At the end of the day… It was doomed
The mission wasn't going to succeed from the beginning, I should've seen that. To start with I was going solo, not to big a problem; I could deal with anyone who came near me, I was a highly trained Agent, I'd been taught by the best. I was one of the best. Secondly money was short, not for me, I got paid a lot (and I mean a lot), but I was told that I should not take any of my own money with me, what they had given me would be enough they told me (they clearly had overlooked the fact that were they where sending me where things were expensive, incredibly expensive). But the biggest problem was where I was going; Bergerac.
Sure it wasn't a bad place, well not a couple of years ago. Nowadays it was. Erec Laraway had come to power in Bergerac, as quickly as that it had turned into hell. You were either incredibly poor or incredibly rich. Most people were poor. Gangs walked the streets mugging anyone who they saw, people lived in fear. More and more people died each day, they starved to death or the police killed them for minor crimes. Sure the French government knew what was going on; but they were scared of Laraway. Scared of what he'd do if they tried to stop him. Scared of who he may know. You see it was thought that Laraway was a member of the Circle of Caven.
That's the main reason I was sent. To try and see what was going on. Find a way that we could try and control things there. Try and control him.
At 05.00 Am (their time) she landed in an airport just outside of Bergerac.
At 06.00 Am the Jeep dropped her off on the boundaries of the town.
At 07.30 Am she had been mugged 3 times and had given them serious injuries as they did so.
The conditions on the streets were terrible, dirt was everywhere, bodies lined the streets, police watched peoples every move. People were put in prison for minor crimes, crimes such as stealing something as an apple, a rotting apple. The prisons weren't normal though, for from it. Prisoners were made to do intense manual work, digging, building, mining, all done in even worse heat.
Of course people tried to start uprisings. Each had a more terrible ending than the last, to start with the people ended up in prison; now they ended up dead.
On my 6th day in Bergerac, I had only been able to find out things we already knew about Laraway. No one would tell me anything. I had also found myself starving and with no money. Due to a series of muggings, I had been able to fight them off at first, but food was expensive and I became hungrier and weaker so they took everything valuable off me. Including my remaining money, my phone and my comms unit.
I had to weigh up my options:
1- Call the CIA using a payphone.
2- Ask to make a call off someone's phone.
3- Find a Vicar (or someone religious) who owns a phone.
Option 1 wasn't going to happen due to me being penniless.
Option 2 wasn't going to happen either, due to me being from another a country.
So instead I went with option 3, well until I saw the bread…
Ok so it was stale bread. Stale bread that was being thrown into a bin. I used every tactic I knew. I looked around, no one was looking at me, I approached the bin, did another look around the area, I was clear, clear to go. I reached towards the bin and grabbed the bread and took a mouthful. Then 5 men dived on me and pulled me to my feet.
Cries of Thief came from all around as people crept out of their homes that surrounded the marketplace. A man, in his late thirties came up to me and asked one of the guards what had happened. He told him that I stole the bread, the bread that was in the bin.
'I didn't steal it, it was in the bin' I screamed at the man in French.
'It was not your bread to take though. Now take her to one of the camps, with a three month sentence' and with that he walked away, and the guards dragged me to hell.
10 Months later…
Pro's and Con's of being in a Bergerac Prison Camp-
Pro- You get given food.
Con- Most of the food is stale and/or rotting.
Pro- Being an Agent means that the work isn't that demanding.
Con- It becomes demanding while they torture you and you nearly starve to death.
Pro- You get clean water.
Con- You don't get nearly as much as you need.
The sun was strong (hotter than hell proberly). I wanted to die. All I did was dig and dig, It felt more like I was digging a grave than a sewer (that's what we were told it was going to be anyway). Either way it was almost impossible too do when you have a chain around your ankle along with 10 other people.
Then I heard footsteps and the man from the marketplace approached one of the guards.
"I need Prisoner 24603, bring her to me" he commanded, the guard approached me and unlocked the chain around my ankle and dragged me towards the man.
"Prisoner 24603 your time is up and your Parole has begun, it means you get your yellow ticket off leave. You thief" He spat the words at me.
"All I did was steal some bread, I was starved"
"Which you will do again unless you learn to abide the law"
"I know how to, it's just this place is mad, my sentence was mad"
"3 months for what you did the rest because you tried to run, a fair sentence I think Miss 24603"
"My name is Catherine Cameron" I shouted at him.
"And I am Inspector Ramirez do not forget me 24603, I am sure we will meet again, now go"
I didn't need telling again I grabbed my Parole card and left. When I had made my way into a local town it was obvious things had changed. I soon found out the whole of Bergerac had a boundary, a boundary of guards and watch towers. No one got in who Laraway didn't want getting in and no one left who he didn't want to leave. So well that left me pretty well, screwed. There was no way I could escape or even call the CIA to tell them what had happened.
