Scene 20

Secret Headquarters of the KLF

My associates and I followed Mike down the hallway, with Greg following us. We soon came to a door and Mike went in.

“Ah, Mike,” came a familiar voice from inside the room. “Great work, come on in. Everyone, please come…”

As I stepped through the door, the speaker, Grant, stopped in mid sentence. He stared at me in disbelief.

“My God … Dave?” he said and then stepped quickly to me and embraced me. He released me and pointed to a chair. “Welcome back. Please, sit down.”

“Ladies,” he addressed my associates, “please sit.”

“I never imagined,” he continued as we all sat. Only Greg remained standing, his eyes still on me.

“I had the same reaction,” said Mike. “Who would have thought that some unknown prisoner would turn out to be one of our Moderators, who we all thought to be dead?”

“I imagine you’ve got some stories to tell,” Grant continued. “But first, how did everything go Mike? Where’s Diane?”

“She went to her room,” Mike answered. He nodded his head in my direction. “To get it ready,” he said with a smile.

“Ah, of course,” Grant replied with a knowing smile. “And the mission?”

“No casualties on our side,” Mike reported. “Seven deputies killed in the fight. We completely surprised them.”

“Seven,” Grant repeated, a tone of regret in his voice. “Such a waste.”

“But at least we have Dave back,” Mike reassured him.

Greg had been listening to all this. He stepped over to Grant and spoke quietly to him.

Grant listened and nodded. “Please, if you would all excuse me for a moment,” he said. He got up from his chair and he went with Greg to the corner of the room, away from us.

The two of them spoke quietly so that we couldn’t hear them, but Greg seemed rather insistent by his manner. He and Grant looked over at me several times as they spoke. After a few moments, Grant nodded his head.

Then, Grant drew his pistol quickly and pointed it straight at me. Greg raised the rifle he was carrying to cover my two associates.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Tell me,” demanded Grant. “How is it that you didn’t know about this underground complex, even though you helped design it?”