Tavrans Tower

TAVRAN’S TOWER

Prologue

George Kendrick sipped casually from his glass of wine before pressing a button on his desk. He placed his glass next to the large white folder he had just finished perusing. The doors to Kendrick’s office slid apart and in walked a plump man. The man’s plain black suit made him look underdressed when compared to Kendrick’s spotless blue suit finished off with a pristine white shirt and tie.
“Good evening Mr Manson” Kendrick said. His soft voice did not match his worn and battle scarred face. “I’ve came to a decision about our problem in Residential Building 194”.
"Good news Mr Kendrick. I can put your plans into action straight away" Manson replied enthusiastically.
"Kill everybody in the building" Kendrick said sternly then picked his wine glass back up and took another sip.
“Good choice sir” Manson exclaimed.
“We can’t take any risks when it comes to suspected acts of rebellion. I don’t care if its only suspicious activity we have to go on. I’m not letting anyone threaten this world I’ve created, especially not this city”


Chapter 1

The white and blue van slowly approached the huge doors built into the equally huge wall. James had watched this van for a couple of months now so it was no surprise to him to see the driver exit the vehicle to speak to the doorman. As predicted the driver spent more time than was needed with the doorman, James assumed they were friends. He made a split second decision that today was the day to take action. Quickly grabbing his bag, James scuttled to the back of the van. He grasped the cold metal handles of the door of the van, threw himself inside and eased them shut behind him.

There was no light source so James did not know what else occupied the back of the van so instead of trying to determine his surroundings he sat down on a free space of the floor and waited. His heart was pounding so hard that he was afraid it would kill him. It can’t be this easy he thought something has to go wrong. He heard the door to the driver seat of the van open and slam shut again followed by the slow groan of the door in the wall sliding open.

The van crawled forwards slowly gaining in speed until James was pushed back against the back door of the van. He hoped the other contents of the van weren’t heavy or were at least tied down. The van had easily driven through the door by now and James wished he could have seen the walls of Tavran shrinking into the distance. The full impact of what he’d just done was finally beginning to sink in. He’d finally been able to escape that hellish city. Never again would he have to wonder whether or not his apartment building would be victim of a government raid. Never again would he have to hear of people being dragged away in the night. Never again would he have to see Kendrick’s face on his television or hear his voice booming out of the tower.

The feeling of triumph quickly faded as he realized he had no idea where the van was going or how he was going to get away unnoticed by the driver. James scrambled around in the darkness to find an object he could use as a weapon. His hands grasped at a large plastic object that was far too heavy for him to carry. Continuing his search he found a rectangular metal object which he quickly realized was a tool box. It took him several minutes to open it due to the darkness and the fact his hands were shaking. When James finally managed to open the lid he ran his hands over the contents. He took out several tools and stuffed them in the pockets of his leather bomber jacket. There was only one tool which he did not place in his pocket, a hammer, instead he kept it in hands just in case he had to defend himself with no warning.

After a few hours of driving the van seemed to slow down then stop. James braced himself for whatever was coming next. He heard the driver exiting the van so he slowly crept closer to the back doors, still clutching the hammer. The doors opened suddenly flooding the back of the van with light. Without thinking James leapt out and swung the hammer directly into the side of the drivers head. A sickening crack filled the air and the driver fell to the ground.
“Shit…” James whispered staring down at the driver’s lifeless body. He tried to reassure himself with the thought that the driver would have done the same to him if he hadn’t acted first but it done nothing to shift guilt he felt.

James tried to take his mind off of the driver by examining his surroundings. The van had stopped in front of what appeared to be an old wooden shed. This didn’t make sense to James so he decided to have a look in the back of the van to see if it provided any answers but what he saw confused him even more. The van was full of food, drink, various tools and electronic equipment. James couldn’t help but wonder why all of this would be needed in a shed in the middle of nowhere.

He turned and focused his attention on the shed itself.
“Might as well have a peek” he said himself. His feet crunched across the gravel as he strode towards the peculiar shed. When he reached it he heard a strange banging sound from inside followed by a voice.
“I’m sure I heard the supply van. What’s today’s pass code again?”.
James turned and ran back towards the van and hurriedly entered the driver’s seat. He fumbled around looking for the keys before realising that the driver must have taken them when he exited the van. Admitting defeat, James lay down hoping to stay out of view.

