Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Lucas)

The first thing I did when I woke was throw up.

It was a seriously lame thing to do, but I wasn’t going to worry about looking cool when I had a headache the size of Sapphire City and Indigo Island combined and was trapped in whatever prison cell Argot had decided to toss me in. Plus, I was pretty sure this time, he’d picked out the guards himself.

Which meant they wouldn’t be like those bozos who fell asleep on duty as soon as I launched that not-exactly-oxygen tank at them so I could take off out of there. Those morons hadn’t even searched me before tossing me in jail. Which was really incompetent for a soldier that happened to be guarding one of the most highly secured prisons in Spectrum. Enough to get them fired, maybe even killed.

Wait a second.

I sat up a little straighter, which actually wasn’t all that easy since I was chained to the wall.

The guards had been incredibly incompetent. Too incompetent, in fact.

Argot would never have let such idiots guard a prisoner as important as me. Not unless he had some ulterior motive.

But what could that motive be?

What if he’d diverted his guards somewhere else? What if there was someone more important than me he had to keep under lock and key?

But who in the world could it be? I had knowledge that could cripple Mask if given to the right people. What could be so important to him that he’d pull all the guards off me to guard it instead?

Violet? Her guards had been significantly more decent than mine, which was why I hadn’t been able to get her out in the first place. But that couldn’t be it. There were only about seven people assigned to that corridor. That wouldn’t use up all the guards.

What could it be?

My head throbbed, making me grit my teeth in both pain and frustration. All this thinking wasn’t helping my headache at all.

Fortunately for it, my thinking was interrupted when someone stepped into the room.

I looked up, my eyes narrowing, ready to take on whoever it was. The door was slightly ajar, and if I took out this guy, I might be able to make a run for it.

But then I saw who it was. And all escape plans went out the window right then and there as I swallowed and managed to force out, “Commander.”

Commander Fallon eyed me, his face a mask of calm as it always was. “I did warn you, Lucas. If you had just surrendered on the ferry, you wouldn’t be in this mess, now, would you? And I wouldn’t have to terminate my best hacker. Things turned out quite unfortunately for both of us in the end, did it not? All because you refused to come quietly.”

I forced a laugh, bitter in the cold air of the prison. “I’d rather die than surrender to people like you.”

“People like me, is it?” Fallon took a step closer, leaning down to face me. “The person who saved your life and took care of you all those years?”

I sucked in a sharp breath as his next words hit home.

“The person you even went so far as to call your father?”

I glared at him as best as I could, but it wasn’t easy. I wanted to crawl into a little corner and cry, a feeling I hated like nothing else I’d ever felt. It took everything I had to keep my voice steady as I snapped, “You’re no father of mine.”

“Really, now, Lucas. Let’s not get too hasty. I’m here to give you another chance.”

I gave a bitter laugh. “Another chance? Like the ones you’ve already given me? Please. Don’t even go there, Commander. At least make your lies believable.”

“This is no lie, private,” he replied evenly. “I am authorized to open that door and let you leave freely if you hold up your end of the bargain.”

“My end of the bargain? Yeah, and what’s that going to be? That I kill myself the instant I leave here? Because that kind of feels like I’m getting the short end of the stick, doesn’t it?”

Fallon sighed. “Of course not. That would be far too unrealistic. You simply have to tell me something.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing that bad. In fact, you can tell me in one word, if you’d like.”

I closed my eyes, exasperated with this entire stupid conversation and my gigantic stupid headache. “All right, fine, try me. What do you want?”

His answer was one I never saw coming. “Simply the location of Red and Blue.”

That one got my eyes open. “What?”

“Red and Blue. Where are they? Where were they headed?”

I stared at him, all stubbornness gone. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“Red and Blue! I know you met up with them in Yellowton. Where are they?”

“I don’t know what you’ve been smoking,” I replied flatly, “but I’ve got no idea where Red and Blue are. I’ve never even seen them before.”

“Don’t lie to me, Lucas. You met up in Yellowton. Where were they going?”

“I didn’t meet anyone in Yellowton.”

“Oh really? No one? Not even a boy and a girl somewhere in the airport?”

I tried, I really did. But it was no use. My eyes widened just a tiny bit, but Fallon caught it immediately.

“Ah,” he said quietly. “So you remember.”

I fought to keep my voice even. “Even if they were Red and Blue, they didn’t tell me where they were going and I didn’t ask.”

“You had to have exchanged some information. You forget that I’ve known you for years, private. You would never help someone out of the blue like that, unless you knew who they were. So let me ask you again.” Fallon’s voice took on an angry tone. “Where are Red and Blue?”

“Even if I did know, I’d never tell you,” I spat. “I said it already, I’d rather die than help people like you!”

“Well, that’s a crying shame,” Fallon hissed, his tone deadly. “Because you’re going to be in here for an extremely long time if you don’t.”

To which I responded with, “Then I just get a whole lot of time to nap and hang around while you’re running around out there trying to find people you’ll never find.”

Fallon gritted his teeth. “You’re really not going to say, are you?”

“I said, I’ve got no clue where they are. Why don’t you go do something important and leave me alone?”

To my surprise, Fallon strode toward the door. But just before stepping out, he turned.

“You will tell us sooner or later, Lucas, don’t you worry. I’m just here to give you the warning. We won’t be so nice next time.”

His next words chilled me to the core. “Oh, and remember what you said about napping? You might want to give up on that hope, private. What was it Argot said? Oh, that’s right.”

He smiled coldly and swept out. “See you in your nightmares.”