Chapter 52
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Chapter 52

Lillian’s knees buckled, and Evan quickly wrapped his arm around her waist.  Keetha helped the princess to the ground before stealing Evan with a glare. “We can’t keep her here,” Keetha said.  “Were you followed?” Evan, breathless, shook his head.  “There were alarms, but they weren’t about us.  We, we, we, we left through a…

Chapter 51
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Chapter 51

For a long moment, Saw amused himself with the vain attempts of Amnon and the strange woman to find a way out of the chamber. “It’s like watching bugs get out of a jar,” he chuckled to himself. The head of security standing next to him cleared his throat. “So, all is well then?” Saw…

Chapter 50
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Chapter 50

The security team was in a frazzled panic when Saw Yatha strode into the termination center’s lobby.  Lines of guards in battle gear tromped this way and that.  Flashing lights and the pulsing alarm, which to Saw seemed like the adornment of victory, did nothing to help the trained guards get a plan together.  In…

Chapter 49
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Chapter 49

Saw Yatha was stuck.  He knew what he wanted to say, but the specific words would not materialize.  What awaited him tomorrow was to be the greatest day in the history of the Merlain people and for himself personally.  By the time the great star finished its trek across the sky, Princess Lillian of Coellum…

Chapter 48
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Chapter 48

“If this isn’t Lillian’s cell, where are we?” Katherine asked.  Try as she might, she could only slightly make out that Amnon was standing in front of her.  The darkness felt like a weight on her eyes. “I don’t know,” Amnon said, “I know where I hope we aren’t.”  Katherine heard him fishing in his…

Chapter 47
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Chapter 47

Keetha Cata strolled the streets neighboring the safe house.  The night air was heavy.  She had walked and walked with no clear direction.  She walked her course this way partly to avoid suspicion and partly because she didn’t know what else to do with Amnon’s directions to try to locate Evan. In contrast to the…

Chapter 46
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Chapter 46

The star had been below the horizon for some time when Amnon brought his transport to a stop in front of the termination center.  He then reached behind him and presented a case to Katherine. “Put these on,” he said. Katherine popped the case open to find a drab government uniform.  An unflattering coverall, she…

Chapter 45
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Chapter 45

It had been a long day.  Evan was out there, somewhere, and Katherine had no idea if he was alive or dead.  She had no way to contact Amnon and alert him and she felt like a used washcloth.  When Katherine wasn’t pacing the saferoom, she curled herself on the sofa and fall asleep form…

Chapter 44
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Chapter 44

On and on Evan, led Lillian through the ducts of the termination center until he recognized the room from where he had entered them.  He gently removed the vent cover and surveyed the room.  Still no guards.  The lack of surveillance in this prison was unnerving.  Evan lowered himself to the floor and then guided…

Chapter 43
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Chapter 43

It took the better part of the day for Evan Gold to approach the termination center.  The cover of the night had been a help as he moved away from Katherine and the safe house.  Having a vague notion of the facility’s direction facility from the planning of the botched decoy plan, Evan meticulously zigzagged…