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 mental exhaustion only to be brought back to conciousness by worries of Merlain soldiers finding her out and sending her to her own private cell at the termination center where no one could rescue her, no one could send her home.
Home. It seemed like such a distant place. The more Katherine focused her thoughts on her home, its layout, the furniture, the wallpaper pattern, the fuzzier the details became until she wasn’t sure if home was a real place or vision she’d made up in her descent into delirium.
Once or twice, she gathered what few possessions she’d acquired in this strange land, thinking she would try to find Evan and bring him back to the safe house. Each time, she convinced herself that he would only reject her and leave her to fend for herself against the harsh reality so that he could win the day on his own power.
By the time Amnon arrived with Keetha and Drex, Katherine was blinklessly observing the star descend lower and lower to touch the horizon. All was lost. All was lost.
“Where is Evan?” Amnon asked after he’d quickly scanned the room. “It’s time to move.” Katherine gave no reply. She remained fixated on the falling star. Keeth sat next to her and patted Katherine’s arm. “Is everything alright?” Katherine shifted her glance to Keetha.
“It’s over,” she said. “Whatever you have planned is ruined. You all can go back to your normal lives, and I’ll forage for myself or surrender myself to the enemy forces.”
“Is Evan gone?” Amnon asked. Katherine heard the irritation in his tone. She nodded. Amnon smacked his fist into his palm. “How long ago?”
“Almost as soon as you left last night.”
“Last night!”
Keetha stood. “Hold on, Amnon.” She looked at Drex. “Have you picked up anything on him today?”
Drex shook his head. Amnon exhaled. “Well, at least he’s learning to keep his head down. Did he tell you where he was going, what he was up to?”
Katherine unballed herself and sat up. She knew they weren’t going to leave without one last interrogation. “No. He didn’t.”
“What happened?” Keetha soothed. “Why did he leave?”
“Because if we don’t go soon,” Amnon jumped in, “we will lose our window.”
“I don’t know. I mean, I assume he went to rescue Lillian. That was the only reason we are here, and the only thing kept focusing on. But I don’t know. We had a, we had a discussion. Let’s say the discussion didn’t end well. He wanted to go and I wanted him to stay. Like normal, he got what he wanted.”
“Why didn’t you contact someone?” Amnon asked.
Katherine stared helpless daggers at him. “I don’t know how any of these things work. And I got the impression that if I did use them, I would alert the world to my presence, which would only bring the wrong kind of people to the house. Nor could I leave to try to find him, if that is your next chastisement of my behavior. Where was I to go that wouldn’t raise so much attention, I would be hauled of to prison?” He tone quieted down. “Hauled off to prision,” Katherine scoffed to herself, “I’m already in prison.”
“Drex,” Amnon barked, “Can you see if you can locate him now?”
“I can, boss, but each time I access the cameras, there is the risk that the system will notice our presence. I mean, I’m willing to go with the fact that since we haven’t picked him up on our alert scanners, he’s either doing well, or he’s deserted the whole operation.”
Katherine laughed. “Then you don’t know my husband. He has not deserted. Evan Gold would die before he gave up on someone he’d promised to help.”
There was silence for a long while in the safe house. Now, it was Amnon’s turn to pace the floor as he worked out what to do next. Eventually, he stopped jammed his hands into his coat pockets and said, “So, we don’t know Evan’s plans, and we don’t know Evan’s progress. We do know our plans and that we need to act now. Maybe he’s been able to free Lillian, most likely not. Regardless, our time to move is now. If we act soon enough, maybe we can intercept him before he does any damage. We will run the same play as we planned: I’ll take Katherine with me into the bowels of the center (I was able to see where she is being kept and have found a secret way in to avoid detection. Katherine, I’ll brief you on the way), Keetha, see what you can do to locate Evan. If you can, maybe we can still use his fetterseal to bust up the processing unit. Drex, you stay here to monitor to chatter. Don’t do anything to raise suspicions. If you can divert operations and communications away from our locations, please do. And, if you happen to pick up Evan or his whereabouts, let us know immediately.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Are there questions?”
There were so many questions, but Katherine kept them to herself. Se knew whatever questions or objections would not be appreciated at this point, nor did she think she would get satisfying answers. She bolstered her courage with the thought that if she went with Amnon, she would likely die, but the likelihood of death with Amnon was lower than if she stayed at the safe house. Katheriene stood. “Let me get my things.”
Katherine gathered all her possessions, assuming she would never see the inside of the safehouse again. Once she was as ready as she could be, Katherine forced a weak smile at Amnon and said, “I’m ready.”
Amnon nodded. “Now,” he observed the group, “I don’t have great words for you, but safe to say if we are successful, we will see each other back here. If not, may we see each other after death. What we do tonight will bring back pride for our people in our people: to stand up for themselves, to stand up for our heritage, to stand up to anyone who would strip us of our autonomy. My father, all our forefathers, worked to give us a better future with our people, and Zungher Dol and his forces have taken that from us. He has lulled many of us into obedience through fear. No more. If tonight we are successful, and if the Princess’ promise is true, we will be able to see Merlain return to her glory, not as a scourge among the realms, but as a friend.” Katherine noticed a shield of gravity covered his features. “For Merlian,”Amnon said softly.
“For Merlain,” Katherine heard the others say, but her throat choked closed as she remembered stories of war from her father and grandfather. They, too, fought for love of country, and it had changed them. Katherine hoped her change would be for the better.
Drex moved to take his position near the communications equipment. With a few presses of this and a few swipes of that, everything came to life. Drex turned to Amnon and smiled, “We are good to go.”
Amnon nodded and motioned for Keetha and Katherine to exit the safe house. Once Katherine was safely alone with Amnon, she looked at him and said, “I don’t want to die.” Amnon turned to her, “Something you should keep in mind, Katherine, because I’ve never done anything like this before, I can only assume nothing will go according to plan. When we are in the middle of making things up, I want you to remind yourself of this over and over: just as much as you don’t want to die, I also don’t want to die. If possible, I want to enjoy the fruits of this venture. So, ask questions, but keep your eye on the goal. Our chances of coming out of this alive are small, but they will only increase as we stick together, look out for each other, and trust each other. Can you do that?”
Katherine paused for a second. She wanted to believe she could do all of those things. Against every feeling in her heart, she locked eyes with Amnon and nodded. “It will be hard, though,” she said.
“I know it will,” Amnon said with a smile as revved up the transport. “If you didn’t doubt occasionally, I would question your sanity.” Amnon pressed something on the control pannel and Katherine felt her back press gently into her seat. She was headed into war without her husband and she hoped she would be able to see him one more time.
