Chapter 62
A bag suddenly blocked Amnon’s vision, and his wrists were bound to each other. Then, with a harsh jab in his spine, he lurched forward. Unable to see where he was going, Amnon received several jabs to his back to keep him going. It was one thing to be captured, but it was a whole other thing to be treated this way by people he had led just a few weeks ago. He didn’t blame them; they were doing the right thing according to their training to help Merlain’s strength. Amnon was a traitor, and he needed to be treated as such. Still, it took all that was in him to restrain himself from attacking the one with the prod. It seemed unnecessary.
Then, two strong hands gripped Amnon by the shoulders and pushed him down hard. He ended up landing in a chair and Amnon’s head covering was pulled off. Blazing lights made it hard to open his eyes. He could barely make out a dark figure standing not far in front of him, but it was not until the figure spoke that Amnon started to calculate where he was and what was going on.
“Welcome, Amnon Saxe,” came Saw Yatha’s calm, menacing tone, “former Director of Prisons.” Saw made sure to emphasize the word former. “Before we go much further, I should point out that this conversation, thanks to the good citizens in the Ministry of Communications, is being seen across all devices throughout the realm. As you know, the good government of Chieftain Dol does everything in the open.”
As his eyesight improved under the harsh lighting, Amnon understood he was in the same place where Zungher Dol had announced his promotion to Director. It had been an awkward but important moment. Amnon remembered the snakey smile on the Chieftain’s face, the cold pats on his back as he was commissioned and congratulated into this new role. The one directive Amnon remembered from the brief ceremony was, “Make the people of Merlain proud.” Amnon wasn’t sure if he had done that, nor was he certain he was doing it then. The only thing he was sure of was that he needed to make Keetha proud. She was the truest citizen he’d ever met outside of his family. There were likely more of them. All they needed was the courage. All they needed was the courage and the permission. The permission to take a stand, a stand for a free Merlain. He had needed Keetha’s courage to take his stand, and now he knew that he needed to do the same for others. Amnon saw the violence in Saw’s one good eye and knew what he had to do.
Saw continued. “So, in the spirit of full transparency, I would like you to explain where you have been today.” Amnon started to speak, but Saw cut him off, “Before you tell all of Merlain, I would like to show some of what we captured from the Termination Center earlier today.”
Amnon’s stomach sank as she saw a screen come alive with footage of him and Katherine Gold entering the Center and walking through the corridors. The footage ended before they fell into Saw’s torture chamber.
“Please tell us why you were there today,” Saw smiled.
“Are you suggesting that it was wrong of me to be there? The Termination Center is one of the facilities I’m responsible for. Last I knew, I had the authority to visit it at any time.”
Saw chuckled and feigned offense, “I’m not suggesting anything. All I asked was for you to give an accounting of your whereabouts to our good citizens. Why were you there?”
“This is highly irregular, and I would like to know by what authority you’re operating under.”
Saw looked down. “I see. You don’t want to say. Very well. Perhaps you could tell us the identity of the woman with you. Based on our, and I think under your leadership, this system was greatly improved, but based on our best identification scanners, no one seems to know who this woman is. Who is she, and by what authority do you have for allowing strangers inside our most secure facilities?”
“If you want to accuse me of something, I suggest you stop with this performance and get on with it. Arrest me and put me on trial.”
Saw’s laugh seemed more genuine this time. “I see you misunderstand. You are already under arrest. What this is, what this could be, is a chance for you to absolve yourself in front of your people.”
“If I’m arrested, what is the charge?”
“We’ll get to that over time, I believe. So, you won’t say why you were in the Termination Center, and you won’t tell us who the woman is, is that right?” Amnon glared at Saw. “Very good.” Saw turned back to the screen, “Now, somehow, you and the woman go missing for a time and the next we see you, the pair of you are fleeing the Center, stealing; I’ll give you the benefit and say commandeering, a transport. We then see you and the woman split up as you enter the prison complex. Now tell me, as you can see from the replay and as you experienced, there was a lot going on in the plaza today. A lot that needed the cooler heads of our most elite leaders. In the middle of a momentary but significant crisis, why are you not helping restore law and order? And before you answer that, I want us to see this last bit we have from inside the prision complex. That’s you,” Saw said pointing at Amnon’s image walking through the corridors of the floor of his office, “and here you stop at a desk. Whose desk is this?”
“You know whose it is. This used to be your office suite,” Amnon said.
“That’s right. Thanks for reminding me. The older I get – “ Saw tapped the side of his head. “Who’s desk was it?”
“My assistant’s.”
“What is the name of your assistant?”
Amnon took a deep breath finally seeing where this was heading, where this had always been heading. He shifted his weight in his chair, sat a bit taller and said, “Keetha Cata.”
“And you probably know that this assistant of yours was killed today in the Plaza, in the middle of the crisis. In fact, it’s possible that she was responsible for much of the crisis. Did you know that we now think that she, or she and a group of people, was responsible for the various anti-government vandalism throughout the city under the name Nova?”
“It wasn’t anti-government. It was anti-Dol,” Amnon clarified.
Saw’s eyes lit up with the excitement of a predator triumph over its prey. “Those terms mean the same thing. And what was this you got out of her desk?”
Amnon was done playing Saw’s game, “It looks like a signal gun.”
“That’s what I was going to guess. And you fire the gun out the window with, what does this say? Oh, this is another traitorous message from Nova. So, so far, it looks like, Amnon Saxe, you have led foreigners through on clandestine tours of our government’s facilities, you’ve likely been in cooperation with groups seeking to disrupt our way of life at best, and bent on undermining our strength throughout the seven realms at worst. You asked what you were being charged. I think it is safe to say, Director Saxe, that you are charged with high treason. And that the punishment of that crime is quick and efficient death. Before I pass judgment on you, do you have anything to show me and the citizens of Merlain that might give us a different conclusion about your activities today?”
“I love Merlian,” Amnon began, “but not the Chieftain Dol version of it. I remember a simpler and freer Merlain and all of my activities today have been in an effort to get back to that. If you desire to kill me for that, I would happily give up my life and as many more that I had to give to see the former glory of Merlain return and for all the realms to be out from Dol’s grip.”
“I think that’s all we need to hear of that,” Saw said. He was about to say more, but at that moment, Amnon stood and, with all his strength, threw down the grenades he had kept in his palms. The explosion filled the room with an angry ball of fire. The ceiling collapsed and the walls blew out. Broken broadcast equipment, fallen guards, and crackling wires were scattered in the debris and smoke. The force of the blast launched Amnon’s body through a wall and into the corridor outside. He lay motionless with his spine and other bones shattered. Still, on his face was a faint smile. It was the smile of a mission accomplished. With this last act he knew he had made Merlain and Keetha proud. Long live Merlain.
