Trapped in a 5-Second Future: A Landlord's Cold War Trap in Arlington
👉 [Previous Decision]: You chose Option A – Confront Holloway through the glass about his false smear campaign.
Clara walked calmly to the reinforced glass, her movements deliberate, unhurried. The flickering screens still struggled, projecting only fractured, unreadable lines. She stopped a foot from the pane, looking directly into the observation room, where Holloway’s silhouette was a dark smudge against the dim light.
“Colonel Holloway,” her voice was steady, “you call me a security risk. You say I abandoned my duties.”
She paused, taking a slow, deep breath. “For twenty years, I cared for my ailing parents until their last days. For fifteen of those, I nursed wounded veterans, many of them just boys, brought home from Korea. I sat with them, changed their dressings, read to them, wrote letters for them. I paid for their extra medical supplies when the hospital budget ran out, out of my own pocket.”
She met his unseen gaze through the glass. “I did it for no pay, Colonel. Not a single cent. Just because it was the right thing to do. So tell me, who is the real security risk here? The woman who dedicated her life to service, or the man who traps her in a bunker for a scam?”
A gasp echoed faintly from the observation room. Sergeant Kincaid’s figure, partially visible in the periphery, flinched. His head dipped, his gaze dropping to the console, visibly shaken by Clara’s quiet dignity contrasting Holloway’s vitriol. Clara could see the conflict warring on his face, the uncomfortable shift in his posture.
Holloway slammed his hand on the desk with a sharp crack that vibrated through the intercom. “That’s enough! Kincaid, get over here! Prepare an asylum commitment form! I want her declared mentally unfit and confined! Now!”
Kincaid hesitated for a fraction of a second, his gaze darting from Clara to Holloway. Then, with a visible swallow, he moved to comply, his movements slow and reluctant. Holloway’s face, now fully visible as he leaned into the intercom, was contorted with rage. His breath fogged the glass.
“You think your sob story will save you, Mrs. Higgins? It will only prove your unstable hysteria. This asylum commitment will cement your status as a threat, and I will have my $14,500. Every single cent!”
Clara remained unmoving. The threat of an asylum, of being stripped of her sanity and agency, was a brutal one. But seeing Kincaid’s reaction, the flicker of sympathy in his eyes, gave her a sliver of hope. She had planted a seed of doubt. Holloway might have the power, but he was losing the loyalty of his own men.
The radio broadcast continued its low, insidious murmur, framing her as an enemy of the state. But Clara knew the truth, and she had seen it in Kincaid’s face. The battle was far from over.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 8 to continue the story
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