James guessed whoever was in the shed had came out judging by the noise of running feet on gravel and the panicked shouting.
“You stay with him” James heard somebody cry “I’ll get somebody”. There was more noise of gravel shifting followed by silence. James wondered if he was found would he have it in him to harm somebody else or even kill again. He looked towards the hammer he still had in his grip and he was filled with disgust but he dared not drop it.His whole body felt weak as he heard footsteps in the back of the van as the man outside began to search it. James wanted to throw up as it would only be a matter of time he was caught. The footsteps moved round to the side of the van until they were right outside the door to the driver’s seat.

Without thinking James threw the door open with as much force as possible. There was a large thud as it collided with the man outside sending him sprawling across the gravel. James leapt out of the van and ran shakily away from the man who was now rising to his feet. Two men came out from the open shed and started at the sight of James running and their friend struggling to stand. James ran straight at them, pushed them aside and pulled the shed door shut behind him. There was a high pitched beep and James saw a keypad flash on the door.

James was surprised to see the inside walls of the shed were reinforced with what looked like steel. He looked down at his feet and saw he was standing on a large metal hatch set into the floor. James bent down and slowly pulled it open. There was a ladder inside leading down about ten feet. James decided he’d rather keep moving than stand around waiting to get caught so he lowered himself down into the hatch and clambered down the ladder.

When he reached the bottom the first thing that struck him was how incredibly cold it was. He zipped his jacket up and made his way down the grey, dimly lit corridor. At the end the corridor there was three doors. One labelled “Kitchen” another labelled “Living Quarters” and the last one had no labelling on it. He pressed his ear up against the unlabelled door. There was complete silence on the other side. James decided it must be safe to enter so he cautiously pushed the door open. He had a moment to take in the sight of all sorts of computers and lights lining the walls before the many people using the computers noticed him. James let go of the door just as an alarm went off. He turned and ran back up the corridor with the sounds of shouting following him. His hand slammed down on the first rung of the ladder and he began to hastily pull himself up it. James reached the top to see the door of the shed was wide open and the man he’d hit with the door was standing there waiting for him. Before James could protest in any way the man’s boot had connected with his face and everything went black.

Thomas looked out of the plate glass window, which took up an entire wall of his living room, towards Kendrick’s tower. He pondered the e-mail he had just received informing him that a car was on its way to pick him up to take him to the tower to meet with Kendrick. Thomas had done many jobs for Kendrick but he had never personally met the man face to face. A buzzing noise rung through Thomas’s penthouse signalling the arrival of his escort.

Thomas entered the white car and settled into the sky blue leather seats. The car slowly swept through the streets of Tavran towards Kendrick’s tower situated directly in the middle of the city. Tavran’s streets were deserted as no one dared walk them for fear of being assaulted by a city guard for no apparent reason. The majority of buildings were in a severe state of disrepair and the only buildings which were kept in good shape were the ones that housed the select few who helped Kendrick. Luckily for him Thomas was one of those select few.

The car stopped outside in front of a thin red laser which circled the whole of Kendrick’s tower. After a couple of seconds the laser disappeared and the car drove on. Thomas looked out of the back of the car to see the laser reappear behind them. It must be some sort of alarm system he thought. Turrets lined the sides of the road leading up to the tower and each of them rotated to face the car as it passed.
“Every time I come here it seems that something new has been added” Thomas remarked to the driver. The driver merely grunted and kept driving.

When Thomas exited the car at the base of the tower he was greeted by the site of a helicopter. He driver of the car rolled down his window and explained.
“Since you do not officially work for the government you are not allowed to know how to get to Kendrick’s office by going through the tower in case you are a spy. You will be taken to the helipad on top of the tower and then taken to Kendrick’s office that way”.
“I understand” Thomas replied before making his way over to the helicopter.

By the time the helicopter completed its slow ascent to the top of the tower Thomas had begun to feel fed up with the level of security, the only thing keeping him from going back home was the knowledge that he knew Kendrick always paid him well.

As soon as the helicopter had settled on the helipad Thomas hopped out to be greeted by a round man who he had met many times before.
“Mr Manson, any reason why I don’t seem to be trusted around here anymore?” asked Thomas.
“I’m assuming you are referring to the security. All will be explained soon enough Mr York please trust me” answered Manson. Manson led Thomas into the tower and down a long brightly lit corridor until they reached an armored door. Manson slid a card into a slot next to the door and typed a long sequence of numbers on a keypad set into the wall. The door slid into the floor allowing Thomas and Manson to enter the office of George Kendrick.

