The eastern sky transitioned from gray to blood red as Amnon Saxe tromped into the termination center. The attendants behind the front desk snapped to attention when they recognized Amnon’s rank. “Good morning, Director,” one of the attendants blurted. Amnon could tell he was unprepared for such a high-ranking visit, and he hoped to use…
Evan opened a window as soon as Amnon’s transport was no longer in view. He rested his hands on the sill and breathed in the night air. “Come away from the window,” Katherine said. Evan didn’t budge. “Come away from there and help me clean up. It looks like a tragedy in here.” It was…
The mood was grim as Drex and Katherine eventually entered the safe house. It had been a long, disappointing day, and Katherien’s feet were tired. Not only had the plan, the plan she had never wanted to be involved in, gone badly, but all her known paths of how she would get back to her…
Drex pulled Lillian’s transport into the termination center’s loading bay. It was a bland construction well beyond the city’s limits. The mammoth structures in the heart of the city had turned to a faint lavender outline to the west. Drex opened the back hatch and locked eyes with Katherine as if to tell her to…
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….
As soon as the doors closed on Saw Yatha’s lift, Katherine Gold let out the breath she’d been holding since she noticed him in the holding bay. She had only encountered him once before, in Evan’s apartment. At the time she thought he was bad news, but after he shot her, emblzoning her with his…
Saw Yatha’s eyes popped open the instant his brain woke up. The first thought, the only thought, was, “This is the day.” He swung his legs to the side of Zungher Dol’s office couch and sat up. Ever since he’d taken on the mantle of Dol’s spokesman, he’d, like Zungher before him, taken up permanent…
Keetha felt electric. “This was happening. This was really happening,” she repeated in her mind over and over between the safe house and her transport. She had to keep her composure because hololenses were everywhere – constantly scanning, continually assessing. The slightest errant twitch could cause problems if anyone decided to look closely. She had…
“You don’t look well,” Keetha said. “I’m sure I don’t,” Amnon replied, resting himself on the edge of his desk. He could feel the adrenaline flowing through his body. It hadn’t let up since he left Saw. He gripped the desk’s edge to keep his hands from shaking. Amnon wanted to appear strong for Keetha,…
Amnon Saxe entered the Chieftain’s office in the morning, unprepared for what he saw. Presumably, he had been called into a meeting with Zungher Dol himself of a matter so sensitive that the meeting needed to happen face-to-face and as soon as possible. Amnon had pushed all other appointments aside and rushed his schedule to…
