incendiarystory (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} incendiarystory) wrote,@ 2005-11-01 14:15:00 |
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Stars, Bars, and the Crown - PROLOGUE
PROLOGUE
Liam felt his breath hot against the layer of electrical tape that covered his mouth. But beyond that he felt every pulse as he surveyed the basement that had become his prison. He looked to his right and saw the members of the John Harper Society.
He wondered how he could have ever considered these people to be some modern embodiment of the spirit of the American Revolution. They were nothing more than common street thugs to his eyes now. For all of their talk of high-minded ideals of a new United States, they now appeared to be a machine of destruction and not creating. And he was about to be ground into their next victim.
The captive felt his arms clamped behind him in the manacles. He realized he had enough movement in his shoulders to bang on the drainage pipe from the sink in the community kitchen upstairs but what good would it do?
There were no allies to be found. Upstairs were more people with the same mentality as the six who sat around calmly playing bridge as his life hung in the balance. Liam had always prided himself on his ability to reason himself out of any situation. To have his mouth taped shut wasn’t to keep him from screaming to the neighbors or the police – and how could he when he had blood on his hands – but to psychologically torture him.
Liam knew the crime that he had committed and it meant certain death at the hands of the Harperites if he was found guilty. There had been a police infiltration of the group and mass arrests. The people who sat around the table were one of the small group that had remained intact and surprisingly included some of the leadership who had just weeks before taken an interest in him and tagged him some sort of rising star.
Now he was going to end up as nothing more than a burned husk dumped in a dumpster perhaps never to be found. He knew there was no choice but to talk. Liam knew he was innocent but the only way to save his life now was to tell what he knew about who the spy really was. Or at least who he thought it was.
The problem was that while Liam had some idea as to who could have passed on information to the authorities, he wasn’t sure if he could put someone else in the same position, tied to a pipe with a death sentence over their head. And they had no reprieve.
As the voices continued on from the card game, Liam began to wonder if there was anyone at the table who still believed in his innocence. The people at the table were all very familiar to him but their tone was different than that which had brought him in promising fellow travelers with a common cause. This was the voice that he had only heard in these same dark settings planning.
This time, the voice planned his death. He seemed to have only minutes left to decide his fate.
There was one word left in his arsenal – trust.
Liam began to bang on the pipe with swift up-and-down motions of his arm. It wasn’t to effect his escape but instead to let them know he was again ready to give an oratory. Perhaps his last oration or the one that could save his life.
Chapter Word Count: 574
Daily Word Count: 641
Total Word Count: 641
Liam felt his breath hot against the layer of electrical tape that covered his mouth. But beyond that he felt every pulse as he surveyed the basement that had become his prison. He looked to his right and saw the members of the John Harper Society.
He wondered how he could have ever considered these people to be some modern embodiment of the spirit of the American Revolution. They were nothing more than common street thugs to his eyes now. For all of their talk of high-minded ideals of a new United States, they now appeared to be a machine of destruction and not creating. And he was about to be ground into their next victim.
The captive felt his arms clamped behind him in the manacles. He realized he had enough movement in his shoulders to bang on the drainage pipe from the sink in the community kitchen upstairs but what good would it do?
There were no allies to be found. Upstairs were more people with the same mentality as the six who sat around calmly playing bridge as his life hung in the balance. Liam had always prided himself on his ability to reason himself out of any situation. To have his mouth taped shut wasn’t to keep him from screaming to the neighbors or the police – and how could he when he had blood on his hands – but to psychologically torture him.
Liam knew the crime that he had committed and it meant certain death at the hands of the Harperites if he was found guilty. There had been a police infiltration of the group and mass arrests. The people who sat around the table were one of the small group that had remained intact and surprisingly included some of the leadership who had just weeks before taken an interest in him and tagged him some sort of rising star.
Now he was going to end up as nothing more than a burned husk dumped in a dumpster perhaps never to be found. He knew there was no choice but to talk. Liam knew he was innocent but the only way to save his life now was to tell what he knew about who the spy really was. Or at least who he thought it was.
The problem was that while Liam had some idea as to who could have passed on information to the authorities, he wasn’t sure if he could put someone else in the same position, tied to a pipe with a death sentence over their head. And they had no reprieve.
As the voices continued on from the card game, Liam began to wonder if there was anyone at the table who still believed in his innocence. The people at the table were all very familiar to him but their tone was different than that which had brought him in promising fellow travelers with a common cause. This was the voice that he had only heard in these same dark settings planning.
This time, the voice planned his death. He seemed to have only minutes left to decide his fate.
There was one word left in his arsenal – trust.
Liam began to bang on the pipe with swift up-and-down motions of his arm. It wasn’t to effect his escape but instead to let them know he was again ready to give an oratory. Perhaps his last oration or the one that could save his life.
Chapter Word Count: 574
Daily Word Count: 641
Total Word Count: 641
