Read Chasing Freedom Home (Malinding) for Free Online Page B

you?’
    ‘Hello, Ed-Lamin. Yes, that’s one of the names we were given. Never mind about me; time for that later, maybe. Now, you have a choice. You’re free to go. Just open the door and go, if that’s your decision. If you stay you do exactly as we tell you – no ifs and buts, just do it. We have to trust you and you have to trust us. Sod off now if you like. At least two of your group are dead. More maybe. We have a chance for the moment because the hunters are dividing their resources between the four of you still alive. So, Ed-Lamin, your choice. Go, and take your chance. Stay with us and we will try, and I say try – there’s no guarantee – to get you away safely. But, remember this, if you disobey us in anything we will kill you. My husband and child mean more to me than you do. Remember that.’
    ‘Please, tell me what’s happening? Who are you?’
    ‘You’ve heard the offer. Stay, or go. If you stay, the obedience starts now. You stay here, in this van, in this barn. You’ll have to wait a long time. It will be at least five hours before we can move. Stay in the van, you hear? Eat, sleep, and crap in the van. We can hose it out later, if need be. When we’re ready, we’ll return and maybe then you can ask questions. I don’t guarantee answers. Good luck, brother.’ The light was switched off, the van door opened and closed again, as did the door of the barn. It was still dark. Why had she called him brother?  Perhaps she was a member of some religious order. He remembered a picture in a history book; a medallion bearing the image of a kneeling chained man. Around the edge was the inscription ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’ What did he know?
    Time passed. He stood up, tried to stretch his limbs. He did press-ups. His damaged foot screamed agony. He recited poetry; verses his father had taught him, poems he had learned at school, songs Jane had sung to him.
    He took stock: still alive, dressed rather than naked, food and drink available, and, again, alive. Two fellow escapees dead. Could he trust that information?
    Could he trust anything the woman had said? Who was Rachel? Her daughter, perhaps, or sister or lover.  Am I not a man and a brother? The black changed to grey and edged into black again. Would she never return? Would she return alone or with a firing squad? What sort of a man sat in the dark, longing for rescue, longing for his family, free to open a couple of doors and walk away? What sort of a man was so spineless that … the door of the barn creaked open. It closed again. The driver’s door opened and the dim interior light came on.
    ‘Well done, young Ed. It must have been hell. Sorry, but we had to be certain you weren’t a decoy set to trap us. It has happened. You seem to have done exactly as I said. Now, we wait for a few more hours just to make certain there are no hidden Watchers – we have watchers watching for enemy Watchers – talk about tangled webs; then, if all’s clear and we’re still alive, off we go to the next station. You’ll learn more if we get there. When we get there.’
    ‘Who is Rachel?’ 
    ‘What?’
    ‘You said Rachel had put things in the back of the van.’
    ‘Oh, dear god. I’m getting too old for this. Slip of the tongue. Please, forget it.’ Try as he might, he could not coax another word out of her. She sounded shocked, unbelieving that she had made such an elementary mistake. Rachel must be some one very close to her. Daughter or lover, nothing less. He cursed himself for mentioning the name. They settled down to wait. He sensed his companion suddenly become alert. He strained to listen for some signal, some sign, that events might be moving on. The darkness continued, the silence remained undisturbed, then the engine started; he sensed rather than heard the barn doors opening and she backed the van out of the building. There was a brief pause while the barn doors were closed then the passenger side door opened and a second