Chapter 67

The air in the safe house had grown stale, and Drex refused to open the windows.  Two days had passed since he and Evan had first ventured out into the neighborhoods to see what the ground conflict might look like and how, if at all, the four of them might get Lillian to the Coellum in one piece.  The mood had gotten increasingly dire and to even crack a window might suggest to prying eyes that someone occupied the house.  Since then, several scouting missions and strategy sessions were had.  Katherine sat in on each meeting trying to stay with the details, but once the men got too far in the weeds on this or that plan, she would lose interest and allow her mind to redecorate the safe house.

She imagined that, in another time of Merlain history, this house had housed some artistic or intellectual giant in their beginning days.  There was a classiness to the style of the door and window frames that suggested a craftsman and not a builder had assembled the room.  It looked touched with delightfully unnecessary details that were the difference between a place to enjoy life and a box to house you for eating and sleeping.  Katherine thought the place might have fit in with her imaginings of Vienna or Paris.  She had no real knowledge of these places, only what she had seen in movies, magazines, or paintings.  There should be gold leaf on the decorative edges of drawers and three simple and delicate crystal chandeliers in a line, one for each division of the room.  Katherine’s mind unrolled a thick Turkish rug under the sofa – its red background allowed the grandeur of the woven symmetrical mandala pattern to show off.  In this way she had decorated the room and refined it here and there.

Despite the lack of circulating air, Lillian made great improvements under Katherine’s care, and when Evan returned from his last scouting mission, Lillian was seated upright on the sofa, nursing a cup of hot water.

“Anything?” Drex asked as he saw the intense look in Evan’s eye.  His look also caused Katherine to sit up straighter as it seemed Evan had crucial information to tell.  Evan nodded and walked to the table on which the crudely drawn map of the area showing the different diagrams of escape.  Everyone, even Lillian, made their way to the map as Evan brought his finger down and began to show his latest route.

“Something’s not right and we should consider getting out of here sooner than later.”  Evan looked each of them in the eye, as if he hoped the look would say more than his words could.

“Soldiers?” Drex asked.

Evan shook his head.  “Marks.”  As he spoke, he pointed to a string of intersections on the map detailing their best escape route.  “It took me a while to notice them, and I’m still unsure if they just showed up or have been there the whole time, but along this route, I noticed small yellow x’s.  Once I noticed them, I retraced my steps to see where they stopped or started.  The closest one to us is here,” Evan’s finger landed at a place three doors down from them.  “There are none this way or this, but the line of them extends this way to our perimeter.  I didn’t go past that because I didn’t want to trigger our alarms.  It feels like Hansel and Gretel laid some breadcrumbs to our door”  

“Who?” Drex asked.

“A children’s story from their dimension,” Lillian said before taking a sip.  Drex looked back at Evan as he was asked a question.  “Anything on your devices that suggests we’re in danger?”

Drex shook his head, “But these marks.  I know them.  We should leave.”

“Leave?” Katherine voiced before she’d realized she had an opinion.  “Lillian’s not ready.  This is the first day she’s stood on her own strength.  She needs another day or two.”

“We don’t have it,” Drex said.  “The place is burned.  We were not as careful as we thought.”  He began making his preparations to escape.  They had rehearsed this several times to get their leaving as short and their packs as light as possible.

“Hold, hold, hold, hold on,” Katherine protested.  “You didn’t see anything?  We’re hightailing it out of here based on, based on what?”

Evan gently grabbed her arm and looked her in the eye, “It’s time to move out.”  He let her go and started to put his belongings together.  Katherine turned to Lillian hoping she would raise an argument to protect her health and safety.

“Tell them they are being foolish.  They’re scared of ghosts.  You’re not ready.”

Lillian’s face warmed into a smile. “I guess I’ll have to not be ready. You know this as well as I do: almost nothing happens when it’s convenient.”

“This is not how I thought this would happen.  It’s not night.  It’s not calm…”

“Katherine,” Lillian took her by the hand, “if you’re going to grow your trust in your husband, you will have to start by trusting him.”  Lillian shrugged, “And if he and Drex are wrong, we will improvise from there.”  She gave Katherine’s hand a gentle squeeze, “Come on, help me get ready.  You know how weak and frail I am.”

Katherine blew a frustrated breath through her nostrils as she followed Lillian into her room.  Tied with their third best time, they walked out the back door and slipped down the alleyway.  While they packed, Evan and Drex talked about the best way to their perimiter and then out to the city center.  They agreed that the best way was now the worst way, so they compromised on Plan D.  It was a longer, more circuitous path, but was also the furthest away from Plan A, which was now marked with yellow x’s.  So, silently, they moved away from the safe house and into the surrounding neighborhoods.  Evan led, following the map.  Drex brought up the rear, staying connected to his array of surveillance equipment to make strategy adjustments as needed.  In the middle was Lillian leaning on Katherine’s arm.

The streets were so quiet and still that, after several blocks, Katherine was further convinced that they had bolted when there wasn’t a need.  She admitted to herself that the fresh air was nice, and had they not been playing cat-and-mouse with a spectral villain, it would have made for a nice day for a leisurely stroll.  Still, the weight of Lillian reminded her that the Princess was still not up to this kind of strain.  Courageous and resilient as she was, Katherine was concerned that Lillian was taking her recovery backward with each step.

“Evan,” Katherine said in as hushed a tone as she could, “are you still sure it was the right time to leave?”

Evan stopped, turned, and spoke to Lillian, all the while bouncing his eyes from place to place, making sure they were not being tracked.  “No, I’m not sure.  But we were going to have to leave eventually and -”

Katherine cut him off.  “Could Drex look?  I don’t want to be running if we don’t need to be.”

“Drex,” Evan motioned to the man who was already pulling up the scanners back at the safe house.  What Katherine saw next made her stomach sink.  Outside, armed men dressed in Merlain military uniforms stood outside the safehouse.  Some were directing others this way and that around the house.  When Drex whiched his view to inside the house, it was teeming with soldiers setting what looked like coffee coasters here and there.  Then, with a signal from one of the men, they all left.  The soldiers outside scattered away from the house, and a moment later, the signal flashed and went black.  Katherine’s mind jumped to the last moment she saw Amnona alive.  Then she heard the low boom.  All four evacuees turned to see the column of black smoke starting to build over the neighborhood rooftops.

Katherine looked at her husband’s face.  His visage did not shame her, nor was it proud.  Instead, Evan looked at his wife with grave compassion.  “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Chances are good,” Evan said to everyone, “that we didn’t escape as cleanly as we think.  They found us when were being our most careful.  We are likely being tracked, or will be discovered sooner or later.  Drex what are our options?”

Drex fiddled with his devices for a long moment before pointing off the distance, “There’s another safe house many blocks that way, though “safe” is not the best description of it.  But it is near the plaza, and if it isn’t compromised, the house will give us a moment of shelter for us to rest a bit and regroup.”

Katherine turned to Lillian, “Can you see anything?”

The princess shook her head, “Not enough.  Drex knows what he’s doing, so we should keep going.  It’s the best bad choice, but at least its not the worst bad choice.”

Evan took another sweep of the area with his eyes, “Yeah.  Something tells me our options are going to get thinner the longer we’re out here.  Let’s get going.”  With a level of renewed purpose, the foursome continued on toward the city plaza.