You would think with me being a fully trained Agent and everything that when I tried to run from the camp I would have succeed. Well with being hungry and thirsty and weak from being beneath the lash of the whip and on the rack it was pretty much doomed from the beginning. And I should've known that. I could've have only been there for 3 months if I hadn't tried to run. But it was the heat the heat clouded my judgement made me think I was still the Agent I was before. But no. Catherine (well everyone called me Katie) Cameron was nothing now, they killed her when they chained her up and left her for dead just for stealing a mouthful of bread. In her place they left well… me; but not me. If you get what I mean. I was still me, but just me scared and in a daze and hungry and thirsty. So I sat in a corner and stared into the night, into my sin. I was a thief it was true, I was a criminal, I broke the law, even though it was an insane law. I sighed and thought 'how did this happen? How did I let this happen?'
Footsteps broke my thoughts and I looked up. It was a Vicar. He looked at me and asked the most wonderful question ever.
"Would you like to come and stay the night in the monastery and have some food?" I nodded and followed him to heaven.
The food was great. The water was clean. The bed was comfy and I slept for the longest time in months.
I woke with a start in the morning. I could hear voices downstairs, so I crept and listened.
"The best silver in the place missing, it must have been her she's the only person here who would do it" A female voice said.
"And how do you know that?" the Vicar asked.
"I saw her tattoos; prisoners get tattoos like that, when they're first arrested. And prisoners don't change. I've called Inspector Ramirez and he's on his way to arrest her" Shit. She then left the room and exited into the church.
I walked into the room. "I didn't do I promise you I did not steal the silver" I looked into the Vicars eyes and pleaded him for me to believe him.
"I believe you"
"Thank you. About my tattoos, I was in prison, I stole some stale bread, I was starved and I've regretted doing it ever since."
"These are desperate times and people do desperate things. It is completely understandable. You have a soul, your not evil it is Laraway and his team of guards that are the evil ones. Now we don't have much time, here take this food" He shoved some food into my bag and threw it to me, and I looked at him confused. "I'll let you out the back door, run to the eastern watch tower, follow the lane on your right to get there. Once there ask for Sir Kaufmann, tell him Absolon sent you. He will let you through the boundary and you continue east and you will come to a small town do what you have to do to get home from there. Just keep running and don't look back" I nodded and thanked him. "Hurry up, you don't have much time" he said just as the women from earlier started speaking to a man outside. Ramirez. The Vicar hurried and opened the back door and let me out, and then I ran. Just as the kitchen door opened.
I ran. I ran east. I knew Ramirez wouldn't be far behind, no matter how much the Vicar tried to stall him. As night came I had just reached the tower. Praying it was the right one, I banged on the door. A man who must've been in his early fifties, with greying hair and an untamed beard opened the door. "Are you Sir Kaufmann?" he nodded with slight curiosity in his eyes "The Vicars Absolon sent me, he said you would be able to help me" With that he guided me into the room, and then into another and then another. He opened another door that led outside.
"Good luck, I'll cover for you don't worry"
"Thanks" I said, before I started running again.
Ramirez must have got there. He must have got more guards on his way. He must be on top of the tower. I knew this because thousands of bullets flew through the air coming right at me. Along with a couple of knives and explosives. A knife tore through my right shoulder blade, a grenade knocked me off my feet, cuts covered me head to toe, and a bullet smashed my knee cap.
Pain. That's all I felt. Pain. Then I remembered that the Vicar told me to keep going. So I began dragging myself in a easterly direction. Getting further and further away from the tower and the boundary. But I still heard Ramirez's words "I will get you 24603. I will hunt you down. You will serve your sentence. There is no where you can hide" But I just kept going east.
Somewhere between the boundary and the town, the Agent lost consciousness, proberly due to pain or blood loss.
Someone came across her and took her to the nearest hospital.
At some point the Agent had lost her jacket and her food.
At 04.00 Pm the Agent woke up, after being unconsciousness for 4 days.
I lay with my eyes closed for exactly 2 minutes, praying that a decent person found me, not Ramirez. But then I heard the beeping of a machine and people discussing my condition.
"All looks good still stable, knee seams to be setting ok"
"Has she said anything else?"
"Oh you know just the usual, Ramirez, Abby, Rachel, Scott, Cammie and Help"
With that I opened my eyes. I took in the room, it looked like a normal hospital, it was a normal hospital. Well except for the fact it was in France but thankfully not in Bergerac. Two Nurses were smiling at me and one helped me take a drink of water. But I knew that in a matter of minutes I would be unconsciousness again. I could feel my mind blurring and my head felt heavy.
"Bar, I need my bag" The nurse closet to it gave it to me. I pulled out some paper. "Pen, I need a pen" The other nurse gave me hers of the clipboard. Worry filled both of their eyes. I scribbled down a number and handed it to one of them. "Please ring that number, tell her it's Katie, Katie needs her help. Tell her where the hospital is and what you know of what happened to me. When she comes let her take me with her, whatever state I am in. Please. And once you've done with the number put it in the nearest bit of water you find."
"Ok Madam, but who shall we ask for?"
"Rachel. Ask for Rachel"
And with that, even though I hadn't seen her for years, my sister was going to come to rescue me from this hell hole. She would take me away from here, away from Ramirez, until I was fit enough to tackle him, I let myself lose Consciousness, for God knows how long.
So what do you think good/bad.? Any type of review is greatly appreciated and I would love some Constructive Criticism, so I can improve. Sorry for any mistakes, but I don't have a Beta and have no current plans of getting one. The next chapter will have the Gallagher academy in, I promise. Thanks for reading.
