I will get you out of here

In preparation for putting my place on the market, I’m getting ready to take down my storyboard/timeline of plot lines and themes. I call it a “storyboard” but it spans no less than ten walls of my place over 182 separate color-coded index cards. I’m fairly hesitant to take them down, but they’re not exactly a friendly sight in photos of my place or for people during walkthroughs.

My next step is to take thorough photographs of each section, both to showcase my hard work and in case I ever need to put them all back up again. That novel, after all, is still not in final draft form.

It seems appropriate that today’s post should have something to do with my novel.  This is an excerpt from the first chapter. I’m not even going to hazard a guess as to when this particular section was written, I’ve been working on this novel for at least 5 years.

As I leave, I speak to the prisoner. <Hold on. I will get you out of here.>

Back in the barracks I sit on my bunk, staring at the darkness, at the barely visible edge of wall and ceiling. There are no more murmured conversations, everyone is quiet. An occasional scream is the only thing interrupting the stillness.

I forfeit sleep in favor of thinking through plans and permutations, methods of escape. There’s no way to do it without blowing my cover. Later today, at 1300, my paid three week DOH leave starts. The plan was for me to be debriefed by the Council and then luxuriate in some down time at home before returning to active DOH duty. When I rescue the prisoner I’ll be relinquishing my position as a double agent. I’ll never be able to come back, won’t be able to continue gathering intelligence. It doesn’t matter. Well, it matters, but I can’t leave that man in their custody. They’ll kill him.

Davonte will be furious when she finds out I’ve outed myself as a spy but she’ll get over it. I’ll give her a bottle of wine, or three. Maybe a first edition book from Lyril. It’ll be fine. The rest of them won’t be surprised. I’m notoriously impulsive; they’ve been expecting me to screw this up since the day I started, and over something far less important than saving someone’s life. They had a bet going in the beginning, that someone would say something idiotic and hateful and I’d snap and break him. I’ve shown remarkable restraint, truly.