. Dun was a large man, roughly six and a half feet tall, built like an angry muscle. He had been teaching me to fight and seemed pleased at my reaction, as well as amused. "You need to relax a little, girl. This is a safe place."
Taking a deep breath I calmed myself down. "Sorry, I just about had a run in with the cops. I'm just a little worked up, that's all."
Dun merely nodded and then motioned for me to follow him. We walked down a small corridor, one that barely allowed his broad shoulders to pass, and entered his office, a cramped room with a desk and two chairs. He sat down heavily and waited for me to do the same. For a moment there was silence as he regarded me with a critical eye, as though he were sizing me up for something. The feeling was vaguely creepy and I was startled when he spoke. "Caz, why are you here?"
There were many questions I had been half-expecting, but none of them had been along these lines. "You wanted me to come with you," I replied, unsure of what he meant.
His laugh was short and without mirth. "Funny. I mean, why are you with the organisation?" It had been a month, and I had yet to hear anyone call it anything but the organisation.
"Well," I started slowly, "as you know I was at that meeting last month, and I found myself agreeing with everything that was being said. The corporations taking over the governments was bad enough. But now they are trying to do away with the government alltogether and merge into one large intercontinental country just seems wrong. I want to do my bit to help and let people know the truth." I was feeling pretty good about that goal too. I had been part of the crew that had hijacked the newswave broadcast, sending out what the officials called 'harmful propaganda', but which really was truth. It turns out that my skills in communication technologies weren't completely useless after all. Briefly I wondered why Dun seemed so uneasy.
I didn't have to wonder long. "Listen, Caz, there's something you have to know." He paused and picked up a sheet of paper in front of him, studying it carefully. I waited in silence, finding it odd when he muttured "I told them she wasn't ready yet," under his breath. Finally he raised his head. "We've been watching you for some time now, longer than a month. We think that you are going to be the key to a problem that has been brewing for some time now. I need you to trust me and to listen closely. I don't think you are going to like what I have to say, but I promise you, it is all true."
Fortty minutes later, he left the office. I sat there for most of the night before I got up and ran out the door. This changed everything.