Not even a few minutes later the door opens again, and I willingly stand. The guy reaches for me, and I allow him to grab my arm and lead me out. If only for the hopes of seeing Mom. We go in a different direction today, past Ward A, which I can only assume is somewhere near the entrance. I’m shoved into another room; this one has two long wooden cot looking things. The lid on one is open and I’m forced to lay down as they shut and lock it. It’s so shallow my nose almost touches the top bars. I’m essentially unable to move and low and behold, there’s another camera placed on the roof looking down at me, but the light isn’t blinking yet. After a few minutes the doors open again, but I don’t turn my head to look as I hear feet shuffling, a creak, a bang, a click and then feet shuffling away again before the door is slammed closed. It’s only then do I turn my head to the side and I see beside me in the other contraption…
“Mom!” I whisper on a smile.
“Hey baby girl. Fancy seeing you here.” She grins back at me. She looks up at the roof and then back to me.
“Before the camera comes back on, I need to tell you some things. The footage is being played back home, there’s no sound to the footage. I got your message. Pedro doesn’t plan on letting any of us walk out of here alive and this place is filled with bombs. He wants to lure our family here and blow the place up.” She whispers just before the red light starts blinking on the camera and I keep my face neutral. This mother fucker. What a greedy little shit. Oh he’s definitely going to meet his maker. I sneak looks at Mom every so often and I can see she’s using my tactic to try and relay information by repeatedly, silently mouthing letters. This one is short and to the point. “T RAP–BOMBS – WAIT“. I can see she’s cuffed, so obviously Pedro has some sort of brain cells, but that won’t stop her. If she wanted to she could just slip right out of them. Mom’s a planner. Every move she makes would be well thought through.
After about an hour the light on the camera turns off and I look over to Mom again.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Well originally, I was hoping the GPS I’m wearing would lead the guys here and they would come in guns blazing and help us take these fuckers out, but now things have changed. They can’t come in, and we need to get out. Have you learnt anything useful since being here?”
“I met a girl before, Lola, she brought me a hot meal when she wasn’t supposed to. I don’t think everyone here is here willingly.”
“We could use that. I’m in Ward C, we had to pass through B to get here but I didn’t see the holding cells.”
“They’re down a corridor just past the reception desk.”
Mom humms in thought. “See if you can get Lola to help us, or any information about who else might be willing to help. We need a few things. Allies, unlocked cell doors, guard rotation information, and maybe a couple weapons. Until then, play along, be docile but remain strong inside. We’re getting out of here, okay?”
“Okay Mamma.”
We’re kept locked up in our tiny boxes for what feels like hours until we’re escorted back to our cells separately.
Luciano.
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