One hundred and nine: Liar

"My lady?" Roberts stepped out of the shadows, into the light and I spun around, skidding in the dirt to see where the man chasing me had gone. I heard his footsteps. "What happened to you? Your dress."

"Roberts," I beckoned. "Later. Follow me. We have to catch that traitor."

And I took off again, after those retreating footsteps.

"Where'd he go?" I asked, unable to hear the running feet anymore.

"I don't know," Roberts said. "Why was he chasing you? Why are you chasing him now?"

"He's a traitor," I said. "Come on. We can find him later. Don't let anyone else leave the Compound tonight. There's something else important that I have to show you."

I led Roberts to the grave and got him to shine his torch on the scuffed dirt. I dug up the wires to show him. They were encased in some sort of rubber to make the connections weatherproof and keep them free of dirt.

"Look."

I saw an optical cable and some other wires. Hardware wasn't really my forte.

"Stop. Who's there?"

Another shining torchlight came toward us.

"Matt," said Roberts. "It's Roberts and my lady. My lady saw someone here earlier and when they knew they'd been seen, attacked and chased her. She found me and although we lost the man, she brought me over to show me these wires that were buried in the ground."

"An off duty patrol man came to tell me he'd heard suspicious voices over here. I came to check. I'll get this checked out. What happened to my lady's dress? Take her back to the apartment at once or someone will think you've been up to no good."

I told them what I had seen in a breathless rush and Matt listened without expression. When I finished, he just nodded. He didn't believe me. How could he suspect me?

"Keep an eye on her," he told Roberts. "She's tricky."

"There really was someone after her earlier, Matt."

"Did you see him?"

"Only heard his footsteps."

"He has a hip drop and his foot drags," I demonstrated for them. "Like this."

Matt just tossed his head at Roberts who led me away.

"My lady," he said in a tentative voice. "you didn't happen to embellish your story, did you?"

"You think I'm lying now? But you were with me. You saw - heard the man earlier. I didn't see wrong. I didn't recognise him either."

"Let's just go back to the apartment while they investigate."

People can be so frustrating. I lay in bed, unable to sleep that night. I kept remembering what the man had done to me and how I hadn't been able to move. Then there was what Kiran had done and how angry he had been. I felt bruised and well abused. Kiran didn't return that night.

The next day, when I opened the door, Iain was there.

"You aren't to leave the apartment today, my lady," he said.

"Did they find the man? What was the device? Did they find where the wires lead to?"

"I'm sorry, my lady. I can't tell you."

"Then," I said, "let me know when you can. Sorry you're going to have a boring day."

Then I closed the door.

When I did manage to fall asleep in the late afternoon, I woke screaming and Roberts ran in to see what was wrong. He patted my back while I finished waking up. After he had gotten me a drink, he left to continue guarding the front door.

Nightmares haunted the every closing of my eyes. I couldn't sleep. Couldn't eat properly.

Whatever they were doing, I was under house arrest and they wouldn't tell me anything about what was going on. Kiran didn't come and neither Iain, Roberts nor Patrick and their partners would talk much with me. I felt sorry for them when every few minutes or hours, they'd come rushing in to find me screaming in my sleep or entangled in my blankets on the floor. There were times they'd find me hiding under a table or in a corner when meals were brought and they'd have to coax me out and then sit with me until I had eaten something.

Food made me choke a lot. I felt like it was perpetually going down the wrong tube on purpose.

One early morning, I looked out my window and noticed the bits of the apartment wall that stuck out like hand or foot holds. The wall was climbable. Glancing at the door and knowing Iaian and his partner would most likely be out there at the moment, I took care to climb out the window silently. To save the trouble of having to manage the skirts of a dress, I wore a pair of jeans that I had bought with Eleanor so many days ago.

Carefully, I climbed out and around, landing lightly on the ground with a sense of satisfaction and relief. If I kept to the shadows, no one should really see me. In my secret garden, I planted vegetables that I had stolen from the kitchen gardens. When I was done, I snuck back the way I had come, climbing back into the apartment by the window. It became a daily routine until they learnt I was somehow able to get out during the day.