A muffled siren's wail caught my attention.

Waves of footsteps echoed through the narrow hallway beyond our cell's door. The commotion was huge.

"Kate? What's all the fuss?" asked Maria.

"I don't know. Any ideas captain?" I asked, turning towards Callum.

"That? That means stage two is nearly over," he replied from the shadows.

"Time's up Wight. Spill the beans!" Samuel snapped.

"Well, I suppose it's time after all."

Everyone huddled closer to the centre, waiting for his revelation.

"My plan was designed to have three stages, with a bonus at the end of course. Stage one, as you know, was getting caught by the government's forces. I wanted to see if you would hold up against these kinds of, situations. I needed to know if you were trustworthy."

"The test," I added, my gaze meeting his.

"Exactly."

"But why drag us all the way to the middle of the ocean? You could've found an easier way to do that right?"

"I needed to make a suitable setting for the bonus stage."

"Oh, come on!"

"I'm saving the best for last Katelyn."

"Okay! Just finish it off already." It didn't matter how planned he was. He pissed me off.

"Stage two was right here. The cells. If any one of you had ratted us out, we'd die in here."

Callum's words held no emotion. To him, death was just another statistic. His low opinion of life filled me with disgust.

"Your master plan would go to waste if we did rat you out. You had a backup, didn't you?" asked Ryan.

"Nice catch. I appointed a friend of mine to handle things as the admin if I didn't make contact in seventy-two hours," Callum replied.

"So, we were expendable?" asked Maria.

"I trusted you with my life Maria. Is that what you call expendable these days?"

Ms. Thompson flinched at the professor's sudden rage. She didn't say a word after that.

"Go on," I nudged, trying to put him back on track. Callum sighed.

"I never knew we'd be getting a cell together, so I had planned to tell you all of this after we got out."

"We'll get out?" asked Ryan.

"Just let me do the talking please?"

"Fine."

"Now onto the final stage. This is where we call in the cavalry," said Callum, a suspicious grin crawling up his lips.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I set a timer in Verum's coding yesterday. Five hours after my last login, a message would automatically be sent to every user of Verum.com -"

"What does it say?"

"Jesus Ryan!" Callum snapped.

"Fine! I was just curious."

Callum sighed, turning back towards us.

"I've coded Verum to send a message that says our 'greatest-ally,' Professor Callum Wight, has been captured by the government's forces while investigating the Ghost Island with four other theorists. That'll be more than enough to shake things up."

I took his words in as calmly as I could. I was waiting for him to spout something outrageous, but it was surprising how this simple move could actually be effective.

Given the number of people following Verum, the numbers involved in the demonstrations wouldn't be limited to hundreds. I seriously doubt if it would even stay within the thousands. His website's reach was practically worldwide, so we could be looking at major strikes if this issue went south. Furthermore, a lot of influential people like Samuel had also joined in on this venture.

This might as well be the start of a revolution against Knox.

"You're using your own fame too, aren't you?" asked Ryan. "The administrator of Verum and Callum Wight, a professor who is known for admonishing the ways of conspiracy theorists from the time he graduated. Two celebrities who are known to be polar opposites of one another, finally uniting to take a stand against Biocode," he chuckled, turning towards Callum with a sense of new-found respect. "A perfect way to utilize your anonymity. You're a dangerous man, Professor."

"Well, I can't say it didn't cross my mind," Callum responded.

"And what about the timer?" Samuel asked.

"That should've expired a couple of hours ago. I've set up stage for a speech of sorts with the help of some of our site's members. As soon as we're free, that's where we go to," he replied with a grin.

I couldn't help but smile along with him. After all these years of failure after failure, things were finally working out.

"Wait, how will the people know where we are? Hell, even you don't know where we are! You don't, right?" asked Ryan.

"We don't need to know. I don't mean to boast but, I'm a really famous professor you see. Nearly everyone in the general public knows my name. Now what do you think will happen when a very famous guy suddenly ends up missing? Especially when a site like Verum says that he caught on to the Government's dirty business?" he asked.

"Protests."

"Precisely. Furthermore, I also mentioned the exact number of people with me, so your safety is pretty much guaranteed too. There is one problem though."

"What is it?" I asked.

Everyone edged a bit closer to the centre of the room.

"Your social life is pretty much done for."

I watched Callum stare on as everyone burst into laughter.

"Never had one. No problems here!" Ryan smirked.

"Me neither. An orphanage wasn't exactly the kind of place for a twenty-four-year-old anyway," I added.

Callum turned to Maria. She had a grin plastered to her face.

"Hey, I'm twenty-nine and living with my parents. Anything's better than leeching off 'em. You better get me a separate room though."

Callum sighed, smiling as he looked at Samuel. "I heard you've got a big place Sam. Mind if we loners pay you a visit?"

"It's been a while since I've seen that place look lively. Besides, Verum needs a headquarters, doesn't it?" Sam replied, smiling all the same.

"Thank you, Samuel."

"It's fine kid. It'll be fun to have a few youngsters running about that place again, even if it's to take down the frigging government. Not the best of retirement plans, but it'll do."

