Denise had climbed over the fence to the Agriculture Zone. She was looking for Hamlet. Despite encountering a few other Sapes and feeling tempted to feed them, she remained committed to sharing her food with only Hamlet. She also saw a few enforcers walking about. She made it a point to stay out of their view. She did not want to be arrested again. She reached the section of the zone where Hamlet normally spent her day.
She called for Hamlet in a gentle voice. ‘I have some cakes for you. They are extra yummy.’
Hamlet powered through a small bush. Denise rubbed Hamlet on the head. Hamlet affectionately pressed her nose against Denise’s cheek.
‘You’re so beautiful, yes, you are,’ she said to Hamlet in a baby-like voice.
Hamlet was not alone. The two children crawled out from behind Hamlet. ‘Oh my gosh, you are okay. You’re okay. Wow. Oh wow!’ Denise exclaimed.
The two children were dirty, and their clothes were torn. They looked up at Denise in panic. ‘Stay calm. We need to get you to safety,’ said Denise in a calm voice.
‘Get away from me,’ shouted one of them. The other started to scream. Hamlet ran away.
Denise moved closer to them. ‘It’s okay. I’m here to help,’ she said in a slightly distressed voice.
The girls kept screaming. Denise was not sure what to do. Two enforcers came running over. Denise recognised them from the hours of interrogation they gave her the previous night. One enforcer attended to the girls, and the other forced Denise to the ground.
‘It’s okay. You’re safe now,’ said one of the enforcers to the two girls.
‘Game over,’ said the other enforcer to Denise.
Back at the Enforcer Headquarters. Vulay handed Orcille a statement. ‘This statement summarises our discussion. Sign here and here. If you agree with this statement,’ she said to Orcille.
Orcille began reading. A few minutes later, Orcille responded. ‘I absolutely agree,’ he said.
‘Great, now sign it,’ said Vulay as she handed him the pen.
Instead of signing the statement, Orcille circled it in two places.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Vulay in an annoyed tone.
‘I spotted two missed commas. Bad grammar can completely discredit a statement,’ replied Orcille as he handed the unsigned statement back to Vulay.
Vulay rolled her eyes as she went off to correct the statement. As she was about to enter her office, an enforcer ran over to her. ‘We found them. We found them,’ he shouted to her. ‘They’re on their way here now!’ he exclaimed.
‘Have you called their parents?’ responded Vulay in a sharp tone.
‘They’re on their way too,’ replied the enforcer.
Vulay entered her office. She sat down in her chair, leaned her head back, and sighed in relief.
Fifteen minutes later, the enforcers brought in Denise and the two girls. Denise was taken to an interrogation room. The girls’ parents arrived a few minutes later.
Vulay went to greet the girls and their parents. The parents were hugging their children. She could see how delighted they were to have them back.
‘I don’t want to break up this beautiful reunion, but I need to have a little chat with the girls in private,’ said Vulay to the parents.
‘No,’ barked a loud voice. ‘All minors must be accompanied by at least one parent when questioned.’
The Head Enforcer had entered the headquarters from the back entrance. He had been away in the Capital Region. He did not come back immediately, as he believed Vulay could handle the problem. He had high expectations that she would soon replace him when he was promoted to be the Head Enforcer in one of the large regions. When news reached him that things were not going well, he was compelled to return.
‘Just wait here a moment,’ he politely said to the parents and children.
Vulay and the Head Enforcer went into an interrogation room together. ‘This has been a disaster,’ he said in a stern voice.
‘It has been chaotic, but we are coming to grips with things now,’ she said to him confidently. ‘The children are fine. That’s huge.’
‘Well, now is your chance to redeem yourself. Your career depends on it,’ said the Head Enforcer in a slightly more relaxed tone.
Vulay scurried out to the parents and the children, ‘Please come this way. We all need to have a chat,’ she said to them.
She led them into the interrogation room. She signalled to an enforcer to grab some cakes and drinks. She entered the room behind them. They all sat down together. The Head Enforcer gestured to Vulay to take the lead.
‘For the record, would you mind stating your names?’ asked Vulay.
‘My name is Jewels,’ said Jewels.
‘My name is Pearls,’ said Pearls.
‘Wonderful, now tell me what happened to you?’ asked the Head Enforcer.
‘We were waiting to be picked up from school,’ said Pearls. ‘Then we heard shouting. We were so scared, so we ran towards the Agriculture Zone where there were fewer Sapiens.’
‘Did you go into the Agriculture Zone?’ asked Vulay.
‘Not at first. Then a female Sapien approached us,’ said Pearls.
