Chapter 38

Evan and Keetha strode across the plaza, looking everything like a modern couple on a leisurely morning stroll.  It was an easy walk, as the place looked abandoned.  Evan had been told that most every Merlain citizen would be preoccupied with the Department of Communication’s coverage of the trial that the city would seem desterted.  

Keetha was out of her official uniform and looked like many affluent Merlian women when they had a moment to themself.  Evan, regardless of how current his attire is, stiffly ambles next to Keetha.  Had he not been with her, he would have passed for a well-dressed vagrant or a person with limited mental ability.

“I thought you said you’ve been in tough situations before,” Keetha said, sipping from her thermo-pod.

“There’s a sense back where I’m from,” Evan mumbled, “Never go into a situation that you don’t know how to get out of.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” Keetha smiled.

“No,” eyed Evan, “I would never say that out loud.”

Keetha laughed.  Evan noted that it was a delightful sound.  Her ease in the face of galactic governmental overthrow eased his nerves a bit, but only a bit.

“Look,” she said, “I understand your apprehension.  But we either take the opportunity before us – maybe we win, and maybe we lose – or we let it pass us by and regret it.  My thought is you might as well enjoy the journey.”

They continued on, and Evan looked over to the prison facility standing on the opposite side.  “Has that always been there?” Evan said, pointing to the Jendi Tower.

Keetha turned.  “What?”

“I don’t remember that mural.”

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Keetha took another sip, and took a lingering look at Nova’s recent work.

“Whoever did that will be in trouble if that’s what I think it is.  That’s Lillian escaping, right?”

“I think any artist who can pull that off and not get caught can evade the authorities at least for a little longer.”  Keetha pulled a device from her jacket.  “Here we go.”  Keetha pointed at the government building in front of them.  “The Central Processing Unit.”

Evan couldn’t help but crane his neck up at the structure that seemed to diminish to a point several hundred feet above him.  He suddenly felt Keetha’s arm lock with his and pull him away.

“Stop it,” she hissed.  “You look like you’ve never been here before.”

“I haven’t.”

“Sit,” she said, plopping down on a bench a few yards from the Unit’s front door.  Keetha held her device so that they could both see what it showed.  She had accessed a feed from the courtroom.  Lillian stood and listened to the tribunal’s verdict and sentence.  Evan could not take his eyes off Lillian.  He wished that he could swoop in and sneak her out, but he had to keep himself mindful of his job.  Keetha had been very faithful to remind him.  Use the fetterseal.  Let Amnon, Drex, and Katherine worry about Lillian.  Evan looked at his right palm and stroked the mark with his thumb.  It seemed like the weak thing compared to how he saw the day happening.

Keetha put her hand over Evan’s right.  “Let’s keep that a secret if we can,” she said.  “It would be a shame to rouse Saw at this point.”  Evan put his left hand under his thigh and reengaged with the images from her device.

Lillian was being led from the courtroom to the transports below the courthouse.  “Let’s move,” Keetha said softly.  They stood and walked back to the Unit.  Evan shifted his weight as they gazed at the front doors.  Keetha took a long pull on her thermo-pod.  “Just as we hoped,” she said.  “Everyone’s glued to the trial.  We just need to wait for the signal from Amnon.”

“What do we do till then?”

Keetha swiveled her head to smile at her partner.  She smiled.  “Enjoy the moment.”

Evan exhaled loudly through his teeth.  It would be a while before he enjoyed the moment.  He enjoyed setting traps and springing them to catch bad guys.  The notion that they were the ones standing in the trap gave Evan no measure of comfort.

“There she is,” Evan heard Keetha say, switching his gaze back to her device. Lillian was exiting the lift and walking into the holding bay. Evan got a passing glimpse of Katherine as Lillian was loaded into the back of her transport, and he noticed a marked increase in his heartbeat’s volume.

“Any time now,” Keetha said.

“Any time now,” Evan repeated.

They waited.  Evan looked back inside the Unit.  There was no one.  The place seemed as deserted as possible.  “What’s keeping us from going inside so we are closer to the target?”

“Because that isn’t the plan.”

“Ture,” he said, “but we’re just making things up, right?  Look, no one is stirring.  We step inside.  We creep our way to the unit itself.  Maybe we are confused tourists, if anyone asks.  But if what you said is true, we will have a narrow window to get in, use the seal, and get out.  We could shorten the distance to the goal and give us more…”

“Shhh,” Keetha said.  Evan saw that the image of the holding bay was gone, and Amnon was contacting Keetha.  Evan saw the no-go signal as clear as day.  How was that possible?  Everything looked according to plan.

“Did you see that?” Keetha asked.

“We’re right here.”

“Walk away,” Keetha linked her arm again with Evan’s.

“We are so close, and you said yourself, the window would only be open for a short time.”

Evan saw Keetha’s eyes blaze back at him.  “The window is closed.  I don’t know what’s going on, but I trust Amnon.  He wants this as much as anyone.  If he’s calling us off, he knows something we don’t.  Trust me, its not because of a weak spine.  We walk away and hope for another window.  Now come on.”

He felt the tug on his arm.  Evan looked back into the Unit building.  A growing amount of people were starting once again to carry on their business inside.  He turned to look over the plaza.  It, too, was coming back to life.  The window was indeed shut.  For that matter, had it ever been open?  Evan felt a second tug on his arm.  This time, he let it pull him forward.

“What do we do now?”

“What do we do now?” Keetha asked.  “You know what we do now.”

If Evan didn’t like the plan that had just been aborted, he really didn’t like the next bit.  According to the plan, should, but he was promised that it likely wouldn’t, but should the plan take a turn toward danger, Amnon would pull the plug and everyone was to make thier way to the safehouse and regroup.

It felt like a retreat.  It felt like a retreat for an advance that never happened.  Evan allowed his head to turn in the Central Processing Unit’s direction.  “Eyes front,”Keetha said.  “Never look back.  If we are going to have any chance of success, it will be by keeping our eyes aimed at what is in front of us.  Regret will only slow us down.”

Keetha took a long last drag on her thermo-pod before dropping it in a nearby waste compactor.  Evan looked back at Nova’s mural.  “I really thought that would be today.”

“Me too.”  Evan noted a hint of regret in Keetha’s tone.  He dared to look her in the face.  Keetha’s eyes were fixated on the mural.  A moment later, she connected with Evan’s eyes.  “I suppose I should follow my own advice.”  She gave a sad smile.  “Never look back.”

Evan’s thoughts drifted toward Katherine.  If they had been told not to move forward with the plan, then what was going on with Katherine?  Was she okay, and if not, he had no way to get to her.  He then felt doubly powerless.  He couldn’t free Lillian, and he couldn’t rescue his wife.  Evan pressed his molars until his jaw ached.  He balled up his right hand into a fist and crammed it into his pocket as he and Keetha strode through the growing plaza crowd trying to look everything like a modern Merlain couple out on a leisurely morning stroll.