"Well, I guess that settles it."

"What about the bonus?" I asked, turning all heads his way once again.

"I was planning to tell you guys later."

"Callum!" everyone shouted in unison. The professor flinched, but never once did he show an intention of giving up. I spotted a few guards looking at us from far away. I could tell that they wanted to kick the living daylights out of us. Here we were, laughing our asses off in a jail cell, while they were probably going to lose their jobs. Boy was it fun to watch.

"I'll tell you when we're in a more secure location. The bonus is quiet important, a game changer of sorts. It could actually lead to the final stage directly. I can't take the risk of losing it."

The shallow clack of boots piqued my attention.

"Callum. I think we've got a guest," said Ryan, staring at the corridor beyond the iron bars of our prison.

I watched in silence as an officer stomped his way to our cell. The man was huge, easily over six feet and matching in width. He was built like a friggin tank, hulking muscles in places I never even knew muscles existed. And his expression didn't seem to be pleasant in the least. In fact, I thought he was coming to send all of us to a swift death.

I took a closer look at his shoulder as he approached the cell's door, shoving the key into its lock.

Four stars. An admiral?

Callum's face had taken on a mocking smile as the metallic padlock clicked open. The Admiral stormed in, ignoring all of us and heading right for him. I felt my heart wrench as he grabbed Callum by the collar, dragging him up against the wall till his feet couldn't touch the ground.

"What do you think you're doing officer!" Maria screamed.

"Shut up you bitch!" he boomed.

Maria froze in fear. Hell, even I thought I peed my pants a little.

"That's a pretty wide grin you've got plastered to that mug of yours kid! How about I rip it off your face?" the man snapped. However ridiculous his threats sounded, with a frame like that, I'm sure he could 'pull it off.'

"I'm sure the higher-ups must have asked you to let me go by now," Callum replied nonchalantly.

A deafening smack echoed through the walls of our confinement as the man's fist connected with Callum's abdomen. I watched in horror as a fresh patch of blood spread on his shirt again. He smiled regardless, struggling to get the words out of his mouth against the sudden shock. I felt a wave of goosebumps wash over my skin. Something told me he was going to make it worse.

"I loved it," Callum hissed.

The commander stared at him in horror.

"Come on big man. One more time. Go on. Finish it!" the professor screamed. His green eyes had locked onto the commander's gaze, breaking through his walls of pride and rage.

"Not gonna do it?" Callum asked, almost sounding disappointed.

The commander put him down, taking a step back in confusion.

What the hell are you doing you idiot!

I wanted to scream at him. Yet somewhere in my heart, I knew that this would play out to our favour. He had a plan for everything after all.

"If I die here, Knox will certainly find out you were behind it," Callum said, coughing a few times to regain his composure.

The commander gulped, then grit his teeth in rebellion.

"And you think I give a fuck about that!" he screamed, landing his foot on Callum's chest.

The professor laughed hysterically. I could feel the tension hanging in the room, like string pulled taut. Callum had this guy under his thumb.

"I'm not saying they'll kill you first. That's not how Knox works." His words had a deadly aura surrounding them. "They'll shove you into debt first. Then they'll pluck out your friends, turn them against you. The one's they can't? They'll kill'em of course! And finally, your family. Your wife first, then your kids, oldest to youngest."

"Why you little!"

The Admiral held him close to his face, eyes brimming with rage. Callum stared right into his eyes, lost in hysterics.

"You think I'm bluffing officer? You've surely heard of the Corporal who used to work around here. Name's Alex Hauser, I believe," Callum hissed, leaning closer till their foreheads touched. "Everything I just said happened to that man. He's an active member of Verum.com you see. He told everyone he knew of what happened to him. He begged on the streets, Admiral. Not one person believed him, other than the theorists in our site of course."

"That's just a theory," the admiral replied. His voice was much lower than before. Callum had broken him.

"Then why don't we just test it out?" Callum hissed, pulling away from his face.

What the hell are you doing?

Taking a deep breath, Callum spat right on the Admiral's face.

For a moment there, all of our hearts stopped beating.

Callum's maniacal laughter rippled through the hallways.

Soldiers stared in horror as they watched their leader frozen in time.

"Nothing to say? Really? Such a shame..." Callum taunted, bringing his face closer to the man's once again. "Time to grant me my freedom, you old fuck. And get some fresh clothes on the way."

The man dropped Callum to the ground, gritting his teeth as he wiped the concoction of blood and saliva off his face. He walked out of the cell, not bothering to shut the door.

I watched as his underlings flocked to his aid, offering Kerchiefs and some even their caps. He didn't say a word to them.

What the fuck just happened Callum? Callum!

I turned down, only to see Callum wriggle on the floor with his hands tied behind his back. He'd have to roll face down if he ever wanted to prop himself up, and he certainly couldn't do that without giving this floor a red finish.

"Just give it a rest you brilliant bastard," I chuckled, watching his legs go lax as he let out a sigh. He closed his eyes, wheezing from exertion.

I couldn't help but snigger despite his sorry state.

It was my first time seeing an Admiral shit bricks after all.