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 backdoor.”

Keetha scanned the surrounding area and spotted a workable hiding place.  It was a deep-recessed entryway to a highrise building.  All lights in the entryway were off, but not knowing what the building was used for, this could only be a temporary solution.  Keetha grabbed Lillian under her knees, and instinctively, Evan grabbed her under her arms.  In this way, the three of them made their way out of the prying eyes of the government.

When they had done what they could to make Lillian comfortable, her limp body trying to stay conscious, Keetha slapped Evan in the shoulder and said, “What were you thinking?  You could have both been killed.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t, so let’s not get self-righteous.”

Keetha shook her head at Evan, “You are a real piece of work, Evan Gold.  You have one plan and you’re going to stick to it even if it hangs everyone else out to dry.  We had a plan.  Your wife and Amnon are supposed to be rescuing the princess right now.  Your wife,” she emphasized.  “You and I are supposed to be on the other side of the plaza breaking into the Central Processing Unit.”

“There’s still time for that.  The most important thing was the safety—”  

Evan’s statement was cut off as Lillian placed her hand on his forearm.  “Show me your mark.”

He looked at Lillian and then back to Keetha.  Evan opened his right hand for Lillian and displayed the bluish fetterseal adorning his palm.  Lillian stroked the mark with her fingertips, causing the tattoo to glow in the dark night.  “You haven’t used the code,” she coughed.  Lillian peered sorrowfully at her rescuer.  “That,” she said, placing her other hand over the fetterseal, “is the more important thing.  My life is secondary at best.”  She took in a heavy breath, “I gave this to you to safeguard it for this moment.  Without the code embedded in your mark, my people are lost.  Many Coellum died bringing that code to me.  It would dishonor their sacrifice if I lived while all my people were subjected to Merlain cruelty.”

Lillian turned her attention to Keetha, “Are you able to contact your allies?”

Keetha shrugged.  “I only have one.”

“Do it quickly.  We are not the only ones with disheveled plans.”

Worried, Keetha fished her communicator out of her jacket and turned it on.  “Drex,” she whispered, “Drex, are you there?”

“Its about time someone checked in,” came the voice on the other end of the communicator, “everything has gone out the window.  I’ve lost all contact with Amnon and am trying not to assume the worst,” Keetha glared at Evan as Drex continued, “and a very broad manhunt has just been called for Lillian and Evan.  I assume it’s Evan.  The descriptions they are sending out are inconsistent.”

“That’s at least some good news,” Keetha said.  She was about to update Drex on her situation, but he cut back in, “And Zungher Dol’s tower is on fire.”

“Why is it on fire?”

“No one knows, or if they are they are keeping off the communicators.  Where are you?  What does it look like?”

Keetha quickly brought Drex up to speed with her position and that she had Lillian and Evan with her.

“Well, that’s something,” Drex sighed.  “Still, we have to find Amnon and Katherine.  Hopefully, they are laying low.  What is the next move?”

Now it was time for Keetha to sigh, “I don’t know.  Let us put our heads together.  I’ll leave the communicator on.  If you hear anything, click back on.”

“Got it,” Drex went silent.

“So, if the city center is distracted with Dol’s tower, we may need to press that way.  Maybe we can sneak through?”

“Listen,” Ev an began, “I got us into this mess, well, I got us into some of this mess, let me get us out of it.  You take the princess back to the safe house.  I’ll break into the Processing Unit and use the code.”

“Is it torture for you to work with other people?” Keetha said. “Do you know where to go if you got in there?  No.  Do you know how to use your fetterseal if you find the right place?  No.  No, we have to go together.  We have to be a unit.  You need me; unfortunately, I need you, and we both need her.  So, get your head around that.  We go as one, or we don’t go.”

“That’s all well and good,” Evan responded, “but you’re forgetting I broke into the termination center and got Lillian out when you people thought I couldn’t.  One person sneaking in is easier to hide than three, especially if one of the people can barely hold themselves up.”

Lillian once again reached out her hand to Evan.  Suddenly, his mind was filled with a vision of bright glowing white.  A soothing voice spoke from the brilliance, “Evan Gold, why so stubborn?”  From the light emerged the face of Lillian.  She appeared as when she first saw her, adorned in white, golden hair cascading down her shoulders and firey resolve in her eyes.  This vision was very different from the weak and disheveled woman huddled in the highrise doorway.

“I have seen the future,” she continued.  “There are two avenues laid out for you.  Either path will lead to success and tragedy.  Only one will lead to fulfillment.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that deep in your heart is a longing to protect, but it overshadows a better desire to unify.  You have a misguided understanding that all responsibility rests on your shoulders.  You have been blessed with partners.  Let them carry some of the load.”

“I’ve had bad experiences,” he said.  “People I’ve trusted have stabbed me in the back.”

“Not all of them,” she said.  “Not Katherine.”

Her words stung like a sharp pain in his chest.  Evan was shown many images of his life with Katherine.  In each one, he’d not listened to her; he’d gone his own way.  In the images, he saw them drifting apart, and the bond between them got stretched thinner until it was as fragile as a thread of gossamer.

“What do I do?”

“Start by trusting Keetha.  She wants what you want, and she knows more than you.  Both of you are skilled in different ways.  Let her help you.”

Suddenly, Evan’s eyes cleared and he saw Keetha’s eyes hard on him.  “What happened?” she asked, stress coloring her tone.

“I… I…” he stammered.

“She touched you, and an instant later, she passed out.”

Evan turned to Keetha, “I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.”  He swallowed hard before saying what he needed to.  “You’ve got a better read on this situation than I do, you know this city.  What is the best way to get us closer to the Processing Unit?”

Keetha looked at Evan quizzically but quickly recovered.  She hopped on the communicator to contact Drex.  She gave him their location.  “What is the best route to the Unit from here?” she asked.

“And live?” he asked.  “Hang on.”

Drex went silent for an uncomfortable moment.  “Here’s what I got.  I can link into the guards’ communication system and give orders that will give you some cover.  Follow the route I’ll send you, and I can encourage eyes to look the other way.”

“That’s all we can ask,” Keetha said before activating her device.  It quickly displayed a serpentine route that ended in the city center.

“You’ll still need to keep your eyes up.  I can only do so much from here.”

“It’s more than we have.  Thanks, Drex.”  Keetha clicked off her communicator and turned to Evan.  “Do you think you can help her walk?”

Evan shrugged and started to revive Lillian.  Her eyes flickered open and with Keetha’s help they got the princess standing.  Then, Evan put her arm over his shoulders and his arm around her waist.  “Alright, Princess,” he said, “time to move.”

Keetha kept watch on the route and scouted each turn.  Evan and Lillian limped their way behind her.  Periodically, an explosion went off a block or two away.  Keetha told Evan that it must be Drex’s way of ‘encouraging eyes to look the other way.’

Inch by inch, the threesome wound their way to the city’s center, avoiding government officials.  The sounds of chaos became louder as they neared their destination.  Periodically, Evan saw what must have been Dol’s tower, which was still engulfed in flames.  He was less and less confident about what they would find when they made it to the center itself.

Then, it happened.  Keetha guided them around one building’s corner, and they could see clearly into the plaza.  The trio stopped a moment to stare at the flashing lights, the flaming tower, and horrified citizens helplessly frozen in fear or rushing around in panic.

“Good news,” Keetha said, turning to Evan.  “Drex led us to the blind side of the Processing Unit.”

“I feel like there is bad news coming,” Evan grunted, readjusting Lillian’s weight.

Keetha pointed to the front door of the unit.  It swarmed with heavily armed guards.  “It looks like we’ll need to split up,” she said.