Chapter 53

Evan nodded, and they decided that Keetha would use her uniform and credentials to draw guards and soldiers away from the termination center.  While at the same time, Evan and Lillian would limp to the rear loading dock.  If all worked well, Keetha would meet them back there and escort them across the plaza to the Central Processing Unit.

“Good luck,” Evan said.  Keetha took off running to the Center’s front.

Keetha grabbed her credentials in her hand and began waving her arms and calling out, “Help!  Help!  I’ve seen them!  They’re getting away!”  In the mayhem, she was not making a big enough scene to be noticed.  Keetha saw a commander not far in front of her.  He was scanning the distance with his field scope.  She eventually attracted the attention of a commander by running into his back and almost knocking him over.  The commander turned.  His fury ebbed the smallest amount as he saw her stress and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Slow down,” he ordered.  Keetha did her best to feign worry.

“They came out of nowhere,” she said breathlessly.  “I don’t know how I escaped.”

Where did you see them?”

With a furrowed brow and tears in her eyes, she pointed toward the ravine where she’d first bumped into Evan and Lillian.  “They’re running through the ravine,” she panted.

The commander turned to his troops and, with one bellowing order, got them moving in the direction of the ravine.  Keetha kept up the charade, watching the guards head away, all the while calculating how much time until the commander saw that he had been lied to.  She allowed herself a small grin before looking for her next victim.  

Not more than a hundred paces away was another group of soldiers getting ready to head out in a caravan.  Keetha took a breath and ran toward them with the same cries of distress.  At first the situation played out the same: the guards asked what was going on, Keetha pointed to where the escapees were last seen (this time, she was able to use the first troops to help sell her story as they were still en route to the ravine), and the leader gave a command to his men to move out.  Keetha’s plan fell apart when the leader looked at her and ordered her to guide him to the exact place.

With all her creativity, she tried to devise reasons not to get in the transport with the guards, but she could tell that her protests were on the verge of raising suspicions.  So, she agreed to guide the guards hoping Evan and Lillian were having a better time.

The leader helped Keetha into the front seat of the transport and she began making an assessment of the chances that she could win in a one-on-one fight with him.  Chances were non-existant.  Though she had kept up her combat training as a way to relieve stress and allow for some of Nova’s physical requirements, this guard was twice her weight in muscle alone, along with a full complement of weapons.  Keetha was further surprised when a second guard slid in on her other side, putting her between two immovable objects.  Her mind raced to how she could keep up the charade while living to fight another day.

The guard activated the transport and began to drive it toward the ravine.  Keetha saw a small train of five other transports loaded with guards following behind.  “Point again to where you saw them?” the guard shouted over the transport noise.  She obeyed the obeyed the order and the driver swung the transport to the opposite side of the Termination Center.

“Where are you going?” Keetha cried.

The guard pointed at the first troops.  “No point in us going to the same location as them.  If we can put up a blockade further down the river, between the two units, we should be able to trap them or squeeze them out into the open.”

Keetha had to agree with his logic.  The only problems were there was no one to squeeze, which she wanted to keep a secret for as long as possible, and that the path she was on would likely put them nose-to-nose with Evan and Lillian at the back of the building.  What to do?  What to do?  What to do?  Keetha scrambled to devise a reasonable excuse to divert the guard to another course.

They made it to the far side of the Center and began their turn back to the ravine.  Far in the distance, Keetha made out Evan and Lillian hobbling toward them.  Mercifully, they looked like a guard helping a wounded guard to safety.  Keetha knew this mirage would evaporate quickly, but she didn’t know what to do.  It was at that moment that Keetha heard the whine of a rocket roar over the top of the caravan and explode not more than twenty units to their right.

The concussion of the blast rocked Keetha’s transport.  Quickly seizing the opportunity, Keetha screamed in fright and grabbed the steering controls.  She yanked the controls hard toward her, causing the transport to lose stability and fall on its side.  The remaining momentum of the transport drained as it skittered into a small clump of trees.  

As soon as the transport flipped, the second guard slammed into Keetha’s side, forcing her lungs to empty.  His weight pressed more and more on Keetha’s side forcing her to focus on expanding her chest to let in enough air to not pass out.  As he tried to stay alive, she turned her head and saw that the driver was out cold; she hoped he was not dead.  She wasn’t sure if she could deal with laying on top of a corpse.  

The second guard began to squirm above her.  “Are you okay?”

Keetha managed a groan.

The guard began kicking the transport door above him.  His actions, while necessary, added extra pressure to Keetha’s body.  She hoped he would open the door soon.  After three solid kicks, the door swung open on its hinges.  The soldier began to climb out before turning to Keetha.

“What were you thinking?”

Keetha, finally able to draw a full breath stared at the guard with confusion.

“Why did you grab the controls?  This is your fault.”  He was mad at her for messing up the mission.  Keetha decided to use this to her advantage.

“Please don’t leave me here,” she cried.

“The last thing we need is emotional dead weight like you,” he said.  “You’re going to get the rest of us killed.”

Just then, another guard came running up to check on them.  The second guard pointed to the unconscious driver.  “Is he dead?”  Keetha stammered and began to cry.  “You’re on your own, lady,” the guard said and assumed command of the troops.  Keetha then began to climb out of the transport and soon saw the other five transports zoom past her.  She waved her hands and declared her desire to go with them, but they went unheeded.  “Good,” she thought.  

Keetha wiped the tears from her face and checked to see what had become of Evan and Lillian.  She didn’t see them and hoped that the explosion and confusion gave them adequate time to hunker down out of sight.  Then, she turned to the still-unconscious driver.  Keetha stripped him of several small weapons before abandoning him and heading back around to the front of the Center.

If she thought the lack of guard coordination outside was something to behold, it took on a whole new level once Keetha entered the Center itself.  She’d never been inside Saw Yatha’s pet project before, and she didn’t have the luxury of following the herd to the right location.  So, she took her best guess, powered past the abandoned front desk, and down the widest hallway.  

At times, she ran with guards, and at others, she ran opposite of them, but she did her best to keep her eyes peeled for any sign that pointed to the rear loading dock. Keetha’s sense of direction was tested more than once, causing her to double back and try other corridors. She was stopped twice by well-meaning guards who didn’t think this was the right kind of environment for a woman to deal with.  In return for their concern, she flashed her credentials and said she was there on orders and that if they didn’t let her do her job, she would report them to the Director of Prisons.  It paid to know people, she thought, as both times the guards bowed curtly and let her on her way.

Then, she found the loading dock door and entered the vast space, which was, at that moment, empty of every vehicle and guard. “Strange,” she thought to herself, “this may be the calmest place in the whole city.”

Keetha ran to the bay doors, pressed them to open, and shortly after, she welcomed a sweaty and exhausted Evan Gold back into the Termination Center.

“Can we not do that again?” Evan asked.

“Sure,” Keetha said, “where’s the Princesss?”

Evan opened his hand, revealing a small, glowing orb a little bigger than a marble.