Secrets and Lies

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. She blinked rapidly and frowned as a pen light was shone into her right eye as a calloused hand forced her eyelids wide open.  She swatted the hand away and blinked several more times until the two men stood directly over her slouched body came fully into focus.

            “Where the hell are you?” she asked, looking around for her companion. She expected the sharp pain of a headache when she turned her head but it did not come. He was stood by a fallen chunk of ceiling and dressed like a rich aristocrat from a period drama.

            The two medics looked at each other with concern and she thought she heard the word concussion mentioned, which relieved her because she did not feel in the mood to explain everything that was happening to and had happened to her since she woke up.

            “Yeah, probably,” she said and held up her hands for them to help her, “can you give me a hand here?”

            The two men shared another glance and without knowing what else to do, they did as she asked. The three of them stood in a triangle and her companion circled around the outside, smiling to himself. She wanted to ask him why, but thought better of it. It was not his attractive smile; it was the infuriating one that implied that he knew something that she did not.

            The older of the two medics broke the silence first.

            “My name is Doctor Ian Davies, and this is Doctor David Evans. We are members of the medical team here in this facility,” he said.

            “You look more like soldiers than doctors,” she said, looking the up and down. The older looks like he chewed rocks for fun, but I wouldn’t kick the younger one out of bed, she thought. He smiled back at her.

            “Just because I hit the gym, doesn’t mean I’m a muscle-head.” David said, grinning, “I studied medicine at Oxford and graduated with a first class honours,” he added with no small hint of pride.

            “And I would be impressed if I wasn’t terrified, but here I am in a collapsed corridor and secretly giving thanks to whatever deity it was that spared my life,” she said.

            “I’m very sorry, ma’am. Forgive me, but I don’t know your name. You must be one of the new starters. Nice first day you must be having, anyway. Welcome to the facility,” David said with another smile.

            “I…am Sarah Williams,” she answered with a small hesitation, using the first two names that came into her mind. It was as good a name as any she supposed, considering she could not remember her own, “Can you show me where the nearest toilets are? I could use a mirror to sort myself out. Bomb victim isn’t a good look for a girl on her first day at work now, is it?”

            “Of course. We will escort you momentarily, Ma’am. I should mention that there are no survivors in the corridor from the team you came here with, I regret to say,” Ian told her, business-like formality all the way.

            “Oh…That’s terrible,” she said, lowering her head to the floor so that they could not see the look of guilt in her eyes, “their poor families,” she whispered.

            “Aye, fine soldiers all of them. No way to die for men of their callibre, prey to an explosion of some sort. Did you see what caused it?”

            “It…all happened so fast,” she said, simply. She glanced up at her companion who was studying the remains of the soldiers with a grimace.

            “I see. No doubt this has been a shock for you and I do not wish to press you now, but please understand that you will be questioned at some point about the events that you may be witness to,” Ian said.

            “Surely that can wait for now, Sir. Miss Williams has been through a lot,” said David, looking at Ian.

            He nodded and then motioned down the corridor.

            “Show her where the toilets are, I will be along momentarily but first I must make a phonecall,” Ian said, withdrawing a smartphone from his pocket.

            “Yes sir, come along Miss Williams,” David said, and she followed him down the corridor without another word.

 

***

 

            “So what division are you working for? Let me guess, judging by the outfit it will be research and development?” David asked her, watching her carefully for a reaction.

            “What do you mean ‘judging by my outfit’?” she said, snapping a little more than she perhaps intended. Her companion snickered somewhere behind her.

            “Well they spend all day in a labcoat so they tend to go for comfort underneath rather than style. Where did you get that cardigan from, a charity shop?” he joked, nudging her with his elbow.

            “I’ll have you know that this is- No, you’re right. Everything else was in the wash and it was cold this morning. I thought I would get away with it, but I spilled chemical on my labcoat. Please don’t judge me,” she said, smiling sheepishly, “It belonged to my grandmother.

            “Well at least you get to choose your own clothing, it’s regulation gear for us and no variation whatsoever,” he said.

            They turned a corner and met with a security door. One quick swipe of David’s card saw them emerge onto another corridor. He looked both ways as if unsure of which way he was going but then decisively settled on left and led her further along.

            “It’s like a maze in here,” he muttered.

            As she walked along she noticed that the corridor was lined with doors, each one identical with its cold steel doorhandle and round window that permitted a view into the room beyond. Some rooms contained small offices; others contained large banks of computer equipment. She wondered what the purpose of it all was, but she knew better than to ask. Some of the equipment seemed to still have the protective plastic coating on, which suggested that this facility had not been up and running for very long.

            “How are the preparations going?” she risked, and watched him carefully for a reaction.

            “Reasonably well. The minister is pleased with the progress Command are making and we’ll be ready to deal with whatever this threat is in a matter of hours. Your department will tell you more, it’s all top secret and on a need-to-know basis if you understand,” he said.

            “Yeah, completely,” she said quickly as if it was the most obvious thing he could have said.

            “Right, the toilets are just in there,” he said as he gestured towards a door that bore the internationally recognised stick figure in a skirt, “I’ll be waiting outside for you when you’ve done, hopefully Doctor Davies will have joined us by then,” he added.

            “Thank you, I won’t be too long,” she said, and stepped into the womens bathroom.

 

***

 

            “Sir? Can you hear me? Signal is terri-“ David said, but was interrupted by his senior officer. His orders were clear; stall the young woman for as long as possible whilst the news surrounding her awakening could be passed on to Command and orders given.

            “How dangerous can she be, Sir? We don’t know anything about this disease that seems to be affecting them but she seems absolutely fine,” he said.

            “No, I understand, Sir. Orders are orders. I’ll keep her here,” he said, pocketing his phone once Davies had hung up.

            He turned to face the door; feeling conflicted about what he had just been ordered to do. Surely they would not harm her, he thought. He could only assume that command knew something about these people that he did not, but he felt sorry for the young woman. At the very least she was a prisoner.

Reviews

[Janna Badawy]

an awesome story expressing deep emotions in it