Everyone had straight faces as they moved past the rest of
the inmates. There was silence which was unusual as they walked down the
corridors surrounded by four guards. The deeper into the prison they went the
more guards were positioned at each door and the lesser the prisoners were at
each level. They kept passing through doors until they got to a door and stopped.
One of the guard shouted “Open door, new inmates coming in.” The gate buzzed
open, Jake and Kevin stared into their cell with no interest. “Welcome to your
new home. Hope you like it?” the head guard said with a smirk on his face.
Jake and Kevin just sat there thinking how they were to get
to Carlos. There was no opportunity to even try and find Carlos because of the
seclusion that they were in. They were separated from the other prisoners, so
it was difficult to interact with anyone except Suarez, the guy that came once
a week to clean up and the guard who brought their food. Weeks past and they
adapted to their new home, staying where they were and thinking how they would
go about finding the person who was responsible for putting them in prison.
“Jake, it’s been three weeks and we still have no plan on how
to find Carlos.” Kevin says as he holds the prison bars.
“We will find him Kevin.” Jake replies as he lies on the
floor looking up into the ceiling.
Jake was right but it was not until two months later before
they found him.
Two months later
“Hey Suarez, how’s your uncle doing?” Jake asks as he sees
Suarez passing by. “Kevin told me about the fall your uncle had two weeks ago.”
“He is doing better now Jake.” Suarez replied.
Jake nods his head and says “that’s good to hear. Tell him I
wish him well.”
“I will tell him Jake. Last week I told him that the
prisoners wished him well. He was so happy, he wanted to write a thank you card
with all the names I told him wished him well. I told him not to bother that I
would tell them myself.”
Kevin laughs “Nice man.”
“Yea, he is. You and Jake are cool though. I told some of the
other inmates about my uncle’s fall and they did not even say anything. Not
that I was expecting them to but I guess they could have at least said
something. Only Santiago, Henry and Carlos wished him well and they asked about
my uncle when next they saw me. The others just did not say anything about it
like they forgot I mentioned it.”
Kevin just laughs “That’s inmates for you.”
Jake gets closer to the door of their cell “Suarez say the
names you just mentioned again.”
“You mean the names of the inmates that wished my uncle
well?” Suarez asks.
“Yes the ones who remembered.” Jake says now leaning on the
bars of the cell. Kevin leans forward knowing that Jake is up to something.
Suarez straightens his shirt “Henry, Santiago and Carlos.”
“Say it one more time.” Jake says.
Suarez looking a little bit confused says the names again
“Henry, Santiago and Carlos.”
This time it was Kevin who heard it. “Where do you know
Carlos from?”
“I have known him since I started working here. By the way I
always pass his cell when am coming down.”
Kevin and Jake stare at each other for a brief moment then
Kevin asks. “Has he been here before us?”
Suarez thinks for a while and says “Carlos has been here a
long time before you. I started working here about three years ago and I met
him here.”
“Can you help us get across a message to him?” Jake asks
Suarez.
“Yes I can. What do you want me to tell him?” Suarez
says.
“Just tell him that we have been looking for him and also
tell him Steve from Malaysia sent us.”
“Okay I will tell him on my way out of here.” Suarez says as
a matter of fact.
Suarez packs up his stuff and heads off with his cleaning
equipment down the corridor with Jake and Kevin staring at him.
“Can it be the same Carlos?” Kevin asks Jake.
“We will know soon enough.”
_
Later that night, a noise awakens Jake. He gets up and sees a
man outside their cell with a knife. “Did Steve from Malaysia send you?” The
man asks.
Jake says “Yes, but who are you?”
“This is not the time for questions. Just keep quiet and
follow me.” The man says as he opens the cell quietly and begins to walk away.
“Are you Carlos?”
The man looks at Jake with annoyance and says “Keep quiet and
follow me. I will not repeat myself.”
Jake nods his head, gets up and taps Kevin who sits up
immediately. Both of them run after the man trying not to make any noise as
they followed him down the corridor. The man obviously knew where they were
going because he did not even look back or stop one time. They kept going down
the hall and then past a door on the right which should be locked but was not
on this particular night. The man stops suddenly, turns around and says “The
door in front of you will lead you to a tunnel. You will enter the tunnel and a
man will be waiting for you at the end of it. He will get you out of the prison
comfortably. Once you meet this man, there is no going back even if you want
to. I am Carlos, do you have any questions?”
“What do you mean by there is no going back?” Kevin asks as
he looks around to try and see where they are.
“Do not reach the end of tunnel unless you are certain you
want to join us. Once you go down the tunnel you will see your contact. If you
see him and change your mind on joining us he will kill you. We cannot help you
get out unless you are one of us. Judging by your question I can see that Steve
did not tell you much about what you are getting into?” Carlos calmly says.
Jake steps toward Carlos sensing the man could actually tell
them what this is all about “You are correct, we are not sure on what exactly
we are getting into.”
Carlos smiles “Alright then let me briefly describe this to
you. You are both about to be recruited into the agency called The Window. I
belong to the agency and our expertise is in gathering information and giving
it to our clients who desperately need them.”
“You are a spy.” Kevin interrupts.
Carlos smiles again “Yes I am a spy but one with a good
reason. The agency I work for and which you about to work for do not deal with
people with bad records. That means we do not go around gathering information
for criminals. We properly cross check our clients to make sure that they are
good before we deal with them. We help to make the world a better place by
giving this information to the right person, and we decide who the right person
is.”
Jake nods his head “Why are you in prison though?”
“It is a good place to talk to criminals without them being
defensive. Plus a lot of them never tell their secrets to anyone unless they
believe you both are equals. Birds of the same feathers flock together
principle.”
“That makes sense, how do you communicate with your agency?”
Jake asks
“Through that door you are about to pass, I am not the only
one in the prison that belongs to the agency.”
Jakes looks at him “Is Steve one of you?”
Carlos keeps quiet and ignores the question. “You are going
to get new identities and you are going to be trained to enter into the field.
Forget about your old life and everyone you loved. To you they are dead; any
contact with them will expose you to the people who are looking for you. The
people who set you up are going to find out sooner or later that you are no
longer in prison. You become a threat to them the moment you break out of
here.”
“How do you know we were set up?” Kevin and Jake look at him
suspiciously.
Carlos smiles “Steve would only contact me for people who are
innocent but are in prison. That’s how I know you two were set up; Steve never
contacts me for any other case. We do not have time; you need to go through the
door.
“Are we going to see you again?”
“I doubt it, unless you end up in jail again.” Carlos offers
his hand to shake which they do and begins to head back towards the direction
they came.
“Carlos.” Jake calls out, to which Carlos stops and turns
around. “Do you have any last piece of advice for us?”
“If you have any loved one, forget about them. You will put
them in danger if you come back into their life.” Carlos says and keeps going.
Jakes thinks about Alexia for the very last time and then
puts his hand on the door in front of him and opens it.