Chapter 10 – Double Czech Republic

Border crossing with Slovakia, Czech Republic. 7:29pm, 6th March 2004.

The final push, the home stretch, the light at the end of the tunnel. This point of the trip is none of those things. All I see ahead of me is more unanswered questions, driving and the finality of getting Sly and Murray out of Prison that seems an eternity away. Finding a way into the prison is what I should be doing right now, in a perfect world I would have figured it out much earlier and now I would be psyching myself up to face this situation. Right now, I battle past memories and jostle with permutations and combinations of what might happen next, all while driving. But yet I feel more confident of succeeding, somehow. It's a completely illogical and irrational feeling for me to have right now but yet it is happening. I am no closer to figuring out how to get into the prison but somehow I think that I can do it, somehow. At least I have one thing on my side at this point in time.

At another point in time however, I see her hands reaching for my computer again. I spot it out of the corner of my eye.

'Hey, stop it!' I command, feeling a bit agitated from the previous encounter. She slinks back into her seat and my eyes return to the road in front of me. I have no doubt that she would try again to lay her hands on the computer and no doubt access the files on it, most if not all of them being top secret and confidential. I feel on edge, just waiting for the inevitable moment of her left arm reaching around seat and into the back for the computer. It feels like an hour but in reality it was only 5 minutes and my patience has already run out, I see her sitting innocently in the seta next to me, I feel exhausted from the constant on edge waiting that took place. All I could consider thinking about is driving along, somewhere. I didn't even know what I was going to do with her after I broke her out of his clutches, it is the price paid for such ill planning.

Some time passes, in both times, as I think about driving in two worlds. Even in this dark of night, the moon still gives some illumination to the ground, not it's own of course, it's just reflecting the sun's radiation. But not enough to see by myself, therefore the lights are on.

Brno, Czech Republic. 7:45pm 6th March 2004.

I make the 270 degree turn form one motorway and onto the last major road change for the journey, it feels like exiting out onto the final straight but that straight is more than 100 kilometres long, still a long way to go. Finally, I get my head in the right frame of mind for the task fast approaching. I reach over to my laptop and put it in my lap, I know this is very dangerous and extremely risky, but in these conditions of being completely empty motorway on a clear night, I allow myself the opportunity to try to get some research done quickly before the time arrives. I finally make some more contact on ThiefNet as my head switches from the road ahead to the screen below in quick succession as I try to multitask. While I do this, I receive the final instructions for the safe house, like lock combinations and locations of keys and other security devices. I find out the current state of affairs in the capital of Prague translated into English, however there is nothing that I could possibly work to my advantage.

I look up again, as I usually do; I swerve violently to the left into the next lane without losing control. The adrenaline hit makes me feel high and alert. I check in the rear view mirror, nothing is there which is exactly as I planned it. I was getting a little tired anyway; I could just be seeing things. I am slightly prone to that right now, or it could be that I am just trying to keep myself awake. Why play games with yourself Bentley, too many things are distracting you. I move the computer away from me and put it in the opposite seat just like before with the screen facing towards me. I notice something subtly different about it, something so small that it has to be different in some way but I just can't quite put a tangible definition to it. I realise what has happened.

I return to see her on the computer again; I remember the rage I felt at that point.

'Stop it!' I shout. She does something drastic, I see it now. Putting the computer aside, she takes her seatbelt off and opens the door of the van and leans out, ready to leap out of the van at high speed. She turns her head.

'You better cut your whining or I'll jump, you wanted to save me, remember.' She snarls. This is the complete opposite of what I she was like before. There is a pause of silence with only the rushing air ruining the silence of this moment. A small stand off ensues, with me trying to stare her out in the hope that she will stop, inevitably she does as I see her shut the door as quick as she opened it. I look ahead and see the reason why. A line of truck as sprawled ahead of us. I see signs showing that two lanes become one very soon. I look into the oncoming lane, it is completely clear. I see myself take the chance, foolishly in hindsight. I pull out into that lane and floor it, passing truck innumerable, still no cars are seen and my plan is working. I know that I can finally win at something now, but as I round the right turn around the road, I see a slow moving car going the other way, it is the undoing of all of us. She manages to pull the wheel across to the left faster than I can do it. It careens us off the road and into the field of wheat I first saw myself in. I remember nothing after the sudden jolt of flying off the road and down into a field.

Finally it is done and I can now spend the rest of the journey planning out my entrance without any distractions at all.

The sign 'Welcome to Prague' passes by.

I just feel again that the world is going completely in the opposite direction to me, like I am going against the tide in order to save my friend. I am the lifeguard swimming out into the treacherous swell to rescue someone close to drowning. I need to feel that confident as I was somehow was before, like in my memories. If I have nothing else at least some conviction will carry me further than none at all. I think back to the computer, what was she doing on that thing the whole time? Why have I not checked yet I wonder? As I stop at the first set of traffic lights in hours, I reach over to the laptop and find the old thing out in this computer. It is a file with no name on it. I open it without knowing what is inside; curiosity drives me over the edge. I see three things, two are the programs she told me about, the virus and the antidote that she used in the office. The final one is different, different but yet exactly what I needed at this point. Finally a piece of hope amongst all this doom and gloom. It is a text document, simply stating some of the things in the prison that I am going to be breaking into. I read through the small short paragraph as I continue in the night towards the safehouse.

'Bentley, (if that is your real name) You may not realise it at first, but there is a lot more that you need to know before you do what you are going to do. I've read through your files and I know what you need to do. I have been in their, you may not believe it but when I was 15 I was in there for one week for accidentally hacking into Interpol. She was mean, 'The Contessa' does not care for your life, only the numbers of reformed prisoners matter to her. Even on my brief stint in there I saw brutal thugs turned into timid toddlers in days. I fear that is what will soon happen to your friends. They will be in the hole I suspect. But lastly, you need to know that breaking me away from him was amazing, and for that I can't thank you enough.'

It seems too short; then again I was forcing her to stop violently.

I pull into the garage of the safehouse with the gulag like prison sitting atop its mighty hill, giving it sight over Prague. I know my friends are in there and I know with every passing second it means more torture for them.

Firstly, I need some recon…

Authors Note (1st October 2013)

I feel just as relieved to finish this as much as I assume Bentley would be relived that his memory is clear. I'll be the first to admit it; It's not as poetic or beautiful as I hoped it would be at the start. But I know now that I'm not that kind of writer. In any case, this has not put me off writing altogether. I am already planning the next major story but it won't be released for a while. In any case, for everyone who read it, thank you again.