‘She told us we were in danger and we needed to follow her,’ added Jewels.
‘She showed us a way into the Agriculture Zone, we walked for about ten minutes,’ explained Pearls.
‘What happened next?’ asked Vulay.
Pearls started crying. The Head Enforcer handed her a juice packet. She soon composed herself.
‘A big male Sapien came over to us,’ said Pearls. ‘He grabbed me, and the female Sapien, who we followed, grabbed Jewels.’
‘They put us in big bags,’ said Jewels.
‘They tied the bags tight. We couldn’t get out,’ said Pearls. ‘They carried us somewhere and placed us on something like a trolley,’ continued Pearls.
‘We didn’t know where we were going,’ said Jewels.
‘Eventually, we were taken off the trolley and carried somewhere else,’ said Pearls.
‘The bags were untied. We were in a dark room,’ continued Pearls. ‘There was another male Sapien’.
Both girls started to cry.
‘It’s too much for them,’ said one of the parents. ‘Can’t we continue this when they have rested and eaten and everything else?’
‘Sorry, but we have to continue. What I’m hearing is very serious,’ responded the Head Enforcer firmly.
The girls sobbed for a few more minutes before composing themselves again. ‘I can’t quite explain what happened, but he hurt us,’ said Pearls.
‘He made us take our clothes off,’ said Jewels. She lifted up her upper body garments to reveal her badly bruised torso. ‘My legs are even worse,’ she added.
The parents erupted in anger.
‘I’ll give you fifteen minutes to compose yourselves, but we need to identify who did this to you,’ stated Vulay. Both Vulay and the Head Enforcer left the children and the parents in the interrogation room.
Vulay leaned forward onto a desk with her head bowed down. ‘You’re not right for this job,’ said the Head Enforcer to her with a hint of contempt in his voice.
‘I can still do this,’ she said as she looked up at him with determination in her eyes.
‘You let rapists and kidnappers just walk free. I see no way back for you,’ said the Head Enforcer in a scornful voice.
She bowed her head once again and remained silent. ‘Bring me all the photographs of the Inquisitives that were arrested that night,’ barked the Head Enforcer to the other enforcers.
Within minutes, they handed him the photographs. ‘Let’s go identify our scumbags,’ he said as he slapped Vulay on her backside.
She followed him back into the interrogation room. The Head Enforcer spread the photographs across the table in front of the girls. ‘Show me who did this to you,’ he asked.
The two girls pointed to Denise. ‘She led us into the Agriculture Zone,’ said Pearls. They scanned the photographs.
Pearls pointed to Morgan. ‘He grabbed me,’ she said.
They continued looking at the photographs. They shook their heads. ‘We don’t recognise anyone else,’ said Jewels.
‘Okay, great, thank you. You girls have been amazing. You can go back and have a good rest,’ said Vulay assertively.
‘Wait,’ said the Head Enforcer abruptly. ‘I believe we are missing one photograph,’ he said, as he looked straight at Vulay.
‘I don’t think so. These are all the Inquisitives we arrested,’ she responded confidently.
The Head Enforcer turned to the children and the parents and said, ‘You can go now. Unfortunately, we will need to ask you to return tomorrow. It appears we have a slight internal issue we need to deal with. I sincerely apologise.’
Once they had left, the Head Enforcer shouted at the enforcers to bring both Victor and Morgan in. Vulay quickly sneaked out the back entrance, but her escape did not go unnoticed.
The Head Enforcer approached two of the enforcers still in the building. ‘Your commander has just left through the back door. Go follow her discreetly,’ he said, emphasising the word ‘discreetly’.
The Head Enforcer went into the other interrogation room to speak with Denise. ‘Hi Denise, sorry to keep you waiting. We’ve had a few problems with the staff,’ he said to her in a kind voice.
‘Oh, it’s okay. I just want this all to be sorted out,’ said Denise with a worried frown on her face.
‘I have great news for you. It’s all sorted,’ said the Head Enforcer with a smile on his face.
‘Oh wow, does that mean I am free to go?’ asked Denise with a hopeful tone in her voice.
‘Oh, it is much better than that,’ responded the Head Enforcer while still smiling. ‘You have an opportunity to become a better citizen.’
He grabbed Denise hard. He slammed her face against the table. He dragged her to the holding cell, where Orcille was waiting to sign the statement and get his doses of medicine.
‘Denise, you’re back,’ Orcille called out in glee. ‘I really missed you. This place isn’t the same without you.’ He then noticed her red face and decided to keep quiet.
The Head Enforcer went to Vulay’s office. He opened the case folder and started looking through the information.