Kendrick was sat behind a large, white, metal desk. Thomas strode confidently across the light blue floor and sat himself down in a cold, metal chair in front of Kendricks desk. Kendrick stared at Thomas for a couple of seconds before speaking.
"Its a pleasure meeting you Mr York" he said stiffly holding out a hand to Thomas.
"You too Mr Kendrick" Thomas replied shaking Kendrick's hand.
"Now on to business. I have a very delicate situation that I think you could help with" Kendrick said slowly " Manson reccomended you based on the strength of your last job for us".
"Thank you. It was a difficult job"
"Now onto business" Kendrick said sitting forward "I need you to escort a prisoner from outside the city to this very tower"
"If you don't mind me asking, why is this prisoner so important?" asked Thomas.
"We believe he may be a member of a rebel group. We may get some useful information out of him if we get him back here"
"Where was he found?" Thomas asked sensing something was being kept from him.
"You are very persistent" Kendrick sighed "The truth is he has managed to break into the building that houses all the security systems for this tower. If his rebel freinds were to find him he could tell them the location of the building".
"So what payment can I expect for escorting the prisoner?" Thomas said slowly.
"Of course" Kendrick said smiling "You will be moved into a larger penthouse and you will have whatever you need delivered to you for life".

Thomas stepped out of the lift into the large, airy garage at the base of Kendrick's tower. This job seemed to good to be true. All that was required of him was a bit of babysitting and he'd be set for life. A small man in a baseball cap ran up to Thomas.
"H...hello my n...n...name is Cameron" the man stuttered "I'll be your driver".
"Brilliant" sighed Thomas "Do you know the plan?".
"Y...yes of course" Cameron said then he suddenly he took on a business like tone "We travel with a group of armoured vehicles to the security building and pick uo the prisoner. We then get the prisoner in the van and let the armoured vehicles go ahead as a diversion for any rebels. Once the rebels are dealt with we get escorted back to the city".
"Congratulations" said Thomas sarcastically then walked on towards the car leaving Cameron looking dissapointed.

Chapter 2

James eyes flickered open. He could feel that the floor beneath him was damp and when he tried to stand he lost his balance landed in a heapon the floor. James inhaled deeply then rose much slower than before. This time he was succesful and he took the chance to study his surroundings. There were several small beds scattered around the room which led him to assume he had been locked in the living quarters of the facility. James stumbled over to the door and pulled on it. It was locked as expected. There appeared to be no other way out of the room apart from the locked door.

"This is it" whispered James. He knew he woudn't have long left to live but he was surprisingly calm. He was proud he had made it this far as he had not heard of anyone else escaping Tavran. James thought of how easy it was to get out and wondered why he hadn't heard of anyone else escaping. Was it fear of getting caught that stopped people trying? Or perhaps people did escape and the government kept it quiet.

His thoughts were cutt off by the door to the room swinging open. Three men walked into the room, all of them pointing rifles at James.
"Take it Kendrick isn't too happy with me" laughed James surprising himself with his confidence.
"You'll find out soon enough how much you've pissed off Kendrick" the man leading the group said. James recognised the man as Thomas York a mercenary who often worked for Kendrick. Thomas was infamous among citizens of Tavran as the man who Kendrick turned to whenever things had gone really wrong.

"Come with us" ordered Thomas. James considered not complying for a second before realising his best chance of survival would be to follow for now. Thomas led James back up the grey corridor he had been in previously. When the small group reached the ladder James was made to go up first with his captors following closely behind. Thomas typed a short sequence of numbers into the keypad on the door at the top of the ladder then he pushed it open.

The sunlight hurt James eyes but he quickly adjusted to see about ten armoured vans and about twenty more armed men all pointing guns at James.
"Everyone to your vehicles" roared Thomas " You're with me". Thomas grabbed James by the back of the neck and dragged him towards one of the vans.
"I'll open it sir" squeeked Cameron hopping out the driver seat of the van and running towards the backdoors. Once the doors were open James was pushed inside.
"McDonald you're in the passenger seat next to Cameron" Thomas ordered " Me and Collins will stay in the back of the van and guard the prisoner".
Thomas and Collins clambered into the back of the van and sat down facing James. Cameron slammed the doors shut leaving James trapped with the soldier and the mercenary.