Burnt Old Barn

Zeph hated that he was wearing a hat. It was to blend in, but seriously, what the hell was a trucker hat? He and Natania had both shed their city garb to look like the farmers who lived outside the city; the hat had been her idea.

Natania was trying really hard not to glare at Zeph, but she was irritated. They were going to be an hour early to the meet, all because he insisted it was “good for security.” If he wanted to be all about security, then why did she have to waste 15 minutes convincing him that sauntering out here dressed wrong would be too memorable. Whatever. Mr. Goody two shoes was learning, albeit slowly, how to operate on the other side of the law.

Zeph was grateful to see an old barn up ahead. It was 2 stories tall with peeling red paint. Well, the paint used to be red, now it was rust colored. Next to the barn was an abandoned house in a similar state. The barn was where they were meeting the informant.

The informant had the files on the hovercraft crash that killed his parents, Natania’s parents, and over a thousand others, and burned down several city blocks. Zeph’s uncle had tried to locate the files, but they were classified. Zeph hadn’t wanted to push it, but even his uncle had been surprised that there were things too highly classified for him to view, despite his center of security executive job. What started as a whim became a quest once Zeph and Natania realized the government was hiding something. Even if it was just embarrassing incompetence, that would be useful to their movement.

When they entered the barn, Natania crinkled her nose at the heavy smell of moldy hay, and Zeph noticed the broken-down horse stalls and rusty farm equipment—plenty of indicators of long disuse. After a quick inspection, they decided to wait upstairs near the hay loft doors. They arranged the hay bales so that they were concealed from the ground floor and could see out hay loft doors down the road.

45 Minutes later

It was almost time for the meet.

“Shit.” Natania muttered.

Zeph frowned at her, confused. “What?”

“Look at the road, three guys are walking this way.”

“I thought the informant was coming alone.”

“Yeah… something seems off.”

“Well, he’s also supposed to be wearing a red hat, right?” Zeph asked.

Natania nodded, “And I don’t see a red hat on any of them.”

Her eyes were hard as she turned to Zeph. “You realize that we are stuck now? We can’t leave without them seeing us.” Zeph nodded with a grim expression. There was nothing around the barn except grass and the occasional stunted tree. Nowhere to hide if they left the barn. If these three men were security from the city, it was imperative Zeph and Natania stayed hidden.

When the men got close to the barn they split up. Two went to the house while one walked into the barn and started looking disinterestedly around the ground floor. He wasn’t wearing a hat at all. Natania tried to breathe as quietly as possible, and she was sure Zeph was doing the same.

Another 15 minutes passed, and the man on the ground floor started becoming restless. He tried to look nonchalant, but he kept returning to the door to look at the road. Natania leaned over to Zeph and said, in a barely audible whisper right next to his ear, “If they think we were tipped off, they won’t search for us.” Zeph nodded slightly.

Time crawled. It was half an hour past the time of their scheduled meet with the informant. The man downstairs was clearly aggravated. The other two men from the house strode over to join him in the barn. When they were within yelling distance, the man downstairs called out, “He said two, right?”

The shorter of the two men replied, “Sure did.”

The downstairs man replied, “I told you we should’ve thrown that spy in jail.”

The taller of the two men replied this time, “And have one of those nosy police captains start asking questions about who put him there? It was better this way. Now we know he can’t be trusted to lead us to the cell.”

“You really think it’s an activist cell?”

“100%. Why else would they be going after this info? They are looking to cause trouble.”

By now all three men were clustered right inside the doorway. Natania could barely see them from her vantage point, but she could hear every word. The shorter man from the house spoke up next.

“Since this op is a bust, why don’t we just burn this place to the ground and blame it on the activist cell?”

The man from the barn looked incredulous. “Why?”

“Because we can blame it on the protestors. Nobody lives here and nobody’s around, so we’ll ‘investigate’ it and say they did it.

The taller man cocked his head like he was considering the proposal. Natania guessed he was in charge of the group.

Zeph glanced at Natania. Her eyes said it all—they were filled with rage and a hint of fear. Zeph knew his own had more than a little fear in them. During his time in the guard, he had seen how easy it was to become calloused and had met some veterans who were extremely harsh. Still, he had never encountered a guardsman who would burn down buildings just to manufacture negative public sentiment. He had no idea where in the government these men reported, but it was clearly near the top.

The taller man seemed to make up his mind. “Yes, let’s do it. We will take the house, you burn the barn.” With that, they split up. The man burning the barn headed towards a large pile of moldy hay in the corner opposite Zeph and Natania. It didn’t take long for him to kindle a small flame going.

Natania leaned over to Zeph, “We can’t get caught… we have to wait till they leave.” She was right of course.

Zeph whispered back, “You realize that means we have to stay in a burning building till they leave.” She nodded and shrugged. There wasn’t much choice. “Okay, then I guess we just sit here, surrounded by very flammable haybales.”

The small flame started to go up in earnest just then. The man was satisfied with it and walked casually towards the door. Zeph shifted over to the hayloft doors, being extra cautious to avoid presenting a profile. The man responsible for burning the barn had joined the other two a few meters away. Flames were visible though the broken windows of the house.

Zeph looked back at Natania, who was keeping a close watch on the growing fire. Zeph couldn’t help but think how messed up it would be if he and Natania died in a fire just like each of their parents. Zeph decided that he would rather take his chances with those three men than burn out here, but they didn’t have to make that decision yet.

The flames had burnt through the hay and started on the animal stalls and walls. It seemed like the barn was going up faster than the house. Still the men waited. Too late Zeph realized that they had made their own life extra difficult; the flames were already right by the staircase. It would be possible to go down them now if they wanted, but the men were still waiting and watching.

It was starting to get really hot, and the farm clothing he wore wasn’t well ventilated. Although, he supposed if they had to run through the flames, he would be grateful for the thicker layers. The minutes continued ticking by, and Zeph grew increasingly nervous. The stairs were actually on fire now. Over the snapping and crackling of the fire he could hear the barn creaking and shifting. The house was starting to send up black smoke that could be seen for kilometers. And still the three men stood there watching with their hands in their pockets.

Crack!

The stairs collapsed and pulled down part of the second floor.

Natania had been watching the fire from their earlier vantage point, but now she crawled to join Zeph at the hayloft doors. Thankfully, due to the black smoke plume or the stairs collapsing, the three men were finally satisfied. With broad, infuriating smiles on their faces they turned around and started back towards the city.

Natania still kept her voice low, “We have to wait till they can’t see us.”

He nodded and replied, “About another five minutes, and we are going to have to jump to get out.”

While the three men started getting smaller against the horizon, the flames crept closer and closer. Three of the four walls of the barn had flames creeping up them. The back wall was a sheet of flame from the top to bottom. The air was dry, and Zeph was trying really hard not to lick his lips. He was pretty sure it was the longest five minutes of his life. Finally, he thought the men were far enough away that they wouldn’t notice their escape. Zeph braced himself, took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and jumped. He rolled several times with the impact. He knew he’d have a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing felt badly hurt. Natania jumped right behind him and almost rolled into him. Zeph extended his hand to help her up, “You okay?”

“Yep, you?”

“I think so.”

Natania nodded, brushed herself off, and said, “Alright, let’s head back to the city and hope nobody asks why our clothes smell like smoke.”

“And figure out what happened to our informant.” Zeph replied.

“Natania nodded with a fire in her green eyes that burned more fiercely than the barn behind them.