Alex Walker

Chapter 4:

Alex woke to find he was lying on his back on the cold, hard concrete. With blurred vision, he winced as he had to shut his eyes to keep out the blinding light. The sudden movement triggered a stab of excruciating pain as he shifted onto a painful bruise on the side of his head. He almost yelped in pain. Slowly now, his eyes began to adapt to the light, and he was able to study his surroundings. Sitting up, he noted four solid, concrete walls which made up the small room, which must have been less than four metres wide in every direction. The previously blinding light was created by another lifeless florescent light. The entrance to the room was an impassable iron door, similar to the one he had come across earlier. This one, too, was securely locked. He certainly wasn't leaving this cell under his own free will in a hurry. With absolutely nothing in the way of furniture, there really wasn't much Alex could do for the time, except wait.

And then he saw it.

In the top corner of the room, above the iron door, Alex noticed a small grill, tucked away, almost unseen. This wasn't what was interesting though; it was far too small for Alex to climb though. It was the slow dripping of water through it that caught his attention. Alex crawled over to where it was making a small puddle on the ground. He dipped his finger in the solution. Tasting it, he found that it was salty. Sea water. Slowly, the dripping turned into a trickle, and the puddle on the ground began to gain in size. Then, without warning, the water began to gush in. It was now spilling over the sides of Alex's trainers, making his socks wet. The room was now rapidly filling up, Alex predicted that another five minutes, and he would begin to drown. The coarse word filled his mind. Drowning.

Emily looked out ahead of the green land rover she was driving. Even with the headlights on full beam, the lack of street lamps along the dark and poorly maintained dirt road made it hard to detect what was ahead. Occasionally the whole vehicle would shudder as it hit a deep pothole, as Emily powered it dangerously fast over what more resembled a hiking trail that a main road.

She could now make out the distinct lights of the Maunui airport, where she and Alex had flown in just over two weeks ago. The airport was small, but well equipped for such a small country. The previous year, the airport had experienced major upgrades, such as switching from a dirt landing strip to a concrete runway, and now, too, had air traffic control, operated from a control tower beside the runway.

The road which Emily was driving on began to smooth out as she neared the airport. She pulled over to a hangar in which Alex's private Learjet was being kept. The pilot, co-pilot and three security staff were also staying in the building, which had been constructed several months prior to Alex's arrival. The hangar had been built with living quarters, with full intention of them being for the five staff.

Emily went up to the door of the quarters, and politely knocked. With no answer, she knocked again. A Cessna 172 taxied past, no more than 50 metres away. Previously, Emily was unable to hear it, due to the noise from the Cessna's engine, but now that it was past, she could hear a faint groan coming from inside the hangar. She barged in, knowing quite well that something was terribly wrong. The door fell open easily.

She had to struggle to retain her dinner, as she stared at the co-pilot, lying on the floor by the desk, staring lifelessly at the roof with a bullet hole on his forehead. The pilot sat propped up against the other side of the desk, with his hands tied behind his back, his legs binded, and a handkerchief stuffed in his mouth. He was understandably glad to see her, as she rushed over and untied the various ropes. He stood up and embraced her, then explained how the three staff had suddenly produced pistols with silencers, and had held him and the co-pilot at gunpoint. The co-pilot had resisted, and they mercilessly shot him. Tying him up, they had then left, and he had not heard or seen anything since earlier that day when they had left.

Then Emily explained how Alex had gone missing, and she had not seen or heard from him since he had left in the morning. At this point, they agreed that something was certain. The two stories were somehow linked.

The small cell was quickly filling up with water, which was gushing in through the ventilation shaft. Then, much like earlier on the horse, blotches once more disrupted Alex's site. An image began to focus in the back of his vision. He was in a little room, with wooden boards that he was standing on. Much like now, there was water flowing in. Then he was squeezing in between broken boards, and down a long narrow submerged pipe…

Alex was brought back to the present as the water was now up to his knees.

He needed to act, and fast. He strided through the nearly waist-deep water over to the door, but the resistance of the water made him stumble and trip. He crashed against the wall beside the door. He felt his thigh, which became bruised in the collision. Something sharp was jamming into the side of his leg. Then he remembered.

Earlier when Alex had spent time at the market place, the same man who had sold him Freddy the horse had also handed something to him. Alex refused, saying that he couldn't spend anymore. But the man absolutely insisted on Alex keeping it for free.

Now, reaching into his pocket, Alex produced what appeared to be an old brass key. After years of oxidation, the key had lost its once lustrous appearance, and was now a dull shade of brown. The door that was holding Alex –and the water– in may have been sturdy and impassable, but it was old too. Much like the key. It also housed a lock which the key fitted into perfectly. This was Alex's last possible hope of escaping.

Yet it would not turn.

Panicking now, Alex turned it in the opposite direction, then pushed it in further and tried. Nothing worked. Alex's last possible means of escape had failed, and Alex now realised this. With the water now above his waist, he was surely doomed.