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 Lillian to a safe landing.  She smiled at her rescuer and said, “Lead on.”

Instantly, red light filled the room, and alarms buzzed and whined.  “This way,” Evan said abruptly, taking the Princess by the hand.

He opened the door and scanned the corridor. The guards were now out in full force, from wherever they had been hiding. The hallway was choked with men and women hustling this way and that. A red light illuminated everything, and the alarm’s volume significantly increased in his ears. Evan hoped that the apparent confusion and panic from the sudden alarm would help them escape. Evan spied his moment and led Lillian out of the room to merge with the confused traffic.

Something he’d learned as a detective was that, in most cases, a person who looks like they know what they are doing will not be questioned.  This philosophy served him well when he needed to access crime scenes uninvited or to surveil suspects.  Evan hoped it worked on Merlain, too.  He pressed forward, inching, he hoped, back to the loading bay.  However, he assumed that escaping through it would be much harder now.  He kept his eyes out for other exits, but it was hard to get his bearings amid the crush of scurrying guards.

Suddenly, they came to a wide intersection of passageways.  The extra space provided more room for people to spread out, get past the slower ones, and make a change in direction.  The extra space also provided more exposure for Evan and Lillian to stand out in the crowd.  As Evan didn’t remember this intersection and tried to regain his bearings, he heard someone behind him shout above the din, “The Princess!”

Evan and Lillian turned to see a guard, with a weapon drawn, running toward them.  Grabbing her hand tightly, Evan pulled Lillian down the next available corridor.  They were once again insulated by the mob.  “Stop!  Stop them!”  Evan heard behind him.  With the red light playing with his eyesight and the painful alarms, it was difficult for Evan to tell if the guard was getting closer.  The last thing they needed right then was for the mass in the hallway to get wise to their presence.  The first thing they needed was a quick way out, but as much as Evan searched in the confusion, he could not find one.

Then, a shot was fired.  Evan looked over his shoulder, and a cloud of dust fell on the guard, who still held his weapon aloft.  He must have hoped firing it would get someone’s attention.  He was right.  The flow of guard stopped suddenly, and all eyes shifted to the shooter.  Evan felt Lillian squeeze his hand and then yanked into a room.  She placed her hand over Evan’s mouth.  Out in the hall, they heard the guard commanding the others to search for Lillian.  She was escaping.  That’s what the alarms were for.

Evan’s stomach fell as Lillian removed her hand.  This was what Lillian couldn’t see.  This was how he’d sabotaged the mission.  He was out of options, and the whole thing was breaking apart.  The voice of the commanding guard got closer with each passing moment.

“I never thought I’d be happy to see one of these,” Evan heard Lillian say.  He turned to find Lillian standing at a circular hatch door.  Next to it was a stand with two lighted buttons.  She looked back at Evan with an impish look, “Are you ready for a new adventure?”

Evan crossed the room, saying, “If it gets us out of here, yes.”

Lillian pressed one of the buttons, and the hatch door lifted.  At once, Evan was hit in the face with a putrid stench.  He did what he could to repress his gag reflex.  “What is it?”

“Waste disposal.  I don’t think anyone will look for us here.”  She smiled at Evan and said, “Hold your breath,” before disappearing into darkness.

Evan didn’t hesitate to follow, though he wanted to.  Gathering a large breath, he poked his legs into the chute, sat on the edge, and pushed himself down into an unknown fate.  The pipe, if it even resembled the picture Evan envisioned of his unlit journey, was rough but covered in enough slime that his unending sliding was un empeded.  The smell was unbearable and panci increased as moisture attached itself to Evan’s face.  He squeezed his eyes shut and folded his lips inside his mouth.  Over and over he heard instructions from his boot camp crill instructor to beware of some kinds of water as certain diseases can infiltrate through the skin and openeings like the mouth, eyes, ears, and nose.  Evan was certain he was going to acquire some alien disease for which there was no known cure.  But on and on he slid into the bleak future.

Then, suddenly, he was free.  Floating into the night.  Then falling and falling and falling.  Evan flailed his arms and legs hoping to be able to see where he was landing, but his momentum fought against him.  He was then plunged beneath water, he hoped.  Not having gotten a proper breath before submerging, he gain flailed his arms in an effort to push his head above the water’s surface.  Finally feeling his head pop out into the night air and Evan filed his lungs with several gasping breaths.

Lillian.  Where was she?  Evan swung his head this way and that to see if he could locate the Princess.  There she was seated on the bank of the waterway, squeezing out her hair and clothes.

“That was unpleasant,” she said.  “Good to see you survived.”

Evan made his way to the shore and sat next to Lillian.  In the distance he could still hear the alarms blaring and see the searchlights scanning for them.

“You okay?” Evan asked.

“I seem to have all the necessary parts in tact,” Lillian said with a smile.

“We better get moving,” Evan said.  “It can’t be long till they come looking for us.”

Lillian stood.  Evan followed her.  “Where to?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where this waterway goes?”

“Downhill?”

“Very funny, Princess,” Evan said and began moving down river.  “Let’s stay low and follow the river for as long as we can.  It’s dark and we can use this ravine as cover until they get wise to our escape route.  As soon as we’re far enough away, and I can get a gander at the skyline, we can start making our way back to the safe house.

“Lead on, Evan Gold,” Lillian said.  “I am in your care.”

Evan smiled in the dark.  He’d done the impossible.  Moreover, he’d done what he came here to do.  Lillian was safe and he had done it.  Evan had to keep refocusing his mind on the task at hand anytime his thoughts drifted toward his success.  She was in his care.  That’s what she’d said.  He was determined to not let anything, even a well-deserved self-congratulation ruin her trust in him.  Still, he couldn’t help but imagine the look on Katherine’s face when he presented the Princess to her at the safe house.